The Setz were formed in 1978 by Peter Gamble (vocals), Tony Scott (guitar), Richard Collett (bass) and Ian Gault (drums), playing a mix of original material and covers in the New Wave genre and trying to fuse the energy and attitude of punk with the songwriting values and musicianship of traditional rock. Covers which the band were playing at the time included "Just What I Needed" and "My Best Friend's Girl" by The Cars and "Walking On The Moon", "Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle" by Police. Originals included "Let Me Down Easy" and "Things That Go Bump In The Night".

They played all the regular venues in Belfast at the time such as The Pound and The Harp and also supported several major acts such as The Ramones and The Skids (in Dublin) and even Horslips! They also played Dublin and regularly gigged on the North Coast at venues such as Chesters, Kellys and Spuds.

In June 1980 the band visited Mudd Wallace (R.I.P) at his Homestead studios in Ahoghill, with £348.00 and put down five demos. “Let Me Down Easy”, “Don’t Stop The Show”, “Anthem”, “Things That Go Bump In The Night” & “Fool Forever”. Anthem was about an incident where Peter was on a school trip on the ferry to Scotland and saw a young lad jump over the side to his death. Turned out he was a Kincora victim. It affected Peter quite deeply at the time. You can listen to the track below.

Donal Mullan, original Setz manager recalls "I can remember getting £300 a night for The Setz at Kelly's in Portrush and receiving a call from Dave Kavanagh in Dublin asking me to try to get some dates there for a wee Dublin band, but they would need £150 per night plus accommodation. James Kelly was offered them but his response was, and I quote-"U2? Who'd go and see a band with a silly name like that? Can you not get me The Undertones?"

By late 1981 the band decided to change their name and musical direction and became Silent Running who remained active until 1989 recording three albums in this period, one with EMI and two with Atlantic.

Note – in the above photograph, the guy on the left is Andrew Greer. Andrew was in the original line up of The Setz before they became Silent Running. He was replaced by Marty Williamson as guitarist alongside Tony and Marty went on to join the Psychedelic Furs.