Through his work as a member of such bands as Shai Hulud and Life Force, Matt Fletcher might already be on your (hardcore) radar. The bassist has been around the hardcore scene for decades playing bass around the globe, but his latest project finds him front and center.
Based in Norman, Oklahoma, ONE features Matt on vocals, and he recently reached out to me to help get the word out about the group. "ONE began as an idea while [drummer] John [Bindel] and I were on hiatus from our Life Force duties during the COVID shutdown. The idea was to do a hardcore band with fast and short songs, and play local shows as soon as the venues opened back up. We wrote a handful of songs, went through a few band names, went through a few lineups that fell through, and even recorded a demo of some songs that were scrapped, or at least are on the back burner for now.
"I was having trouble finding members, and decided to ask my friend Will Chan, our bass player, if he could play either bass or guitar. Now, what is funny about that question is that I've known him since we were toddlers in daycare, and we've known each other all the way through high school and college, and so I'm obviously very aware that he hasn't played in a band before. He was down to try, and we broke it down to write primitive riffs and make simple songs.
"The last time I saw Shawn Maile, our guitar player, he came with us to see Earth Crisis and Madball in like 1998. Not too long before the start of the band he moved back here from Australia, and he and Will live on the same street. The first recording we completed was a demo for the song 'The Killers of Children' for A HOMELAND DENIED: A Compilation for the Palestinian Liberation."
Before we move on, I wanted to take a moment to highlight that compilation as it also includes tracks from such bands as Racetraitor, END, and Temple Guard, and is worth checking out on Bandcamp.
Back to Matt and ONE! "We prepared a few more songs, and played our first show as a four piece. Our other guitarist, Trey Ridlin, played with me and Flint (Life Force) in a band called Stay over a decade ago. I had asked him about playing during one of the failed attempts, but he wasn't looking for a band at the time. Almost a year later he was available, and we were able to fill out the band, and played our second show as a five piece, as well as complete our first EP, There Is Only One."
Citing influences like Youth of Today and Floorpunch, ONE dropped their aforementioned There Is Only One EP earlier this month:
Matt shares some info on the EP: "There Is Only One is five songs in six minutes recorded by our drummer John in his living room, with some pre-production help from my friend Eric Dellon, and mixed by Len Carmichael at Landmine Studios.
"It's also a very special recording because Will and I have known each other so long and never really got to play music together. It was fun to build from the ground up, and create a handful of songs similar to the punk and hardcore we liked as kids."
ONE have a heater coming up with No Echo favorites Apex Predator in Oklahoma City on October 16th:
As for the future, Matt is excited to keep ONE rolling forward now that the music has hit streaming outlets. "We're just playing as many local shows as we can, and want to find a home for There Is Only One. We plan to have physical copies of the ep, and are currently working on a follow up 7 inch."
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ONE on social media: Twitter | Instagram
Tagged: life force, one, shai hulud
