Steve Fall and his band ON operate like a mom-and-pop store in the independent music business.
They’re an everything under one roof operation, from self-production and the release of their albums via their own label Indiestructable Records to making and selling merchandise, to booking their own shows and being their own roadies. It’s the DIY way, and how you keep overhead low while also making sure things get done the way you want them to. It might be a harder way to do business, but for them it’s the only way.
The Toronto-based ON, who in addition to guitar player Fall are Lucy Di Santo on bass and vocals and Dan Cornelius on drums, will perform Sunday at The Hive. Opening the show is local punk band Acid Wrench.
“We like the control. We like to grow at our own pace and keep all that internal. That’s the idea, especially with today, and all things being indie, it’s a blessing or a band like us,” Fall said. “We are keeping it that way, and keeping it grassroots.”
ON dropped a self-titled release in 2022 that’s a modern-punk rock album made through modern, file-sharing technology. With Fall and Di Santo based in Toronto and Cornelius based in New York City, they’d spend their time writing separately while sharing various song files with each other by email, with Fall taking random trips to the States.
If you go
WHAT: Rock music with ON and Acid Rench.
WHEN: 8 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: The Hive, 1150 Main Ave.
TICKETS: Suggested donation at the door.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.thehivedgo.org.
“Lucy was busy getting her masters, and she said, ‘you guys spearhead the record, I’ll jump in once you have something solid.’ So, Dan and I would file-share. Dan writes lyrics and plays guitar as well as drums, he arranges, so it’s kind of a three-man force, right? Then I decide to go to New York for a week, hang with Dan and do some writing,” Fall said. “We’d walk around the city at night and people watch, sit around and get inspired.”
After a handful of pandemic-influenced hang-ups, the band finally completed the record. The result is a 10-track album of post-punk; it’s a guitar record, loaded with power chords that exist comfortably nestled up against Di Santo’s dark and aggressive croon. Its loud, brash and beautiful, a record ripe for modern rock radio while also having all of the elements and the right approach for left-of-the-dial indie-rock.
The record dropped last September, and soon after they booked what seems to be a never-ending tour that took them from the cold East Coast to the warm West Coast, as part of this tour includes them writing on the road, then hunkering down at a studio in San Diego to start preparing for the next record. That should be completed once they return to the East Coast for more recording back in New York City.
But for now, they’re still pushing their self-titled release, while banging around the Southwest. While they remain a grassroots band, they also use every modern-internet outlet to promote their art. That includes making videos for every song and posting them to their YouTube channel, which soon will have footage from all of the shows of this tour.
“We plan to shoot some live footage for a video at The Hive. That’s what we wanted to announce. We’re totally aware of it, and we cannot wait to get there and just tear it up,” Fall said. “We’re hoping its going to be an insane show.”
The “insane show” and subsequent video will also include fan-filmed footage, as the band is encouraging people at the performance to also film parts of the show, and then send that footage to the band for possible use in the video.
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
