Audio engineering by Louis van Eeten
Conservatorium Maastricht

The Ride - Hey Girl

The Ride - Eternity

The Ride - We Ain't

The Ride - I Wanna Go Out Tonight

The Ride - Your Stare

The Netherlands, Limburg, Maastricht. In a student party scene dominated by both electronic dance music (EDM) and jazz, three dropout students found the perfect environment to do the exact opposite: start a neo-70’s, old school, hard rocking band called “The Ride”. On the one hand, Maastricht offers thriving EDM nightclubs such as the “Allebonheur” (The Alla) and the “Feesfebrik”. On the other hand, the Maastricht Conservatory’s Jazz department ostensibly provides all the high-quality live music a small town could need. However, since their first public appearance, the ill-advised project found success as their modern renditions of old rock ‘n’ roll proved combining the best of both worlds: the intensity of a live performance plus the energetic beat that still allows EDM loving students to dance all over their problems. In December 2015, Gabi’s Beer Bar became a vibrant place of rock ‘n’ roll excess when The Ride made a prominent first demonstration amidst the student scene, showcasing a live band that is not merely musical wallpaper, but rather the sublimated art of going all out. The flashy combined sound of overdriven electric guitar with feedback, aggressive drumming, and vigorous bass was heard from blocks away, luring in a large crowd which quickly had to queue up before the small bar. For the people who did not manage to cram themselves in, the large front window of the bar became a peepshow into another time: one where free love, excess of stimulating substances, and loud rock ‘n’ roll ruled again.

The Ride’s ambition reaches as far as becoming able to undermine the authority of EDM in today’s music, or showing that how three guys physically working their instruments can be more thrilling than seeing a DJ. Short term goals exist of them getting their repertoire out there, reaching out to all the rock ‘n’ roll fans in the area, and having fun doing it. With a burning desire to rock out all the time, none of the three former students see themselves working an office job any time soon.

The Ride

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