In 1981 the Setz dropped the punky stuff in favour of a new ‘stadium rock’ sound a la Simple Minds and drafted in keyboard player Geordie Beavis. They changed their name to Silent Running and produced a promotional single, a double A side featuring 2 songs All The Kings Men and When The 12th Of Never Comes. 200 copies were pressed purely for promotional purposes.

A copy was sent to BBC Radio One DJ Peter Powell who played it on his 5.45 show .He subsequently offered the band a session for his show, which they duly recorded in Pebble Mill Studios. An appearance on the Oxford Road Show also followed.

In January 1983 Silent Running signed  for EMI and released their first EP When The 12th Of Never Comes (see the promo video for this track below). Beavis quit the band during the recording of this single and from then on the band mainly used session musicians for live and studio work. They toured with Robert Palmer and on their own. In April 1984 they released their first album Shades Of Liberty and toured on their own and with Simple Minds in Britain, and extensively in Europe with Talk Talk. They released 3 singles Emotional Warfare, Young Hearts and Sticks And Stones, and appeared on national TV programmes including an Old Grey Whistle Test live concert and The Tube. (Above photography taken at McGonagles, Dublin 1985 - Photograph © Alan Kennedy.

In 1986 Silent Running left EMI and signed for Atlantic Records New York, releasing their second album Walk On Fire in 1987. The single Sanctuary charted in the ‘rock’ top 40 in America. They toured with the Alarm and on their own around the East coast of America before releasing one further album Deep in 1989 on Atlantic. Gary Kirby (ex The Vedettes) replaced Ian Gault on drums shortly before Silent Running split up in 1990.

In January 2018 the band reunited for the first time in twenty years, augmented by Callum Collett on guitar in the absence of Paul Rocks.

In March 2019 Silent Running announced a return to the stage at Belfast venue 'Voodoo' promising songs from all three albums as well as "showcasing new material". They played to a sold-out crowd in June 2019. A second sold-out show followed in November 2019. Videos of both gigs are available on the band's YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/377piEh

In August same year the band returned to the studio for the first time in 30 years to record a brand new track titled 'Lost Boy'. The song was released as a digital download in October 2019.

Silent Running will be returning to the recording studio in February 2020, releasing a live album in March 2020 and announcing future gigs.