Ride are an English rock band formed in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1988. The band consists of vocalists and guitarists Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, drummer Laurence "Loz" Colbert and bassist Steve Queralt. They have been recognised as one of the key pioneers of

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

, an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

subgenre that emerged to prominence in the United Kingdom during the early 1990s. The band's first two albums, ''

Nowhere Nowhere may refer to: Music * ''Nowhere'' (album), an album by Ride * '' Nowhere: Music from the Gregg Araki Movie'', a soundtrack album from the 1997 film (see below) * "Nowhere" (song), a song by Therapy? * "Nowhere", a song by 112 from '' ...

'' (1990) and '' Going Blank Again'' (1992), have been critically acclaimed as two of the greatest shoegaze albums of all time. The latter's lead single, " Leave Them All Behind", was the band's most commercially successful song, reaching No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart. Both ''Going Blank Again'' and its 1994 follow-up, ''Carnival of Light'', peaked at No. 5 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. Ride broke up in 1996 prior to the release of their fourth album ''

Tarantula Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,100 species have been identified, with 166 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...

'', which received negative reviews. Bell joined

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentWeather Diaries'' (2017), '' This Is Not a Safe Place'' (2019) and '' Interplay'' (2024).

History

1988–1989: Starting out

Andy Bell and Mark Gardener had been to Cheney School in Oxford, appearing in the school's musical theatre productions, and in October 1988, they moved to

Banbury Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...

to do Foundation Studies in Art & Design at North Oxfordshire College and the Oxfordshire School of Art & Design. There they met Laurence Colbert and Steve Queralt. Queralt, who also went to Cheney School, was recruited from the local Our 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"). After considering various names, the band settled for 'Ride', with its evocation of travel, and after the ride cymbal. Bell has cited a performance by

the Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...

as the inspiration for forming a band. 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 called ''Local Support'', and it was due to a cancellation by another band that Ride got their first proper gig at one of these nights.

Jim Reid James McLeish Reid (born 29 December 1961) is a Scottish singer/songwriter and the lead singer for the alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain, which he formed with his elder brother and guitarist William Reid (musician), William Reid ...

the Jesus and Mary Chain The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid, who are the two founders and only consistent members of the ...

heard a copy of the demo that was in the possession of the DJ Gary Crowley, and this led to interest from former Mary Chain manager Alan McGee. After the band supported the Soup Dragons in 1989, McGee signed them to his

Creation Records Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...

label.

1989–1993: Early Creation years

Ride released three EPs between January and September 1990, entitled '' Ride'', ''

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

'' and '' Fall''. All three EPs made it into the UK top 75, with ''Play'' and ''Fall'' reaching the top 40. ''Rides top-75 placing was a first for

. The first two EPs were released together as ''

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses d ...

'' in the USA in July 1990 (and later released in the UK in 1992), while the ''Fall'' EP was incorporated into the CD version of their first album, ''

'', 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 of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

and

the Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...

. 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". Gardener said of the band's influences "We liked the noisy bands of the time. When we were at art college we went to see My Bloody Valentine, House of Love, Stone Roses and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

. I think these all had a lot of influence on us in the early days as they were great gigs". Spacemen 3, Loop, Dinosaur Jr., the Fall, Pixies,

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

the Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionis ...

the Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...

Ultra Vivid Scene Ultra Vivid Scene was an American alternative rock band, started by Kurt Ralske. Background Former Nothing But Happiness and Crash guitarist Ralske started Ultra Vivid Scene in 1986,https://www.discogs.com/release/6488943-Ultra-Vivid-Scene-S ...

, and

the Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...

also proved influential. The band recorded two sessions for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

show in 1990, and their popularity with the show's listeners saw them with three tracks in the Festive Fifty that year, with "Dreams Burn Down" and "Like a Daydream" at numbers 3 and 4 respectively, and "Taste" at number 25. ''Nowhere'' was a critical and commercial success, reaching No. 11 in the UK. 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. Tickets for the performances in Japan sold out within minutes. 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 album '' Going Blank Again''. However, its followup, " Twisterella", 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".

1994–1996: Change in musical direction

Ride were able to see out 1993 riding on the success of ''Going Blank Again'' and a third album was keenly anticipated. A double weekend of gigs with The 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 when

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

was the focus of the music press. Produced by John Leckie and partly engineered by Nigel Godrich (future

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

producer) – except "How Does it Feel to Feel?" by Black Crowes producer George Drakoulias – and featuring a guest appearance on keyboards from Jon Lord of

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

, 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. Not only did the album's sound eschew the band's earlier influences in favour of inspiration from

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

, but the band's approach to songwriting also changed: whereas earlier material had mostly been developed by the band in

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...

s as a group, for ''Carnival of Light'' Bell and Gardener would arrive in the studio with their songs more or less fully formed. Opening with the riff-heavy "Moonlight Medicine", tracks also include "From Time to Time", "Birdman" and a cover of The 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 the ''Carnival of Light'' album we got indulgent". By the end of 1994 even the band themselves were critical of the album, referring to it within the group as "''Carnival of Shite''".

1996: The break-up

1995 saw the dissolution of the band while recording ''

''. 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 in

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

, and wanted Ride to incorporate that into their style, while Bell disagreed. The track listing of ''Carnival 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 time ''Tarantula'' 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. The album was released and remained on sale for one week before being withdrawn. 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 magazine ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

''). The album was described by ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' as "an abomination of '70s/

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album ''Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz album), Let Love Rule'' (1989) was characterized by a blend of Rock music, rock ...

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". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' 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". 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.

1997–2001: Post-break-up years

After the split, Andy Bell formed a new band called Hurricane No. 1 but this project was permanently dissolved when he was asked to play bass for

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentGay Dad. He lived in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

during this period. Mark Gardener and Laurence Colbert joined with Sam Williams to form the Animalhouse. As BMG signings, they were successful in Japan. The band was, however, short lived and split in 2002.

2001–2013: Channel Four and beyond

On 16 October 2001, all four members of Ride agreed to be filmed by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. The footage was used for the show ''Pioneers'', a documentary on

, and featured a thirty-minute improvised jam. The recording of this song, plus two short sound checks, were released in 2002 as ''Coming 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 of ''OX4_ The Best of Ride'', ''Firing Blanks'' (Unreleased tracks) and ''Live_Reading Festival 1992''. In 2003 they released ''Waves,'' a collection of tracks from five radio sessions recorded for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Mark Gardener then pursued a solo career. From 2003 to 2005, Gardener toured extensively, sometimes with the help of Oxford friends Goldrush, 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 solo ''Live @ the Knitting Factory, New York City'') were released. He also spent part of 2005 working with the French duo rinôçérôse. In late 2005, Gardener's album ''These 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. 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.

2014–present: Reunion albums

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. On 10 and 17 April 2015, Ride performed at

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

, following a live performance broadcast by

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

on 8 April 2015. The band played many European festivals such as

Primavera Sound Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as Primavera) is an annual music festival held at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain, during late May and early June. It was founded in 2001 by Pablo Soler as "a showcase for Spanish Noise rock, noise ban ...

, Best Kept Secret, Melt! Festival,

Field Day Field day may refer to: * For the armed forces use and its derivatives, see wiktionary:field day * Field day (agriculture), a trade show * Field Day (amateur radio), an annual amateur radio exercise * Field Day (band), a Canadian pop-punk band fro ...

, Pukkelpop and

Øyafestivalen Øyafestivalen is an annual Norwegian music festival held in the Tøyen Park, Oslo. It has grown quickly since its modest start in 1999 and has become one of Norway's biggest and most important music festivals. The festival has previously fe ...

. They also toured America with DIIV opening. 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. On 21 February 2017, the band premiered "Charm Assault", their first new song in 21 years. The next day, the band released another single, "Home Is a Feeling". On 23 March, Ride announced their first new studio album in 21 years, '' Weather Diaries''. The album was released on 16 June 2017. 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 to James, in Oxford's South Parks, as part of the two-day "Common People" festival (the previous day had been in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

). 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 Erol Alkan (born 30 May 1974) is an English DJ and Record producer, producer of Turkish Cypriot descent. He grew up in Archway in North London. Career DJ and club promoter In 1993, Erol Alkan started DJing in various Indie (music), indie n ...

. The new album, called '' This Is Not a Safe Place'', was released on 16 August 2019. Ride played the

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

edition of the

festival, performing ''Going Blank Again'' and ''Nowhere'' in full on two separate days. The band also toured for the 30th anniversary of ''Nowhere'' from 2022 to 2024, including a co-headlining "Between Nowhere" tour with The Charlatans (who played '' Between 10th and 11th'' in full) in North America. In November 2022, Ride announced that the band had been working on a seventh album, set for release in 2023 or 2024. 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.

Members

* Mark Gardener – vocals, rhythm guitar * Andy Bell – vocals, lead guitar, keyboards * Steve Queralt – bass * Laurence "Loz" Colbert – drums

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Compilations and live albums

*''

'' (1990) Sire/Creation *''Kaleidoscope'' (1991) Sire (promotional only) *''

Grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

'' (1992) Sire/Warner Bros. *''Cosmic Carnival'' (1994) Sire *''Live Light'' (1995) Mutiny/Elektra *''Ride (Box Set)'' (2001) Ignition *'' OX4 The Best of Ride'' (2001) Ignition *''Firing Blanks Unreleased Ride Recordings 1988–95'' (2001) *'' Live Reading Festival 1992'' (2001) *'' Waves: Radio 1 Sessions 90-94'' (2003) *''Tomorrow's Shore'' (Wichita, 2018) *''4EPs'' (Wichita, 2022)

Singles

Videography

* Ride: Today Forever (1991) * Ride: Live at Brixton Academy (1992)

References

External links

*
RIDE Digital ArchiveRide at WorldMusicDatabase
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups reestablished in 2001 Musical groups disestablished in 2001 Musical groups reestablished in 2014 English alternative rock groups Creation Records artists British shoegaze musical groups Britpop groups English musical quartets Sire Records artists Musical groups from Oxford Wichita Recordings artists 1988 establishments in England