Andy Bell, former guiatrist for Ride and Hurricane#1 (not Erasure), joined Oasis in the fall of 1999 after the departure of original Oasis' bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan.



Name: Andrew Piran Bell



Birthday: August 11th, 1970



Birthplace: Cardiff, Wales



School: Headington Middle, Cheney Upper and Banbury Art School



Past Musical Associations: The Atomic Apples, Ride, Hurricane #1



Favorite Albums: The Beatles "Revolver" The Rolling Stones "Let It Bleed" and "Exile On Main Street" The Byrds "Notorius Byrd Brothers"



Favorite Bands: The Stone Roses, The Small Faces, The Byrds



Married: To Idha



Q Special Edition Biography by Andrew Perry (typed by Jeremy aka riboflavin):



Roll: Bass player From: 1999

To: Present day

CV: Songwriter and founding member of Ride. On leaving the band he formed Hurricane #1, moonlighted with Gay Dad and then joined Oasis as Guigsy's replacement.



It might have been a touchy subject. His first band, Ride, had just split up, and Andy Bell had recently formed another outfit, Hurricane #1. Gone were the Dylanisms and general '60s neo-classicism of his latter-day Ride songs, in favour of straightforward big-rock anthems. Aware of his own vocal fragility, Bell had drafted in a more gutsy singer, Alex Lowe, who would sing the songs Bell wrote for him. All very Noel and Liam . . .



"Hurricane #1 is not so much influenced by Oasis, it's inspired by Oasis," Andy countered, before showing his determination to succeed in Gallagher-esque rhetoric. "Whatever happens, I'm up for it," he said. "I really just want to do it. I'm going to give it everything I've got."



Hurricane was a disaster. During their short lifespan, they drew criticism, bordering on ridicule, for their Oasis-ness. Ill-advisedly, they let one of their songs be used on a TV ad campaign for The Sun. When their second album was shelved, their future was thrown into uncertainty, and Bell took time out to tour as guitarist with - of all bands - Gay Dad.



Hardly an auspicious career move, you'd think, but in late '99, Oasis were also in a state of flux. Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants was almost ready for release, but only at the cost of their founding rhythm guitarist and bassist, who had both left in quick succession during the final days of recording. Almost instantly, Gem Archer was offered Bonehead's position, but Guigsy proved slightly harder to replace. It was only when Liam heard a radio news story about the Gay Dad situation that Liam suggested poaching Bell. By late 1999, he became a fully-fledged member of his favourite band.



"The whole experience is better than I ever dreamed," he says now, after 18 months in the group. "I came in very happy to do the job, even if it meant just filling in, being an extra person around, but they involved me from the word go. They wanted to make it a real band again. I think that's what it is."



Bell's musical pedigree really lay with Ride, who in many ways paved the way for Oasis. Back in February 1990, they were the first band on Creation to break into the singles charts. Their subsequent rise was like a mini-mirror image of Oasis's, motivated by remarkably similar ideas of self-belief and hope-against-hope. Though their music was not so readily compatible, there were many heroes they'd agree on - The Beatles, the Stones, Small Faces and, of course, from their own lifetime, The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.



As Definitely Maybe went mega, Ride - and particularly Bell - were usually around for the party. In December 1994, they were main support at Oasis's biggest ever show, at the Brighton Centre. A few months earlier at the band's mind-blowing hometown triumph at the HaÁienda, Bell actually played onstage with that night's support band, '60s psychedelicists The Creation. When the aftershow adjourned to the bar at Manchester's Britannia Hotel, Bell provided the entertainment, manfully tinkling the ivories to the tune of Lennon's Image, as the increasingly challenged throng attempted to sing along.



In the intervening years, Oasis have become a very different group. They moved away from their old hometown, got married, had children, tempered their lifestyle and, lest we forget, admitted into their ranks a Cockney and a Geordie by the time Oxford-raised Bell joined them. Now based in Stockholm with his Swedish wife Idha and their four-year-old daughter Leia, he's laid-back, long since becalmed from routine rock'n'roll capering, and thus fits into the band's social fabric just as comfortably as he does musically.



Once the dust had settled on . . . Giants, his influence became apparent. The newly cemented band set out on their brief, more forward-looking Noise And Confusion tour, and it was no coincidence that the set again included the likes of Slide Away, Half The World Away and The Masterplan - the recherchÈ songs that any serious fan would tell you are as good as the very best Oasis singles. It was noticeable, too, that the band had become both more powerful and versatile, though Bell is the first to defend his predecessors.



"I never saw a problem with the other two," he shrugs, humbly. "We definitely know how to play, but that's not to say they didn't."



Bell is clearly very excited to have been involved in Heathen Chemistry. On the second half of the album, once the obligatory "stadium Oasis" tunes have rung out, you begin to hear the sound of a new band, testing out different beats, vibes and, of course, songwriters.



"I wrote the instrumental on there," Bell confirms, allowing himself a rare moment of pride. "It's a weird little thing. I play the guitar and bass, and Noel plays drums. We've all got songs we've written left over, enough stuff for at least another album, just sitting around, already demoed. Noel picked songs that fitted the album that he wanted to make. It doesn't mean they won't get used in the future."



One such is Bell's Thank You For The Good Times, which has made it onto the B-side of the forthcoming Stop Crying Your Heart Out single.



"I'm dead pleased with it," he says. "Liam sings it. I wrote it in Venezuela when we were on our South American tour at the beginning of the year. I was lying in my hotel room, getting over food poisoning - I was laid up for three days. I had a guitar in my room and I just started playing around and writing that song."



So, thinking he was on his way out, the song thanks God and his friends for the good times?



"I don't know if the words are anything to do with my illness," he chuckles. "I don't think so. When I wrote it, it sounded like We All Need Someone To Lean On by The Rolling Stones, but when we did it with the band, it ended up sounding like Some Might Say."



Which is probably the very highest praise that Andy Bell can bestow upon himself.