Click to hear sample track

The Ride Theory
Nailing the Hammer's Rock n' Roll Spirit
By: Adam Grant
 
"

I don't like the idea of just putting on a show for a bunch of people in suits - we like being the guys in the suits," jokes Kyle Kuchmey, guitarist for the always dapperly dressed Hamilton, Ontario rock quartet The Ride Theory when reflecting on the band's recent appearance at Canadian Music Week in Toronto.

Along with band mates Aron D'Alesio (vocals/guitar), Noah Fralick (drums), and John Smith (bass), Kuchmey and company have become known for their three-piece stage-suit attire, as well as an uncanny ability to capture the spirit of 1960's garage/surf rock at such young ages.
 
            Starting out back in 2002, The Ride Theory were barely old-enough to play anywhere but a few local haunts, considering that many of the members were still in high school at the time.  However, they still managed to do shows when they could, and at the same time released a well regarded self-titled disc in 2003.  From there they toured throughout Eastern Canada, a few cities over the boarder, and even wound up sharing stages with such heavily touted acts as The Rheostatics, Billy Talent, and Arcade Fire.
 
            Flash forward to 2006, and the continuing momentum of TRT's 2005 record, In This City (released through Sunny Lane Records), and you'll find a band who may be young in age, but know how to kick it old school.  With much of this group's sound being likened to the good ol' days of rock n' roll, these Steel City lads decided to go from the digital recording methods they had used previously, to the reel-to-reel technique made famous by rockers of yesteryear.
 
"We did like the sound of the first album a lot, but it sounded almost like a different band - like we were coming from a different place," believes Kuchmey.
 
"We're definitely huge fans of what was going on in the mid-'60's as far as garage rock - or whatever people like to call it - and that's a huge influence," he continues.  "We think they got a lot of things right back then that kind of got lost in the shuffle as time went on in the recording realm."
 
            Deciding to get back to the analogue studio method that seemingly worked out very well for many musicians before them was, according to Kuchmey, an attempt to capture the band's robust live energy and to find that "warm feel" in their tunes that they so desired.
 
            As for the material that made up this analogue based exploration, a lot of it is based around how inspired The Ride Theory is by the ever expanding Hamilton music scene.  Personally, Kuchmey's inspiration for In This City came from up-close encounters with some of his hometown musical heroes of the past, Gord Lewis (Teenage Head), and Edgar Breau (Simply Saucer), who he happened to meet while working on a class project at MacMaster University. 
           
"It was really inspiring to hear their successes and their trials and tribulations in their developmental stages, and kind of drawing similarities to what I've experienced - then finding out how different the music scene was at that time," says Kuchmey about a scene that while constantly changing, always seems to have a place for The Ride Theory.
 
 
"We've always felt that Hamilton has been a great support for us.  We're really happy about that because it seems that a lot of the time - not just in Hamilton, but all over the place, an artist is far under appreciated in their hometown, and seems to get all the appreciation everywhere else."

To hear The Ride Theory for yourself, visit www.theridetheory.com
Photo By: Dan Zen