Oceanside

Alicia is the bass player and graphic design artist for the band Oceanside. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Alicia has always had a passion for creating artwork and playing music. As a child, she attended a small Jewish private school but would remember those years as feeling alienated by her classmates and peers. 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 another shot and decided to go away to a long term treatment facility called Dynamite Youth Center (DYC).

Going through the program, Alicia was able to reclaim herself and gain an understanding of drug addiction through the impacts it 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 Rinaldi (a then staff member of DYC). Throughout her time in the program, Alicia would sing and play guitar along side James and Rinaldi at many events in support of DYC and recovery. After transferring to the outpatient part of the program, Alicia stayed friends with James and created the now used logo for the band. Shortly after creating the logo, Alicia was asked to join the project and become part of the recovery message that the band 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 promoting Oceanside and is accredited for being the driving force behind the bands online presence. Due to her persistent activeness in online groups, Alicia was able to generate a visibility to the band that would not have been possible had she never been part of the project. This was a huge help to getting Oceanside off the ground and into peoples music playlists all across the world. 

Today, Alicia lives in Pennsylvania with her beloved animals and remains in close contact with James and Vinny Vicari (the now drummer of Oceanside). She spends her time periodically painting and exploring nature while also living a life she never thought was possible. Alicia takes care of herself by enjoying things she used to do before she became addicted and is looking forward to the future of Oceanside. She thanks the DYC program for bringing her into contact with people like James and giving her a foundation of recovery to base her life around. 

Rush is considered one of the founding members of Oceanside as well as the original drummer for the band. He is a husband and a father but most importantly, a person in recovery. He’s lived in upstate New York most of his life and attended Warwick High School as a teenager. While growing up, Rush had always been musically inclined and spent a good portion of his earlier life surrounded by music. He started playing guitar at twelve and then from there began to learn various other instruments that he could add to his repertoire. Although Rush mainly focused on being a guitar player during his teenage years, he eventually found a passion for beating the crap out of a drum set!

Struggling as a teen, Rush found himself going in and out of treatment facilities and before turning twenty-one had been to five or six different rehabs. Fed up with the life of drug addiction, Rush made the decision to go away for one last time and checked himself into 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 with James Moreno and Alicia Abrams (two newly entered members of the program) where they would play music together at the DYC facility. Rush and James frequently would practice together and 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 creating a recovery based band centered around helping people struggling with addiction get out of that lifestyle. 

Before James transferred to the outpatient part of the DYC program, Rush recorded his drumming to nine songs one night after work. During the tracking session, Rush would periodically warn James that his wife was nine months pregnant and if she goes into labor he would need to cut the recording session short and leave. Luckily for the both of them, Rush made it through the recording session and completed the tracking to all nine songs. Once James transferred to the outpatient part of DYC’s program, he began recording the rest of the parts to the songs while keeping in close contact with Rush. Those drum recordings would eventually be used for the first two EP releases under Oceanside, “Minor Setback” and “Major Comeback”. 

Rush left Oceanside August of 2020 in order to pursue his own aspirations and goals in life. He still champions the message of the band and continues to be an advocate of the DYC program. With strength and commitment, Rush stays consistent in his recovery while remaining to be a dependable husband and father to 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.