ON was a solo project of

Ken Andrews Ken Andrews (born Kenneth Andrew Doty; June 18, 1967) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Andrews was born in Seattle, Washington, and attended film school in Los Angeles before his band Failure received a record de ...

, which he started after the breakup of his previous band,

Failure Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective (goal), objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of Success (concept), success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a parti ...

. The music of ON was not unlike that of Failure in terms of

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, but the overall sound was more based on

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

, with less emphasis on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s and the typical heavy rock sound. ON was signed to

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

in 1999, and the first single, "Soluble Words", was released late that year. It contains four versions of the song, including a remix by

Martin Gore Martin Lee Gore (born 23 July 1961) is an English songwriter, musician, singer, record producer and DJ. He is one of the founding members of the electronic rock band Depeche Mode and is the band's main songwriter. He is the band's guitarist an ...

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

, and an exclusive track called "Your Sister Says John" (written by Andrews' friend Jordon Zadorozny of

Blinker the Star Blinker the Star is the recording and performance name of Jordon Zadorozny, a Canadian solo artist who has worked with various musicians to create eleven albums. Notable musicians who have appeared on Blinker the Star albums include Leland Sklar, ...

). After several months, ON's album ''

Shifting Skin ''Shifting Skin'' is the debut album by Ken Andrews' first post- Failure project, ON. Track listing All songs written by Ken Andrews; except "Avalanche" written by Andrews and Jeff Trott. #"C'mon Collapse" – 3:11 #"Slingshot" – 2:53 #"Solub ...

'' was released in June 2000. Ken then assembled a backing band, which consisted of drummer Tim Dow (ex- Shiner/

Season to Risk Season to Risk are an American noise rock/alternative rock band hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, United States. History Season to Risk formed in late 1989 from the ashes of the Kansas City punk bands Nine Lives and Curious George. Although S ...

), bassist Tommy Walter (

Abandoned Pools Thomas Edward Walter (born October 30, 1970) is an American musician and songwriter, best known for his alternative rock band, Abandoned Pools, as well as being the former bassist and one of the founding members of Eels. Early years and the E ...

), guitarist Joey Sykes, and keyboardist

Kevin Moore Kevin Moore (born May 26, 1967) is an American keyboardist, composer, and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock superg ...

, and took ON on tour. Another single, "Slingshot", was serviced to radio, bubbling just under the Alternative Top 50; but the album didn't sell well, and Epic eventually released Andrews from his contract. A second ON album, ''Make Believe'', was released in 2002 via

CD Baby CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...

and the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

. Also in 2002, he (and Dow) formed a new group called

Year of the Rabbit The rabbit ( 兔) is the fourth in the twelve-year cycle of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Rabbit is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 卯. In the Vietnamese zodiac and t ...

. Currently, Andrews is working as a solo artist, a member of Failure and a member of Digital Noise Academy, as well as being a sought-after producer and

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

External links

*
Ken Andrews - official site
American electronic music groups {{US-band-stub