Photo: Wenn
Noel Gallagher is called a lot of things, but not too often a 'great guitarist' - at least that's what Ride's Andy Bell has to say of his six-string skills.
Bell was joined Oasis as a replacement bassist back in 1999, but is now tearing up the reunion circuit with Ride. Speaking to Music Radar, he took the time to praise his former bandmate.
"I just want to say that I think Noel's really underrated as a lead guitar player," he said, "His playing is like a John Squire-y thing, but there's a lot more muscle behind it. He kind of trademarked his own style, which has become something that everyone uses now - that massively overdriven sound with quite a lot of delay on it."
Speaking of the band's impact and legacy, Bell said: "Oasis definitely did change my life when I first heard them! They were like a breath of fresh air. To put it into context, Ride were working on the third album, 'Carnival of Light', and we were taking a bit of a break. We were starting to get a bit frayed at the edges and we were starting to pull in different directions musically, too. We were really shooting for a kind of West Coast Byrdsy California sound mixed with a little bit of Led Zeppelin and a little bit of classic rock."
"I think we were also subconsciously trying to make a cleaner record, because we'd stopped getting played on the radio ... but then along comes Oasis sounding like the Jesus and Mary Chain meets the Sex Pistols and just completely blew everything out of the water!"
Ride are set to re-release their debut album Nowhere this month. The release will round off their nine date UK tour in October, including a gig at Brixton Academy on 14 October. Gigwise caught Ride at the Roundhouse earlier in the year, at a gig that offered a "towering performance from a once-in-a-generation band"
Check out the remaining dates below, and click here for tickets and more information.
OCTOBER
14 London, O2 Academy Brixton
15 Liverpool, O2 Academy
17 Bristol, Anson Rooms
18 Newcastle, O2 Academy
19 Edinburgh, Corn Exchange
21 Nottingham, Rock City
22 Birmingham, Institute
