March 29, 2024

Ride are back, shoegazing is back!

Just lately there’s been a lot of new bands recreating the sounds of the early nineties.

For example, Undo have, with their single Hollow Hands, fast-tracked progressive grunge into the twenty-first century.

In all honesty a great big grunge revival is not on the cards right now. But there are one or two bands pottering around. Eight months ago Bohica put some grunge fusion out. Bohica’s guitars roll, they grandstand and buzz like Sugar, like Sugar and Bob Mould, they cry out like the Pixies. Lyrically they’re somewhere between Dig and Swervedriver. What the fuck are these four post-pubescents doing in the early 1990s!? They’re there because the grunge alt rock of that period was the most meaningful music ever made, it spoke of human drudgery, of the shitness of life, but it felt cool to be aware, it was a true friend.

Some of the old bands are back too. Swervedriver are touring.

And today I read that Ride have reformed and have released their first single since 1996. Charm Assault could have easily been written, recorded and released in 1996.  Its got plenty of My Bloody Valentine stomach churning guitar wows. There’s a bit more structure to Charm Assault than some of the stuff Ride were famous for in the early 90s, its a bit more song with verse and chorus, not so much shoegazing wall of sound flip-outs. Its an alright kind of tune.

Well, it got me thinking about the old days of Ride. Their peak came with Twisterela, a perfect piece of indie pop. God, I used to listen to that so much, I can’t believe I’ve practically forgotten about it.

Time has moved on though. Said one listener, “I’m afraid that age, pies, and Old Speckled Hen mean that shoegaze is impossible for me these days. I’m waiting for the sixinchesinfrontofmytoesgaze genre to become the new thing.”

 

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