Melodic punk band ONE FALL released their self-titled EP on all streaming platforms just a few weeks ago and the band’s live debut is set for Friday, December 9, 2022 at Faces Brewing Co. in Malden, MA. It’s going to be a kickin’ show and one that any smart human won’t want to miss out on.
Joey Phoenix sat down to talk with lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Helen McWilliams (Tijuana Sweetheart, Petty Morals) and guitarist Phill Hunt (Drug Blood, Giant Target) about the show, their sound, and why here, why now.
Joey: So you’ve got a new project – I want to hear about the origin of this.
Helen: Oh, my goodness, we actually have the initial text exchange between Phill and I, because our friend Caleb, who plays drums, was moving back East. All three of us used to work together. And we all played in bands together over the years. And like, went to see each other’s bands, played together and stuff and then found out Caleb, who had been in California for quite some time was coming back.
So I was like, “I always wanted to play in a band with him. I’m going to ask him,” and Phill was like: “Sorry. I was going to ask him.” And we quickly realized that we just wanted to do the exact same kind of project.
Phill: I always wanted to play in a band with Helen. We’ve known each other for so long, but the timing was never right. And especially since Caleb had moved down to the West Coast. He’s one of my best friends…it was sad enough to lose his proximity as a friend, but another part of it was a great drummer leaving the East Coast area just sucks.
Helen: He’s really, really good. We all had this reaction. I’ve been talking about him for years. He’s my dream drummer if I could ever play with anyone.
Phill: Exactly. So I was talking with Helen about finding Caleb a place in Salem when he ends up moving back. And I’m really glad that I did that because that’s what sort of led to this.
Helen: I told them I wanted to basically be A Wilhelm Scream, but not as good because they’re very good, and Phill was like I’m so in for that, that’s perfect.
Joey: So what is it about Caleb that makes him such a hot commodity?
Helen: It’s one thing that people comment on when they listen. We just put this EP up and the comments section is full of “Wow, a very good drummer”. But he’s very tight and does a lot of fancy things without getting in the way of anything.. He’s drumming to serve the music. But a lot of the time in our case it’s quite fast.
Phill: Yeah, he and I have a musical understanding with each other, where it’s very easy for us to jam without having to use many words. So I was really excited to get that sort of going again.
Joey: I’d love to hear about your background, Phill.
Phill: So. I say I’ve known Helen for probably about 12 years now. As she mentioned, our bands used to play together. “When Caleb and I’s older project, Giant Target, broke up, and Caleb moved away, I started up a new group. It was hardcore band. I love hardcore music. I love listening to it. And I quickly found out that playing it is just a bit of a different beast.
That project ended up fizzling out relatively recently, so now I’m able to put all of my attention into ONE FALL.
Helen: So we were playing for a while as just the three of us and getting pretty psyched about what we were writing. But we realized that we should probably get a bass player at some point. And then I thought to ask my friend, Joe MacFadzen who has played in a bunch of bands including Los Bungalitos and The Big Sway, both bands that I admire. And I was hanging out with him a lot and mentioned that he might be interested in new projects. I invited him to come over and hear what we’re doing, and we basically very aggressively asked him to join us. And he was like, Okay, I will do it. He’s great.
Joey: So what is melodic punk, exactly?
Helen: We definitely thought a lot about how to describe this genre. Sometimes people say melodic hardcore, some people say, pop punk. We’ve been getting that a lot.
Phill: If you listen to the release, what we do is, I would say, very melodic. You know, Helen’s got such an incredible ear for melody, and really catchy songs. But you also probably noticed that it’s very fast. It’s a very high energy, really, hopefully, a fist bumping sound to it.
Helen: Very technical guitars, busy walking bass, very technical, very fast drums. And then it’s got bright vocals.
What drew me to punk as a genre is that it’s accessible. It’s easy to play punk guitars and drums and stuff like that. And that’s why people get into it and love it. And then there are genres that have spun off of that, which are a bit more like, very technical or harder to play.
Phill: I think when a lot of people say punk, some of the general consensus is that it’s easy to play, you know, three chord music. But I think in the last, you know, 10 or 20 years, there’s been some bands you listen to that have incredibly technical music, but it’s still classified as punk.
What drew me into it is that you can play this music that has “F-you” to it but it’s incredibly technical and tough to play.
Joey: Yeah, so the band is called ONE FALL. Where did that come from?
Helen: So Caleb and Phill, as has been mentioned, are very good friends. And one of the things that they have in common is they share a love for professional wrestling, which I was totally unfamiliar with. I watched G.L.O.W Girls when I was little. Wrestling didn’t seem inclusive back then so I wasn’t into it.
Phill: Times have changed.
Helen: So these guys asked me to come over and watch AEW wrestling after practice. They were like, “it’s super inclusive, you’ll love it. All genders are represented.” And they were right.
Phill: So when it came to naming the band it seemed we were throwing all these wrestling terms out there. And many of them were either already taken or a little too on the nose. I didn’t want a reference that was going to be just so obviously, a wrestling reference. One fall refers to a certain kind of match.
Helen: It sounds a little emo.
Phill: It does a little bit. But there have been a few people that have come up to me and Caleb and asked if the name of the band has got a reference to wrestling and we say yes, and then have an hour long conversation.
Helen: We haven’t converted Joe yet to being a wrestling fan. But, I feel optimistic that if we just don’t watch anything else, he will soon become one.
Joey: So you put out a three song EP, right? Are you working on a full length?
Helen: We never intended originally to put the EP out. We thought, well we’ve got a few songs, we’re gonna have to tell our friends and other bands that we admire that we exist and what our deal is. So we decided to record three songs in the basement as a simple demo that we can send around to people to maybe get them to play with us.
We went with Kyle Paradis as the recording engineer and we did it in the basement. But as soon as we started hearing what was being recorded and how high quality it was, we moved the goalposts a bit. We ended up putting a lot of work into it. We still recorded it in the basement, but I don’t think it sounds like a basement recording.
Joey: So you’ve got a show coming up, how are you feeling about that?
Helen: I’m probably the nervous one. Everybody else seems mostly excited.
Phill: I’m excited.
Helen: We’re really excited to let it out. As soon as we hit that first chord it’s gonna be fun.So I’m super pumped, and we love the other bands that we’re playing with. We love this venue. We’re just excited to see our friends’ faces. And hopefully they’ll like it. And, you know, other than the three songs on the EP, like, nobody’s heard anything that we’re doing.
Phill: I mean, we only have six songs currently.
Helen: We’ll have two more we’ll be playing out with in like January. We’re adding things quickly.
Joey: Do you have any covers planned?
Helen: Secrets.
[Everyone laughs]Joey: If y’all could open for any bands. What’s the band?
Phill: I think the band’s unanimous dream would be to open for Blood Command.
Helen: Yeah, they are this AMAZING Norwegian punk band.
Joey: When we share this I’m gonna tag them. Maybe they’ll give you a call.
ONE FALL is obviously pumped for their debut live performance at Faces Brewing Co. in Malden, MA on Friday, December 9, 2022 with punk upstarts Blame It On Whitman and the venerable Zip-Tie Handcuffs. Doors are at 8pm and the show is all ages.
Tickets and more information are available here
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