Ride’s seventh and latest album, Interplay, represents a shift in focus from the delay and reverb heavy guitar sounds that have become synonymous with the band. Instead, this is a more diverse collection of songs bathed in electronics as much as their customary guitars while displaying a pop sensibility some might not associate with the band.
If predecessors Weather Diaries and This Is Not a Safe Place were their Rubber Soul and Revolver, Interplay is Ride’s White Album. A sprawling masterpiece that builds incessantly while taking the listener on a journey via innumerable twists and turns of direction. As with its aforementioned predecessors, Interplay also heralds Ride’s reunion as one of the finest reformations in recent years. Not least because the new material stands gallantly alongside the band’s earliest works, but also because it hints at even more unfinished business to come.
Bearing all of the above in mind, Under the Radar sat down with founder member, singer, and guitarist Mark Gardener to discuss Interplay, working in his studio, and his band’s forthcoming tour, which looks set to dominate the second half of this year.
Dom Gourlay (Under the Radar): I imagine it being a really busy time for you at the moment with Interplay coming out soon and the tour following later this year alongside working full time in your studio?
It is. I’m juggling a lot of stuff at the moment. The studio’s so busy now. It has to be and I’m really glad it is. It was such a ridiculous leap of faith and investment to do that, and then of course COVID hit so I thought, “What the hell have I done?” But that’s got really busy, then when Ride ramps up it does mean I’m flying around a bit like a madman. I try to do a bit of health training in the morning and get into the studio around midday until midnight every day of the week, then I have my daughter at weekends. So, that’s me at the moment. I was living in my studio for three years, just so I could basically save some money to put down a deposit on a flat. That finally happened last year, which is great as I finally have somewhere I can call a home and my daughter has a room for when she stays. It’s a nice place here. I can see the River Thames from out my window and I’ve got that separation from my studio. I love music and
