Ride (band)
| Ride | |
|---|---|
 Ride (1990) |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Shoegazing |
| founding | 1988, 2014 |
| resolution | 1996 |
| Current occupation | |
| Mark Gardener | |
Vocals, guitar |
Andy Bell |
| Steve Queralt | |
| Laurence Colbert | |
Ride is a British shoegazing band.
history
The foundation
The band was formed in Oxford in 1988 by Mark Gardener (guitar, vocals), Andy Bell (guitar, vocals), Steve Queralt (bass) and Laurence Colbert (drums). At the time, the band members were students at Banbury Art College . After a tour as the opening act for the Soup Dragons , Alan McGee of Creation Records became aware of them in 1989 and gave them a recording contract.
History of the band
With the support of their record company, they recorded the EPs Ride , Play and Fall in 1990 , which they made known to a wider public. The Melody Maker named her one of the hopes of the year. In October of that year their first LP Nowhere was finally released , which made it to number 11 in the British charts. Ride and Play were re-released on the 1992 Smile compilation , while Fall's tracks were re -released on Nowhere 's CD version . In March 1991, the band's next EP, Today Forever , was released, followed by their first international tour of Japan, Australia and France.
In March 1992, Going Blank Again , produced by Alan Moulder , was finally released . The first title in particular, Leave Them All Behind , is considered exemplary of the shoegazing genre . Ride produce the typical Wall of Sound sound for over eight minutes with the help of two guitars by Gardener and Bell, which distort and create a hypnotic atmosphere with wah wah pedals . Going Blank Again was a huge commercial success, rising to number 5 on the UK charts . The single Leave Them All Behind also made it into the top ten of the single charts. Long concert tours and musical differences led to increasing tensions within the band, especially between Gardener and Bell.
In 1994 the next album was released, Carnival of Light with Jon Lord as a guest musician. This album was also able to place itself in the top ten of the album charts; however, the music scene in Great Britain had changed. The typical shoegazing bands Ride and My Bloody Valentine were slowly being replaced by Britpop bands like Blur and Oasis in the perception of the mainstream audience . The songs on Carnival of Light reflected the tensions within the band, as the songs for the first half were written by Gardener alone and the songs for the second half by Bell alone. The previous cooperation in songwriting was given up.
Dissolution and follow-up
During the recording of the 1995 album Tarantula , the first signs of disintegration in the band were visible. Gardener went into inner exile and wrote only one song for this album, the rest was written by Bell. Even before the release, the band broke up. When the album hit the market, it fell through with critics and fans and was withdrawn after a week.
Andy Bell founded the band Hurricane # 1 after his time at Ride . This also disbanded after two albums, whereupon Bell - until their split in 2009 - became bassist for the British rock band Oasis . He then took over the guitar in Liam Gallagher's new band Beady Eye , which announced their separation in October 2014. Mark Gardener has worked on various commercially less significant music projects. With the band The Animalhouse he released an album in 2000 and left the group afterwards. From 2005 Mark Gardener worked with Goldrush and producer Bill Racine and released his solo debut album These Beautiful Ghosts in 2006 .
In 2001, Ride reunited for a TV channel 4 documentary about Sonic Youth to demonstrate the use of feedback and effects devices. This 30-minute session and two other songs were released as an EP ( Coming up for Air ) in 2002 . As a result, more CDs of live performances and a CD box were released. Hopes for a permanent reunification were dashed when Bell explicitly ruled out this. However, there were several smaller collaborations between individual members of the band.
Reunion
On November 18, 2014 in Barcelona, in preparation for the Primavera Sound Festival 2015, a huge, anonymous poster with the band name was rolled out. Since this tactic has been used frequently in the context of marketing the festival, it was to be assumed that Ride would perform there. On the same day, the original line-up of the reunion was confirmed with the publication of ten concert dates in Europe and North America in the summer of 2015. Among other things, Ride performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (Indio, USA) , and at the Melt! ( Ferropolis near Dessau).
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
|||
| 1990 | Nowhere | - | - |
UK11  (5 weeks)UK |
|
| 1992 | Going blank again | - | - |
UK5  (5 weeks)UK |
|
| 1994 | Carnival of Light | - | - |
UK5 (5 weeks) UK |
|
| 1996 | Tarantula | - | - |
UK21 (2 weeks) UK |
|
| 2017 | Weather Diaries | - | - |
UK11 (2 weeks) UK |
|
| 2019 | This is not a safe place |
DE72 (1 week) DE |
CH94 (1 week) CH |
UK7 (1 week) UK |
|
Compilations
- 1992: Smile ( Ride + Play )
- 1995: Live Light - recorded on the 1994 European tour
- 2001: OX4 - The Best of Ride
- 2001: Firing Blanks - Unreleased Ride Recordings 1988-95
- 2001: Live Reading Festival 1992
- 2003: Waves (BBC Radio One Sessions)
EPs
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
|||
| 1990 | Ride |
UK71 (4 weeks) UK |
|
| Play |
UK32 (3 weeks) UK |
||
| case |
UK34 (3 weeks) UK |
||
| 1991 | Today Forever |
UK14 (4 weeks) UK |
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
|||
| 1992 | Leave Them All Behind Going Blank Again |
UK9 (3 weeks) UK |
|
| Twisterella Going Blank Again |
UK36 (2 weeks) UK |
||
| 1994 | Birdman Carnival of Light |
UK38 (2 weeks) UK |
|
| How does it feel to feel? Carnival of Light |
UK58 (1 week) UK |
||
| I Don't Know Where It Comes From Carnival of Light |
UK46 (2 weeks) UK |
||
| 1996 | Black Nite Crash Tarantula |
UK67 (1 week) UK |
More singles
- 1991: Vapor Trail
- 2001: Coming Up for Air
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Ride at Discogs (English)
- Ride at Allmusic (English)