Once upon a time in a not-so-faraway land called Toledo in the 1980s, there was a band called Paris.
And a bunch of weird stuff happened.
It was 1988 and Alli Aras of Bowsher High School, class of ’79 fame and notoriety, was reading a magazine article about the band Poison, which at the time was at the top of its commercial game. According to the article, Bret Michaels and his friends were first in a band called Paris before they abandoned the name in favor of Poison.
Aras had an epiphany when he read that the Paris name was essentially now rock ‘n’ roll public domain. If Bret, Rikki, Bobby, and C.C. didn’t want the band name Paris, well, Aras certainly did. Paris. It was a strong, memorable band name. A name that would look great on stickers and T-shirts.
“We grabbed the name Paris in ‘88,” said Aras. “I thought Paris was actually a better name than Poison, to be honest, so we’ve had it since.”
At the core of Paris is the friendship between Aras and drummer Bob Davenport, who worked at Camelot Music in the old Southwyck Mall. Davenport was introduced to Aras one night at work by Fritz Adamshick, one of the founding members of iconic Toledo heavy metal band Damien.
”I’m Alli’s biggest fan when it comes to songwriting,” said Davenport.
The encounter led to a lifelong partnership between the two musicians that informs the music they play today. The pair and their companions can regularly be seen on stage at places like the Sportsmans’ Bar in East Toledo bumping elbows with other notable local groups like the JT Hayden Band.
“Alli and I are best friends,” Davenport said, “and we’ve been playing together for 35 years.”
And over those years, people certainly remembered Paris. They played all over the Midwest but mostly stuck to those bars and clubs of Toledo, where they were treated like local rock royalty. A Paris show was a guaranteed good time.
In 1994, they started recording an album with Sony but that fell through due to a bunch of behind the scenes drama. In 1997, they recorded with Toledo producer legend Mark Mikel but once again life happened and again, no album was forthcoming.
So it took Paris all that time to release their first full length album of original music, but that’s exactly what makes their album work. Good rock ‘n’ roll takes time to age and mellow and becomes sweeter with each passing generation.
Titled Now and Then, the album takes the classic rock tropes of the band’s youth and brings them into 2025, with the sounds of the great rock legends of yesteryear sounding alive and well.
These guys grew up listening to the masters of what we now call “classic rock”— everybody from Foreigner to Foghat to Journey to Led Zeppelin. Paris also performs as the classic rock throwback band Sonic Temple, where they specialize in rock covers from their musical heroes.
There’s this sweet moment on the Paris track “Siren Song” where Darcy Day’s guitar and John Conroy’s bass melds with the stirring sound of a cello. It’s not everyday you hear strings being played in rock ‘n’ roll, especially in a Rust Belt city like Toledo. But there it is. It’s a glorious piece of audio that turns downright celestial when it all meets with vocalist Aras’ soaring golden god rock voice.
And that’s just the third track of the album, a damn near perfect slice of down and dirty Toledo rock ‘n’ roll that sounds like it was custom made to be performed during the gritty, sweaty glory of the Toledo Sports Arena.
“We took the best of about 30 songs that we’ve recorded,” said Aras. “We locked it up and finished it up. Its called Now and Then because there’s three decades worth of sound on the album.”
In addition to being a longtime area musician, Aras has worked for or managed various clubs and nightlife spots over the years, including the former Club Bijou in downtown Toledo and the former Prime Nightlife in South Toledo under tutelage of Toledo icon Kip Diacou.
“Every Toledoan of Millennial age or older can likely recall partying, dancing, or watching a band at one of Diacou's many entertainment venues,” The Blade noted in 2023. “Boomers can no doubt remember learning to do the hustle at Studio 1 in the late ’70s, a discotheque Diacou owned at Secor and Dorr, or indulging in the Urban Cowboy chic of the early ’80s at Dallas V on Reynolds.”
“Kip says 'Don't think big, think huge,'" Aras told The Blade around the time that summer a year and a half ago the Switchboard held a celebration of Diacou’s career in the music industry.
And that mindset has carried over into the Aras’ music.
Aras said the band has secured a distribution deal with Rockshot Records out in Napoleon and the band plans to release three singles from the album, and film music videos for the songs.
But for Aras, the best part about playing with Paris is getting to make music with his friend.
“The true test is that after 35 years, Bob and I are still doing music together.”
Paris’ album Now and Then is available for streaming on Spotify and CDs are available directly from the band members.
First Published January 2, 2025, 12:28 p.m.
