Failure vocalist/guitarist Ken Andrews has newly remastered “Shifting Skin“, the 2000 debut album from his side project On. You can find that now via Bandcamp. As for revisiting this release now, Andrews stated on social media today, December 06th:
“After Failure disbanded in 1997 I was completely lost. I had put every ounce of creativity and effort I had into my pride and joy. Sitting there in my apartment with no obvious direction or goal was unsettling. Untethered from purpose a deep depression began to settle in.
Every time I looked at my guitar all I could think of was Failure and the pain the end had brought. That’s when I decided to go to the music store near me, West LA Music/Universal City, and see if a new guitar or pedal might perk me up and inspire something. Looking at all the guitars, all I could hear was Failure.
I was about to leave when I spotted a small desktop sized synthesizer that was within my budget. I ended up coming home with my very first synthesizer, the Access Virus. That little synth packed a huge amount of sounds and I was hooked. All of a sudden I was able to create music that didn’t have an obvious connection to Failure’s sound.
My love for 80s Pop Music, like the Cars, was streaming out of me effortlessly. I had found a way back into music making that felt therapeutic and joyful. I was also writing songs that emotionally were less dark and even playful compared to Failure. I knew some fans of Failure would probably not be into this new direction I was following, but I didn’t care.
I needed to do this for myself. Eventually I had a handful of demos that I started playing for friends and that’s when my friend Matt Marshall, Tool’s A&R, heard my tape and signed me to Epic Records/Sony under the moniker ON. In 2000 my first post-Failure album was released. I called it Shifting Skin because that’s what it was for me. The style and sound was a definite shift, but the underlying soul, I hoped, was still intact.
I recently located the original mixes and have remastered Shifting Skin in 24bit/48k. You can pick it up now on my Bandcamp page today.”
