The Ride Theory delivers no-frills guitar-rock straight outta Hamilton

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 1, 2006

By Steve Newton

When Aron D’Alesio calls me to chat about his garage-rock band, the Ride Theory, he’s in the cottage community of Winnipeg Beach, where the teen soap Falcon Beach is filmed. Although he’s only 22—which likely puts him within the TV series’ demographic—the singer-guitarist isn’t keen on revealing that he’s licensed music to the program.

“It’s just another way to be a career band,” says D’Alesio with an audible shrug. “We’re just looking for new outlets to be professional musicians, basically.”

D’Alesio–whose band plays the Lamplighter on November 4–is more proud of the fact that he’s straight outta Hamilton, the rough ’n’ tumble steel town where the Ride Theory’s no-frills guitar-rock has been winning fans from the get go.

“We started off when we were 17 or 18,” he says, “and we just garnered good reactions from there. It’s the kinda town where rootsy rock ’n’ roll goes over fairly well.”

Groups like Cities in Dust, Sailboats Are White, Surly Young Bucks, and the Sweet Homewreckers are cited by D’Alesio as among the most promising currently emerging from the gritty streets of Hamilton.

“There’s a lot of great music coming out of there,” he claims, “’cause it’s a workingman’s city and it lends itself to a lot of creativity—more so than the bigger cities that might have more arrogance and competition. In smaller cities like Hamilton, people kinda create just because they like to create, and whatever they come up with is usually pretty unique.”

That said, the Ride Theory isn’t gonna win any awards for originality, as the material on its latest CD, In This City, harks back to British Invasion acts like the Stones, Zombies, and Kinks. “All That I Know” sounds just like a lost John Lennon song from the Meet the Beatles! era.

“My dad taught me how to play,” relates D’Alesio, “and that’s what I grew up listening to, so that’s kinda what the stuff comes out soundin’ like.”

The elder D’Alesio also played in a band, though not one you would have heard of.

“He ended up having me and slowin’ down quite a bit,” the frontman says with a laugh, explaining that his group is determined to take a more serious shot at success in the music world. And if it doesn’t pan out, there’s always the fruits of a good education to fall back on.

All four members—including rhythm guitarist–vocalist Kyle Kuchmey, bassist John Smith, and drummer-vocalist Noah Fralick—have pursued postsecondary studies at Ontario universities like Queen’s and McMaster. D’Alesio was enrolled at Hamilton’s Mohawk College, taking general arts and science, or, as he calls it, “the road to nowhere”.

But to paraphrase the Allman Brothers, that road goes on forever.

“The other guys are done [with their education],” he explains, “but I wanted to make sure I left the university door open, pretty much. We’ll see how the music goes. I guess you could say that we’re just givin’ it the old college try right now.”