'We're keen to explore all our untapped potential' says Ride drummer Loz Colbert

For a man who has suddenly found himself at the centre of the music world’s biggest stories, Loz Colbert is surprisingly relaxed.

Last week’s announcement that Oxford indie-rockers Ride were to reform, after 20 years apart, sent fans of the band into paroxysms of excitement – making news around the world, and seeing tickets for the band’s first run of shows selling out in minutes.

But if Loz, the band’s drummer, is nervous, he’s not showing it.

“It’s about as exciting as it can get,” he says. “When the four of us get together it goes to a different level. There’s magic and a spark happens. I know it’s going to be great!”

Loz is relaxing in a cafe in Oxford’s Summertown, not far from his home in Jericho. He admits things have been a little crazy since they revealed a run of dates in Britain, Europe and North America, but that now was the time to start planning.

“We’re going to get on with it and see what comes out,” he goes on.

“We’ve been talking about doing this every year for the past five to 10 years, but an opportunity finally came up.

“There have always been lots of reasons why it couldn’t happen before, and now lots of reasons why it can. The timing is possible, and everyone is in the right situation.”

Ride are no strangers to being in the right place at the right time. Their formation and rapid rise to fame is a typical rock & roll tale of talent, ambition and downright luck.

Laurence ‘Loz’ Colbert met bandmates Mark Gardener and Andy Bell while at college in Banbury in 1988. They recruited Steve Queralt, who was working in the Oxford branch of Our Price Records. He had previously played in a reggae band with Andy. They played their first shows at the college and the city’s Jericho Tavern and Oxford Polytechnic – now Oxford Brookes University.

Fame beckoned when a demo tape they had recorded in Steve’s bedroom was heard by Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain, who recommended the band to manager Alan McGee.

They went on to support The Soup Dragons and were then snapped up by McGee’s Creation Records label.

They released a flurry of EPs, two of them, Play and Fall making the top 40.

This was followed by Peel sessions and their debut album Nowhere, which charted at 11. They also cracked the top 10 of the singles charts with Leave Them All Behind – which appeared on their upbeat second album Going Blank Again – which reached number five in the album charts and went gold.

They had arrived. And if they were rapturously received at home, their reputation was equally huge overseas – particularly Japan – where tickets for their first tour sold out instantly.

Branded ‘shoegaze’ by the music press, the band always resisted the label, with Andy and Mark each keen to take their sound in different directions.

Their follow-up Carnival of Light was recorded with Stone Roses producer John Leckie and Nigel Godrich, who would go on to produce Radiohead. It reached number five, though cracks had started to appear in the band, and by the time fourth LP Tarantula was released, Ride were over.

While Steve officially quit music, Loz and the rest branched out, Loz playing in The Animalhouse with Mark, and then The Jesus and Mary Chain, Supergrass, and bandleader Stuart Macbeth’s vintage jazz and jump blues group The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band. He has also played alongside Supergrass’s frontman Gaz Coombes as part of his solo Here Come the Bombs project.

As well as The Animalhouse, Mark has played alongside Oxford musicians Robin and Joe Bennett in Goldrush, psychedelic act The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Morning After Girls, as well as creating his own acclaimed solo work. He also works as a producer with his own recording studio in Oxford.

Guitarist Andy, meanwhile, played in Hurricane #1 before joining Creation label mates Oasis as bassist — which meant him having to learn the instrument and the band’s back catalogue before his first show. Latterly he played guitar with Liam Gallagher’s band Beady Eye, which announced its own split last month – just in time for Ride to reform, with the announcement of shows at London’s Roundhouse and Field Day festival, Glasgow, Manchester, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Toronto and New York.

From left, Laurence ‘Loz’ Colbert, Andy Bell, Mark Gardener and Steve Queralt

“It’s not as if we haven’t seen each other since,” says Loz, a 44-year-old father of four. “Quite the opposite, in fact. And we’ve all been creative.”

So is the reunion a permanent one – as much as such things can be?

“We are keen to play these shows and see how that goes before seeing what to do next,” he says. “It’s definitely one step at a time.”

And might we be in for some new music? “That’s one of the things we are so excited about,” he says. “I’m seriously hoping we will get a chance to do that. It’s a tantalising prospect and one I’ll be seizing with both hands if I get the chance.

“We didn’t really get the chance to explore a lot of what we could do and a lot of potential was left untapped.

“I’m very keen to explore that and tick a lot of boxes we didn’t get the chance to tick before — and to do what we should have done, and could have done, in the studio. And we are in a better position now as well.

“Even the sound and technology is better.”

He said the time spent apart exploring their own interests had made them better, and more interesting musicians. “We have experienced what life has to offer and have bags and bags of stuff to bring from our time spent playing with other bands.

“All that experience we’ve picked up along the way is going to be poured into playing live.

“I have played with the Jesus and Mary Chain, Supergrass, The Animalhouse and Gaz Coombes; while Andy has played with Oasis and Beady Eye – so has played at the top level and is also going to be bringing some of that experience.

“Mark has played as a solo artist and with other people and has learned a lot, and Steve’s positivity will come to the fore. He has listened to more music than anyone else, and brings the right attitude. He may have ‘retired’ from music after the band, but has constantly listened to music and would occasionally get together and jam. He hasn’t lost anything and I’m excited to be playing with him.”

If there’s one thing that has surprised Loz, it’s the strength of feeling from fans since last week’s announcement – prematurely scooped by the organisers of Barcelona’s Primavera Sound festival who, a day earlier, had unveiled a banner advertising the band’s appearance at next year’s event.

“It’s been incredible,” he says. “I have been blown away. Everything sold out in 30 minutes. That wouldn’t have happened back in the day. But there seems to be something in our music that resonates, and lots of other bands reference us. And we won’t just be playing to the same people but to a new generation.

“I’m looking forward to that.”

And, he hinted that while there was no Oxford date on the tour, hometown fans may have something to look forward to.

“There certainly should be something,” he says with a chuckle. “I’d very much like it. We’ll just have to see nearer the time.

“Our main focus is on taking one step at a time.”

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