28/04/00 the guardian (friday review)

Who the hell are...?

The Animal House

So, who the hell are they? Mark Gardner (vocals/guitar), Loz Colbert (drums), Sam Williams (guitar), Jason King (keyboards) and purple-haired Hair Teah on bass. Mark and Loz may be familiar to some from their days in Ride.

Appearance A bunch of geography teachers on a field trip. But what about the shaven-headed, agitated, convict-looking type? This, alarmingly, is Mark Gardner, minus the long hair and pout which made him, albeit briefly, a pin-up for a generation of miserable, navel-gazing, daffodil-worshipping sixth-formers. Sheesh, anyone'd think he was trying to run from his past.

Forgive us, but who were Ride, exactly? Oh, wake up. It may seem a long time ago, but in the early 90s Ride were Creation Records' great hopes, before Oasis. Although you've less chance of hearing their records now than Gary Glitter's, they had a string of hits including two top five albums. More historically important, their onstage habit of examining their footwear spawned the heralded - later derided - genre, "shoegazing".

Oh, that Ride. What happened to them, anyway? It all went wrong after they tried to hitch a ride on Britpop. Their last LP, Carnival of Light, was harshly but fairly viewed as a pile of shhhhh. Amid unspeakable acrimony, Mark hotfooted it to America and songwriting partner Andy Bell formed the dreary, pub-rock Hurricane No 1... he's now in Oasis.

Right. And now another two are back? Yes. After "finding himself" (and waving bye-bye to his locks), Mark returned to their home town, Oxford, and rekindled fires with Loz. Then came the other members including former Supergrass producer Sam. Funnily enough, The Animal House sound like a turbocharged Supergrass with sci-fi knobs on, with perhaps a tinge of Ride's original wistfulness. You'll like them.

Anything else to declare? Gardener insists this band is a democracy, with "no arguments whatsoever". Apparently, Mark and Andy Bell have buried the hatchet too. We're not sure where they've buried it...

Buy if: You remember the Police, and think Supergrass were at their best on their first, more high-energy album.

Don't buy if: You work in the footwear industry. Really, Mark doesn't want your trade.

So where can I hear this stuff? The single, Small, is out now on Boilerhouse/Arista. An album follows in June.

dave simpson

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