RYDER
For What Its Worth | An Album Review
by Frank Piercy
February 12, 2018
Just about a year ago, well back in July at least, I volunteered to help out at a event in Maryland, some little shindig put together by promoter extraordinaire, Brad Lee,. My responsibility was to help out by shooting one of the band meet and greets that are part of the VIP package. I was assigned a band out of Queens New York, 4 nice guys who really made it a pleasant experience not only for the fans but for myself also.
Little did I know where that was going to lead me.
Ryder is four guys, James Ryder, lead singer and guitarist, Andrew Bloch, guitarist, Tim Freyr, bassist, and Billy Smith on drums, who draw their inspiration from a wide range of artists, Guns n Roses, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and more.
Recently the young men recorded a show at one of their favorite hang outs, Blackthorn 51 in their hometown of Queens, I was lucky enough to be in attendance and got a few shots from the night, but even better, I managed to cajole James into letting me get a preview of the EP before it hits the street.
The title for this opus is “For What It’s Worth” a collection of 5 songs recorded live. “Do or Die” is the first track on this and also usually for their live show also, a great heavy cruncher that does get the blood going, “Slave to Love” follows with a bit of audience participation to start it off “When It All Comes Down” starts off with a lone drum beat and James introducing the band as each member starts in after their intro is made, . L.O.A. Club is the slow song of the EP, a bluesy number that does showcase a bit of the talent that these boys do have. Bringing it all together is the quintessential anthem song that every Rock N Roll band looks for, Ryder has it with the last track “Is Rock n Roll Dead” a catchy riff with a catchy crowd pleasing draw em in chorus.
I don’t like trying to place bands into categories, its all Music ya know?
Ryder is a hard working and great sounding Hard Rock Band, who over the last few years have worked their way up into some pretty sweet gigs, such as opening for Faster Pussycat in Maryland, LA Guns out on Long Island, hell these busy guys are heading out to ROCKLAHOMA in a few weeks and taking the stage there.
The EP is titled “For What It’s Worth” and is being released on Feb 13th.
It can be pre ordered at this address
https://ryderband.bandcamp.com/album/for-what-its-worth-live