Andy Bell’s Top 5 Pre-‘Nowhere’ Influences

From Classic Album Sundays:

Ahead of our next event with Guardian Live: Classic Album Sundays presents ‘Nowhere’ with special guests Ride, we caught up with Andy Bell who shared with us his Top Five Pre Nowhere Influences.
Alongside his work in Ride, Andy also played bass in Oasis, guitar in Beady Eye and Hurricane #1.

The Beatles – Revolver

You can hear echoes of Revolver throughout Nowhere. Seagull is the track with the closest links, obviously the bassline is quite similar to Taxman and there is also a lot of backwards guitar which is something the Beatles pioneered.

Spacemen Three – Perfect Prescription

My most played record during the short time I was an art student. I loved the stretched out long songs, the guitar sounds, the clearly signposted influences. They got me into Suicide, The Red Crayola, 13th Floor Elevators, but more importantly this is a great album.

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation

There was a huge side of Ride that was influenced by American guitar rock, at the time the UK indie music often had quite a twee, tame sound, and the US had a lot of bands with a lot more bite, like Dinosaur Junior, Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney etc.

The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead

This was the record that kick started my friendship with Mark Gardener. We bonded over him wanting to learn the chords from Bigmouth Strikes Again, and me knowing them. We were two Smiths fans and this album was the soundtrack to us dreaming of starting a band one day.

The Cure – Disintegration

Like the Smiths, The Cure were a constant soundtrack at school, and they carried on putting out excellent albums throughout Rides existence. Disintegration was a band favourite.

We will be hosting a special event with Ride in conjunction with Guardian Live in London on October 7th.

Full details can be found on the Guardian website:

Tickets: £15 in advance with free Guardian Friend membership and £12 for Guardian Partners and Patrons here. (scroll down to become Guardian Friend for Free to purchase tickets)


Note: I just saw Ride in Chicago a week ago, and they were incredible! If they are playing near you (or even if they're not), go see them! Worth it for 'Drive Blind' alone.