RIDE

• Genre: Shoegazer
• Hometown: Oxford
• RIDE Website

About

Beginning with the Smile EP, RIDE set overdriven guitars to the hypnotic pulse of Fender vibrato and driven, loopy rhythms. Vocalists Mark Gardner and Andy Bell traded vocal duties, layering each with their richly melodic, atmospheric harmonies and creating the shoegazer's signature contrast between jet engine guitars and almost deadpan vocals. The band's two minutes began in 1990 with the release of Nowhere, and rather than cow-towing to pop's quick, compressed conventions, RIDE increased the throttle with phantom feedback and an elegant sort of rhythmic aggression for album's opener "Seagull." Still, the band didn't confine itself to volume tactics alone; they also showed great pop skills and a penchant for heart wrenching song craft with the album's touted hit "Vapour Trail." RIDE continued to profile their structured pop brilliance (see "Twisterella") and jammy, neo-psychedelic swirl until their demise in 1995.

- Kelly Bauman