Ride
Bell formed Ride with Mark Gardener (guitarist), whom he met at Cheney School in Oxford and Laurence Colbert (drummer) and Steve Queralt (bassist), whom he met doing Foundation Studies in Art and Design at Banbury in 1988. While still at Banbury the band produced a tape demo including the tracks "Chelsea Girl" and "Drive Blind". In February 1989, Ride were asked to stand in for a cancelled student union gig at Oxford Polytechnic that brought them to the attention of Alan McGee. After supporting The Soup Dragons in 1989 McGee then signed them to Creation Records which is a key event in Bell's life.
With Ride, Bell released three EPs between January and September 1990, entitled Ride, Play and Fall. While the EPs achieved a degree of chart success per release, enough critical praise was received to make Ride the darlings of music journalists. The first two EPs were eventually released together as Smile in 1992, while the Fall EP was later incorporated into CD releases of their debut LP, Nowhere, released in October 1990, which was hailed as a critical success, with the media dubbing Ride "the brightest hope" for 1991. On Nowhere, Bell contributed "Seagull", "Kaleidoscope", "In a Different Place", Polar Bear", "Dreams Burn Down", "Paralysed", and "Vapour Trail".
There was a rumour in early 1991 that Robert Smith (The Cure) refused to appear in the Great British Music Weekend concert unless Ride were also in the list of acts playing. Ride did appear along with The Wedding Present, Carter USM and The Cure. Nowhere was followed in March 1992 with Going Blank Again. The twin rhythm guitars of Bell and Gardener, both distorted, both using wah-wah pedals and both feeding back on each other was seen as the highlight of the album's critical and chart success. On Going Blank Again, Bell contributed "Not Fazed", "Chrome Waves", "Time Of Her Time", "Cool Your Boots" and "Making Judy Smile".
Despite having a solid fanbase and some mainstream success, the lack of a breakthrough contributed to intra-band tension, especially between Gardener and Bell. Their third LP, Carnival of Light, was released in 1994, after shoegaze had given way to Britpop. On Carnival of Light, Bell contributed "Birdman", "Crown Of Creation", "Endless Road", "Magical Spring", "Rolling Thunder" and "I Don't Know Where It Comes From". The band were joined at Creation Records by Oasis, who shot to fame in 1994 with their debut Definitely Maybe. As label mates, Bell was an early fan of the band and became friendly with the Gallagher brothers.
1995 saw the dissolution of the band while recording their fourth album, Tarantula, due to creative and personal tensions between the two guitarists. Bell penned several of the songs for the album, one of which – "Castle on the Hill" – has been interpreted as a lament for the band's situation. Additionally, Bell contributed "Black Nite Crash", "Sunshine / Nowhere To Run", "Dead Man", "Walk On Water", "Mary Anne", "The Dawn Patrol", "Burnin", and "Starlight Motel". Upon release of the album, it was announced that it would be deleted after one week.
In 2014, it was announced that Ride had re-formed and tour for eight months throughout in Europe and North America in 2015. This took in two headline shows at Primavera Sound and London’s Field Day. November 2016 brought further news many Ride fans have been anticipating: there would be a new album in 2017. Producer and DJ Erol Alkan broke the news on Twitter that he had been in the studio with the band, with their first album in 20 years released in Summer 2017. Weather Diaries, Ride's fifth studio album, was released on 16 June 2017 on Wichita Recordings.
In August 2019, Ride released their sixth studio album, This Is Not a Safe Place, which reached number 7 in the UK charts. The release has been supported with a world tour.. While performing supporting Noel Gallagher in Taunton, Somerset in August 2023, the band confirmed that work on its latest album had been completed. On 11 January 2024, Ride announced their seventh album, Interplay.
