When Ryan Gaio chose October 9 as the release date for his new single Always on Your Side, he knew it coincided with the Toronto Maple Leafs’ season opener against the Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
He had no way of knowing, however, that October 9 would also be the day his wife Sarah would be giving birth to the couple’s first child, a beautiful baby girl named Lucy.
“It wasn’t on my radar at all,” laughs Gaio. “I don’t even think we were pregnant yet when I wrote it. But it gives the song a nice thematic parallel. The meaning behind the song is kind of enhanced now.”
With lyrics such as “The buzzer's drawing near, and the time’s running out,” and “When you score the last goal, show that your heart won't die”, Always on Your Side is clearly about Canada’s official winter sport, if not obviously about the Leafs.
But other lines, including “My loyalty is clear, there's no shadow of a doubt,” and “No matter where you're going, there you'll find me,” it could also be a paean to the new member of the Gaio family.
The bleeding-blue-and-white Leafs fan insists he wrote it with his favourite hockey team in mind. And though he doesn’t claim to have been a great hockey player himself, he says he learned a lot from his coaches and teammates while taking the ice in the Niagara-on-the-Lake Wolves house league system at both the Centennial and Meridian Credit Union Arenas.
“In my early teenage years I came to realize I was more of a fan than I was a hockey player,” Giao explains. “When I started playing guitar I found my niche and stopped playing hockey. But I always remembered the lessons I learned from when I played.”
To Gaio, those lessons mostly centred around backing up his fellow players, ensuring they knew they had each other’s backs no matter what happened on the ice.
“I always admired that loyalty, that allegiance,” he continues. “As I’ve gotten older I have seen it’s tempting to just bail out on things and to be loosey-goosey in your commitments and values. I really admire long-term commitment, that idea of standing by something.”
It’s suggested to the 32-year-old that nobody understands commitment better than a lifelong Leafs fan. After all, the 2024-2025 NHL season, which Toronto began with a 1-0 loss on October 9, is the 57th year since the team last won the Stanley Cup.
“Sports fans know the feeling of putting so much emotional energy and care into something you ultimately have no influence on whatsoever,” Gaio laments. “You might think your magic socks will help them win the game, but it really does nothing. But Leafs fans never give up.”
Now living and teaching English and humanities at the York School in Toronto, the son of Walter and Katherine Gaio sees his fandom as a way to connect with his family back in NOTL.
“Knowing my Dad and my friends are watching the same game I’m watching feels good,” he says. “It’s a family tradition, part of my identity. Being a Leafs fan is like a religion or faith. It really does occupy that place in my life. I’m committed to following this team whether they’re good or bad. I’m not going to change my allegiance. It’s like my loyalty to family, too.”
The idea for the song came to Gaio while watching the Leafs in last year’s first-round playoff series against the Bruins, which they lost in seven games.
“I was absent-mindedly strumming my guitar while watching,” Gaio explains. “I started humming this refrain, ‘I’m always on your side’. I immediately knew what I wanted the song to be about, to capture that sense of fandom, for it to be literally about hockey but metaphorically about an overall idea of pledging yourself to someone or something, win or lose.”
He gathered the same group of friends who worked on his 2023 album The Best Ain’t Happened Yet. Gaio takes the lead vocal and is joined on guitar by Gabriel Riecksen. The rhythm section features Al Grantham on bass and Bramwell Park in the drum seat, while Kaleb Hikele adds keyboards. Grantham and Hikele contribute background vocals as well.
Hikele’s organ flourishes give the listener the feeling of being inside the Scotiabank Arena during a game, while the crunchy guitar riffs drive the song and provide the requisite energy for an arena-rock rager. Always on Your Side would be a perfect hype song, a call-to-arms for the Leafs, or any other team for that matter.
“That would be amazing,” Gaio enthuses. “I hear the Leafs are looking for a goal song for this year. Or maybe it could be played in the tailgate zone during a playoff game. That would be a dream come true, second only to them winning a Stanley Cup.”
Always on Your Side is available from most streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music. NOTL Local readers can give it a listen here
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