One Step Closer’s Ryan Savitski talks surprise EP 'Songs for the Willow' and leaving Anxious behind
Of all the kids who dream of touring with their bands, very few make it as far as hearing their friends’ voices ricocheting throughout a van as the miles disappear beneath its wheels. “I mean, that’s everything,” says Ryan Savitski, vocalist of straight-edge hardcore band One Step Closer. “That’s everything I’ve always wanted to do.”
But there’s a big difference between dreams and reality. If you were to revisit that same van three weeks into a cross-country run of shows you might experience something different: fried minds and bodies clinging on for the minutes they’ll get to spend on stage that night. Touring is a tiring, financially dicey business that’s punishing both for musicians and the people they’ve left at home. And, since the release of This Place You Know in 2021, One Step Closer have toured more than most.
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The Wilkes-Barre-based band lost members along the way, with bassist Brian Talipan and guitarist Grady Allen making their departures, but they are now following up the momentum generated by their breakout debut with a thrilling new EP that digs into the mess of emotions that being on the road encompasses. Songs for the Willow, which dropped without warning on Jan. 10, finds Savitski — who until recently also played guitar in the similarly buzzy punk band Anxious — stitching nostalgic vignettes from the road and songs that square Floral Green-era Title Fight with some truly gut-punch melodies.
How quickly did it become clear to you that these songs would address your past year on the road?
This EP was very time and place—that’s how I write lyrics. It’s not every song, but for a lot of the songs it’s what is going on in my life at that point in time, what is affecting me, whether I’m happy or sad. I think it’ll just come to me naturally, and that’s what happened.
You dig into a horrible sort of anxiety here that’s pretty unique to people who travel a lot—you’re sensing things changing at home while you’re so far away.
This was the most I’ve ever toured in my life, between playing in One Step Closer and in Anxious as well. Both bands were on the road a bunch, and there was so much crossover too, where I wasn’t able to do both projects at the same time. I was away from my family and friends and my relationship for a long time. Things change, and then you come home and you’re like, ‘Wow, this is different.’ One of my best friends recently had a child. I saw her when she was two weeks old, and then the next time I saw her she was three months old. Things are constantly changing around me back at home, while I’m doing my thing, doing the thing that I love. It’s a weird thing to come back to and it’s affected things with people as well, it’s changed relationships.
How did you grapple with the attention Anxious began receiving right after the One Step Closer record gained some traction?
It was stressful. I wanted to do both as much as I could, but I’m not playing with Anxious anymore because it just got too busy. Both bands were really trying to tour a lot. I love those guys so much and I’m stoked to see them doing what they’re doing. I’m sure they’re stoked to see us doing what we’re doing. But at one point I did six weeks on that Drug Church tour, and then the night of our last show in San Francisco, I flew to Dallas, Texas, and played with Anxious for three and a half weeks. It was almost 10 weeks straight on the road.
You almost become self-critical because you should be enjoying yourself.
You get the good things and the bad things, you know? Sometimes I feel very split, just being like, ‘Well, yeah, I want to tour, I want to do all this stuff.’ But everybody wants to be home, and be with their friends and family. That’s just natural. You really have to somehow mend that, and work around it. I think I did the best I possibly could, as a person, with my relationships. But it is a lot sometimes.
By slowing things down sonically you’ve created this really effective feeling of dredging things up.
We have so many fast songs. We were like, ‘What if we go a little bit more melodic, slow it down slightly, but still keep it upbeat so that people still feel the energy?’ It really did help the lyrical content shine a little bit more. If there is a really cool guitar part, it shines really hard, because there’s more emphasis on it.
Where does Songs for the Willow fit in terms of a new LP?
We’re working on the next LP. We’ve already started writing and we figured we would just continue the momentum of the EP writing. I think we’re sonically gonna keep pushing that sound. I’m hoping that we record the LP this year at some point, and then hopefully have it out by the end of the year or sometime next year.
