With the successful recent reunions of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, shoegaze has finally achieved the level of popularity that previously only existed in the heads of the genre’s most ardent supporters. Now Oxford quartet Ride is the latest band of the movement’s early-’90s peak era to reunite, and its frontman says shoegaze has aged better over the past 20-odd years than the British musical export that followed it, Britpop.
Mark Gardener told the NME last week that “[s]hoegaze has dated better than Britpop, which has dated horrendously.”
He went on to add: “I think shoegaze was always more substance over style, which was why it was hard for the press because all the bands were quite boring. We weren’t the biggest personalities and egos, which is difficult for the media, I know, but the substance of the music has really stood the test of time.”
Last week Ride announced their long-awaited 2015 reunion, which features nine shows in Europe and North America, including June 2 in Toronto (tickets on sale tomorrow) and an already sold-out June 4 show at Terminal 5 in New York City. They’ll also play Primavera Sound in Spain (May 29) and London’s Field Day (June 7), as well as other shows in the UK, France, and Amsterdam.
Here’s the context of Gardener’s Britpop diss, from the NME interview that also chatted with guitarist Andy Bell, formerly of Oasis and Beady Eye…
Shoegaze has never fully come back into fashion, but there continues to be bands influenced by it, doesn’t there?
Andy Bell: “Yes, I think so. When Ride broke up I didn’t feel like people around the world thought it was a great loss for music. But gradually I started feeling that people were out there that were carrying a torch for our music. A lot of it was in America too, and when I’d be touring the US with Oasis, it would be the American bands coming up to me backstage to say how much they liked Ride. I think it’s been simmering for a while. I’ve got a 16-year-old daughter and she likes guitar bands, and we went to see Tame Impala. It was a nice feeling hearing the threads of our music in their set, and also my daughter saying she liked Ride without having to push it on her.”Mark Gardener: “Shoegaze has dated better than Britpop, which has dated horrendously. I think shoegaze was always more substance over style, which was why it was hard for the press because all the bands were quite boring. We weren’t the biggest personalities and egos, which is difficult for the media, I know, but the substance of the music has really stood the test of time.”
The interview also reveals some of the inspiration behind the Ride reunion. Bell says the success of the recent comebacks by My Bloody Valentine and the Stone Roses had an impact on their decision.
Did you think there was unfinished business all these years?
Andy Bell: “Yes, that’s a way to put it. We were friends again, and we all thought when the time was right we’d do something again, and now the time is right. We’ve run out of reasons not to do it. It definitely helped seeing bands like the Stone Roses come back and the joy it’s brought to people. We did quite a few gigs with them and you’d see people just wild with excitement. Also the reformed My Bloody Valentine, who were so much a part of me getting into music and guitars and sounds. Seeing them come back was incredible. Their reunion at the Roundhouse was the best I’ve ever seen them, and I saw them 10 times or so first time around. I didn’t use the earplugs, either…”
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