ON was a solo project of Ken Andrews

Ken Andrews

Ken Andrews is an American musician and producer, based out of Los Angeles, California.Andrews was born in Seattle, Washington, and attended film school in Los Angeles before his band Failure received a record deal from Slash Records.He was the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist, and...

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

Failure (band)

Failure was an American rock band that was active from 1990 to 1997, during which they recorded and released three critically acclaimed albums...

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

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

, but the overall sound was more based on electronics

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

, with less emphasis on guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

s and the typical heavy rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 sound.

ON was signed to Epic Records

Epic Records

Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...

 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 Gore

Martin Lee Gore is an English songwriter, lyricist, singer, guitarist, keyboardist, remixer and DJ. He is a founding member of Depeche Mode and has written the vast majority of their songs...

 of Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...

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

Jordon Zadorozny

-External links:...

 of Blinker the Star

Blinker the Star

Blinker the Star is a Canadian indie rock band, originally from Pembroke, Ontario, Canada. Band leader Jordon Zadorozny is known for having cowritten songs with Courtney Love...

).

After several months, ON's album Shifting Skin

Shifting Skin

Shifting Skin is the debut album by Ken Andrews' first post-Failure project, ON.-Track listing:#"C'mon Collapse"#"Slingshot"#"Soluble Words"#"If I Get to Feel You"#"Shifting Skin"#"Perfect Imposter"#"Avalanche"#"Feel at Home"#"Paper Thin Soul"...

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

Shiner (band)

-History:The group formed in 1992, and quickly found wide exposure, releasing a vinyl EP in 1993 and touring with acts such as Sunny Day Real Estate, Chore, Jawbox, Season to Risk, The Jesus Lizard, and Girls Against Boys. The group released their first LP, Splay in 1996, and a second album, Lula...

/Season to Risk

Season to Risk

Season to Risk are a Noise Rock/Alternative Rock collective hailing from Kansas City, Missouri.-History:Season to Risk formed in late 1989 from the ashes of the Kansas City punk bands Nine Lives and Curious George...

), bassist Tommy Walter (Abandoned Pools

Abandoned Pools

Tommy Walter 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....

), guitarist Joey Sykes, and keyboardist Kevin Moore, and took ON on tour. Another single, "Slingshot", was serviced to radio, 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

CD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...

 and the iTunes Store

ITunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

. Also in 2002, he (and Dow) formed a new group called Year of the Rabbit

Year of the Rabbit

Year of the Rabbit is a rock band assembled and fronted by Ken Andrews, formerly of Failure and ON. After the commercial disappointment of ON, Andrews and ON's touring drummer Tim Dow first recruited Dow's friend Jeff Garber , and Solomon Snyder Year of the Rabbit is a rock band assembled and...

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

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 and session musician

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

.