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Mar 14, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by Cal McIntyre

Legendary British shoegazers Ride are releasing a new album, Interplay, on March 29 via Wichita and PIAS. Now they have shared its third single, “Monaco.” Check out the song below.

Also we recently posted our new interview with the band about the album and you can read that here.

Ride formed in 1988 and its lineup remains guitarist/vocalists Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, drummer Laurence “Loz” Colbert, and bassist Steve Queralt.

Gardener had this to say about “Monanco” in a press release: “The backing track came from the earlier Ox4 Sound sessions we did and we gave it a demo name of ‘Monaco’ as we were naming these jams and ideas we were pulling together as place names. One evening, during the recording sessions at Ox4 Sound, the guys had all left the building and I was there with just producer Richie Kennedy and an engineer. I had been writing some words about how I was feeling that everybody was being smashed in the current economic climate with the rise of energy bills and all else; to the point that it just seems now that we’re having to live to work instead of working to live. The song is a reflection on this feeling of how we’re all being smashed to pieces and under pressure constantly financially. It’s a kind of call to arms against this whilst we still have strength to fight against it. ‘Monaco’ then stayed as the ironic title as the song is totally against the madness of the few who live in their artificial, detached rich bubbles in Monaco.”

Previously Ride shared the album’s first single, “Peace Sign.” It was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared its second single, “Last Frontier,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Interplay is the band’s third album since reforming in 2014, following 2017’s Weather Diaries and 2019’s This Is Not a Safe Place. Ride produced the album with Richie Kennedy and Claudius Mittendorfer mixed the album.

Bell had this to say about Interplay in a previous press release: “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.”

Ride are currently on a co-headlining U.S. tour with The Charlatans. It’s something they did last year as well. The Charlatans are performing their 1992-released sophomore album, Between 10th and 11th, and Ride are performing their 1990-released debut album, Nowhere.

Read our interview with Ride’s Mark Gardener on This Is Not a Safe Place.

Also read our 2013 interview with Ride on Nowhere and our 2015 interview with Gardener where he went through Nowhere track-by-track.

Ride Tour Dates:

5/11 - Boston, MA @ Big Night Live
5/13 - Montreal, QB @ Theatre Fairmount
5/14 - Toronto, ON @ Concert Hall
5/15 - Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
5/16 - Chicago, IL @ Metro
5/17 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
5/19 - Denver, Colorado @ Gothic Theater
5/22 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
5/23 - Portland, OR @ Mission Theater
5/25 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox
9/2 - Belfast, UK @ Limelight
9/3 - Dublin, Ireland @ Olympia
9/4 - Cork, Ireland @ Cyprus Avenue
9/6 - Sheffield, UK @ Leadmill
9/7 - Newcastle, UK @ Boilershop
9/8 - Glasgow, UK @ SWG 3 TV Studio
9/10 - Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory
9/12 - Leeds, UK @ Stylus
9/13 - Manchester, UK @ New Century
9/14 - Bristol, UK @ SWX
9/16 - Falmouth, UK @ Princess Pavilions
9/17 - Portsmouth, UK @ Guildhall
9/18 - Brighton, UK @ Chalk
9/20 - London, UK @ Roundhouse
9/21 - Wolverhampton, UK @ Wulfrun Halls
9/22 - Cambridge, UK @ Junction

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