Oceanside

Alicia is known for her work as the bass player and graphic design artist for the band Oceanside. Homegrown from Brooklyn, New York, Alicia always had a passion for creating artwork and playing music. She attended a Jewish private school as a kid but always felt alienated by her peers and can recall never feeling a part of the in-crowd. Years passing by, Alicia found herself battling a serious drug addiction where she would play guitar out on the streets of Brooklyn in order to support her habit. Through multiple attempts to get clean, Alicia gave recovery one last shot and decided to go away to a long term treatment program called Dynamite Youth Center (DYC) in Brooklyn, New York.

Going through the program Alicia was able to reclaim herself and her sobriety while gaining a vast understanding of drug addiction through the impacts it has made on her life. While in DYC, Alicia became friends with another member of the program, James Moreno, and was able to acquaint herself with Matthew Rush Rinaldi, a then staff member at DYC. Alicia would sing and play guitar with other musicians that were attending the program at the time and played a number of shows at different venues in support of DYC and recovery. After transferring to the outpatient part of the program, Alicia stayed friends with James Moreno and created the now used logo for Oceanside. Shortly after designing the graphic work for the band, Alicia was asked to join the project as the bass player and become part of the recovery message that Oceanside was looking to promote. 

Being a part of the DYC program, Alicia attended their outpatient facility in Brooklyn, New York and would frequently visit shows within that area. She spent a good portion of time scouting for venue representatives that book within the tri state area and is also accredited to being the driving force of promotion for Oceanside. Due to her persistent activeness in online groups and Reddit subs, Alicia was able to generate a visibility to the band that would not have been possible had she not been in the project. This was a huge help to getting Oceanside off the ground and into peoples music playlists all across America. 

Today Alicia lives in Brooklyn, New York and remains in close contact with James. She spends time periodically painting and devising plans to one day be the owner of her family business. Alicia takes care of herself by enjoying things she used to do before she became addicted and is excited to begin working on the first full length album for Oceanside. She is currently sketching ideas and artwork for the upcoming record and is looking to create a full digital booklet for the next release. Alicia wants to thank Dynamite Youth Center for bringing recovery into her life and for giving a foundation to the opportunities that followed to take place after her completion of their inpatient facility in upstate, New York.

Rush is the original drummer and one of the founding members of Oceanside. He is a husband, a father to two young children, but most importantly, a person in recovery. He lived in upstate New York all his life and attended Warwick High School while growing up. Rush has always been musically inclined and the first instrument he began playing was guitar at the age of twelve. From there Rush continued to play more instruments like the keyboard and the bass guitar, but he eventually found an affectionate love and passion for beating the crap out of a drum set.

Struggling as a teen, Rush found himself going in and out of drug treatment programs and had been to five or six different rehabs before turning twenty-one. However, the last day Rush ever had to step foot inside another rehab facility was the day he walked into the doors of Dynamite Youth Center (DYC). Rush stayed through the program and was eventually offered a full-time position as a staff member at DYC. As a counselor, Rush was able to gain a relationship James Moreno and Alicia Abrams, two newly entered members of the program, where they became familarized with one another and allowed to play music together throughout their time at DYC. They would frequently practice songs with each other and actively play shows with other members of the program under the name, "The Dynamite Collective." During this time, Rush and James began collaborating on the idea for a recovery based band centered around helping the youth with substance abuse issues.  

Before James transferred to the outpatient part of the program, Rush recorded his drumming onto nine songs one night after work. During the tracking session, Rush periodically would check on his wife and warned James that at any moment his wife might go into labor, considering she was nine months pregnant. Luckily for the both of them, Rush made it through the recording session without his wife going into labor and completed the tracking to all nine songs within that single night. Those drum recordings eventually translated into being the first two EP releases by Oceanside as "Minor Setback," and "Major Comeback." Rush was able to keep in contact with James after he transferred to DYC's outpatient facility, where they finished tracking the rest of the record at James' home studio. 

Rush lives in Warwick, New York with his wife and now two children. He left Oceanside August of 2020 in order to pursue his own aspirations and still champions the message the band was founded on. With strength and commitment, Rush continues to stay consistent in his recovery all while remaining to be a dependable husband and father to both his wife and children. Being extremely vocal about the program saving his life, Rush says DYC helped pave the way for Oceanside and was a major influence in its formation. Looking foward to the future, Rush is proud to see the progress of the band and wishes nothing but success to all of the current members of Oceanside.