#IVW2022 – devizine.com

Not only am I old skool enough to recall DJ Sonique singing whilst on the wheels of steel, I’m even so aged to confuse this musician-come-DJ with the namesake of the Erasure frontman. But Sheer promoter, Kieran J Moore is excited with the announcement the frontman of legendary Oxford “showgaze” pioneers, Ride, also called Andy Bell is coming to our county town.

“This is huge deal for me,” self-confessed massive fan of shoegaze and Ride, Kieran, explained, “so being able to bring this Independent Venue Week to a new and very cool venue in our County Town is special.” The reasoning for me bringing up Sonique is that on this Space Station tour, Andy deejays with live guitar, something I must say, is completely original to me.

Ride’s album “Nowhere” will often jostle for top spot in the all-time-shoegaze lists with “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine. But you may also know him from late 90s indie outfit Hurricane #1 or latterly as the Oasis bassist, joining them for their last four studio albums and finally Liam Gallagher’s post-Oasis band, Beady Eye. He’s also appeared live with Pink Floyd, The Creation, Talk Talk, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and has appeared on record as guitarist for Andrew Weatherall, and recently as bass player for Du Blonde. Wherever you know him from, he’s a big figure in the industry, one of Oxford’s finest alumni and a noted figurehead of a scene.

Lockdown project, Andy Bell Space Station started in 2020, when Andy had a residency at Lo-Fi, a coffee shop in Crouch End, where he lives. As a way of reaching people with some form of live music, Andy started streaming performances from the empty coffee shop, playing electric guitar along with reworked versions of backing tracks from his various musical worlds, the backing tracks are deconstructed and extended in a way that makes them easy to improvise over; something I’d be both intrigued and impressed to see for myself.

Andy Bell will be performing his Andy Bell Space Station, at Trowbridge Town Hall on Sunday 6th February 2022, as part of a national campaign called, Independent Venue Week. Set at the end of January every year, the week-long campaign is designed to raise the profile and support independent venues during a period that is traditionally quite quiet.

“This is often done with underplays,” Kieran explained, “where a larger artist than would traditionally play a venue, goes in to give the venue a killer experience. This is also hand in hand with making the events really affordable and accessible.”

Tickets for our Andy Bell Space Station show go on sale this Monday, 15th November via WeGotTickets, priced a paltry £8, and in the spirit of things these gigs are all age too!