One Step Closer

Tried to interview OSC for the previous issue but it never happened. Sent them a couple of DMs / e-mails with no luck. But… since OSC is for sure one of my favorite new hardcore bands in the world, I thought of giving it another try. This time it was much easier to arrange the intie, but it took a shitload of time for the band to reply! Finally, G (their guitar player, also in Anxious, Last Straw and Dying Tradition zine) got in touch with me and answered some (and unfortunately not all, as he skipped a couple or more) of the questions. Read what he has to say about OSC, Joe Biden and Connecticut Hardcore. Look out for the first OSC full length ‘This place we know’, which will probably be out by the time you are reading this!

Pictures by Spencer Chamberlain & Todd Pollock.

Hey! Welcome to Soulcraft zine, how are you doing? How’s the situation in the US right now? Still in quarantine? How do you cope with all this?!

Yo what’s up! I’m good man. I’m just hanging out in Connecticut. We’re still in quarantine- I imagine we will continue to be for a long time. It’s funny life doesn’t really feel like “coping” at this point, it just feels like life. I think everyone’s doing things to fill their time though. OSC has been super busy writing our new LP so that’s keeping everyone pretty occupied. I’m in school and working now too which also takes up most of my personal time.

Who’s in One Step Closer? Give us a short bio of the band and each member’s weirdest obsession!

Pennsylvania. We have Ryan on vocals, Ross Boss on the guitar, BT on the bass, Tommy on the skins, and yours truly on the other guitar. The band is a straight edge band, started in early 2016. I wasn’t an original member, I was fortunate enough to be asked to join in the summer of 2018. Hmm obsessions? That’s tough haha. Ryan collects vintage Star Wars action figures which is pretty cool. Ross makes clothing which is SO dope, he handles all the merchandise for OSC. BT wants to be a dentist so he’s constantly studying in preparation for dental school. If you ever see him you should pick his brain about that stuff, it’s interesting. Tommy sells clothes on Ebay which sounds really fun but super hard. I do a monthly zine about Connecticut Hardcore past and present so I guess that could qualify as my obsession?

Triple B keeps releasing top notch modern hardcore and OSC have established a position in the label’s roster since 2019. How did this happen? Are you satisfied with the feedback you get or do you aim to something bigger?

OSC recorded ‘From me to you’ the summer of 2018 and was unsure of who was going to release it. There were a few ideas and labels being spit balled - but we really wanted the record to come out on BBB. I think our friend Ned made the connection with Sam BBB and

him and Ryan shared a couple emails in the fall of 2018. Sam BBB originally was pushing for cutting 2 songs and releasing it as a 7” but we opted to release it as a 1-sided 12”. I think everyone in OSC would agree that the feedback / response OSC gets is so flattering and awesome. I am super thankful to get to be a part of it.

New album, the debut full length, coming in spring 2021 (hopefully this zine will be out before the release of it!). The Soulcraft readers need info and spicy details!

Our new record, “This Place you Know”, will be released on Triple-B records in Spring of 2021! I’m super excited for it to be out there. The guys worked so incredibly hard on it and I think people are really going to be into it. I think it definitely explores the more emo side of OSC in a way we haven’t done before. It definitely is a big step up and forward for OSC. More info soon!

You used to play lots of shows. I was in one of the last shows you played before the break of the pandemic; Berlin, early March 2020. I bet you miss shows a lot. What do you plan for the future? To join tour combos, do a headline full length release tour?! How was the Knuckle Puck tour, by the way? Any cool stories from touring?

It’s definitely hard to make plans with the current state of things. It’s hard to know what the next month will look like let alone the next 6. I can say with 100 percent certainty however that the minute that OSC can tour again, we will. We had a ton of touring planned for last year and this year and we just plan on picking up exactly where we left off. That KP tour was awesome! I didn’t hop on until Anxious joined the tour about halfway through because I was still in school - but that tour was loads of fun. Those guys are really sweet and super fun to hang with.

Almost all OSC members play in other bands, too? Last Straw, Wild Red, Anxious… Which other ones? You seem to be full of energy and creativity! How do you manage to be involved in so much stuff while having to deal with every day’s hustle? How old are

you and what do you do for a living?

Yeah almost everyone in OSC plays in other bands! I sing in both Anxious and Last Straw. Ryan does a bunch of bands: he plays guitar in Anxious, Choice To Make, Last Straw, and plays drums sometimes in Wild Red. Ross plays guitar in another WBHC band called Worn and was also in a band called Acupuncture for a minute. Tommy and Ryan are working on a new band right now too. FFO: Bad Seed, Foundation, Hatebreed. It can be pretty demanding to be involved in so many projects. Both OSC and Anxious are practically full time bands so it can get pretty hard to do everything and keep everyone happy. I just try to do my best and be as realistic and optimistic as possible.

Joe Biden is officially the new president of the United States of America. What do you expect from him? What would you change in the country if you were the president for a week or so?!

Yessir he is. Hm. That’s a tough question. I do hope that he avoids the polarizing and antagonistic rhetoric that pervades a lot of American politics right now. There is a definite “us vs them” mentality that has been adopted and I think that this is not particularly productive when trying to meet the needs of a nation. His speech made after winning the US election seemed to hint that he feels similarly and is seeking unity. I’m not sure what I would change if I was president for one week. Creating and destroying national policies usually take years so I’m not sure what I would be able to get done in a week haha. In an ideal world - I would raise the legal drinking and smoking age and I would reduce the penalty for non-violent drug offenders.

That’s all, thanks a lot! Shout-outs, fuckoffs, last words, all yours!

Thank you so much for having me. I’m sorry this took forever to get to you. OSC has a new LP coming out in 2021, please listen to it. I’m from the great state of Connecticut so I would like to shout out Connecticut Hardcore. Listen to Fastbreak, Cornerstone, and Break Faith. Shout out Wilkes-Barre hardcore. Listen to Frostbite.