Steve Queralt is the bassist with shoegaze pioneers Ride. His powerful and driving playing anchors classic shoegaze albums Nowhere (1990) and Going Blank Again (1992), through to last year’s Interplay (2024). His debut solo album Swallow is being released in June by Sonic Cathedral, and is a rich and evocative collection of moody soundscapes. Steve Queralt was kind enough to answer some questions via email from OUTSIDELEFT’s shoegaze correspondent Jonathan Thornton.
OUTSIDELEFT: Your debut album Swallow is coming out in June from
Sonic Cathedral. Can you tell us a bit about it?
Steve Queralt: It started
from a couple of tracks I that thought might be good for Ride. The timing
wasn’t quite right so they were shelved. In the meantime, I wrote a couple more
backing tracks and it suddenly dawned on me that I might be able to create an
album’s worth of stuff. And so started the process.
OL: Emma Anderson from Lush and Verity Susman from Electrelane
sing on a couple of the tracks. How did those collaborations come about?
Steve Queralt: Initially my
idea was to create an instrumental album drawing on some of the post rock,
shoegaze and nu-classical records I’m in to. I’ve attempted to write lyrics in
the past but it just isn’t me. The truth is that I rarely listen to lyrics and
often just hear them as another layer to the music. The Cocteau Twins being a
good example of this. Some of the shorter tracks I’d created seemed to be
crying out for a vocal so I decided to go on the search for someone to
collaborate with and to see if there was anyone who might be willing to work
with me on turning the tracks into songs.
I approached Emma a while back misremembering her as one of the singers in Lush who Ride toured with in 1991. She politely corrected me and then politely declined. A year or so later Emma got back in touch after “finding her voice” and we set to work on a couple of the tracks. Emma has a real gift for melody which shines through on all music she’s been involved with.
Very early on, a mutual friend suggested Verity to me. I sent her a couple of ideas and after a while she came back with a version of Messengers complete with backing vocals. This was a special moment for me, one that Verity is probably unaware of but it was the first time I’d heard my music with a singer and new melody written to it. It kind of proved that I could actually do it. Verity also put me on touch with Matt Simms who persevered with me over such a long period of time. I’m really pleased with his mix and also his creative input.
OL: ’Motor
Boats’ uses Julie Sheldon’s poem brilliantly. It’s a great, angry conclusion to
what is frequently an angry album. Were you specifically wanting to engage more
with what’s going on in the world than shoegaze is traditionally thought to?
Steve Queralt: That’s
interesting. Not really. I am quite an angry person when it comes to world
events but I didn’t actively set out to make any statements with the album.
With all that’s going on in the world I think music is playing an ever greater
role in helping to escape all the horror and toxic noise we’re surrounded with.
I try and avoid pithy platitudes, but the world needs art more than ever right
now.
OL: The album is deeply atmospheric, with an almost soundtrack
feel to it. Were you aiming for a particular atmosphere with these tracks?
There are elements of shoegaze, but the album sees you expanding out musically
into electronic music and post-rock. What was it like exploring these new
genres?
Steve Queralt: I have
always been drawn to atmospheric music and have a good collection of film
soundtracks from when I was growing up. The music from films like The Big Blue,
Cat People and Bladerunner took me off into a dreamworld. I also listened to a
lot of Vangelis, albums like Opera Sauvage and L’Apocalypse Des Animaux. Then
it was all about ambient artists like Brian Eno and Harold Budd. Today I love
what Hania Rani is doing combining simple classical pieces with beautiful
electronica. So, I imagine this is where I get the atmospherics from. Most
people say they have a broad taste in music and love a bit of everything, but I
think truth for me is the opposite. As I get older my tastes seem to be
narrowing. There’s a lot out there that I simply can’t connect with or don’t
understand. Electronica makes up a lot of what I listen to today along with
good songwriters like Cassandra Jenkins, Sharon Van Etten and Alela Diane.
Throw in some Sonic Youth and that is what I’m all about.
OL: It’s a largely instrumental album, but between the guest
vocalists, spoken word and samples, there’s always very much a human presence
on these tracks. Did you always know which ones were instrumentals and which
ones were songs, and what elements they needed to complete them?
Steve Queralt: Pretty much
yes. The tracks that needed vocals were quite obvious to me early on.
OL: Shoegaze seems to really have come back after a long time
in the critical wilderness. How do you feel about the resurgence of shoegaze?
Steve Queralt: I’m very
happy since our band is seen as one of the pioneers of the genre and yes, it is
a genre, albeit quite a broad church now. I think it’s something both Ride and
myself are naturally good at although we drifted way off course a good few of
times.
OL: Ride sound invigorated on their recent album interplay,
yet both yourself and Andy Bell have released solo albums this year. Where has
all this creative energy come from?
Steve Queralt: Andy is
relentlessly creative. He always has been for as long as I’ve known him. For
me, it’s about finding the time to play around, experiment and to see what
happens. I go through long periods of filling my hard drive with unusable
nonsense but then hit upon something which could be used either for Ride or
another project. I have three folders - Ride, SPQR and Rubbish.
OL: Do you have any plans to tour the album?
Steve Queralt: I would love
to play shows but unfortunately hiring musicians is expensive and rightly so.
Maybe sometime in the future but there are no immediate plans for now.
OL: What’s next for Steve Queralt?
Steve Queralt: More music perhaps. Depends if I can find
anything for the SPQR folder.
OL: Thank you Steve for talking with us!
Essential Information:
Steve Queralt's debut album 'Swallow' is out 13th June on
Sonic Cathedral. Pre-order here.
There is a Bandcamp listening party for
'Swallow' 8pm Tuesday 10th June, sign-up here
and a physical listening party at The Social,
London, 6 - 9pm 18th June. Full details here.
