Andy Bell’s post Ride career walked a path eerily similar to Gardener’s. Where the Animal House fused eletronica with the rock band aesthetic Bell went a more traditional route and formed a 70’s style rock band called Hurricane #1 in 1997. At the time Creation guru Alan McGee wanted to prove he could reproduce the magic he had found in Oasis and it just so happen that Bell had been writing rock songs on four-track hoping to find a suitable singer to fill them out. “At the time I was doing the solo thing. I was recording and almost playing everything myself and I was doing the lead vocals.” Bell brought his recordings to Creation and McGee suggested he form a new band. “In a way Alan was trying to say, ‘you can’t sing in the post-Gallagher world.’ Which is true. The songs I was writing were quite strident rock songs and with my voice it wouldn’t have been the right thing.” Bell began auditioning singers and he soon came across vocalist Alex Lowe. “He put attitude into the songs,” says Bell. “We kind of got that going and brought in the other guys at the same time and it was all kind of put together.”

The fact that the band was assembled rather than coming together naturally as friends disturbed Bell initially for the Hurricane #1 dynamic was far different than that of Ride. “At the time it was like, ‘It can’t ever be four friends who’ve known each other for years because I don’t have any friends anymore. All my friends were in Ride and that’s all gone’. We [Hurricane #1] all were kind of put together in these semi-awkward positions so I was like, ‘Let’s just enjoy it and do it’. So we had a really good time and we all worked really hard we all became semi-alcoholics if not all the way.”
Hurricane #1 released their self-titled debut album in 1997 to meager acclaim. The band toured rather extensively in Europe and returned with a sophomore effort, Only The Strongest Will Survive, in 1999, but the album never really took off. By the dawn of the new millenium Bell was ready shut the book on music forever. “I didn’t have any songs and I didn’t want to write any. At that point in my life I was basically giving up music. To Hurricane I was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’ve really enjoyed the past two years but this is it. I’m moving to Sweden. See everyone later.’ That was it. It was a weird old time.”

Bell moved to Sweden soon after but before he could settle down he received a phone call that changed his mind about quitting the music business for good. It just so happened that Oasis was looking for a bass player and the brother’s Gallagher wanted Bell for the job. Needless to say Bell was a bit surprised but he also couldn’t pass up the opportunity. “They knew me about and they knew I had good taste in music and I think they thought Ride was kind of O.K. but someone that is in Oasis is not going to be a huge Ride fan. They got people who are quite easy going in the band and I’m quite easy going as a person. Definitely quiet.”

Bell commutes from Sweden to England to rehearse, record, and tour with Oasis. He made his official recording debut with the band on 2002’s, Heathen Chemistry album and even wrote an instrumental piece for the record called “A Quick Peep”. In the past Bell has been primarily known as a guitar player so many of his fans found it odd that he was now the bass player. Most assumed he had quit writing songs altogether and was just resigned to rhythm duties. Bell made it a point to assure me he was still writing songs but he only picks the ones suitable for Oasis to show the band. “They’ve been trying to get me to bring songs since I first joined and I’ve probably given them four or five,” says Bell. “They’re very encouraging and I do play guitar when I’m with them but I don’t play it on stage because I’m the bass player now. I play a lot of guitar at home. If it happens it happens. I’m still writing songs.”

Mark Gardener Interview Transcription ExcerptsBelow are more excerpts from the Mark Gardner interview. The subject headings represent the breaks in the interview.
Playing Acoustic Catch Up
Marcus Kagler: So what have you been up to? Have you just been recording solo stuff? Mark Gardener: Recently I’ve been recording solo stuff. Basically last year I went to India for five months. I went to the south of India. Started in Goa and floated around the south and just sort of used that as the trip of a lifetime really, and that was great. Then I came back and I’ve been living in France, in a little barn in the middle nowhere, where I started to use that to do some writing. I put the studio into this little barn in France. Now, in the last month I’m just starting to try and put some of the ideas and tracks all together. I’ve put a few bits and pieces down and hopefully, maybe a couple or two or three of which will be played when I come out to America. As well as, obviously, the old Ride tunes that people want to hear. So, that’s the kind of general climate at the moment. Basically for the future I’m looking to do a solo album. You know, just very kind of stripped down. Kind of acousticy-voice kind of thing really. So you know, that’s the general plan at the moment so we’ll see what happens you know. Marcus Kagler: So you said you are coming to America?

Mark Gardener: Yeah, I’m doing a tour in April which is just my little tour that’s basically just me and an acoustic guitar playing some Ride songs really. The whole thing is being put together right now. The label that’s doing the Ride best of.... is putting it together. So it’s their kind of idea and they wanted me to come over and play a few radio stations and do a few dates and I just sort of agreed in that it would work in well with the that I’d like to start playing and I do want to get out and tour again. You know, in a sort of solo way. It’ll be a bit strange [laughs]. You know, quite intimate I guess but I’ve been rehearsing some of the old Ride stuff acoustically and it certainly...I think it’s good. I think a lot of that stuff sounds really good like that.

Marcus Kagler: Yeah, I think some of those songs would sound good like that.

Mark Gardener: Yeah. When you actually strip down some of those tracks, just sort of bare, back down to acoustic and voice, they sound pretty special some of them. It feels strange for me because, you know, I haven’t really played that stuff for quite a few years. But yeah, it’s kind of made me feel a bit nostalgic and in a way I guess, since we’ve been re-releasing some of the Ride stuff I’ve kind of become a Ride fan because I’ve kind of had some distant from it. I had some serious sort of distance, in years, away from it. It was very difficult to hear any of that stuff fresh and I couldn’t get any perspective on that stuff for awhile really. So yeah. I’m quite excited about that. You know I’m looking forward to coming out to America. That will be the first sort of tour I’ve done for quite awhile really.

Marcus Kagler: Definitely. Well, you still have a pretty hardcore audience out here in southern California.

Mark Gardener: Yeah, it’s always brilliant. I’ve always loved it. For me it was my first time coming out to America and, you know, when you’ve been in art school sort of making a noise in a room you didn’t expect to be doing American tours with the music we were making. We didn’t feel what we were doing was anything mainstream really. It was great. I loved touring America. The first tour especially was fantastic. So, I look forward to coming back and playing songs. We always had it great, especially the coasts. You know, the East Coast and the West Coast, it was great to play there.

Mark Gardener: No. I’m using it as a writing base but I’m back now. I’m back in England now. I’m not sure who is going to be putting it [the new album] out yet. I’ll be speaking to some American labels and publicists I think when I come out as well. I’m very happy with doing something directly with American people. I don’t know who’s going to put it, but I’ve just been kind of getting on the phones and I’ll be speaking to people when I’m out there. It’s kind of a work in progress at the moment but I hope by the end of this year the album will be ready and even, possibly, out. Or even, maybe more realistically, it might be early next year but I’m certainly going to go for it this year.

Marcus Kagler: Great. Is it basically you just putting the songs together? You don’t have any band helping you out?

Mark Gardener: Well, I might do. That’s definitely people who might be interested in playing and I might contact these people. I’m not going to mention any names yet but...yeah, initially I’ve been working with a writer, a woman called Kay Phillips. We’ve written other small acoustic and voice things in the past. So I’ve kind of gotten back with her and we’ve been writing more material together and have been finishing some of the material I’d been writing in France. But in a way it’s strange because I sing really well now and I’m really happy with the way the writing is sounding. People will maybe be a bit surprised, I guess. [laughs]

MK: Oh, yeah?

MG: Yeah, I think so. You know I’ve got to sing it really.

Marcus Kagler: Yeah, they really are.

Mark Gardener: I think the scene is healthy in America but in England it’s an absolute nightmare.

Marcus Kagler: Really? I didn’t know it was that bad. It’s pretty bad here as well though.

Mark Gardener: It’s just a real shame because a lot of new bands aren’t getting a good lookin’, you know. I think the great bands of all time took at least one, two, or three albums to get really good. I mean, a lot of bands now are being dropped before they’ve even made their first album. It’s really bizarre what’s going on. I think, in a way, a lot of people are going back to the independents and it’s just a shame that it’s like that...and there’s so much attention being given to these stupid, manufactured, pop stars kind of stuff.

Marcus Kagler: Oh, yeah. That’s just a lot of nonsense.

Mark Gardener: It’s just a total distraction from people who are trying to do real art, you know, real music, and in one year or two years all of these people are completely forgotten. There’s just not that many groups happening these days I suppose.

Marcus Kagler: Yeah, well, what’s going on in America these days is...a lot of up and coming bands aren’t even bothering to sign with major labels anymore. That’s starting to become a problem with majors because these days all the major’s want to do is make a cash cow out of that first album then they just cast the band aside. So a lot of bands are going straight to indie labels where they can own, or at least co-own their own material and they know they are actually cared for and things like that.

Mark Gardener: You know, that’s what we originally did with Ride by signing to Creation. I think that was a great move for us. Obviously, we signed with Sire for America, but that was fine because we kind of had our protection from Creation and actually Seymour Stein and people like that were great people to deal with. We never had any problems with Sire in America. I think that will be what will happen here again. It will have to really.

Marcus Kagler: Would you say you’re a bit wiser now when it comes to the record company business?

Mark Gardener: Yeah. I guess so. I never really wanted to get that involved with that really. But it kind of paid your wages and that was fine. Yeah, I do feel a little wiser toward all of it. In a way you always understand your failures in life more than your successes. So I’m wiser to the failings of what happened to Animal House and why that kind of whole thing happened and major label policy.

Mark Gardener: No. I mean, I wouldn’t rule it out. Certainly we’ve not said that was going to happen. I think a lot of rumors went mad when I said I was going to come out and play some acoustic dates in America and people took that as the whole band. But it’s really just me and an acoustic guitar and yes, I will be playing a lot of Ride songs, but that’s all it is. I think, after that announcement there were all these rumors about Ride reforming and doing a tour. Marcus Kagler: Do you guys still keep in touch? Mark Gardener: Yeah, yeah, we do. Absolutely. I mean, we have to. There’s always things that come up. Yeah, I think we all share the fact that we feel good about what we did at that time. Those were important years for all of us. I certainly don’t have a problem with us getting together doing that thing again, really. Marcus Kagler: What was the story behind you guys getting together to record a soundtrack to a documentary or something? Mark Gardener: Yeah, we did get together there in a room. It was last year and it was called...God, I can’t remember what it was called.... “Coming Up For Air” maybe or something. I might be wrong on that. I can’t remember what they called it. It was some sort of documentary on Sonic Youth. We were interviewed as well. We were kind of talking about Sonic Youth and they asked us to kind of get into a room together and basically do a sonic jam. And we did. We did that last year or the year before last. It is available but it’s kind of difficult to get a hold of. Marcus Kagler: Did it feel all right? Mark Gardener: Yeah. It felt fine. Yeah. It’s always a little strange but it felt good.

On New American Shoegazer Bands

Marcus Kagler: We are also running an article in our next issue, like I said, about these new American shoegazer bands. Recently a lot of the American indie bands we’ve been hearing have a very heavy shoegazer influence. [he laughs at this] In the beginning we thought, “O.K. Maybe it’s just one or two bands who’ve latched onto this sort of sound.” But then we kept getting more and more and more bands that have that shoegazer sound and we were like, “Wow! This is sort of odd.” It’s not just straight up shoegazer stuff from the early 90’s. Most of these bands are fusing that genre’s sound with their twists and also using more modern technology. What are your opinions on this? Do feel that music genres have a natural resurgence or cycles like the garage rock resurgence that’s going on right now?

Mark Gardener: I mean, you know, obviously for me I sort of....[pauses]....flattered that we have influenced people to play that sort of music. I mean, we have it over here with Coldplay and lots of other people who go on about Ride, which is very...I mean, to me-I’m completely flattered about that. I think, that if it inspires greatness in other people as many bands inspired us at that time I think that’s fantastic. I think there is still somewhere that it can go, especially if you’re combining it with loops and, like you said, using their I-Macs. That sounds pretty exciting to me. [he laughs] I’d like to hear some of these bands! If we do end up playing in LA you’ll have to bring me a burnt copy of some of this stuff because I have to hear it.

Marcus Kagler: Yeah, definitely.

Mark Gardener: It’s a bit weird for me. You know I’ve been living in France for the last year. I don’t know what’s going on. I haven’t even understood what’s going on in England let alone what goes on in America. [laughs]

Marcus Kagler: Yeah, it is weird because this is purely an American thing. There aren’t any bands, at least not that are being sent us, from England or Europe that are playing this shoegazer stuff. They’re all American. It’s almost like the initial shoegazer phase that happened in the early 90’s or movement or whatever you want to call it...it hit America, but I think it really hit a generation of kids who then grew up listening to it and being influenced by it. Now that they’ve reached maturity and have decided to become musicians this is the music that directly influenced them. So it’s kind of like America is catching up to you guys in a way. It's a little weird.

Mark Gardener: [laughs] Yeah, it is a bit odd. I mean, I would like to hear some of those. It’s great, you know. Also, as well as doing solo stuff I’m always looking to work with other groups as well you know. So who knows? It’s something I always thought was great and I would be happy to work with bands as well. I’m always interested in hearing almost anything and obviously, if it’s inspired people then I feel great about it. That’s a good thing.

Marcus Kagler: There actually is a band that I think you can buy over there in England. They’re called Lift to Experience. They’re an interesting band. They’re from Texas and their music is very shoegazer-like in it’s own right but it’s kind of a concept album. And the concept is: it’s the end of the world and Texas is the promise land.

Mark Gardener: Wow! What are they smokin’?! [laughs] Get me some of that as well when I come over there! Are they from Austin?

Marcus Kagler: Denton, Texas.

Mark Gardener: Right. I think I’m playing South by Southwest as well. Right, that’s interesting. I’ll look out for them. It’s good to hear that. It’s great. I always thought what we did was fantastic. Just the times, it was...I don’t know. I mean the people that were there originally, like the Valentines, some of those people are still with bands really. I think here...it was strange in England because I sort of felt that daytime radio weren’t happy to play that sort of music. Those noisy, guitar-y, indie bands then. Then about four or five years later you didn’t hear anything but that really.

Marcus Kagler: Do you think there is steam left in this kind of genre?

Mark Gardener: Absolutely. Yeah. I think all people are influenced by certain things and that’s fine. When people actually do it and it’s not completely generic but apart of some newer recipe and like you say people are bringing in loops and stuff like that, there’s always....if it’s good and it’s still got good songs, no matter what type of style it is then yeah, I think things can always go places. You know there’s always more steam to be had from it.

Mark Gardener: I think in a way we were...we’d saturated it. We’d been doing it nonstop for...I don’t know-

Marcus Kagler: It must have been about four or five years.

Mark Gardener: Yeah. We were trying to craft and just change. You know, craft more songs to just change it. You don’t want to do exactly the same thing. Some people just preferred the early stuff and then there’s other people who can’t get their head around the early stuff. After four or five years you’re not just going to keep doing those same guitar tricks. It kind of gets dull after awhile and we thought it was getting dull for the people outside the band as well.

Marcus Kagler: Really?

Mark Gardener: Yeah. Why go into a studio and pay stupid money when you can put stuff down on a computer. I think the only case to go into studio’s is...you know, if you’re a live band or whatever you can do so much now as far as demo’s and stuff with a computer. They’re great. Of course, they drive you mad as well. But nothing can be that great. But I think you can put that sort of stuff on I-Mac. Why not? You know.

Mark Gardener: Yeah. I mean Andy was always a fan. I was a bit surprised to find he was playing bass with them because he’s a brilliant guitar player.

Marcus Kagler: So was I actually.

Mark Gardener: But obviously, I think he hit a point where he had tried to get the Hurricane thing happening, which it didn’t really, and I think he was sort of close to giving up on the whole thing. Then I think Noel sort of phoned over and said, “Do you want a job?” It’s like, “Yeah, why not.” If you’re going to play in a band then Oasis is a good band to do that with. They’re a good rock n’roll band and Andy was obviously a fan. It was good, but now it’s bit dull to me. I think it would be great for Oasis and better for Andy if he had more writing input really. I think he’s a brilliant writer, especially after playing some of the stuff he wrote with Ride. If he’s happy doing that, which he probably is...it’s simple you know, and he knows what he’s got to do then fine. He plays some massive shows with them. It’s good. I don’t really know completely how he feels about it. He must feel good about it or wouldn’t keep doing it would he?

Marcus Kagler: Do you go back to England to go record with Oasis?

Andy Bell: Yeah, really I just go back there for work, which is the Oasis thing. So I spend a lot of time in London rehearsing in-between tours then we go off touring. For the last album, which is the first one I made with the band we recorded it in Oxford and London, but it was kind of like an English thing too. Yeah, I don’t get much of a chance to miss England because I’m always back there. [laughs]

Marcus Kagler: You must spend a lot of time commuting then.

Andy Bell: Yeah, I do. I know the airports of Europe very well.

Andy Bell: Cool. Basically are they using a lot of guitar effects?

Marcus Kagler: Tons.

Andy Bell: The guitars are loud in the mix and everything and the vocals are-

Marcus Kagler: Yeah, the vocals are very under the mix. It’s very kind of ethereal sounding.

Andy Bell: That’s great! Once you start doing that you know you’re away. [laughs]

Marcus Kagler: Yeah. There are a lot of bands from Texas obviously. They’ve had their own particular brand of space-rock going on there for awhile now.

Andy Bell: The Polyphonic Spree are getting pretty big right now aren’t they?

Marcus Kagler: The Polyphonic Spree are great. They’re fantastic. Have you seen them live?

Andy Bell: I haven’t yet although I have a sticker. Some of the guys from Oasis went to see them and brought back some sticker’s saying, “I Have Seen The Polyphonic Spree”. So I’ve got the sticker on my pump organ, but I haven’t actually seen them. [laughs]

Marcus Kagler: If you ever get a chance to see them do it. They’ll make you feel good for a week, I swear.

Andy Bell: Oh, yeah, I’m sure.

Marcus Kagler: They sell white robes to their audience instead of T-shirts.

Andy Bell: No way! Oh my God.

Marcus Kagler: When I went and saw them they were doing just a showcase show at the Troubadour here in L.A. So I go to the Troubadour and there’s like a line around the block of people and more than a few were actually wearing the white robes.

Andy Bell: I take it the Troubadour is pretty small though, isn’t it? Marcus Kagler: Yeah, it’s pretty small. But they rocked that place. They were amazing. Andy Bell: I like the slower ones. I like the first two or three songs on the album but then the guys voice starts to grate on me a little bit. Like a Mercury Rev thing but they’re great anyway. Marcus Kagler: Yeah, Tim Delaughter does have that quality to his voice. When I interviewed him though he said that album is just a demo they recorded in three days. They recorded it to give to club owners so they could get bookings for shows. Andy Bell: The first song is called, “Have A Day” isn’t it? Marcus Kagler: Yeah. Andy Bell: [sings the chorus of the song] When I first heard it I thought they were saying, “Holiday / Celebrate.” I thought it was like a Madonna tribute sort of thing. [both laugh] I didn’t like it as much when I found out they weren’t singing that.

Kevin Shields

Andy Bell: You know, you meet Kevin Shields and he’s just a different kind of person. He’s not like a...he kind of really invented this whole thing and he’s still in there. In a way, it’s like a burden he’s got to bare because he’s such a perfectionist with sound and he’s just sort of...you start talking about the weather with him and within about fifteen minutes he’ll start talking about a certain amp. He can talk about an amplifier, really interestingly though, not boring, but he gets in really deep about things like that.

Marcus Kagler: So he gets kind lost in the technical aspects of the sound?

Andy Bell: I don’t know if he gets lost...he just enjoys it. He’s just got a minute, microscopic brain. It’s quite possible for someone like him to spend a week just really studying the sound of a microphone and an amp and moving it around. Whereas someone like me would probably do that for half an hour and then feel like I was wasting everyone’s time.

Marcus Kagler: Oh, yeah, with Storm In Heaven.

Andy Bell: Yeah, it’s an insane album. It’s great. They were able to hang on as a band and keep going through the whole 90’s and, you know, they became really big with Urban Hymns. What they did was kind of like what British music did or at least that little section of British music from ’92 to ’98 or ’99, whenever they split. It’s kind of like a little picture of it because it all became really popular, but it was also great as well. It’s just that it said, “Right now, we don’t want to be sidelined. We want to go onto the main stage and be the Beatles and the Stones of this generation.” That’s what the Verve and Oasis kind of became for young people in England in the mid-to-late ‘90’s. It was quality music at #1, #2 in the charts that people were really excited about. We haven’t had that for a long time.

Marcus Kagler: There’s a different quality there.

Andy Bell: Yeah. I guess the American lo-fi thing that started out in the ‘90’s...that’s definitely one of the more influential things, isn’t it?

Marcus Kagler: Absolutely.

Andy Bell: Because it was kind of like...you had the bedroom dance thing where you could make a dance album in your bedroom if you had a sequencer. This was like you could make a record with instruments on it in your bedroom because someone like Pavement did it.

Marcus Kagler: They pretty much started modern day indie-rock as we know it. In a way. Or American indie-rock at least.

Andy Bell: Kind of, yeah. It’s the amateur sound. It was a revelation because here was a good band that said, “Hey, it doesn’t have to sound expensive.” Now, it’s like people want it to sound like that all the time. It’s like, “No, make it 8 bit. Make it 4 bit.” It’s like, “Instead of 24 bit sound...can you make it 1 bit?” [laughs] So four tracks now have become like a major recording tool in the studio and we’re using like old cassette four-tracks to record things and....it’s madness.

Marcus Kagler: A lot of bands also, these are actually bands who don’t have a lot money, but they have their I-Macs. There’s a great band from Texas called Lift to Experience, they’re on Robin Guthries label. Just an amazing, amazing space-rock band and they made the whole record in, basically, a garage using nothing but Pro-tools on an I-Mac and the thing sounds like they spent a year in the studio.

Andy Bell: Wow.

Marcus Kagler: I mean it’s amazing what you can do and they [Lift to Experience] said, “Yeah, we recorded this album for $2000.” It just blows my mind that people can do that. I guess the technology has gotten to the point where people don’t have to sound one bit anymore even though they are in a way because they don’t have the financing.

Andy Bell: I feel really positive talking to you. [laughs] It feels good, you know. It’s a nice conversation to have.

Marcus Kagler: Yeah?

Andy Bell: Yeah. On Mark Gardener

Andy Bell: It’s kind of cool that nothing really happened. It wasn’t like there was a shoegazer stadium festival or anything. [laughs] It was alright in the end. But how’s Mark doing? What’s happening?

Marcus Kagler: Oh, he’s working on his solo stuff. He’s living in France at the moment. Actually, when I called him he was at his dad’s house watching a football game. He was visiting. He said he’s been busy recording solo stuff. Apparently he’s converted a barn in France into a recording studio.

Andy Bell: Yeah, I heard about that. Last time I talked to him he was doing that. He hadn’t started doing it yet. He was saying that he sees through the walls. The walls were literally a pile of stones. [laughs]

Marcus Kagler: Yeah, he got an offer to come over to the States and do a tour to support to support the Ride best of...and the box set. He said he was going to do a mixture of Ride songs and his own solo material, kind of testing the waters with his solo stuff. It’s just him acoustic. He said it should be interesting.

Andy Bell: Well, I would love to see that. I’m not going to come over to America for it, but if he does some shows in England or Sweden I’ll be there. Now, you talked to Mark last week?

Marcus Kagler: Yeah.

Andy Bell: Did you get anything good out of him? I mean, he seems to be quite good at talking and putting things into perspective. I’m just interested in knowing what he said or how he seemed about all the '90’s thing.

Marcus Kagler: He seemed pretty positive about it. He said it was, you know, a great time in his life, but he also said everyone was very young at the time.

Andy Bell: Well, yeah.

Marcus Kagler: That you guys were kind of cutting your teeth with Ride. Basically, he doesn’t have any hard feelings about it or anything and he wouldn’t be averse to getting together and recording again with you guys.

Andy Bell: Yeah, we keep talking about that.

Marcus Kagler: But he said everyone seems to have their own thing going on so he doesn’t know when that will happen.

Andy Bell: Well, we did do it once. We did get together last year or the year before for one day.

Marcus Kagler: For the documentary?

Andy Bell: Yeah.

Marcus Kagler: Yeah, he talked very positively about that. He said it was a lot of fun.

Andy Bell: It was great!

Marcus Kagler: He said you guys didn’t have to worry about finances and all the crap that comes with being in a band or a band that has kind of established themselves. That you guys just got into a room and played. So you were satisfied with that too?

Andy Bell: Yeah, as a moment in time. There’s a document of it on CD, which has gone out there, but I think only a 1,000 people have got it.

Marcus Kagler: Yeah. I’ve heard it.

Andy Bell: Oh, you’ve heard it. Yeah, it’s, you know...[laughs]...well, what do you think of it?

Marcus Kagler: I think it’s really interesting. You know, it reminds me...I mean, I have several friends who are in bands and whenever they get something together they’ll say, “Hey, come over to the rehearsal space and hear what we have.” You know?

Andy Bell: Yeah.

Marcus Kagler: It’s just sounds like four guys....you know, at it’s core that’s what music is all about for the musicians. It’s about just getting together and playing.

Andy Bell: Yeah. Are you a fan of Can?

Marcus Kagler: Yeah.

Andy Bell: Because you know, Can used to just record a day of jams where they would record for twelve hours and then just edit it down to forty minutes. What we put out there on that thing is just forty minutes, you know, it’s not edited down at all. But if you took that track and edited it right down and then carried on in the studio hours and hours longer doing all different kinds of things. You know, doing quiet songs and loud songs. That would be something interesting for Ride to do because that would not be involving any type of song writing or any politics. It would just be about music and then you could just like, find all the little good bits and put them together.

Marcus Kagler: So, you wouldn’t be averse to recording with them again as well?

Andy Bell: Not at all. But, you know, we keep saying that among ourselves, but it’s just we’re all too busy. We’ve all got things to do. It’s something that I think would be nice to do at some point, but I’m not going to start arranging it. You know what I mean, because I’ve got this very, very time consuming job I do, which is great. You know I love being in Oasis and everything. When I’m not doing that I just want to be with my family in Sweden because most of the time when I’m working I’m away from them. It’s kind of hard to think about doing anything else apart from that for a long time to come. But...you never know.

Andy Bell: No. [Laughs]

Marcus Kagler: Why not? Too much of a headache.

Andy Bell: It’s just...I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happened to me? I’ve become quite lazy and I’ve become a bit set in my ways as well. You know, I like what I like. I wouldn’t want to be the leader of a band again.

Marcus Kagler: That reminds me of something that Mark Gardener told me.

Andy Bell: Yeah, what’s that?

Marcus Kagler: He made it a point to say that he wished you would get back to more songwriting and guitar playing because he thinks you’re a great songwriter and he kind of misses that aspect.

Andy Bell: Oh, yeah. He said I should do that. I see, yeah.

Marcus Kagler: Yeah. He hopes that the guys in Oasis kind of let you...I don’t know how it works with you guys but to let your song writing skills kind of shine.

Andy Bell: They’ve been trying to get me to bring songs in since I first joined and, you know, I’ve been probably given them four or five when we were doing the last sessions and we wound up doing two of them which is not bad because there’s a lot of songs about. A lot, an awful lot. But yeah, they’re very encouraging and I do play guitar when I’m with them, but I don’t play it on stage because I’m the bass player now.

Andy Bell: Well that was a strange kind of time. I had a really good time for those two years. It was only two years and we worked really hard. What I wanted really was to have my own little Oasis. It wasn’t something that I wanted when I first left Ride. You know it wasn’t like ‘Ride is finished so I’m going to go make a band straight away.’ It was just something that kind of happened. You know I fell into it and I loved Oasis anyway. That’s probably the reason why. Alan McGee was very much into proving he good do the Oasis thing again. So when I was looking about he was like, “Well, you’ve got all these demos you’ve done since Ride finished” because I’d come into Creation and played him so music. He said, “These are really good songs and you should put a band around yourself.” Because at the time I was doing the solo thing. I was recording and almost playing everything myself and I was doing the lead vocals. Alan McGee said, “Well, you could do this yourself, but why don’t you get a band yourself and get a fresh start and you can be the songwriter and the guitar player and you can relax a bit more.” In a way he was trying to say, “You can’t sing, you know. In the post Gallagher world.” Which is true.

Marcus Kagler: Congratulations.

Andy Bell: Thanks. So at the moment I’m with my kids, but at the moment there’s one I haven’t seen yet. You know what I mean?

Marcus Kagler: So do you feel like being in a band is kind of a social outlet for you?

Andy Bell: Yeah, yeah. I mean, that’s just with people I get on with. I guess I’m a bit lazy about keeping up with friends outside of my work. I do see them occasionally but I guess I’m not that sociable.

Andy Bell: Yeah. Looking back on it...of all the songs we released, which was two albums and B-sides I think we could’ve put together a really good album out of that. I don’t think that every track on the albums are good. I think about half the tracks on the each album are good. I think a few of the B-sides are really good and I think a few of the remixes are as well. So there is some good stuff there, but it was a weird old time.

Marcus Kagler: So were Noel and Liam big Ride fans when they asked you to join the band? Didn’t they tour with you at one point?

Andy Bell: Yeah, kind of. In the beginning Oasis or quite early on we did a last minute support slot with them which is one of the last gigs we did in England. There was kind of a cross over you know. When they first signed to Creation, me and Ida, my wife, used to see Noel and Liam around quite a lot in London because we were spending a lot of time in London. Either at Creation or going to Creation gigs. So we saw Oasis very early on a few times, and saw them at parties and got along really well with the guys we met which was Noel and Liam basically. Then Ride ended up supporting Oasis about two years later when Oasis was just breaking it really big. End of 95 or end of 94 or something like that, but anyway, we did a tour with them.

Marcus Kagler: So were you surprised when they asked you to join the band?

Andy Bell: Oh yeah. They were kind of Ride fans, but they knew me. They knew me about and they knew I had good taste in music and I think they thought Ride was kind of O.K. but someone that is in Oasis is not going to be a huge Ride fan because the elements in Oasis that are good are like opposite to the elements of Ride that are good. In a way they’ve got this really strident vocalist that just belts it out. It’s all about the attitude and there was no attitude in the Ride vocals whatsoever. We were all about the submergence of people. Or at least the sound of people. The sound of space.