Revolver has teamed up with One Step Closer for an exclusive vinyl variant of This Place You Know on "solid purple with heavy white splatter" wax. There're only 250 copies available — order yours before they're gone!
Over the last couple of years, there's been a growing cadre of noteworthy hardcore bands who are trading in the metallic heaviness that dominated the last decade for a more melodic and emotionally pained style of music. Groups like Fiddlehead, Mil-Spec and Restraining Order are among this cluster, but the Wilkes-Barre quintet One Step Closer are at the forefront — and they're currently poised to be one of the biggest new bands in hardcore writ large.
Today (June 29th), One Step Closer have announced that their highly anticipated debut album, This Place You Know, will arrive later this fall, and we're proud to be premiering the music video for its lead single, "Pringle Street."
From the first 15 seconds, it's immediately clear that One Step Closer are fans of their local elders in Title Fight, who were based in Kingston, PA, just five minutes across the bridge from Wilkes-Barre. "Pringle Street" is reminiscent of the raggedy, emotionally felt melodic hardcore that Title Fight mastered on their landmark album Shed, but it also has traces of bands like Have Heart, Bane and even One Step Closer's personal heroes, Turning Point.
It's anxious, scraggly and gritty, but it's also extremely anthemic and easy to envision being screamed back by hundreds of kids in a packed club. Named after the street that frontman Ryan Savitski lived on during the writing of the record, it's an ode to feeling stuck both mentally and physically — a feeling all of us can relate to after the last year.
In the accompanying video, the band let it all out by performing in a field, busting some skate moves, setting off fireworks, spraying graffiti and all sorts of other mischief. Check it out above via YouTube.
This Place You Know is due out September 24th via Run For Cover Records. Revolver has an exclusive vinyl variant on "solid purple with heavy white splatter" wax available in our shop. Grab yours now.
Additionally, we spoke with Savitski about the vision he had for This Place You Know, the "Pringle Street" video, the meaning behind the song and more. Read along below after the jump.
This Place You Know track listing:
"I Feel So"
"Lead To Gray"
"Leave Me Behind"
"Home for the Night"
"Pringle Street"
"Hereafter"
"Time Spent, Too Long"
"Autumn"
"Chrysanthemum"
"As The City Sleeps"
MUSICALLY, WHAT WAS YOUR GOAL OR VISION GOING INTO THIS PLACE YOU KNOW?
Going into this record I wanted to take the best aspects of From Me To You and build those out even more. I really wanted to make these songs feel tightly structured and have good sing-along parts throughout. When we wrote From Me To You, I think we were worried about not sounding hardcore enough, if that makes sense? For This Place You Know, we didn't hold ourselves back and did whatever felt natural. I think that brought out the best in us and helped us accomplish the vision we had going into it. I truly think we found our sound with this record and it feels good.
ARE THERE ANY RUNNING LYRICAL THEMES OR MOTIFS THROUGHOUT THE ALBUM? IF SO, WHAT INSPIRED THEM?
The whole lyrical structure of the record is based around events that were happening while writing. I was at a very low point in my life and it helped to get my emotions out through the music. There are a lot of lyrics about loss, sadness, and the feelings of being stuck somewhere that you aren't attached to anymore. It's a sad record but we wanted to write something that was genuine to what we were feeling at the time. I think everyone has a connection to it because of that, it's like everyone in the band took a piece of themselves and put it into the record.
TELL ME ABOUT "PRINGLE STREET." WHAT MAKES THAT SONG SPECIAL IN THE OSC CATALOG?
"Pringle Street" was the perfect track to release as the first single because it captures a little bit of everything that the new record has to offer. There's a bit of singing with the yells and more guitar leads that pop out more than what we have done in the past. Also, it has a stronger structure and a lot of layering in general, which was something we hadn't done as much till now. It feels like a complete song to me. I think "Pringle Street" shows our growth as a band and gives a good insight on what's to come.
TELL ME ABOUT THE DIRECTION YOU TOOK THE SONG'S MUSIC VIDEO IN. ANY FUN/INTERESTING STORIES FROM THE SET?
Our guitar player Ross [Thompson] had a whole concept with the video but once we started filming and editing started taking place, it got changed around a bit. It ended up just being more of a fun video showing that you can still have a good time during quarantine. We ended up filming all around my neighborhood and various places around our area. For the full band shots, we did it in this big field that is in front of the high school I went too. We played through the song once and immediately had a cop outside of the school yelling at us, but we ignored it and played through the song a few more times. This was the first time we've ever done a music video and everyone had a blast doing it.
WHAT'S ONE THING YOU WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS PLACE YOU KNOW BEFORE THEY HEAR IT?
This record is pure self expression in all aspects. I know everyone in the band is super proud of how it turned out and we can't wait for everyone to hear it.
