90 - Ride with Steve Queralt (Oxford)

This week we are joined by Ride bassist Steve Queralt to discuss his new album Swallow - which is out now on Sonic Cathedral featuring contributions from Emma Anderson (Lush) & Verity Susman (Memorials).

We also delve into the history of Ride starting in Oxford in the late 1980s where Steve met Andy Bell & Mark Gardner at college, even making a recording of Freedom by George Michael with Andy.

What we now know as the classic Ride sound comes together organically in rehearsals & after almost signing for Warners the band come to the attention of Alan McGee & end up signing with Creation Records.

The first 3 EPs come out in quick succession followed by debut album Nowhere in the autumn of 1990. Tours with Lush, Slowdive & the Pale Saints follow & 2nd album Going Blank again is produced by Alan Moulder following a positive experience with Alan mixing the previous album.

The lead single Leave Them All Behind clocks in at over 8 minutes in length & breaks the top 10 of the singles chart, reaching number 9, marking probably the commercial peak of the shoegaze genre.

Things start to unravel on 3rd album Carnival of Light with John Leckie producing. The album comes out in 1994 but fails to reach the heights of its predecessors - and amid tensions within the band & after quickly releasing the Tarantula album, Ride come to an end in 1996.

Ride do reform in 2015 & it becomes one of the more successful reunions of recent years producing 3 albums & a number of tours & high profile festival appearances, including playing debut album Nowhere in its entirety.

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Music by Andy Maxwell

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