With the new album you wanted to move away from the "Ride sound" and there seemed to be two ways: either go a step further or go back to your deepest influences. The final result seems to derive from the second solution, doesn't it?
Mark: These are songs for today. (He hesitates for a while) We have always liked the sound of guitars through amplifiers but technology is not always good. Sometimes it sounds too synthetical. We wanted to have a real sound, without too much electronics. In this way you can say that the album relates a lot to the Sixties which was when guitars were at their best. We have listened to lots of different musical styles and if I hadn't been aware of this background, I could not have written such good songs. Any good band needs a large musical background and must be able to apply it to its own style. That's how the Stones started with the blues: at first they did only covers and after playing together for a long while they found their own way. The Beatles and many other bands followed the same path. I don't mind if people say there are aspects of the past in our sound or that we sound like the Byrds. I like the Byrds. They give me a feeling that we can now also create.
Is "Carnival of Light" Ride's "Giant Steps"?
Mark: I don't want to sound pretentious but this is what people were doing when we started. Such dreamy vocals were already used in 89-91...although it's good. But just good. (But it's obvious he doesn't think so). When music becomes too intelligent, it loses something. We are not looking for an intelligent sound, for the sound of the future. We just want to write songs that have a direct appeal and that make people who listen to them happy.
How did you meet Jon Lord of Deep Purple?
Mark: I was on holiday in between recording sessions and I met Jon's daughter. She's a lovely girl. We thought it would be crazy but we sent him a tape with "Moonlight Medicine" and he accepted to add a few notes.
Both press and yourselves have been rather critical about "Going Blank Again". What was the album lacking?
Mark: Some of the songs were better when we played them live and that was rather frustating. Others were good, like "Leave Them All Behind", "OX4", "Chrome Waves"... It's not that we were unhappy with the album but we had the feeling that we'd had little time to record it and we'd spent months and months touring and giving interviews instead of using our time to improve the recording.
When they have reached the end of a stage, many bands need to step back and find new sources of inspiration. Is it what happened to you?
Mark: To me travelling is the best way of ... living. I love travelling. This time I went as far as Thailand. For us, forming a band was just a start; then everything went on pretty well. Suddenly you rush blindly into things and if you don't stop and move away, you no longer see anything. You need to travel, most of all in order to escape everything. Travelling gives you inspiration and above all a feeling of freedom that you can only reach when you become nobody again.
After so many shifts in direction, what do you think is Ride's essence, the common element to the three albums?
Mark: We try to avoid having a common essence. With each new album we try not to repeat ourselves. I hope that our characteristic is precisely the fact that we need to experiment. Obviously this album is very different from the others and I think we have managed to avoid having a common element again.
Some time ago, you said that you had consciously run away from noise because it no longer motivated you.
Mark: When we started we used to rely on noise. In time we have progressed as musicians. We write better songs now and noise itself does not help us to improve them. Noise, as such, won't develop music. Without good melodies the rest is poor.
Jack Rieley, manager and writer on the last three Beach Boys album co-wrote "Only Now". It's another obvious reference. "Carnival of Light" seems to me the album the Beach Boys could have recorded if they had lived in a country without beaches and where it rains 70% of the year.
Mark: Yes, maybe it's why I like this kind of music. I'd like to be able to transmit the same feelings to people now. Although you know that it's almost always raining I'd like to be able to give them sunny sounds instead of typical noise.
After an instrumental album, bands often want to record a more direct and simple follow-up. Do you think it could happen to you?
Mark: Maybe. Anyway I think we can be proud of this album because we managed to escape ourselves. The proof of our satisfaction is that we have consequently taken a keyboard player on stage.
Interview by Nando Cruz
Translation: Catherine
Muchas Gracias a Felix y Manolo!
Astounding. That's how Ride's September gig at the Royal Albert Hall was. The energy they gave out was exceptionally strong and only subsided after 110 minutes (!) of musical rage. From Moonlight Medicine to Chelsea Girl, in a set where new and old songs have been most fortunately selected, Ride only gave us time for breathing between the two encores.
The pace is set right from the start with four galloping tracks (Moonlight Medicine, Seagull, How Does It Feel To Feel?, Like A Daydream) that follow one another both smoothly and swiftly. Then it deceptively slows down a bit with the excellent Walk On Water (just when will they record it?!) tailed after by infectious Magical Spring. Birdman restarts the infernal race and Steve's bass guitar almost tears my chest open. I can hardly breathe in this compact and penetrating sound. Who said Ride had given up noisy rock? Noise is everywhere tonight, bursting like a brilliant revenge on everything, held out like a bright oriflamme. However to show their progress while obeying their "sound killers" instinct, the Oxford four use a few new tricks. The most pertinent is Nick Moorbath's playing keyboards. The Oxford promoter had already joined Ride on stage at Glastonbury and has further improved since then. Efficiently supporting the best parts in various songs, his keyboards cheery notes both strenghthen and clarify the guitars wefts in a subtle bitter-sweet nuance. Two other additions were London's exclusivity: obviously Ride had not properly read Ticket to Ride's review of the album as they invited the children's choir to join them on stage for I Don't Know Where It Comes From. Well...it was brilliant! A much surprised audience screamed its joy and I must admit to liking this version of a song that otherwise does not impress me on the album. So, yes, bring these kids over to France!
After the choir came the strings as a lovely girls quartet took place by Steve's side. They started almost unnoticed on Only Now (superb and perfectly sung by Mark), turned a little bit more daring on From Time To Time, and revealed their splendour on Drive Blind. Those who had heard the "Undrugged gig" live version (included on the "I Don't Know Where It Comes From" single) were not totally surprised but the effect was nevertheless thrilling when one thought of how the song sounded at the time of "Snub TV". In fact this slow and harmonious version, where Andy swapped his guitar for keyboards, was a song by itself as a noisy Drive Blind was played in the encore without sounding like a repetition. Now that's what you call talent.
After these highly spirited moments, the concert goes on cheerfully with one of the only two Going Blank Again tracks, Twisterella, followed by a Small Faces cover entitled That Man. Not knowing the original version, I can't judge the quality of its cover but I can tell that this more open and powerful singing really suits Mark and Andy. Now that their vocals are better assured, they gain a lot by singing louder and gradually become accomplished singers.
As the song ends, we fear it might also be the end of the concert because Ride have been playing for more than one hour and we all know that's a lot (although for us it's always too short). Yet things are changing... First comes Let's Get Lost (the pace does not get any slower!) then Dantesque Close My Eyes with a long and very, very noisy ending where all the instruments, including the organ, are used to the best. Absolutely mind-shattering. And this is where they've decided to go and let us fall back on earth, when we were flying higher than the Royal Albert Hall itself, completely lost and hallucinated.
Finally the two encores are pure bliss: unexpected Leave Them All Behind further testifies Ride's live power, Drive Blind and Chelsea Girl are noisy as we like them to be and End of the Universe is simply superb. No time for breathing I told you! This concert actually rejuvenated me after weeks where bad news kept coming in (cancelled US tour, delayed single release...). Whereas their slight failing on records is caring too much for perfection and losing their direct appeal through sometimes too sophisticated recordings, Ride totally dominate when it comes to live performances. Nothing nor no-one can take them off this pedestal. Their past and current strength owes a lot to the live passion they give out in front of a conquished audience. The only problem is that posterity requires more: as the noun implies, only records can make sure a band will stand the test of time. Concerts are only transient moments that even a live album cannot completely recreate. So, will a "high-tech" studio finally allow them to offer, on an album, the same high-level energy and emotion they raise on stage? That is probably the challenge they will have to face soon...
Review by
The first time that Ride have played my home town in 2½ years, I wasn't going to miss this one! I was pleased to discover that Oasis were not providing the support as was previously suggested (I am afraid I am one of the few peopole who are yet to be persuaded that Oasis are the new saviours of music). Support was, however, provided by Supergrass, which I have to admit I know very little about apart from hearing their Caught By The Fuzz song on the radio, and the second support slot was filled by Kinky Machine, who in contrast I am very familiar with and have a few of their songs gracing my CD collection. I enjoyed both bands, although I feel I was alone in my appreciation of Kinky Machine judging by the audience reaction. Highlights of their set, for me, were their opening track Ten Second Bionic Man (perhaps they did play this a little prematurely!!!) and the other hit they played, Swivelhead.
Although we were entertained by some pleasant incidental music, the half hour between Kinky Machine finishing and the fab four (or five as it turned out) entering the stage seemed to take forever. Eventually 9.30 pm arrived and the Carnival began..., commencing with Moonlight Medicine which turned into Seagull half way through. Although these two songs are quite different on record, the join was seamless. The set carried on in similar vein, mixing old with new; How Does It Feel To Feel?, Like A Daydream, Magical Spring, etc, the latter being very well received. Only Now fitted in well despite being obviously much slower than the rest of the set. It was performed slightly differently to the record with Mark putting the emphasis on different words in the verses. I'm no lover of ballads normally but the simplistic beauty of this song is quite breathtaking. The first set ended with a montage of Drive Blind, Let's Get Lost and Close My Eyes, three songs with a similar them. I love Drive Blind and tonight's version was the best I've ever heard. If any of the audience thought Supergrass' drummer was wild, they would be blown away by Loz during the cacophony of beautiful noise in the extended version of this song. I cannot give an accurate appraisal of the crowd mood at this point as I was in a world of my own and a mass of limbs and hair (and DJ's reckon you cannot dance to guitars and drums!).
The first encore was the now traditional Leave Them All Behind which is still my favourite Ride track altough At The End Of The Universe which was played next comes a very close second. The evening ended, where it all began really, with Chelsea Girl which again sounded as good as ever. This was certainly the best night of my year so far and one of the best concerts I have ever attended. Thank you Ride and, hey, don't leave it so long next time!
Review by Michael Seaword
It's no good. It doesn't matter how many times Andy asks "But didn't you like when the Stones did it?" - that was then and this is Ride and I doubt whether I will ever warm to that children's choir on "I Don't Know Where It Comes From". The nice thing about its release is that it's accompanied by the songs from the "Undrugged" concert and although the track listing seems to indicate that "Rolling Thunder" has been dispenses with it is in fact still in place before that wonderful version of "Drive Blind". The surprise with this single comes when "How Does It Feel To Feel?" ends and the CD keeps running...and running...and running. Are we about to get a secret message from Ride? Yes we are! Two seconds before the CD finally decides to come to a close we get the message that you can't always pick your audience and sometimes you get the occasional dickhead! What we actually hear is Idha counting in the opening to her song and someone with a brain one step down from an amoeba yelling "Bugger off" - thereby proving that not everyone has got taste.
The second single in this set of releases is unfamiliar territory for Ride as it finds them delving into the remix department. Andy's been up at the crack of dawn recording crows and raiding secret NASA files for his "Apollo 11" mix of "I Don't Know Where It Comes From" with the end result being that it hardly bears any resemblance to the original. (No you didn't just hear me cheering!). Amid a blend of whizzing spaced-out noises and tinkling chimes an incredulous voice repeatedly breaks in about spacecrafts on the moon in a manner that's reminiscent of the evangelist on the Orb's "Earth (Gaia)". The choir is still present but they're only lending some ethereal "aaahhhhs" to add to the eerie elements. The track begins to move away from its ambient mould by introducing a piano that has a touch of Thunderclap Newman about it and from here there's a gradual build-up of sound which seems to have more than an echo of "Magical Mystery Tour" stalking through it. It's during this part that I became really aware of the drums going "cchrrsshhcch" inside my head (listen to it on headphones and you'll hear what I mean!). This is blended with what sounds like someone randomly scanning the airwaves of a shortwave radio and a noise which could pass for the burglar alarm being triggered on my house! The choir make a brief appearance with the song's chorus because by then we're heading over the nearest crater looking for aliens so we need to be reminded of what we're listening to. It's a fleeting distraction from the insistent beat that's disappearing into the horizon and taking us with it. I don't know whether Andy did this remix in order to demonstrate that his head isn't permanently lodged amongst the jangling guitars and mod sounds of the '60s but I'm sure he had a lot of fun doing it. "Oh god!, you wouldn't believe it!".
The remix of "Moonlight Medicine" was placed in the hands of Portishead who have subtitled it "Ride On The Wire". Ride on a wire it could certainly be and a very bare wire at that! There's precious little left of the original apart from the organ and a snatch of vague vocals. "It's just a state of mind. Freedom and time, has got me frozen up inside" - these words are interspersed with a dense thunderous noise which seems to spit static and conjures up an image of some giant industrial machine grinding into action. With the exception of what sounds like a distant howler monkey this chopping and changing is the blueprint for the entire remix which means that after a while it becomes too predictable. With its multi-instrumentation the original was anything but predictable so you can't help thinking that perhaps Portishead should have retained more of it instead of stripping it to this extent.
I'll confess that the thought of having a remix of "At The End Of The Universe" filled me with excitement the minute I heard about it and "Journey To The End Of The Universe" certainly hasn't disappointed me. The opening bass lulls you into thinking you've been here before but wait a minute, Loz has cooked up an extra sound effect with the aid of what appears to be a synthesised baking tray! This reverberates in waves through the first part of this track where the other noticeable differences are the lack of guitars and the prominence of the organ. Ride instrumentals have always been soundtracks for great daydreams and this is no exception. I keep picturing this huge starship leaving its docking place and drifting out into space with lots of auxiliary craft shimmering around it. As you rush into the clarion of hyperspace voices babble, guitars pierce your senses and brash brassy blasts hurtle past you like asteroids. As your adrenaline starts to flow you reach that wonderful moment where Mark usually breaks in with "Smile and turn away" but this time there's no vocals - there's just the organ gliding serenely towards a starfield with pink, blue and purple gases. The drums have been abandoned (there goes some of my favourite bits!) in favour of some majestic guitar playing and space winds. There is no wind in space? Believe me when you get this far our there could be anything, and now if you'll excuse me I've got to wake up Loz from his cryogenic chamber! Hope you have sweet daydreams too - as Mr Spock would say "This is Ride, Jim, but not as we know them".
Review by Chrissie Oakes