The Death Set doesn’t like to sit still—literally and figuratively. The on-stage experience of this globetrotting modern punk trio sparked in Australia and currently based in Brooklyn is absolute insanity—mad drinking, sweating, stage diving, and pure unadulterated energy. It might just be one of the most enjoyable sets you ever see. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t know a lot about punk.

“The energy comes from just [wanting] to see a show that I would like to watch basically,” explains lead singer/guitarist Johnny Siera. Trying to get the three of them together for a few minutes was difficult enough as so many fans—some even from Japan—we’re swarming them. But once I did, people didn’t stop stepping up to talk to Siera, drummer Jahphet Landis, and guitarist/vocalist Daniel Walker. Friends of the band like Roxy Cottontail and just acquired fans alike all came up to talk or grab a quick photo and that says a lot about the magnetism of The Death Set experience: once you’ve seen ‘em, there’s no turning back.

Already having downed a ton of liquor, the band was usually to the point but at times, wildly metaphorical. When asked about their experiences playing at Carniville this year and past three adventures in Austin, Siera says, “This is our first experience ever with a girl and it was awkward, but less awkward then the first experience because the first three times the girls fucked me and this is the first time I fucked the girl.”

With an even better hold of their stage control this year, The Death Set tore up the Carniville with no reservations. Lacing no-nonsense punk with hints of electronic sounds and hip-hop, the sonic appeal today is bigger than ever since they dropped their 2008 debut, Worldwide. Musicianship aside, the life the band puts into their sets is impossible to deny.
Sadly, The Death Set lost one of its founding members, Beau Velasco, last year and they proudly do a tribute song for him at the end of each set and close out their Carniville show the same way. “I want to feel his energy to the end,” Siera announces to the crowd during this unforgettable performance.

Words by Max Herman, Photos by Max Herman and Dustin Downing