Little did I know when I walked through the doors of #Oxford #Cherwell Valley College (formely North Oxfordshire College) that I would be walking in the hallowed footsteps of students of art who have gone on to achieve great prominence.
On stage and in response to the arguing chants of "Noel" and "Liam", Noel #Gallagher, of the 90’s Brit band #Oasis, appealed for the crowds to "fuck all that "Noel" and "Liam" shit. Can I have everybody singing “Who the fuck is Andy Bell?".
Bell was a pupil at #Cheney School in Oxford and later moved to #Banbury to do Foundation Studies in Art and Design at North Oxfordshire College & The Oxfordshire School of Art & Design. There he formed the alternative rock band #Ride in the summer of 1988 with former school friend Mark #Gardener and fellow students Laurence #Colbert and Steve #Queralt. They played their first gig as Ride for the College's Christmas Party towards the end of the year. Were you there?
In February 1989, Ride were asked to stand in for a cancelled student union gig at Oxford Polytechnic that brought them to the attention of Alan McGee who signed them to Creation Records. Following the split of the band in 1996, Andy Bell was offered the opportunity to play bass for Oasis. He claims to have written the song "Turn Up The Sun" in a forest near his now Swedish home, on his own in the middle of the night. The song was the first track on 2005 Oasis album Don't Believe the Truth and was often used as the show opener on the tour to support the album.
