Andy Bell describes why ‘Evol’ is his favourite Sonic Youth album
Andy Bell has enjoyed a career that many are undoubtedly envious of. Having first broken through as the lead guitarist and co-frontman of Oxford shoegazers Ride, Bell has continually looked to expand his scope with every release. Ride burst onto the scene in the 1990s with a sound that blended the jangle of The House of Love with the noise of American alt-rock acts such as Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., and Hüsker Dü, pushing the limits of any genre they were confined to.
The band quickly rose to fame and became one of the highlights of the shoegaze movement or, more disparagingly, ‘The Scene That Celebrates Itself’. However, they quickly left that moniker behind (no pun intended) by refining their unique guitar-based sound that contained much more potency and songwriting intelligence than most of the loose collection of acts that they were associated with. There’s no surprise that they remain so eminent when many of their peers from this period slipped away.
Together, Bell and Ride’s other frontman, guitarist and songwriting partner, Mark Gardener, were hailed as one of the most exciting duos of their generation, with the pair rightly regarded as guitar heroes. Whether it be ‘Dreams Burn Down’ or ‘Leave Them All Behind’, their work speaks for itself.
After Ride split in 1996 due to the band members growing apart personally and creatively, as well as dwindling interest in the group, Bell briefly returned with Hurricane #1 in 1997, an Oasis “inspired” act. Eventually, in 1999, he joined the real Oasis to play bass, which would help him segue into the next chapter of his career. Then, when the group split in 2009 following Noel Gallagher’s departure, he was part of the short-lived Beady Eye project with the remaining members.
Since Beady Eye called it a day in 2014, Bell has continued his busy work ethic. Ride returned later that year, and since then, the band has toured extensively and delivered two stellar albums in 2017’s Weather Diaries and 2019’s This Is Not a Safe Place. Elsewhere, Bell has worked as a producer and committed to various other musical projects, such as collaborating with the Swedish band The Most and releasing music under the moniker GLOK.
Looking at his extensive list of musical exploits, Andy Bell evidently has a wide-reaching taste. Despite the ever-changing nature of his artistry, which now leans more heavily on electronics than ever before, he still holds a special love for Sonic Youth. Arguably, the group had more of an impact on Ride than any other. Speaking to The Quietus in 2021, Bell listed 1986’s Evol, Sonic Youth’s third studio album, as one of his favourites. Noting how Ride bassist Steve Queralt introduced him to the New York band and the impact they had on him thereafter.
He recalled: “Steve Queralt from Ride got me into Sonic Youth. My biggest period with Sonic Youth was from Evol, through Sister, into Daydream Nation. Goo is probably one of the coolest record sleeves I’ve ever seen. It makes a great t-shirt, but my favourite Sonic Youth music is that period just before that when they signed to SST Records and became a bit more poppy. I really love Evol and Sister.”
Bell continued: “I could have picked either of those. Sister contains probably my favourite Sonic Youth song, ‘Schizophrenia’, but then Evol has more of a consistent listener-friendly experience. I really like ‘Shadow of a Doubt’ and ‘Starpower’, they’re so beautiful and the whole Kim Gordon mystique is established on that record.”
Looking back at those heady days when Ride was just a set of young idealists yet to be marked by the music industry machine, Bell concluded: “When I think back to the formative days of Ride, there was a Southbank show on Sonic Youth, which we memorised. There’s all these quotes, like Thurston Moore going, ‘People say we play our guitars out of tune, but they’re just out of standard tune’. And then there was a Kim Gordon quote that we used to say all the time which is like, ‘I have a smaller bass now so I feel more like a rocker’. They’re just regular quotes really, but to us they were just so cool, ridiculously cool people. As a kind of tall gangly kid, I really related to that, I wanted to be Thurston. I felt there was a way to be when I saw Thurston with a guitar.”
