Young Rival: A Rose By Any Other Name...

11/21/08 12:56pm

by Shawn Despres (CHARTattack)

So how important is a band name? Well, for Hamilton's Young Rival, a simple change of monikers has opened a new world of opportunities.

Formed in their teens as The Ride Theory, the quartet released two praised full-lengths of hip, vintage garage rock while still in school. Looking to shake things up post-grad, this past summer they started anew as Young Rival. While their music remains the same, attitudes about it have definitely shifted.

"The way we are perceived now in a lot of peoples' minds has certainly changed," says drummer Noah Fralick. "In the last six months we've made more inroads to being closer to where we want to be than we did in five years as The Ride Theory."

The act are preparing to record their Young Rival debut. They've demoed 24 tracks and hope to have the album out in the spring. Extensive gigging across North America will follow. One of their demos, "415," is already receiving airplay in the U.K., which could pave the way for some European dates as well.

"We don't want to bury what we've done in the past, but we're looking for a fresh start," explains guitarist Aron D'Alesio. "We want to push what we're doing now and give people the impression that this is our first album. It's what we want people to pay attention to and get behind."

The following is a Listen Up article taken from the December 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, head on over to the Chart Shop.