Music Maps Podcast · Rock n Roll Book Club

90 - Ride with Steve Queralt (Oxford)

·53 min·4 clips

Steve Queralt asked Emma Anderson to sing, but she replied, 'I don't sing'—until a year later, everything changed.

This episode of Music Maps features host Tom Cox in conversation with Steve Queralt, the bassist of the influential shoegaze band Ride. They discuss Queralt's new solo instrumental album, *Swallow*, and trace the entire history of Ride, from their formation to their breakup and eventual reunion. Queralt explains that the material for *Swallow* originated from unused ideas he initially wrote for Ride following their 2019 album, *This Is Not a Safe Place*. He details his songwriting process, noting he prefers to present highly polished demos to his bandmates, a contrast to the more collaborative evolution those demos undergo within Ride. For his solo work, Queralt enlisted singers Emma Anderson of Lush and Verity from The Memorials after a year-long, serendipitous conversation with Anderson. Queralt reveals that roughly 90% of the music he listens to is instrumental, citing film composers like Vangelis and artists like the Cocteau Twins, whose vocals he treats as another instrumental layer. The conversation shifts to Ride's origins, where Queralt met future bandmate Andy Bell when Bell came to his house to record a cover of George Michael's "Freedom" with Queralt's brother. Ride's early aspiration was simply to become the biggest band in Oxford and headline the 300-capacity Zodiac venue. Queralt describes their early sound as a "magpie" approach, trying to emulate bands like New Order, The Smiths, and My Bloody Valentine, which naturally coalesced into their own signature style. He recounts how the band was nearly signed to a Warner Bros. subsidiary but were "hijacked" by Creation Records founder Alan McGee after he saw them support The Soup Dragons. Their debut album, *Nowhere*, was recorded in a frantic two-week session at Blackwing Studios that left their initial producer, Mark Waterman, burned out, leading Alan Moulder to step in and complete the mixes. The band's commercial peak came with the single "Leave Them All Behind," which reached number nine in the UK charts, making it Creation's first top-ten hit. Queralt sourced the distinctive cover art for *Going Blank Again* from an art exhibition, commissioning the artist Christopher Gunson to redesign it. He expresses a personal dislike for the later single "Twisterella," despite it becoming a radio staple, and recalls the "Shoegaze" tag being used dismissively by the music press at the time. The recording of 1994's *Carnival of Light* was a less enjoyable experience, with producer John Leckie adopting a more directive approach, and Deep Purple's Jon Lord contributed keyboards to one track. He identifies tensions beginning during the *Carnival of Light* era, fueled by a lukewarm reception and songwriting disputes, and acknowledges that making the rushed follow-up, *Tarantula*, was a "terrible mistake" that led to the band's initial split. After the breakup, Queralt largely stepped away from music, aside from a few local bands and auditions, but the members stayed in touch through annual meetings. The reunion was ultimately sparked by consistent offers and a collective decision to revisit their music. The tone is relaxed, conversational, and deeply nostalgic, flowing from present-day projects back through detailed musical history. This episode is essential for Ride fans and anyone interested in the UK shoegaze and indie scene of the 1990s, offering specific insights into album production and band dynamics. Listeners seeking a highly structured, debate-driven podcast or those with no interest in the genre's history might find it less engaging.

As heard by us

A patient Ride conversation about songs, process, and how a solo record arrives.

Steve Queralt spends most of this conversation on how a solo record grows out of band life: ideas left over from Ride sessions, the EP that never quite happened, and the shape of Swallow on Sonic Cathedral. That keeps the talk grounded.

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Why you'd press play

You want Ride's next chapter folded into Steve Queralt's first solo record.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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