Mark Gardener

After Mark Gardener left <a href="spotify:artist:0WPY9nnBy01s5QOt4o4oQX">Ride</a> during the mixing process of the band's 1995 album Tarantula, the singer/guitarist began working on solo material and released the "Magdalen Sky" single on Oxford, England's Shifty Disco label in 1997. Soon after he joined forces with <a href="spotify:artist:0WPY9nnBy01s5QOt4o4oQX">Ride</a> drummer Loz Colbert, guitarist Sam Williams, and bassist Hari T and started playing as the Animalhouse. They released an EP in 2000, Small, then the Ready to Receive album before dissolving soon after. After taking a break from music and moving to France, he started working with the other members of <a href="spotify:artist:0WPY9nnBy01s5QOt4o4oQX">Ride</a> to remaster and release the band's albums, which inspired him to start playing again. Years of touring as a solo artist followed, sometimes backed on-stage by the band <a href="spotify:artist:4hvUds7bICxtDRJydorhpg">Goldrush</a>. The two released the EP Falling Out into the Night in 2003, then Gardener put out a solo acoustic album, Live at the Knitting Factory, NYC, later that same year. <a href="spotify:artist:4hvUds7bICxtDRJydorhpg">Goldrush</a> were back to work with Gardener on his debut studio album, 2005's These Beautiful Ghosts, which was released on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22United+for+Opportunity%22">United for Opportunity</a> label. Around this time, Gardener provided vocals on albums by <a href="spotify:artist:4YEf6ptSOEDe0aIXqdCybM">the Morning After Girls</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5yCAgcC6Qn1jJYrezfLQ3e">Rinôçérôse</a>, then in 2008 hooked up with <a href="spotify:artist:30uiS1n3uIGXJEYFR1GVDy">Brian Jonestown Massacre</a> and helped out on their album My Bloody Underground. Time spent touring, collaborating with other artists (like <a href="spotify:artist:5JidUgrDylYdIVGtshxw9Y">Dive Index</a> on their 2010 album The Surface We Divide), and operating his OX-4-Sound studio kept him busy, but mostly under the radar, for the next few years. A single recorded with <a href="spotify:artist:5Wabl1lPdNOeIn0SQ5A1mp">the Cocteau Twins</a>' <a href="spotify:artist:3ZqRIzadY4WYQEg4Hj2vGC">Robin Guthrie</a> in 2012 ("The Places We Go") was a highlight. Gardener's life took a huge turn in 2014 when it was announced that after years of denying they would ever re-form, <a href="spotify:artist:0WPY9nnBy01s5QOt4o4oQX">Ride</a> were indeed getting back together to play a series of festivals in 2015. In the midst of the excitement about the upcoming reunion, a full album made with <a href="spotify:artist:3ZqRIzadY4WYQEg4Hj2vGC">Guthrie</a> titled Universal Road was released. ~ Andy Kellman & Tim Sendra, Rovi