Ride - Kaleidoscopic shoegaze

We catch up with the English band in an exclusive interview ahead of their upcoming tour, which will also touch down in our country with a single date in Milan. The tour follows the release of “This Is Not A Safe Place“, the second full-length from the acclaimed shoegazers following their successful 2015 reunion. A great opportunity to explore the past, present and future of one of the greatest bands in the shoegaze genre through the words of guitarist and founder Andy Bell, touching on curiosities about the milestone album “Nowhere”, unexpected tributes from giants of Argentine rock, and the softer electronic detours that have characterized their most recent work.

“Nowhere” is now considered one of the three most important shoegaze albums. Looking back, how do you assess its impact on the history of British rock? Did you sense at the time that you were recording something significant?

I think “Nowhere” is the best Ride album. It was the first time we'd spent more than a day or two in a recording studio, and we were able to buy some good equipment before starting the sessions. There was a feeling that we had a real opportunity with those recordings, and we sensed that the band was making something very worthwhile. As for how it was received then, or how it's received now, I'm just glad people like it and keep listening to it — that's all I could ask for.

Why did you choose electronic sounds for “Going Blank Again”, after an album like “Nowhere”, which was essentially guitar, bass and drums? 

We'd been touring the whole world with “Nowhere” and had absorbed a lot of new influences and listened to a lot of music. We didn't feel any limits on where Ride could go musically. In that sense we were influenced by the Beatles, who changed from album to album. Electronic instruments were just one of the elements we used on that album: there was also a lot more acoustic guitar, a lot more strings, more variation in sound from song to song. 

Did you know that the giant of Argentine rock, Gustavo Cerati, was a big fan of Ride? He paid tribute to you in the unplugged rendition of one of his hits, “Un misil en mi placard” by Soda Stereo, playing the acoustic guitar part from “Chrome Waves”.

Yes, a friend pointed that out to me. I played Gustavo's song on one of my radio shows, off YouTube. It was a huge compliment coming from him.    

While in the liner notes of the first two albums every song is credited equally to all members of the band, starting with “Carnival Of Light” each member wrote their own songs. Can you explain this change to us?

We decided to credit everyone equally from the start, but already during the making of the first album it was clear that some of us were more prolific than others. We’ve always split the songwriting royalties equally, and we still do, to reflect the fact that everyone contributes something to the final result of a song, but after a while we decided it was a good idea to credit the main authors, also because we stopped writing out of jams pretty early on.

Can you tell us your opinion on “Carnival Of Light” and “Tarantula”? The former is considered your Britpop record and was a decent success (number 5 on the UK charts), while the latter received harsh reviews at the time.

“Carnival Of Light” is an album heavily influenced by classic rock acts like Led Zeppelin, The Byrds, The Black Crowes, The Jayhawks, but while that sound worked well on the instrumental side, it didn’t suit our voices very well. Looking back, I think we didn’t make the most of our abilities after the first two albums. “Tarantula” is an even more obvious example of the same problems. I think they came from not wanting to repeat ourselves, but we ended up forgetting what we were actually good at.

What can you tell us about your long collaboration with Creation Records? Anecdotes are welcome.

Creation truly was a great label. Alan McGee is a national treasure, in my opinion the best talent scout ever when it comes to guitar music. The partnership between Alan and Dick Green was magical, and we’re still signed to Dick Green today, for his new label, Wichita.

There are so many anecdotes. We signed right while Primal Scream were recording “Screamadelica“, and just with that I could write a book. Every time you went to the Creation offices you'd come home with crazy stories. It was an incredible time.

On your latest album, “This Is Not A Safe Place” (2019), there was a renewal of the sound, with more focus on electronics. Think of tracks like “Repetition”. Where does this need come from?

It’s a natural part of what we do and of how we write songs today. The whole band writes with various instruments and various methods.

In “Eternal Recurrence” there are lines like “The boy in the picture has gone. That light only lasts for so long. You don’t know a thing about me. But go on and judge what you see. Sinking is easy Only clouds in the mirror. Feeling uneasy. Don’t look again”. Where do these words come from? And what relationship do you have, as a band, with time and with the mirror? Do you feel changed, or do you think you’re still the same?

Those lines are Mark’s (Gardener, the other singer/guitarist in Ride, ed.). I don’t want to speak for him. I have my own personal interpretation of those words, and they’re lines I really like too, but for an answer you’d have to talk to him.

Erol Alkan (already producer of Mystery Jets and Late Of The Pier): what’s it like working with him? Pros and cons.

Pros, his enthusiasm and his instinct for music, his positivity and his ability to carry things along. Cons, he tends to blow the cones of the amplifiers (supposedly due to excessive volume levels, ed.).

In “Jump Jet” nostalgia for family is set in contrast with the many shows you play around the world. How are you approaching this new tour, and how is it going? Are you satisfied?

So far on this tour the longest stretch of time away from home has been five weeks, in the United States. It’s been hard on us and our families, but then again we don’t have that many trips that long.

Which albums have you been listening to the most over the past few months? Has any of them influenced your latest album?

I've been listening a lot to Sound and Adrian Borland, Sault, Khruangbin, Aldous Harding.

What's in store after the tour wraps up? Have you already got something planned?

No, we haven't planned anything yet. There's been talk of recording an EP, but we haven't scheduled it yet.

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