Ride announce Sheffield show on the back of first new album for five years

They play at The Leadmill, Sheffield on September 6 in support of the album Interplay which is slated for release on March 29.

Formed 25 years ago, Ride have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity as their calibration of indie-rock defined as shoegaze has re-emerged as one of the fastest growing genres of 2024. A new wave of Gen-Z fans via TikTok have latched on, with artists such as DIIV and bdrmm converting millions of views into impressive streaming numbers and ticket sales.

Made up of guitarist/vocalists Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, alongside drummer Laurence “Loz” Colbert and bassist Steve Queralt, Ride launched in Oxford in 1988; four friends rooted in art-school aesthetics who combined 60s guitar-pop sensibilities with avalanches of noise and driving rhythms.

Their seminal 1990 debut Nowhere triggered a run of critical and commercial success that eventually hit the skids in 1996, with intra-band turmoil prompting them to call it a day.They reformed in 2014, finding a global scene full of bands indebted to Ride and their peers (Tame Impala, Beach House et al), and after a successful tour went into the studio with legendary producer Erol Alkan to create the critically acclaimed Weather Diaries (2017) and follow up This Is Not A Safe Place (2019).

Interplay is Ride’s third album since reforming, having now been together longer in their current second phase than their original iteration as 90s shoegaze pioneers. Produced by the band with Richie Kennedy and mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer, it connects all the dots from their career, taking the frenzied guitar attacks, hypnotic grooves and dreamy melodic hooks of their early work and setting it to a more expansive sonic template, inspired by 80s pop gems like Tears For Fears, Talk Talk and early U2.

The new album pairs classic Ride lyrical hallmarks such as escapism, dreams, and the dissatisfaction of modern life with a sense of resilience and perseverance that come from imploding, then reforming and finding a way forward to their second peak. Andy said: ““This album has taken a long time to make, and has seen the band go through a lot of ups and downs; maybe the most of any Ride album. But it has seen us come through the process as a band in a good place, feeling able to shake off the past, and ready to celebrate the combined musical talents that brought us together in the first place.”

Interplay is Ride’s seventh studio album and the band has just released the second single – Last Frontier – from it. The ethereal stomp of Last Frontier pairs kaleidoscope layers of sound with classic indie songwriting.

Andy said:“This was the runt of the litter of the very first jam session from Mark’s OX4 Studio and I didn’t even include it on my shortlist of the best tracks. It was our producer Richie Kennedy who saw the potential of the song, and we attacked this with a vengeance at Vada studio. A complete revamp of the backing track and arrangement was needed and we took it right back to basics, more towards a pounding Joy Division feel.”

Tickets cost £32.50 to see Ride at The Leadmill, Sheffield. Go to https://theleadmill.seetickets.com