Ride | |
|---|---|
 Ride performing in Barcelona in 2022, from left to right: Bell, Colbert, Gardener, Queralt | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Oxford, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1988–1996, 2014–present |
| Labels | |
| Members |
|
| Website | www |
Ride are an Englishrock band formed inOxford in 1988. The band consists of vocalists and guitaristsAndy Bell andMark Gardener, drummerLaurence "Loz" Colbert and bassist Steve Queralt. They have been recognised as one of the key pioneers ofshoegaze, analternative rock subgenre that emerged to prominence in the United Kingdom during the early 1990s.
The band's first two albums,Nowhere (1990) andGoing Blank Again (1992), have been critically acclaimed as two of the greatest shoegaze albums of all time.[2][3][4][5] The latter's lead single, "Leave Them All Behind", was the band's most commercially successful song, reaching No. 9 on theUK Singles Chart. BothGoing Blank Again and its 1994 follow-up,Carnival of Light, peaked at No. 5 on theUK Albums Chart.
Ride broke up in 1996 prior to the release of their fourth albumTarantula, which received negative reviews. Bell joinedOasis in 1999 as their bassist. The band reunited in 2014 to tour again, and also put out the albumsWeather Diaries (2017),This Is Not a Safe Place (2019) andInterplay (2024).
Andy Bell and Mark Gardener had been toCheney School in Oxford, appearing in the school's musical theatre productions, and in October 1988, they moved toBanbury to do Foundation Studies in Art & Design at North Oxfordshire College and the Oxfordshire School of Art & Design.[6] There they met Laurence Colbert and Steve Queralt. Queralt, who also went toCheney School, was recruited from the localOur Price record shop where he worked as a singles buyer (although Bell and Queralt had already played together in an obscure reggae/pop band called "Big Spiderback").[7] After considering various names, the band settled for 'Ride', with its evocation of travel, and after theride cymbal. Bell has cited a performance bythe Smiths as the inspiration for forming a band.[6] The band formed in the summer of 1988 and played their first gig as Ride for the College's Christmas Party towards the end of the year. While still at Banbury, the band produced a demo tape, recorded in Queralt's bedroom and hallway, including the tracks "Chelsea Girl" and "Drive Blind". Queralt and his record shop boss and future Ride manager Dave Newton had started a live music night in Oxford calledLocal Support, and it was due to a cancellation by another band that Ride got their first proper gig at one of these nights.[7]Jim Reid ofthe Jesus and Mary Chain heard a copy of the demo that was in the possession of theDJGary Crowley, and this led to interest from former Mary Chain managerAlan McGee.[7] After the band supportedthe Soup Dragons in 1989, McGee signed them to hisCreation Records label.
Ride released three EPs between January and September 1990, entitledRide,Play andFall. All three EPs made it into theUK top 75, withPlay andFall reaching the top 40.[8]Ride's top-75 placing was a first forCreation Records.[9] The first two EPs were released together asSmile in the USA in July 1990 (and later released in the UK in 1992), while theFall EP was incorporated into theCD version of their first album,Nowhere, released in October 1990. Bell said that the band kept putting out new material to remain fresh in listeners' minds, comparing it to the release schedules ofthe Beatles andthe Jam.[10]
The band were often labelled as part of the "shoegaze" scene, but the band rejected this, Bell stating "my first reaction was like, this is another boring tag. These days...that's pretty much still my reaction".[11] Gardener said of the band's influences "We liked the noisy bands of the time. When we were at art college we went to seeMy Bloody Valentine,House of Love,Stone Roses andSonic Youth. I think these all had a lot of influence on us in the early days as they were great gigs".[11]Spacemen 3,Loop,Dinosaur Jr.,the Fall,Pixies,the Beatles,the Rolling Stones,the Velvet Underground,the Stooges,Ultra Vivid Scene, andthe Byrds also proved influential.[12][13]
The band recorded two sessions forJohn Peel'sBBC Radio 1 show in 1990, and their popularity with the show's listeners saw them with three tracks in theFestive Fifty that year, with "Dreams Burn Down" and "Like a Daydream" at numbers 3 and 4 respectively, and "Taste" at number 25.[14]
Nowhere was a critical and commercial success, reaching No. 11 in the UK.[8] Demand for new material was high, and the band recorded another EP,Today Forever, released in March 1991. The EP marked a change in direction for the group away from the noisier early style. Ride made their first international tour to Japan, Australia and France later on that year.[9] Tickets for the performances in Japan sold out within minutes.[15]
In February 1992 the band broke into the UK top 10 with "Leave Them All Behind", and the following month saw the release of the band's second albumGoing Blank Again.[8] However, "Twisterella", one of the albums two singles disappointed and barely scraped the top 40 despite extremely high expectations, and Creation stopped promoting the album as a result. The band then embarked on an ill-fated American tour. The strain within the band was already apparent, Bell stating "By the time the second album came out we were touring too much. We were tired. We then took time off, but it was too much time off".[15]
Ride were able to see out 1993 riding on the success ofGoing Blank Again and a third album was keenly anticipated. A double weekend of gigs withThe Charlatans that year ('Daytripper') kept them in the public eye amid a wider lack of interest in the shoegazing scene. Their third album,Carnival of Light, was released in June 1994, at a time whenBritpop was the focus of the music press. Produced byJohn Leckie and partly engineered byNigel Godrich (futureRadiohead producer) – except "How Does it Feel to Feel?" byBlack Crowes producerGeorge Drakoulias – and featuring a guest appearance on keyboards fromJon Lord ofDeep Purple,[16] the album was split between songwriters Gardener and Bell, with the former's songs making up the first half of the album and the latter's the second.[17] Not only did the album's sound eschew the band's earlier influences in favour of inspiration fromclassic rock, but the band's approach to songwriting also changed: whereas earlier material had mostly been developed by the band injam sessions as a group, forCarnival of Light Bell and Gardener would arrive in the studio with their songs more or less fully formed.[18] Opening with the riff-heavy "Moonlight Medicine", tracks also include "From Time to Time", "Birdman" and a cover ofThe Creation's "How Does It Feel to Feel?", which was released as a single. The album was not well received by critics, Bell explaining "These were good times but the music took second place. When we recorded theCarnival of Light album we got indulgent".[15] By the end of 1994 even the band themselves were critical of the album, referring to it within the group as "Carnival of Shite".[19]
1995 saw the dissolution of the band while recordingTarantula.Gardener and Bell had led the band away from their shoegazing roots to become more contemporary, hoping to change their style with the times. Queralt has remarked that the band had two future directions open to them, and they chose the wrong option. Gardener had become interested indance music, and wanted Ride to incorporate that into their style, while Bell disagreed.[15] The track listing ofCarnival of Light gives an indication of the tension that was mounting between the two guitarists, with the first half of the album being songs written by Mark Gardener and the last half by Bell, who refused to let his songs be interspersed with Gardener's.
By the timeTarantula appeared, the band was beginning to self-destruct. Bell penned most of the songs while Gardener provided only one - the tension within the band leading to an inability to write meaningful musical pieces.Castle on the Hill, written by Bell, was a lament for the band's situation and contains references to Gardener's self-imposed exile from the group. Gardener walked out during the album's mixing sessions, and the band announced their break-up shortly before its release in March 1996.[20] The album was released and remained on sale for one week before being withdrawn.[8] Critics and fans alike had panned the album (although the first single off the album, "Black Nite Crash", was awarded "single of the week" by weekly music magazineMelody Maker). The album was described byAllMusic as "an abomination of '70s/Lenny Kravitz clichés, full of third- and fourth-rate tunes and, ultimately, bad blood", going on to say "the words are just plain awful throughout, not even worth printing".[20]Rolling Stone were more complimentary, stating "the album is saved from maudlin self-obsession because it's rawer and rocks harder than anything else Ride have recorded".[21]
Since the break-up, both Bell and Gardener have been more reflective about the group's disintegration, with Bell especially admitting his own part in the process.
After the split, Andy Bell formed a new band calledHurricane No. 1 but this project was permanently dissolved when he was asked to play bass forOasis after having turned down the opportunity to joinGay Dad.[15] He lived inStockholm during this period. Mark Gardener and Laurence Colbert joined with Sam Williams to form the Animalhouse.[15] As BMG signings, they were successful in Japan. The band was, however, short lived and split in 2002.
On 16 October 2001, all four members of Ride agreed to be filmed byChannel 4. The footage was used for the showPioneers, a documentary onSonic Youth, and featured a thirty-minute improvisedjam.[11][22] The recording of this song, plus two short sound checks, were released in 2002 asComing up for Air. The interest in this limited release CD caused the band to consider future releases. In late 2002, Ride released a 3-CD box set which is made up ofOX4_ The Best of Ride,Firing Blanks (Unreleased tracks) andLive_Reading Festival 1992.[11] In 2003 they releasedWaves, a collection of tracks from five radio sessions recorded for theBBC.[23]
Mark Gardener then pursued a solo career. From 2003 to 2005, Gardener toured extensively, sometimes with the help of Oxford friendsGoldrush, in order to personally fund a full-length studio album. During the tour, a three-track EP with Goldrush (Falling Out into the Night) and a live album (the acoustic soloLive @ the Knitting Factory, New York City) were released. He also spent part of 2005 working with the French duorinôçérôse. In late 2005, Gardener's albumThese Beautiful Ghosts was released in North America on United For Opportunity.
Any thoughts of permanently re-forming the band, however, were previously explicitly denied by Bell, with the reasoning that it would not live up to expectations.[24] However, band members, Bell included, had stated that they would not mind working with each other again. Since then, Bell and Colbert have made an appearance at one of Gardener's early shows; Bell later shared two nights of acoustic sets with Gardener in November 2003 when Gardener made a tour stop in Bell's then home of Stockholm.
On 19 November 2014, it was announced that Ride had reunited again for a series of tour dates in Europe and North America, in May and June 2015.[25] On 10 and 17 April 2015, Ride performed atCoachella, following a live performance broadcast byKCRW on 8 April 2015.[26] The band played many European festivals such asPrimavera Sound,Best Kept Secret,Melt! Festival,Field Day,Pukkelpop andØyafestivalen.[27] They also toured America withDIIV opening.[28] The reunion was originally meant for touring only, but after playing shows together again, the band decided that the experience should also lead to the recording of a new album.[10]
On 21 February 2017, the band premiered "Charm Assault", their first new song in 21 years.[29] The next day, the band released another single, "Home Is a Feeling".[30] On 23 March, Ride announced their first new studio album in 21 years,Weather Diaries. The album was released on 16 June 2017.[31] It made number 11 in the UK album charts and gained critical and fan approval upon its release, supported by a tour of Europe and North America across the summer and autumn of 2017. On 27 May 2018 they played a hometown gig, as first support toJames, in Oxford's South Parks, as part of the two-day "Common People" festival (the previous day had been inSouthampton).
In March 2019, the band announced that their upcoming sixth studio album had already been finished, with the same producer as their previous album,Erol Alkan. The new album, calledThis Is Not a Safe Place, was released on 16 August 2019.[32]
Ride played the2022 edition of thePrimavera Sound festival, performingGoing Blank Again andNowhere in full on two separate days.[33] The band also toured for the 30th anniversary ofNowhere from 2022 to 2024, including a co-headlining "Between Nowhere" tour withThe Charlatans (who playedBetween 10th and 11th in full) in North America.[34][35][36]
In November 2022, Ride announced that the band had been working on a seventh album, set for release in 2023 or 2024.[10] On 11 January 2024, Ride announced their seventh album,Interplay, with the release of the lead single "Peace Sign". The album was released on 29 March 2024.[37]
| Release date | Album | Label | Chart positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [38] | AUS [39][40] | ||||
| 15 October 1990 | Nowhere | Creation | 11 | 104 | |
| 9 March 1992 | Going Blank Again | Creation | 5 | 56 |
|
| 20 June 1994 | Carnival of Light | Creation | 5 | 32 | |
| 20 March 1996 | Tarantula | Creation | 21 | — | |
| 16 June 2017 | Weather Diaries | Wichita | 11 | — | |
| 16 August 2019 | This Is Not a Safe Place | Wichita | 7 | 78 | |
| 29 March 2024 | Interplay | Wichita | 8 | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||
| Release date | Title | Label | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [43] | |||||
| 15 January 1990 | Ride | Creation | 71 | ||
| 2 April 1990 | Play | Creation | 32 | ||
| 17 September 1990 | Fall | Creation | 34 | ||
| 4 March 1991 | Today Forever | Creation | 14 | ||
| 1994 | Live | — | |||
| 2002 | Coming Up for Air | — | |||
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [43] | AUS [39][40] | US Alt. [44] | |||
| 1991 | "Taste" | — | — | 24 | Nowhere |
| "Vapour Trail" | — | — | — | ||
| 1992 | "Leave Them All Behind" | 9 | 89 | 20 | Going Blank Again |
| "Twisterella" | 36 | 105 | 12 | ||
| 1994 | "Birdman" | 38 | — | — | Carnival of Light |
| "How Does It Feel to Feel?" | 58 | — | — | ||
| "I Don't Know Where It Comes From" | 46 | — | — | ||
| 1996 | "Black Nite Crash" | 67 | — | — | Tarantula |
| 2017 | "Charm Assault" | — | — | — | Weather Diaries |
| "Home Is a Feeling" | — | — | — | ||
| "All I Want" | — | — | — | ||
| "Cali" | — | — | — | ||
| 2019 | "Future Love" | — | — | — | This Is Not a Safe Place |
| "Repetition" | — | — | — | ||
| "Clouds of Saint Marie" | — | — | — | ||
| 2024 | "Peace Sign" | — | — | — | Interplay |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||
I was 14 and they definitely inspired me to get a band together
The set of influences that formed our band have stayed in people's consciousness since the late '80s. The roots of it isthe Beatles and the Stones and the Velvets andthe Byrds, but then in the late '80s there were a lot of really good guitar bands, likeSpacemen 3, House of Love, a lot of indie music that had really interesting sounds.
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
