Ride’s Steve Queralt On His New Solo Album, ‘Swallow’

Ride bass player Steve Queralt is a formative figure in the genesis and evolution of shoegaze. A key aspect of the band’s creative approach, his bass lines move from psychedelic melody to all-out noise attack, helping to blend together the Oxford group’s multi-faceted ideas.

Part of the band’s ongoing second chapter, Steve Queralt was never tempted to go solo – until now.

Kicked off a few years ago, the musician’s new album ‘Swallow’ is a solo epiphany, the sound of a storied musician taking unheard risks.

Released earlier this year, ‘Swallow’ melted together shoegaze tapestries with post-rock chapters, and won critical acclaim in the process. Released via Sonic Cathedral – itself an incredible hub for shoegaze and related sounds – the record recently received its second pressing on limited edition green vinyl. 

CLASH spoke to Steve Queralt about his solo journey, the making of ‘Swallow’, and where he might go next.

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Congrats on ‘Swallow’, it’s great! What made this the right time for you to release a solo album?

Thank you! I never planned it this way. It’s taken a few years for it all to come together, gathering the material, finding the vocalists and lyricists, then delivering the final version to Sonic Cathedral. Ride are on a break so it’s all turned out well. The timing has been perfect. 

The bulk of the record is instrumental, is this something you wanted from the outset? Is it challenging to use only music – and not words – to fully describe an emotion?

I definitely started out with the idea of making a fully instrumental album. I don’t sing or write lyrics and most of the music I listen to tends to be instrumental.

The challenge is to try and create music that stands up without vocals and doesn’t sound like it’s missing a point or focus. For me, instrumental music can be just as emotional and moving as a great lyric or song. Two of my favourite albums from when I was growing up were ‘L’Apocalypse Des Animaux’ and ‘Opera Sauvage’ by Vangelis. I loved the sounds, the massive reverbs and the slow hanging chord changes. All very moving stuff.

But, some of the music that I was coming up with didn’t sound interesting or strong enough to be an instrumental piece so my search for guest vocalists and lyricists began. And that is how Emma and Verity became involved. 

Your previous solo EP came in 2022 – did you purposefully give yourself time and space to complete this album?

The EP gave me the confidence to continue creating music outside of, and not necessarily for, Ride. I initially wanted the first two demos to be used for a Ride EP but we never got around to making it. Instead of shelving the tracks for the future I continued to write until I had enough tracks for my own album. 

The music feels as though it exists outside the Ride cosmos, what kind of influences do you feel you were channeling on ‘Swallow’?

There are the obvious post-rock influences which I haven’t hidden very well, along with a lot of the music I listen to. Albums by This Mortal Coil and Mark Pritchard were a big influence too, in terms of the way they are constructed, a mix of instrumental, vocal and sometimes spoken word. 

But overall, I wanted to go full shoegaze and make guitars central to the record’s sound.

You produced it all yourself, was that sense of control necessary for the project?

Oh definitely. I really enjoyed being able to make all the decisions myself and to be able to take the tracks in the direction I wanted without compromising along the way. It’s quite an indulgent experience and very different to the way we work together in Ride. Having said that, it’s a little unnerving not having anyone around to quality control what you’re producing. It can be quite scary the first time you share it with someone.

Emma Anderson appears on ‘Lonely Town’, a real highlight. I’m told she initially wasn’t sure about putting her voice at the forefront – but it’s a wonderful performance. What made her right for the track?

I initially approached Emma a year previous but like you say she was reluctant to take on a lead vocal. But, after working on her own record, and I guess gaining further confidence, she thankfully got back in touch. As I mentioned earlier a couple of the tracks didn’t really work as instrumentals and I really needed a vocal to help them make sense. I always liked Emma’s writing for Lush and wanted ‘Lonely Town’ to sound like a French Disko Stereolab-Ladytron-Lush type track.

Both yourself and Emma are signed to Sonic Cathedral, a label that always seems to have a community feel. Has that been your experience? Was being able to tap into a community / other perspectives useful during a solo project?

I love what Nat has created with Sonic Cathedral and always felt it would be a great label to be part of. I purposefully gave Nat first listen even before it was finished and am so pleased he’s taken it on.

Verity Susman is wonderful on ‘Messengers’ – how did she get involved? What was it like to listen to the full track – with vocal – for the first time?

A mutual friend introduced us after I told them that I was looking for someone to collaborate with and they suggested Verity. Verity took ‘Messengers’ on which was a strange little demo with an awkward arrangement. The version Verity sent back was complete with backing vocals and became the first song to be completed. Verity’s song arrived at a low point just as I was thinking of scrapping the whole thing. ‘Messengers’ gave me the encouragement to push on and get it all finished. Verity also introduced me to Matt Simms – her musical partner in MEMORIALS – who did an excellent job of mixing the record.

What do you think creating ‘Swallow’ taught you about songwriting / musicianship that you hadn’t realised before?

That I am fully reliant on the technology that exists on my laptop in that it masks my limited abilities as a guitarist and keyboard player. Having said that, I worked hard to make sure I played or programmed all the parts on ‘Swallow’ but it would have been much more difficult to make the record by myself in the 90s.

Have you caught the solo bug? Can you envisage working on a sequel to this album?

Yes, definitely. I have a few sketches on the go, so who knows?

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‘Swallow’ is out now on limited edition green vinyl – order a copy HERE.

Words: Robin Murray

Photography: Brian David Stevens

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