Though I can't stand this bland, unimaginative and obvious style of rock n' roll writing (I'm pitching this story to a newspaper) if it gets me cash for being short (Which I know anyone who reads this enjoys) and I get to use terms like "Glorified egg" (Which I also know everyone enjoys) then shit, I'll fucking write like this. Check out Young Rival though, if you dare.
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Youth might not be the glorified egg it’s cracked up to be. The actual dog days of youth are spent in a perpetual state of confusion while looking back on your youth brings forth feelings of anger or loneliness. These themes are omnipresent within the guitar-driven lexicon of popular and independent music as well, spawning angry yet obvious bands such as The Clash. Hearing a year or so ago that Hamilton’s The Ride Theory had changed their name to Young Rival lead me to believe they had decided to embark upon a nastier path of rock and roll, with less hooks and more subversive degradation of young suburbia.
But even holed up at Pat’s Pub on East Hastings, an area of Vancouver whose reputation supersedes itself, the band were all smiles. And when they launched into their seamless brand of straight laced, British Invasion-esque rock and roll, it became clear that nothing at all has changed about these four fellows, still ripe with youth.
Fresh off the release of their self-titled EP, recorded in New York City with Emery Dobyns, (Patti Smith, Suzanne Vega) Young Rival is crossing Canada on an ambitious 22-date tour of Canada. Deep inside Pat’s Pub, the band wasted no time bringing the dance floor up from underneath the crowd who welcomed a chance to feel young, uninhibited and adventurous for the night.
Tracks like “Your Island,” while reminiscent of The Kinks and The Yardbirds, were still wrought with hooks and boiling over with pop sensibility. It’s the lack of pretension that sets Young Rival apart from the pop-punk wizardry that’s in a full swing of popularity with the ill-fated youth of the mall and lumps them in rather directly with the garage rock renaissance that keeps aging hipsters afloat.
Young Rival’s rock remains direct; while the swagger of “Poisonous Moves” didn’t pull any punches and sounded subtle enough, the constant thump of a chorus knocked out most of the crowd just as easily. Despite rhythm guitarist Kyle Kuchmey telling me that their name change was a result of a natural evolution, there remains very little transformation from Ride Theory to Young Rival. But the band has managed to keep things fresh by keeping things raw.
While it’s not an overtly original sound, tracks like “Parking Ticket” (Which the band tore through like an actual parking ticket) gave heed to an old adage: Play from your heart instead of your head and you’ll find the hearts on the dance-floor. Judging from the lack of room on the dance-floor by the time I left, Young Rival shouldn’t have much to be angry about anyway.
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Youth might not be the glorified egg it’s cracked up to be. The actual dog days of youth are spent in a perpetual state of confusion while looking back on your youth brings forth feelings of anger or loneliness. These themes are omnipresent within the guitar-driven lexicon of popular and independent music as well, spawning angry yet obvious bands such as The Clash. Hearing a year or so ago that Hamilton’s The Ride Theory had changed their name to Young Rival lead me to believe they had decided to embark upon a nastier path of rock and roll, with less hooks and more subversive degradation of young suburbia.
But even holed up at Pat’s Pub on East Hastings, an area of Vancouver whose reputation supersedes itself, the band were all smiles. And when they launched into their seamless brand of straight laced, British Invasion-esque rock and roll, it became clear that nothing at all has changed about these four fellows, still ripe with youth.
Fresh off the release of their self-titled EP, recorded in New York City with Emery Dobyns, (Patti Smith, Suzanne Vega) Young Rival is crossing Canada on an ambitious 22-date tour of Canada. Deep inside Pat’s Pub, the band wasted no time bringing the dance floor up from underneath the crowd who welcomed a chance to feel young, uninhibited and adventurous for the night.
Tracks like “Your Island,” while reminiscent of The Kinks and The Yardbirds, were still wrought with hooks and boiling over with pop sensibility. It’s the lack of pretension that sets Young Rival apart from the pop-punk wizardry that’s in a full swing of popularity with the ill-fated youth of the mall and lumps them in rather directly with the garage rock renaissance that keeps aging hipsters afloat.
Young Rival’s rock remains direct; while the swagger of “Poisonous Moves” didn’t pull any punches and sounded subtle enough, the constant thump of a chorus knocked out most of the crowd just as easily. Despite rhythm guitarist Kyle Kuchmey telling me that their name change was a result of a natural evolution, there remains very little transformation from Ride Theory to Young Rival. But the band has managed to keep things fresh by keeping things raw.
While it’s not an overtly original sound, tracks like “Parking Ticket” (Which the band tore through like an actual parking ticket) gave heed to an old adage: Play from your heart instead of your head and you’ll find the hearts on the dance-floor. Judging from the lack of room on the dance-floor by the time I left, Young Rival shouldn’t have much to be angry about anyway.
