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For Mark Gardener specific news, please refer to the Mark Gardener Ticket To Ride Microsite

31 - May - 2006

Andy going solo? Erm... not really... :-(

I am sorry to disappoint all those who were drooling at the news that Andy Bell was going to release his first solo album in 2006 - believe me, I was one of those drooling fans - but unfortunately all the story which lead to this announcement was a hoax, although a very elaborate and credible one. I apologize for spreading the news before checking its source (one lesson I learned), but I have been fooled as well.

What happened was that after the rumours began to spread without control, they arrived to Andy's ears. Andy was surprised to learn that he was about to begin to record an album he did not have any plans for... That's what Dave Newton, RIDE's manager posted on TTR's forum, putting an end to the whole story:

"I just spoke with Andy as I figured he might want something semi-official posted out to the Ride mailing list. Sadly the whole "interview" is a work of fiction. He'd only heard about it because somebody had mentioned it to the Soondtrack guys and they were a little surprised, to say the least. It's a bit of a strange one as enough of the story is believable to give it real credibility but I still can't see what anyone would gain from spinning such a yarn. However I can report that Andy is really enjoy putting his feet up and relaxing at the moment!"

Apologies again, and let's keep our hopes high: if it's not happening now, why could not it happen sometime in the future?

Ride on XFM - Loz and Andy go solo!

After a long time silence, finally some exciting news from the RIDE Universe (no, I am sorry, no reunion in sight): next Wednesday 31st May RIDE will be the featured band in XFM's "Breakfast Show" hosted by former Kenickie member Lauren Laverne.

RIDE will be the subject of MIA - Missing In Action, a small space inside the show where Lauren interviews members of bands from the past about their current whereabouts and musical projects. Mark Gardener will be interviewed on behalf of the whole band, so be sure to wake up early and tune your radio to XFM 'cos it is happening very early in the morning... at 7:40 am UK time! More details on XFM's website (http://www.xfm.co.uk).

Speaking of RIDE members current whereabouts... they could not be more active than they are now, 'cos everyone seems to be involved in musical projects at the moment. Mark Gardener's first solo album (These Beautiful Ghost) has been released in USA, Europe and Japan and has been widely appreciated. Mark is enjoying touring (he just came back from Belgium) on his own and also providing backing vocals to French duo Rinocerose. You can follow Mark's career through us (http://www.ticket2ride.it/mgmicro) but also through Mark's own page on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/markgardener) where you can find a constantly updated list of forthcoming gigs.

The good news is that also Loz Colbert and Andy Bell are working on their first ever solo material: Loz is putting together songs and a backing band and he's been busy gigging and recording demos. You can listen a few songs and check for dates on Loz's MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/laurence_colbert).

Andy Bell has finally decided to put on record the songs he's been writing in his Swedish basement during the last few years and he's about to begin the recording sessions in Stockholm with producer Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm from the Swedish rock group, The Soundtrack of Our Lives. More details, including the transcription of an interview about the project can be found here: http://www.ticket2ride.it/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=720.

People have been asking many times about the RIDE DVD: I am sorry but the project has been put on hold mainly because the master tapes of the Reading 1992 Festival performance, which were to become a substantial part of the final product, have been misplaced (otherwise said: LOST) by Japanese company Fuji TV which originally recorded the event. Let's see what happens in the future...

That's all for now. I'll be back soon...

Ride DVD planned

It's been some badly kept secret for a few months with rumours circulating on forums and mailing lists (guess which ones?), but now it's reached a stage where we can put the news on the front page: RIDE, following the success of the Best Of boxset and the BBC Sessions compilation, are working at a DVD, again with people at Ignition Records.

No details have leaked about the contents but we can confirm that there is plenty of material that the band is browsing for inclusion: video promos, tv appearances and interviews, private footage and so on. There is so much stuff to choose from that the final result will be definitely be impressive.

No release date can be announced yet, but if you don't own yet a DVD player, then this is the time to buy one!

Maybe you could even help the band to put together the DVD: they are willing to include a clip filmed by an American film maker called Steve Lewis whose trails have been lost since then. The band would like to contact him to ask him permission to use the footage, but are unable to get in touch with him. If you happen to know him, please let me know at my usual email address (birdman@tin.it). Thanks for your support.

"Waves" release date confirmed

"Waves", the BBC sessions compilation album is now officially ready for release: the album has been mixed by Steve Queralt and Dave Newton and the sleeve and booklet artwork have been finalized by Rob Chenery from Tourist and Andy Bell (who also contributed with sleeve notes). Rob's artwork should be familiar to many of you as he's the graphic designer who worked on the Best Of/Boxset packaging.

"Waves" will be released in the UK by Ignition Records on August 4th and in USA/Canada by The First Time Records on October 7th.

You can already pre-order your copy from OxfordMusic.Net and have it delivered by your door.

24 - June - 2003

23 - May - 2003

Ride BBC sessions: release date set

The band has announced that the long time planned BBC session anthology will see the light of the day later this year.

"Waves", this is the name of the compilation, will be released in the UK by Ignition Records next July 21st while the band is currently working on securing a release worldwide for the Autumn.

The album will contain 17 tracks culled from the 5 Radio 1 sessions that the band recorded. The provisional tracklisting is:

1. Like A Daydream
2. Dreams Burn Down
3. Perfect Time
4. Sight Of You (Pale Saints cover)
5. All I Can See
6. Decay
7. Severance (Dead Can Dance cover)
8. Time Of Her Time
9. Not Fazed
10. Mouse Trap
11. Birdman
12. Walk On Water
13. Since Then
14. Crown Of Creation
15. Let's Get Lost
16. 1000 Miles
17. I Don't Know Where It Comes From

1-4 are taken from the 1st Peel session (1990)
5-7 are taken from the 2nd Peel session (1990)
8-10 are taken from 1st Goodier session (1992)
11-14 are taken from 2nd Goodier session (1993)
15-17 are taken from Radcliffe session (1994)

Only a couple of tracks have had to been scrapped due to timing reasons (the CD runs close to 74 minutes lenght with these 17 songs).

More details to follow, so stay tuned.