This is an exclusive interview with Andy Bell: it was the summer of 1998, Ticket To Ride had been online for a mere two months and Andy somehow got to know about it. So he got in touch with me and he was so kind to make himself available to be interviewed: the peculiarity of this Q&A was that the questions were asked him only by fans, so here you can find the kind of answers that you usually won't find on the music press.
I hope to bring you further exclusive interviews in the future, especially now that the release of the announced "Best Of" boxset is drawing on, so stay in touch.
Q: I'd like you to ask to Andy if he feels that the media attention that Ride
got as sorta the crowned prince of the so-called 'shoegazer' scene put any pressure
on them to either acheive or re-define themselves...
(Joseph Burns)
A: The attention we got made us more confident to make the music we wanted to. We redefined ourselves with every album anyway. We never wanted Ride to just be one thing, one sound.
Q: My question would be: "What are your 10 all-time favorite albums?"
(John Shin)
A: (Todays' list...)
These are just the first ten genius albums I could think of...
Q: I have always wondered if there was any religious influence in Andy's song
writing. If there was religious influence, what was it from?
(Kevin S.)
A: Music is my religion. My family are all Church-going Christians but I stopped going to church at 13.
Q: There are many songs that were credited to Ride only (all the way up to
Going Blank Again), who really written what?
(Wai-Bong Ng)
A: By answering this question, I am in no way trying to put down the contribution made by the non-writing members. All the members of the band were vital to the sound of the records. But when it comes down to the Words and Music, here's who wrote what...
("?"means I think so but I can't swear on it.)
The songs released after this had the writers credited on the sleeves.
Q: Will you ever sing any of your own songs again?
(Wai-Bong Ng)
A: I really don't like the sound of my voice,but it's possible that one day I could get into singing again. I'm much happier concentrating on my guitar, especially live.
Q: What is the most unique venue that Ride has ever played in?
(Dave Chase)
A: We played a venue in Birmingham, Alabama which freaked me out. It was like a big aircraft hangar with no sides, and we played in a thunderstorm with the rain pouring across the stage. All the amps were covered in plastic sheeting. It was like,weird.
Q: I'm also interested in the cover art for Nowhere and Going Blank Again.
What can you tell me about them?
(Dave Chase)
A: We found the picture for Nowhere in a Coffee-Table Book called "The Book Of Waves". The book is great, a must for all surfers or ocean-lovers. For Going Blank Again I think Steve saw an exhibition of Christopher Gunsons' and spotted this picture. It's my favourite Ride sleeve.
Q: I am wondering what the story is behind the lyrics to "Polar Bear"... (i.e.
the "she knew she was able to fly etc" bits.) A friend of mine had checked out
a book of short stories by J.D. Salinger, and lo and behold, it appears that
most of the lyrics were nicked verbatim from an old Salinger piece... I was
just wondering what the full story here is.
(Shane)
A: The full story is that I needed a lyric so I nicked it off JD!!
D: Do you ever truly miss the whole concept of Ride, especially when the band
was at its peak in the earlier days? (If so) In what ways do you miss it?
(Benjamin Coulter)
A: To be honest I don't think about it. I'm happy it happened, and I'm proud of it, but I don't miss it.
Q: "Fans and reviewers (and Ride too...) have said the following about "Nowhere":
'it had the chance to sound so much greater, but it lost something in the making'
." Would you ever consider (in the short or long term) getting together with
the former members to remix the album and give it the GREAT sound that it was
supposed to have?"
(Spiro Gouras)
A: I don't think you should ever go back… Having said that, I LOVE what Iggy did with "Raw Power" so I don't know...
Q: "...Andy said "i feel like i've been in an apprenticeship for the last 6
years...." and also the quote (i forget it exactly) where he said "Ride was
just a bunch of kids messing around." I'd like to know if the interviewer misquote
him, if it was out of context or not”
(Evan)
A: Yeah, this one has been haunting me! I was being interviewed on Dutch radio
and the interviewer was trying to ask me how Ride had gone about trying to make
such an "important" album as Going Blank Again. I explained that we had not
consciously gone into it thinking "We're going to make an 'important'album",
we were just 19,20 year old kids, messing about in a recording studio, which
is my genuine memory of what it was like.
I wasn't trying to put Ride down, (and I think the interviewer understood that),
but sitting next to me was my mate Paul Mathur, who was writing a piece on Hurricane
for the Melody Maker, and he thought I was having a pop at my old band. So he
filed the quote away and used it in the piece. When I saw the Melody Maker I
was mortified. I don't want anyone thinking I'm down on Ride. The "apprenticeship"
thing, is just me saying (just at the start of things with Hurricane) I'm back,
and I learned a lot from the Ride thing, which I did. There's nothing like being
in a band for teaching you about being in a band.
Q: You stated that Tarantula was your favorite Ride album. Now that all of
that is behind you, and you've had time to reflect on all of the albums, can
you pick a favorite? Also, your favorite songs...
(Evan)
A: My favourite Ride album is Nowhere, then Going Blank Again. My favourite songs... Leave Them All Behind, Seagull, Close My Eyes, 0X4, Only Now.
Q: Of the first wave of shoegazers, who was your favorite (excluding Ride,
and MBV)?
(Evan)
A: Doesn't leave much, does it?
Q: Have you heard The Animalhouse and what do you think about them ? (okay,
so this isn't about Ride...)
(Evan)
A: I was at their first gig and I thought it was good. I admire them for taking their time, doing things at their own speed.
Q: Who had the idea to release the "best of" compilation in Japan? And who
choose the tracks on it?
(Evan)
A: The Japanese record company suggested it. We'll should get approval over
the track listing but I haven't seen one yet.
Q: A lot of Ride fans (me included) would like to know about Ride unreleased
material... There must be some unreleased tracks coming from everyone of all
the four albums' recording sessions. All these tracks should be enough to compile
some sort of a "rarities album". There is any chance that an album like this
may see the light of the day? And, did you record some of your concerts so that
a live album could be made from?
(Piero)
A: I don't think we have any unreleased studio tracks worth putting out. There are plenty of concert recordings though, many of them on multi track. I would say there is probably a mindblowing Ride live album waiting to be made from the best of the tapes we have. Maybe one day...
Q: Still on the "unreleased" subject... I've read several times on Ticket
To Ride (the fanzine) that a huge lenght of footage was filmed during the "Carnival
of Light" recording sessions... You were almost to release it as a video but
something went wrong... I've also heard that the "Royal Albert Hall" show you
held at the end of the "Carnival of Light" tour was filmed, apparently for US
release. We know what happened with those bastards at Sire... but, since both
these videos should be real gems and real collector's items, is it possible
that some day they will be released?
(Piero)
A: I would love to know what happened to both these films! All I've seen from the Carnival of Light film, is two promos, (for Rolling Thunder and Lets' Get Lost ) which were really cool, but after the film crew turned up at the Albert Hall, we never heard from them again!! The problem with these kind of "unreleased gems" is that someone has to pay for them to be sorted out and released, and I have a feeling that no-one at Sire or Creation is prepared to do that. It's the same thing with the live album idea.
Q: You're regarded as a real wizard with guitars and effects and everything
that comes with studio recording and live performance... I'd like to know how
your way of setting up your guitar/amp/effects evolved throughout the years...
I mean... can you describe what was your approach to get your own distinctive
sound and how it changed from "Nowhere" to "Tarantula"? There were differences
between studio and live set-ups?
(Piero)
A: I usually just bring in my live gear and mike it up in the studio. I used
a Rickenbacker 12 string for the first album, then changed to Les Pauls. I have
always used Marshall cabinets, though for most of the Ride stuff I used a Hiwatt
head. My sounds have always been reliant on effects. Lots of wah wah, (a lot
of times just left on full treble as a constant sound) and everything filtered
through my Roland GP16 (a fantastic effects rack). Plenty of distortion and
overdrive pedals. A bit of leslie speaker in the studio.
The best thing I've learnt about the studio is to bring the head and the effects
into the control room and play in there. That way you hear exactly what's going
to tape.
Q: My favourite Ride album is no-contest "Going Blank Again". When I listen
to it I'm amazed just like the first time... It's incredibly varied, greatly
arranged and most of all, it sounds great and definitely "modern" even after
six years... so modern it could have been released... tomorrow!!! I've listened
to it hundreds times and every time I put it inside the CD player I discover
something new, some little sound that has been kept secret... I just think that
the band and Alan Moulder did a great production job together!! I'd just like
to know what are your memories of the recording sessions of GBA and what is
the secret behind this gem (if there's any).
(Piero)
A: Alan Moulder teaching me how to bend strings, which I then did all over the record... Steve bringing in a copy of "Nevermind" and listening to it constantly... McGee coming down, and going completely nuts about 'Leave Them All Behind" when he first heard it... Mark staying up all night finishing "Time Machine"on his own... The pressure to follow up Nowhere was there, but we kind of ignored it. We knew we had "Leave Them All Behind" quite early on, so the rest of the recording was more relaxed. Actually the best thing about the recording session was the everlasting barrel of beer which the studio had out the back.
Q: I've developed my own theory about songwriting... I mean... I think there
are two ways of writing songs and Ride, at one stage or another of their carrer
have adopted both. And I'm not saying that one works better than the other...
they're just different approaches. The first one is when the whole band contributes
to write a song... someone may come with the initial sparkle, with just a vague
idea of the sound and/or the melodies, but then everyone gives his own contribution,
so that at the end of the day you end up with something that is "solid", "concrete"
and "shared". The second one is when someone comes with the whole song in his
head, with music, lyrics and structure and then the rest of the band has to
provide with a rhythmic base, some backing vocals or additional guitars... what
you get is something that revolves more around the concept of "the song"...
verse/chorus/verse and all that stuff... Which one of these two approaches do
you think worked best with Ride and why? And, can you name some Ride songs that
can stand as examples for these two songwriting techniques?
(Piero)
A: It's pretty obvious which songs were done which way when you look at the list of who wrote the songs. I usually go more towards writing the whole thing myself, because when I write a song, it sounds a certain way in my head (for example: Birdman). Mark would more usually write by putting a melody and words to a jam, which by nature would have more input from the other band members, because they would be involved before the "song" itself was born. A good example of this is Leave Them All Behind, which existed as a jam a long time before it got recorded. Mark didn't write the words or tune to this until after we had recorded the backing track completely.
Q: I have noticed that there is a new generation of Ride fans up and coming,
especially in the U.S., but also in Europe. Many of them are aged between 16
and 22, so they must have been kids when Ride released their first records.
I guess that many of them did get into Ride because they heard about them thanks
to Hurricane #1's success... Basically many of these new fans wanted to know
something about Andy Bell's background and they just ended up being surprised
that there's a brilliant past too... so, what are your feelings about this?
(Piero)
A: It's cool.
Q: I guess that this is the question that everyone would have asked... so here
it is! I'm sure that now everything's OK with Mark, Loz and Steve... so... if
in a year or two, maybe after a drunken night at your favourite pub, someone
comes up with the proposal of doing again something all together (alongside
Hurricane#1 and Animal House, of course...), would you likely say yes or do
you think that Ride are gone forever?
(Piero)
A: I keep an open mind.It would probably be a good laugh.
Q: About Tarantula: my favourite songs in the album are those in which you
can hear Mark singing and playing (Black Nite Crash, Dead Man, Deep Inside My
Pocket, Ride The Wind) and those that had been already played live in some occasion
(Walk On Water, Sunshine/Nowhere To Run). These, in my opinion, are proper Ride
songs, where you can hear the band play as an "organic body". All other songs
sound more like a Idha-meets-Hurricane#1 album, an Andy Bell album... So, why
did you decide to release Tarantula as it is clearly not a proper Ride album
(and with no chance to play it live)?
(Barbara Masoni)
A: You make some strange comments, please allow me to put you right. You can actually hear Mark playing and singing on every song on the album except "Castle On The Hill", so I think you are just imagining that you can't hear Mark on the songs you don't like (and in fact, he only sings lead on two of the songs you mentioned - Deep Inside My Pocket and Ride The Wind). Secondly, I don't know why you have to bring Idha into it. Her music and mine are different entities, and she had nothing to do with the sound of Tarantula. Thirdly, Yes, I wrote most of the songs on the album, and also had quite a lot to do with the musical direction of the record, but by these rules, you could just as well say that Nowhere is an Andy Bell solo record. The reason it might sound like Hurricane#1 should be quite obvious to anyone who can count from 96 to 97. And it's lucky that any of the tracks sound like an "organic body", when you consider that Mark was spending all his days off secretly getting a new band, manager and record deal together!! Anyway, to answer your question, Me, Loz and Steve decided to release the album, but it was a hard decision, and I don't even know today if we were right. It would have been a lot better for me to save the songs for my next band, or re-record them as a solo album, than it was to let them fall straight down that black hole, weighed down by the bad vibes of the way the split was percieved. If I have one regret about the Ride days, it is doing those interviews. They were so misleading, we never fell out, Mark just told us he wanted to do his own thing, and we said "good luck". The stuff in the papers is just what the journalists wanted to believe.
Q: I think Carnival Of Light deserved more attention on the part of everybody
(hackers and public), but there were Oasis to gather all attention...and nobody
realized you were much better.Why?
(Barbara Masoni)
A: I actually think that Oasis made the better record. Also, their sound kind of blasted everything else out of the water, especially a more subtle album like ours.
Q: Do you think the split could be avoided?
(Barbara Masoni)
A: Well, as you know, Mark is the one who left, so that is a question for him. As far as I'm concerned, our music was moving into areas where our soft vocals didn't suit it anymore. Our first two albums sound the best because the guitar sounds and production really suited the vocal style of me and Mark. I don't know where we would have gone next musically if we had stayed together... Maybe backwards, which is never a good idea...
© 1998 Ticket To Ride - All rights reserved
A very special "Thank You" to Andy Bell for the unconditioned and everlasting support