SITTING in the basement of The Jericho Café, on the opposite side of the road to the fabled Tavern, Loz Colbert considers the aftermath of Ride’s split. “26 is very young to be feeling that your life is over. But that was it. What am I going to do next?” Andy Bell remembers the shock of Gardener’s departure in July 1995 brought into sharp focus certain practical necessities. “I sat down and said, ‘I’m fucked. I’m done for.’ I felt retired. My first reaction was, ‘Fuck, I better learn to drive because I’m going to have to get a proper job soon.’ All washed up at 25.”
Bell’s post-Ride history is well-documented, taking in Hurricane #1, Oasis and latterly Beady Eye. Gardener, meanwhile, continued to make music, as a solo artist, with like-minded collaborators including Robin Guthrie and also as a producer. Colbert, for his part, played in a few bands – including The Animalhouse with Gardener – before signing up to study music. Subsequently, he played with The Jesus And Mary Chain, Supergrass and most recently Gaz Coombes. Queralt, on the other hand, effectively retired from music. “I worked for Habitat,” he confides. “I remember Thom Yorke coming in. It was awkward. There was no eye contact. He asked me a few questions about a product. I think he was buying the most expensive sofa in the store.”
The band continued to have a business relationship – “There are still bills to pay,” notes Colbert – and after a while the four members of Ride and Dave Newton began regular meetings, “yearly get-togethers where we drink real ale and go through sheets,” as Bell describes it. Routinely, it seems, the subject of a Ride reunion has presented itself; especially ahead of the festival season. Finally, last year, a favourable set of circumstances for a reunion presented themselves. “I knew Beady Eye was going to be on writing time, and this spring would be pretty free,” explains Bell. “I told the Beady Eye guys I wanted to do this. Later on, the news came through from Liam that he was calling it a day. So it meant that instead of being two weeks of gigs, it could be a little more.”
The band announced a series of reunion shows on November 19 last year; two days later, they met at Vale Studios, Worcestershire, for toe-in-the-water rehearsals. “It was easy to play with the other guys again,” says Queralt. “I took a week off work to be a rock star again.”
“All I wanted to get out of it was the feeling that the gigs will be OK,” admits Bell. “I got way more than that. I realised there was something indestructible about the music if you can pick up where you left off after 20 years and it makes you feel that same way.”
“To jam again, to be in a room again, it’s a great feeling,” confirms Gardener. “It feels like you’ve come home.”