Mark Gardener was on a West Coast tour last month, and after his show at Soho in Santa Barbara, Gardener was interviewed by Highlight Media. Gardener discussed his guitar pedals, his involvement in the Creation Records' documentary Upside Down, and threw much love the Smiths' way ("the Smiths was one of those bands I realize was brilliant, they really spoke to me"). But the BIG scoop of the interview was when Jason Reed asked Gardener about reforming Ride. Surprisingly, Gardener did not rule out the possibility of a Ride reunion. In fact, he said he's excited about the idea of one!
"Look, I think as long as we're all still alive there's still a chance. There's, there's no plans to, nothing's confirmed. I'm happy because I'm very proud of what we did. When we finished in '96, you kind of feel like, well, you feel like it's irrelevant, but the complete opposite seems to have happened. So, and you know, so that feels really good...
At this point Gardener seemed to consider the idea for a moment, then continued:
"I guess. I guess there is a chance. But, that's...I'm one quarter speaking, there needs to be three other quarters to kind of totally you know, commit and say we'll do this...we're good pals, we've been pals. Since Ride split, we've had good contact, we always get together because there's always ongoing sort of sonic business with Ride. We've tried to put out, everything...all of it, so...I don't know, it's so difficult, because I can't say...from my point of view, I'd like to do it at some point, it's exciting, but like I said, I'm just a quarter of that..."
For those keeping track, a few years back Andy Bell said the following about a possible Ride reunion:
"Well, never say never. We're good friends now. We get together once a year and just have a few pints and whatever. We're all pretty busy with what we're doing, but personally, it would be a shame if we never got to play those songs one more time."
And of course, Bell is no longer busy with Beady Eye since they announced their split last week! So perhaps a Ride reunion will be in the offing soon. Stay tuned.
Watch the whole interview with Gardener below via Twitter user Nicole Riley & Creation Records. The comments about a reunion begin around 14 minutes into the video:
Published November 2nd, 2014 @ 8:22 AM