By Jessica Lewis
We’ve all grown up thinking that our school teachers go home at the end of the day to simply read and correct papers. We don’t think of them as having completely separate lives.
Ryan McCambridge, an instructor for the Chang School of Continuing Edication, is one of those teachers that has a dual life. He’s the singer and lead guitarist of local band, Recovery Child.
Recovery Child played inside the sophisticated yet grungy walls of the El Mocambo this past Friday night to an enthusiastic crowd of about 150 people.
But while 26-year-old McCambridge is a musician by night, he is an audio engineer during the day, as well as a teacher for his students aged 18 to 50.
“I haven’t invited my students to shows,” said McCambridge. “At the end of the semester, I wouldn’t hesitate to, but during the semester, there’s a certain amount of authority that you have to keep and at my shows. I don’t want to be like that.”
Recovery Child, whose name represents the stage of McCambridge’s life after suffering through some rough patches, has just celebrated its one-year anniversary, and also received its first encore ever at this show.
The band consists of McCambridge, Logan Scott on bass, Greg McEvoy on guitar and Gord Davidson on drums. Even with chronic bronchitis, McCambridge’s vocals were steady and strong, complementing the heavy guitars, the backbone bass, and the drums that fueled the intense energy of the band. And an intense performance is key for McCambridge.
“We are a very socially conscious band,” said McCambridge. “We are as loyal to our fans as they are to us, and I think at the end of the day, I would really like to just inspire people.”
Recovery Child was formed first as McCambridge’s solo project after being in different bands for 14 years, but he then joined with McEvoy through their same producer. Scott was found online, and Davidson was introduced through a mutual friend.
Together, they frequent venues across Toronto. As for sound of the band, they hate describing it. McCambridge admits to his love of ‘90s rock, but the other influences of blues and punk shine through.
“I think what makes our sound is we never subscribe to actually wanting to sound like anybody in particular,” said McCambridge. Their set lasted about an hour, consisting of songs off their self-titled EP, such as “Wide Awake,” “Whisper,” and “Trigger Me.”
McCambridge admits to pining over his lyrics. “I take inspiration from whatever the music is dictating,” he said. “I can take forever to write lyrics. Lyric writing is a lost art in many respects, so I just try and put a bit more into it, making sure that every single line means something.”
Plans for this year include a tour out East, and a radio campaign and tour in the United States.
The band’s self-titled EP can be found on iTunes.
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