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Interview with
RYAN SAVITSKI
of
ONE STEP CLOSER

(4th May 2024)

Interview with Audrey Songvilay

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PHOTO CREDIT: SPENCER CHAMBERLAIN

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Congrats on your upcoming album, All You Embrace. It’s being released 17 May. What are you looking forward to?
First of all, I really appreciate that. I’m looking forward to finally playing all the songs live. We’ve been sitting on these songs for a little while now and we’ve gotten to play the new singles live, like two of them. I’m excited to finally pick and choose new songs for the setlist and see how people react to them.

Is there a track people should listen to first or should they go in track order?
Track order for sure. I think the whole thing has such a great flow and it is exciting all the way through because I feel like we really spent a lot of time trying to make sure the order is perfect, and that nothing stands out in a weird way, but it kind of takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions through the whole record. Definitely start at the beginning and try to go all the way through if you can, because I think that’s the best way to listen to it, for sure.

For current fans and new fans who will come across your new album, why do you think they would resonate with your music?
We all are trying to be as personable as possible in our music. I write a lot of the lyrics about my life in general and hard times that I’m dealing with or, if I’m questioning things about my life or about life in general. I feel like putting yourself out there ends up being something that people connect with because it’s easier for people to resonate with that kind of thing instead of just some random topic. We always try to be as personable as possible, including our merch. We try to put out stuff that we would wear ourselves. Hopefully people can connect with the music the way that we intended to and people are excited.

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Your music comes from personal experiences as well, how do you use that to find inspiration in your songwriting process?
I find inspiration not only from what my peers do and people that I look up to do, but my friends are super inspiring. Honestly, one of my best friends Ross, who’s in the band with me, has the craziest brain I’ve ever encountered. He’s just super creative and has a very unique personality in the best way. I’m super inspired by the people around me and even my friends and family outside of Ross. I think I really use that to kind of pave way for what the band is.

How do you think your journey has changed since your first album, This Place You Know to the one you released now?
From the first LP, I feel like we are kind of just starting to figure it out a little bit, and figure out how to write songs and figure out how to portray the way that we’ve always wanted to have the band be portrayed. Now with this record, I feel like we went in with a mindset of not holding ourselves back and just being absolutely limitless for the most part. I think because of that, we really let like all of our inspiration shine and really just let the band breathe in and be what it’s supposed to be. I feel like this time around, we created something that everyone is just super proud of, and everyone in the band really connects with.

Is there a particular song you’ve released that reflects who you are as a band and also enables fans to grasp your message?
I would say off the new record, probably Giants Despair. It’s a song about our area and growing up here. It’s a song that’s super personable and it’s one that I wrote about when you have these second thoughts of feeling like a failure at what you’re doing and what you’re creating, but you kind of always have this place to come home to your friends and family who support you and are just there with open arms. That as a whole kind of shaped that entire record, and really created this atmosphere of working through changes in your life and how you deal with them.

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Is there a performance pre-ritual you do as a band before you go on stage?
I’ll do five ten minutes of vocal warm-ups to make sure that I’m ready to go. Everybody kind of just stretches. We’ll either be side stage or backstage in the green room and everyone will be getting a little limber, I’ll just be sitting there humming, warmup stuff just to get a little loose.

Do you still get nervous before you go up on stage?
It depends. Yeah, a little bit. I get nervous first night of a tour, always without fail, no matter how big or small the show is. I’m always nervous first night of tour. Then as soon as that’s done, usually by the second or third night, I’m fine. I’m kind of more in it by the end of the tour, I’ll go out as calmly. Sometimes at festivals, I get a little nervous just because a lot of the time it’s a one-off thing and you’re playing in front of a lot of people. I got to make sure I’m on my A-game.

What country or state have you played at where you felt the energy was absolutely awesome?
Japan in general. Absolutely unreal place. Even down to the people there is so amazing and we went there for the first time in January last year and the shows were just incredible. We played a show in Tokyo at this legendary venue called, ANTIKNOCK and it was one of the craziest sets that we’ve ever played because it was non-stop people going crazy and it was sold out.

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Is there a dream collaboration you have in mind or in the works?
Oh man. Dream collab that might be in the works is with Movements at some point in time. Just because Pat from movements is a good friend of mine and maybe some kind of collab with Title Fight if they were still a band. I guess that’s a dream one.

Are you planning on coming back to Australia soon?
Hopefully early next year. I’m really hoping to, I had such a great time, especially in the Gold Coast. It was amazing. Our friends that took us around last time were absolutely incredible. We stayed in the Gold Coast for three or four days straight. It was incredible. The shows were awesome as well.

Favourites?
Album: American Idiot by Green Day
Artist: Green Day
Movie: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars.
Food: Gerry’s pizza in Wiltshire, Pennsylvania.
Drink: Iced coffee
Tattoo: A hydrangea on my leg for my grandmother.

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Pre-order Album HERE

TRACK LISTING

1. Color You
2. Leap Years
3. Blur My Memory
4. The Gate
5. Your Hazel Tree
6. Orange Leaf
7. Esruc
8. Slow to Let Go
9. Topanga
10. Giant’s Despair
11. So Far From Me

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Follow ONE STEP CLOSER
Website – Instagram – Spotify – Tiktok

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AMNPLIFY – DB