Visor Fest

Ride formed in Oxford, England in 1988 and consisted of members Andy Bell, Laurence Colbert, Mark Gardener, and Steve Queralt. Before the group’s formation Bell and Garderner were involved in musical theatre at Cheney School in Oxford, but eventually went on to study art and design at North Oxfordshire located in Banbury. They met fellow student Colbert there and recruited him to be the band’s drummer. Queralt (who was in the reggae/pop band the Spiderbacks with Bell) became the group’s bassist. The members shared a love for 60s psychedelic rock bands like the Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd and the Byrds as well as 80s noise-pop acts such as Spaceman 3 and Sonic Youth; however, Ride reportedly owes it’s existence to The Smiths (one of their performances was a life-altering experience for Bell).

Ride recorded their first demo in 1988, which consisted of the songs “Chelsea Girls” and “Drive Blind”. Jim Reid, the lead singer of the Jesus & Mary Chain heard the demo and impressed by the group’s sound past it on to his manager Alan McGee. Less than a year later McGee signed the band to Creation Records. Ride proved to be one of the labels most promising acts. Within 9 months the band had recorded and released 3 EPs “Ride”, “Play”, and “Fall” all which entered the UK Top 75.

On 15 October 1990, Ride released their studio debut “Nowhere”. The album included all of tracks on their “Fall” EP as well as an additional 4 newly recorded songs. It was a commercial and critical landmark for the group, going silver in the UK and rising to No. 11 on the charts. The album has been recognized as an essential record of the shoegaze genre (a label the band often rejects) and likewise one of the greatest albums of the 90s. One of the album’s songs “Vapour Trail” has left a strong impression on popular culture as well. It appeared at No.145 on Pitchfork’s Top 200 Tracks and was also mentioned in the book “Perks of Being a Wallflower”.

Due to the hype created from their studio debut, fans were eager to hear a new recording form the band. Ride answered their audience’s demand with their 1991 EP “Today Forever”. As “Nowhere” established the group as noise-rock heroes “Today Forever” acted as an erasure for that title and saw the group headed towards a more pop oriented direction. Despite the change in sound the EP did well commercially and critically and was followed by a near-instantly sold out tour of Japan.

The band toured excessively around this time and the strain it placed on the members started to show; however, they returned with another ecstatically reviewed and commercially accepted album “Going Blank Again”. This was followed by more touring, this time alongside the brit-pop group the Charlatans.

Around the time of the recording of their 3rd album “Carnival of Light” the band was self-reportedly delving into extreme indulgence and treated their music on a secondary level. Inevitably the album received harsh reactions from both critics and the band themselves. Their next album “Tarantula” did not do much better. The band was starting to implode at this point, stemmed largely by disagreements between Bell and Gardner. The writing on the album was split between the 2 musicians, with Bell accounting for most of the material. The album struggled on the charts and was dismissed by critics, eventually being dropped by its label within 1 week of sales.

Roughly 6 years after the band’s demise they appeared in a Sonic Youth documentary and played a 20 minute jam session for the film, which was later released in 2002 as “Coming up for Air”. In November of 2014 the band announced that they would be reuniting and released a string of tour dates including gigs in Glasgow, Manchester, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and New York.

Led by the creative prowess of vocalist Dave Faulkner, who alongside drummer James Baker played in the punk outfit the Victims, the Hoodoo Gurus lineup was completed by guitarists Roddy Radalj and Kimble Rendall. Drawing influences from across American pop culture, Hoodoo Gurus combined three guitars playing punk, rock, and garage instrumentation with pop melodies. The band’s debut single, “Leilani”, was released on Phantom Records in 1982 and paved for the way for their first performance on the kids’ TV program “Simon Townsend’s Wonder World”. Shorty after the performance members Rendall and Radalj parted way and were replaced by Clyde Bramley and Brad Shepherd, respectively.

Composed of Faulkner, Baker, Bramley, and Shepherd, Hoodoo Gurus released their debut full-length album “Stoneage Romeos” in 1984. Spawning the singles “I Want You Back”, “In the Echo Chamber”, and “I Was a Kamikaze Pilot”, the record became an instant hit on American college radio, with the band becoming internationally recognisable. Following the release James Baker was fired from the group and replaced by Mark Kingsmill who played on the Hoodoo Gurus first U.S tour in 1984. The band’s second album, “Mars Needs Guitars!”, built on the success of their debut, epitomised by their smash hit single “Bittersweet”.

Following the release of Hoodoo Gurus’ third studio album “Blow Your Cool” in 1987, guitarist Bramley left the band, and was replaced by Divinyl Rick Grossman for 1989’s “Magnum Cum Louder”. The record spawned the radio singles “Come Anytime”, “Another World”, and “Baby Can Dance”, and paved the way for 1991’s full-length “Kinky”. Three years later the band issued their rockiest album to date “Crank”, followed by “Blue Cave” in 1996, after which Hoodoo Gurus disbanded. The compilation “Ampology” proved a worthy collection of the group’s output, however following a pseudo-reunion as the Persian Rugs, Hoodoo Gurus returned to embark on a successful Australian tour. The album “Mach Schau” arrived shortly after leading the group to sign with Sony Music Australia, and release their ninth studio album “Purity of Essence” in 2010.

New Model Army was first formed in 1980 by its lead singer Justin Sullivan, bassist Stuart Morrow and drummer Phil Tompkins. However, a few months laters Tompkins left the band and was replaced by Robert Charles Heaton. The band released their first album entitled “Vengeance” in 1984, and it went to number 1 on the UK Indie Chart. During the mid 80s the band ran into some trouble with visas to tour the United States, however once everything was cleared up, the band successfully played their shows in the United States.

They released their second album, “No Rest For The Wicked” in 1985 followed by constant touring. Between 1986 and 1998 they continued to put out five more albums. Additionally, some members came and went, and went off to play with other bands, such as Stuart Morrow playing with the band Loud, as well as sometimes touring as 'Justin Sullivan and Friends', which had a more acoustic set without some players. After a short tour at the end of 2004, the group returned to the studio to record their ninth studio album, “Carnival” which was subsequently released the following year. Additionally, their label, EMI, has released four remastered earlier albums. In 2014 they released “Between Wine and Blood” which features as both a studio album doubled with a live album.