The Ride Theory Get To Play With Their Heroes

It's not uncommon for a young independent band to get to play with an act they grew up admiring. This becomes much more difficult, though, when your heroes have been around for more than 40 years and are members of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, which is why The Ride Theory are beaming right now.

The Hamilton quartet will support the legendary Yardbirds during their three Ontario gigs this week. The British group, who formed in England in 1962, are noted for helping to start the careers of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Although none of the famed guitarists will be present during the shows, The Ride Theory's Aron D'Alesio is looking forward to seeing remaining original members Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty lead their new bandmates through the act's acclaimed back catalogue.

"We are very excited to be playing with The Yardbirds, as they have played a huge influence on us as musicians," says guitarist and vocalist D'Alesio. "Three of my favourite guitar players came out of that band.

"Unfortunately they won't be part of the present lineup, but we're still thrilled to meet the remaining members and hear some good tunes."

Things have been going well for The Ride Theory of late. Sunny Lane Records re-released the band's excellent sophomore disc, In This City, earlier this year. Since then, the guys have turned in stellar performances at Canadian Music Week and North By Northeast and performed as part of the 11th annual S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival in St. Catharines, Ont. this past weekend.

Having recently wrapped up their university studies, the band are now able to place their sole focus on further developing their energetic mod and garage-infused brand of rock 'n' roll. They have begun licensing some of their music to various Canadian television programs and hope to do more of this in the future. A slew of new songs have been written and they're working on pre-production for their next album. The next year will see them putting out the album and embarking on national tours across Canada and the U.S.

While looking to make their marks as musicians, getting to chat with The Yardbirds could provide some invaluable insight into the workings of the constantly changing music industry. With only four years experience under their collective belts, it's uncertain whether The Ride Theory's songs will have the longevity of The Yardbirds. But D'Alesio is only worrying about the band continuing to create music that they enjoy and believe in, as opposed to catering to trends.

"The nature of the music business these days doesn't seem like it has the capacity to develop bands for more than five years anymore, let alone 40," he says. "It's really hard to know what music will stand the test of time.

"We're almost to the point where artists can't do anything musically without it being compared to something else, and the hipster kids always want something new and trendy. We prefer to put out music we think is good rather than something that we figure some writer will latch on to and call revolutionary when we think it's ultimately terrible. So will our music stand the test of time? Who knows? This is a strange business."

Here are The Ride Theory's tour dates:

July 11 Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace w/The Yardbirds
July 12 Waterloo, ON @ The Starlight w/The Yardbirds
July 13 Hamilton, ON @ Corktown w/The Yardbirds
July 20 London, ON @ Call The Office
July 21 Toronto, ON @ Bovine Sex Club
July 28 Guelph, ON @ Jimmy Jazz
Aug. 11 Hamilton, ON @ Gage Park (Festival Of Friends)
Aug. 25 Hamilton, ON @ The Casbah