Bel Riose like to pace themselves when it comes to their music. Months separate gigs and new albums can take a while to conceive but this isn’t about lack of commitment or not taking the band seriously. Quite the opposite. In fact Ryan Dolejsi (Bass/vocals) and brother Geoff (drums/vocals) love playing music, so why the lengthy wait?
"We used to pretty much take any show that was offered because we love playing.” Ryan says. “But if you play too much it can become a situation where only your friends are coming out and then you're playing early Tuesday night sets or something retarded like that. We also stopped playing as much due to family, work, and just not wanting to overdo it.”
Understandably newborns and full-time jobs will limit a band to only a handful of shows in a year, but I guarantee that it’s worth the wait and whether live or on record the music of Bel Riose will feed you a strong dose of adrenaline soaked hard rock magic. Take for example their 2007 release, Demonstration. A glorious hook filled opus of hard-pop songwriting without the pretension. Nothing too fancy save for the massive guitar-like bass, wicked clean start/stop timekeeping and clear vocals with lyrics dipping into everyday concerns of love, missed love, getting older, technology, and city life. They’re a couple of dudes with their eyes open to the world around them.
But Bel Riose didn’t just fall from the sky. Where did they come from and how did they get here?
“We grew up in the magical suburb of Tsawwassen where there wasn't really anything cool going on and not much of a music scene.” Ryan tells me. “So we'd bus into Vancouver every few days to go to some of the old defunct clubs like The Nappy Dugout and Starfish Room.”
He goes on to tell me of the 3 hour round trips to Vancouver every weekend just to see their favorite local band of yore, Sparkmarker, and how their former vocalist Ryan was an enigma and force to be reckoned with onstage. “Ryan was just incredible!! He's singing for Deadsure and Owl Drugs now. Sparkmarker wasn't much different then what Owl Drugs are doing. 3 guys playing something so defined alongside this lunatic who doesn't even look like he's part of the band. Same with Sparkmarker, these 3 robots playing so tightly and heavily with these pauses in the music that are so definite that you can here a pin drop. Then there’s Ryan crawling around on the floor, wrapping the mic around his neck, howling for dear life. They were so amazing and inspiring.”
It was these musical sermons along with a cool older cousin who would introduce the brothers to the local hardcore and punk scene that would get the ball of creative output rolling. One thing led to another and before you could say ‘flash-pots’, the boys were tearing it up in bands around the city.
This opened the doors to their first full-on band, the eclectic 3-piece Back Room Shag. After BRS called it a day in 1998, Ryan and Geoff decided to carry on as a 2 piece. Honing their craft and experimenting with different instruments and sounds firmly believing that 2 people can rock just as hard as 4 or more, Bel Riose was born.
“There were really only a couple of bands doing the 2 piece thing and they were Duotang and The Inbreds.” Geoff says, “Each had their particular sound but it wasn't the level of energy or noise we wanted to make. We wanted to be louder and harder, so Ryan went through a bunch of different bass guitars and pedal configurations until we finally got the sound we were looking for and how we wanted to come across live. Most of the time after shows, people come up to us and comment on how we sound like a full band, so i think we've kind of gotten what we wanted sound-wise."
Well it sounds fuckin’ great to me. This is music that gets me all sugary and fired up. Big epic, shiny musical explosions that will make you lose your shit in a headbanging frenzy while stopping periodically to make out with your lover. This is music I don’t mind waiting for, and with an upcoming and long overdue show and an album currently underway, it appears that a good rockin’ thirst quenching is imminent. And Ryan assures me that the new album is going to slay.
“If we never make another record again, we want this one to be the defining moment. The strong record that people take notice of.” You can take notice when Bel Riose plays the Sweatshop on Sept 20th with The Grave Life.

~Nathan Pike Posted: Sep 19, 2008