The Band ON (With Members of the Band Acid Test) Performed in Reno

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Alturas Bar

Reno, NV

February 18, 2023

By Dan Locke

Lucy Di Santo- Vocals/Bass

Steve Fall- Guitar

Dan Cornelius-Drum

On the strength of their their eponymous ‘ON’ album, recently released via Toronto-based indie imprint Indiestructable Records and their new ‘Break You’ video, indie rock / power trio ON will be taking their 90s-flavoured indie rock vibes on the road. Although heavier, the root of their sound should come as no surprise, carrying on the legacy of their 90’s Sire Records band Acid Test.

Acid Test members Lucy Di Santo and Steve Fall are joined on stage with drummer Dan Cornelius for a fun short run tour of the United States start on the West Coast. I had a chance to catch them at the start of their tour on the firth stop of their tour. They had been playing 5 dates without a break. And you could tell they were tried. But they still give it all they had.

This tour is low key for them. Many people who are seeing them don’t know they had some history of a band a few years ago. All they know they heard them on the radio, and they are a band they wanted to see in a small club, before they start playing bigger locations.

As Acid Test, the band was the opening act for bands like Nine Inch Nails, Grace Jones, Snow, 54-40, The Ocean Blue, and for the last live performance, in Toronto, of The Sugarcubes. Acid Test went on a hiatus in 1994, reforming in 2012 to work on a third studio recording at Atom Percy’s home recording studio in British Columbia. And In 2018, the band released the EP Jus Rite. Even while in hiatus they were still working on new material as a new band. And what I saw that night was the combination of years of working behind the scenes.

We had the chance to speak with Lisa and Steve after their set.

First, let’s start with your band name – why did you decide to call yourself ON?

Lucy Di Santo – ON has a reference to perception, like being aware. A self-awareness of your surroundings. That was sort where I was coming from and presented to Steve.

We understand that both you (Lucy and Steve) were in seminal Canadian indie band Acid Test prior to ON. How would you distinguish the music between each project?

Lucy – for myself, Acid Test was an experience in sound. It was my first venture into branching out singing and playing bass. Prior to this I was playing bass only in previous bands.

I was feeling groove and funk and enjoying various elements in dark lit clubs. Steve and I wrote together in a previous outing and he had a raw energy and passion to his heavy guitar sound. But then he started exploring funk and Nile Rogers blended with his metal and Hendrix leanings. It was perfect.

We added a DJ and a keyboard and samples and just experimented. Then we took it live. It was wild!

Steve- with ON Lucy wanted a stripped down angry twin guitar sound. I was in right away. ON was.

About loud guitars but still having a delivery with a lyrical context to the songs. Originally, I enjoyed having a twin guitar setup. ON always had another guitar player fattening it up sonically. In fact, we had some great friends I deeply respected sit in with the band live, Rob Holliday from Prodigy was with us before he went back to the UK to establish himself in many notable groups. And later, we had our good friend Tom Capone x of Quicksand (currently BloodClot) check things out with us for a while.

Anyway, when we resurfaced a desire to reform ON for another record, we just decided to sit with the three of us and rock a little louder.

What was the progression from Acid Test to ON and why did it happen?

Steve Fall – As I noted prior it was just a desire to strip things down. Also Acid Test had been out touring for almost 3 years straight and we really wanted to refocus on who we were. We love guitar as the guiding voice for writing music. And we still feel that.

Is that things over for Acid Test then or what’s the plan?

Lucy – No Acid Test is kind of like an alter ego for us. Now that we parked it for a bit, I can appreciate it more. It’s rather nice that I can put on a new outfit of sound and create in another context. For me Acid Test can be a playground for funk grooves and another energy. And with ON we can have that same freedom but experience it with an all things guitar focus.

Can you tell us about your new eponymous ‘ON’ album?

ON (credit: Dan Locke)

Lucy – It really is a collaborative effort of the triad that is ON. We all had a hand in the lyrical content, guitar riffs, production, arrangements. I mean, we really pushed ourselves, we really wanted to get to another level with our songwriting. I hope we achieved that. For myself personally, the album gave me a chance to express a healing as well.

Can you tell us about your upcoming American tour dates?

Steve – we started Feb 14 in San Diego and wrap in Seattle April 2. We will bounce around California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, here in Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, I hope I didn’t forget anything. It’s up and down and all around that region.

How has the tour been so far?

Steve- Seattle was great. What I like about this tour it will be taking to parts of the United States I have never seen. So I will get a true feeling what the United State is really is.

What are your plans for ON and Acid Test following this West Coast tour?

We will be recording a new ON album with Martin Bisi at his BC Studio in Brooklyn – this is almost immediately after our tour. We then have loose plans to play the UK and tour the Eastern US and central US in the summer. After all this, we want to do some Acid Test remixes with various remixers in Canada and UK, one of whom we anticipate to be Mark Gardener of RIDE fame – we recently had the honour of meeting with him face to face following their concert and that was a total blast. Lots to look forward to.

Also we will be doing some more tour. With the label I have started we have signed three new bands, which we plan to do a tour with. Also we are planning to do a tour of the UK. Then come back to the United States and hit it hard. I can’t forget we also are doing SXSW in March.

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