Mark Gardener (born Mark Stephen Gardener, 6 December 1969, in Oxford, England) is an English rock musician, and former singer and guitarist with the popular shoegazing band, Ride.

Mark Gardener
Background information
Birth name	Mark Stephen Gardener
Born	6 December 1969
Origin	Oxford, England
Genre(s)	Shoegazing, Britpop
Occupation(s)	Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1988 - Present
Label(s)	Creation, Shifty Disco, BMG, Truck Records, Excellent Records, United For Opportunity, Sonic Cathedral
Associated acts	Ride, The Animalhouse
Website	http://www.markgardener.com

Ride

Gardener formed Ride with Andy Bell (guitar), who he met at Cheney School in Oxford, and Laurence Colbert (drummer) and Steve Queralt (bass guitarist), who he met doing Foundation Studies in Art and Design at Banbury in 1988. While still at Banbury the band produced a tape demo including the tracks "Chelsea Girl" and "Drive Blind". In February 1989 "Ride" were asked to stand in for a cancelled student union gig at Oxford Polytechnic that brought them to the attention of Alan McGee. After supporting The Soup Dragons in 1989, McGee signed them to Creation Records.

With Ride, Gardener released three EPs between January and September 1990, entitled "Ride", "Play" and "Fall". While the EPs were not a chart successes, enough critical praise was received to make Ride the "darlings" of music journalists. The first two EPs were eventually released together as Smile in 1992, while the "Fall" EP was incorporated into their first LP, Nowhere, released in October 1990, which was hailed as a critical success and the media dubbed Ride "The brightest hope" for 1991. This was followed in March 1992 with Going Blank Again. The twin rhythm guitars of Gardener and Bell, both distorted, both using wah-wah pedals and both feeding back on each other was seen as the highlight of the album's critical and chart success.

Despite having a solid fanbase and some mainstream success, the lack of a breakthrough contributed to intra-band tension, especially between Gardener and Bell. Their third LP, Carnival of Light, was released in 1994, after shoegazing had given way to Britpop. Carnival of Light was oriented towards this new sound, but sales were sluggish and the shift in musical tastes devastated much of their original audience and critics alike.

1995 saw the dissolution of the band while recording fourth album Tarantula due to creative and personal tensions between Gardener and Bell. The track listing of Carnival of Light gives an indication of the tension that was mounting between the two guitarists, with the first half of the album being songs written by Gardener and the last half of the album being songs written by Bell - one or both had refused to let their songs be interspersed with pieces written by the other. Bell penned most of the songs for Tarantula, one of which - "Castle on the Hill" - was a lament for the band's situation and contains references to Gardener's self imposed exile from the group. Gardener contributed only "Deep Inside My Pocket", a bitter tribute to Gardener's view of Bell at the time. The album was "deleted" from sales one week after release. Critics were almost universally negative regarding the album, and almost seemed to view the split with relief.

The Animalhouse

After leaving Ride, Gardener released a limited pressing single on the Shifty Disco label in June 1997, Magdalen Sky. This was part of the label's Single of the Month club, and was limited to 1000 copies only. It featured a rare B-side Can't Let It Die (Home Demo In The Attic). Magdalen Sky was featured on the year-end single compilation It's a Shifty Disco Thing Vol. 1. In April of that same year, Supergrass producer Sam Williams released a Shifty Disco single of the month Blah Na Na. Gardener and Williams played this song at a Gardener solo show in May, an event that led to the founding of The Animalhouse.

In late 1997, Gardener and Ride drummer (and budding songwriter) Loz Colbert joined with Williams and bassist Hari T to form The Animalhouse. The band began playing live shows, and received a good bit of attention from the music press as well as fans for its unique fusion of 60's style psychedelica, Britrock, and electronics.

Unfortunately, due to a variety of reasons legal and label related, the band did not release material until April 2000's Small EP. The album Ready To Receive followed in September, to great success in Japan, but limited success elsewhere. The long start up time, combined with label distribution and marketing issues, contributed to the disappointing sales, and the band soon disbanded afterward.

Solo

After the demise of The Animalhouse, Gardener moved to France and retreated from the music business. But it was not to last; while visiting his sister he began playing an acoustic guitar, re-learning old songs and writing new ones. Meanwhile, interest in Ride increased upon the release of a greatest hits record. Gardener and his former bandmates participated in the selection of songs. This was followed by a box set, remastering and re-issuing of all the Ride albums, and a one-off "reunion" of new material; a very limited edition instrumental EP (Coming Up For Air) recorded for a Sonic Youth tribute show. Gardener began playing solo shows in 2002, both in the United States and in the UK, supporting the Ride releases as well as his own newly written material.

Gardener toured extensively in the two years preceding the release of his first solo studio album, including many stops in New York City. The tours ranged from shows featuring Gardener and a 12-string acoustic guitar to a full-backing band featuring members of Goldrush. An early EP was released in late 2003 as a Mark Gardener/Goldrush collaboration called Falling Out Into The Night, which featured a Gardener song (Snow In Mexico) backed by Goldrush, a Goldrush song (Out Of Reach), and a Ride cover (Dreams Burn Down) featuring the two together. An acoustic solo show in April 2003 at The Knitting Factory in New York City was released on CD entitled, unsurprisingly, Live at the Knitting Factory, NYC. This release was a limited edition and was intended to help finance the recording of Gardener's first studio album.

Finally, Gardener completed his debut solo album in 2005, titled These Beautiful Ghosts, a collaboration with fellow Oxford musicians Goldrush. In addition to Goldrush, other performers on the album include: Grasshopper and Suzanne Thorpe from Mercury Rev, Gene Park, Cat Martino, Kaye Phillips, Clive Poole, and Sacha from The Morning After Girls. [1] A limited edition version featured a bonus DVD with tour footage and other materials. Due to unforseen issues, this DVD has been delayed over 15 months, and will be shipped to purchasers when finished.

The album was produced and mixed by Bill Racine and Gardener. It was initially released in North America on US indie label United For Opportunity, and in 2006 was also made available in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Japan. Further European, Australian, and South-East Asia releases of the album were scheduled in late 2006. A single for the album, The Story Of The Eye, featuring a remix by Ulrich Schnauss was released on 7" in November 2006 by Sonic Cathedral, to rave reviews.

The tours and collaborative EP were what led to Goldrush's extensive participation on These Beautiful Ghosts. Unfortunately, sometime after the release of the album, Gardener and Goldrush had a falling out, and Goldrush no longer accompanies Gardener to shows. He has continued touring, playing solo and with different performers, most notably Cat Martino, who appeared on the album, and since late [[2006], a new backing band.

Gardener has also worked with a variety of artists, performing live, recording instruments and/or vocals, and producing during his post-Ride career.

Trivia: During touring for the album, Gardener has appeared on stage with both Andy Bell and Loz Colbert, although hopeful talk of a Ride reunion has been dismissed by Bell, for now, saying that it "would not live up to expectations."

Discography

Albums