Apps

Ride — news, coverage & facts — IJR

1989–1993: Early Creation years

Ride released three EPs between January and September 1990, entitled Ride, Play and Fall. All three EPs made it into the UK top 75, with Play and Fall reaching the top 40. Ride's top-75 placing was a first for Creation Records. The first two EPs were released together as Smile 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, 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 of the Beatles and the Jam.

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. 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 Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, Ultra Vivid Scene, and the Byrds also proved influential.

The band recorded two sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 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 number 11 in the UK Albums Chart. 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 top 10 of the UK Singles Chart with "Leave Them All Behind", which peaked at number 9, and the following month saw the release of the band's second album Going Blank Again, which peaked at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart. However, second single "Twisterella" was a commercial disappointment, peaking at number 36 in the UK Singles Chart despite extremely high expectations, and Creation ceased its promotion campaign for the album as a result of this. The band subsequently embarked on an ill-fated American tour, and 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".

1996: The break-up

1995 saw the dissolution of the band while recording Tarantula.

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, 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). The album was described by AllMusic 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". 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".

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.

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, following a live performance broadcast by KCRW on 8 April 2015. The band played many European festivals such as Primavera Sound, Best Kept Secret, Melt! Festival, Field Day, Pukkelpop and Øyafestivalen. 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).

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, called This Is Not a Safe Place, was released on 16 August 2019.

Ride played the 2022 edition of the Primavera Sound 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.