"There was a time when people were very sceptical about reunions, but I think we're past that now," says Andy Bell.

Of course, he would have to say that, having reformed his band Ride last year. But he has a point.

Once, not all that long ago, getting an old band back together was seen as the last refuge of the scoundrel, equivalent to having your music used in an advert.

In 2015 however, when nostalgia rules and bands only really make money from playing live, all bets are off.

And it's not like Ride - who announced their reunion last November along with a run of live shows, including a headline slot at Barcelona's Primavera Sound festival, a stint in the US and a three-night UK tour in May - are the first to do it.

For years, it looked as though The Stone Roses' Ian Brown and John Squire would never speak to each other again, but clearly enough water had past under the bridge for them to reunite in 2011. Time really does heal all wounds (well that, or the fact they earned around £12 million from 18 months touring the world).

In some respects, Ride's reformation is slightly different to many others, in that the band members were actually on speaking terms.

Not that they didn't experience their share of wobbly patches.

Originally formed in Oxford in 1988, by Bell and school friend Mark Gardener, after they started college and met Koz Colbert and Steve Queralt, a year on, Ride were signed to Alan McGee's Creation Records (the label later home to Oasis), releasing their first three EPs and debut album, Nowhere, the year after that.

They soon found themselves touring the world and, much to their chagrin at the time, the epicentre of a musical scene known as 'shoegaze' (so-called thanks to magazine reviews at the time concentrating on the fact much of the swirling, reverb-laden music relied on guitarists using numerous effects pedals, therefore staring at their feet the whole time), along with the likes of Slowdive, Lush, Chapterhouse, Swervedriver and My Bloody Valentine.

A second Ride album duly followed, Going Blank Again, which propelled them to even bigger things, but by this point, things were already starting to feel strained. They took time off before releasing third album Carnival Of Light, and by the time their fourth, Tarantula, was released in 1996, Britpop in full swing, the band had already split.

"We didn't play much live after the Going Blank Again tour in 1992, really," says Cardiff-born Bell, 44, adding that the last gig Ride played in the UK was supporting Oasis (the band he would go on to join in 1999, until Oasis also folded a decade later).

They'd reached a point where they needed time apart.

"Andy and I really fell out when the band split," says 45-year-old Gardener, who has also recorded as a solo artist in the years since. "But we made up pretty quickly and have been mates since.

"People seem to think we still hated each other, and I was always asked cautiously, 'Have you two spoken?', and I'd say, 'Yes, I saw him last week'.

"Andy and I have been friends since we were 13, and we were in each other's pockets for a long time. That didn't stop with Ride, it was even more intense," he continues. "By album four, six or seven years into the band, we crashed the car, so to speak. I think that's completely normal under the circumstances. We didn't want to be in each other's pockets, and we needed to be free of each other for a bit."

The question of a reunion had been on the cards for a good few years before they eventually decided to give it a go.

In fact, it almost happened when they were asked to take part in a French TV show about musical pioneers in 2001.

"We were invited to get together and we naively thought, 'Great, we're being called pioneers'," recalls Bell. "But when we got there, it wasn't about us, it was all about about Sonic Youth and they just wanted us to talk about them! But it did feel good to get together again, and it involved us all going into the studio and being filmed jamming."

As time went on though, other things kept them busy - post Oasis, Bell became a member of Beady Eye, while Gardener had his solo career. Colbert was playing drums for other musicians (most recently former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes), and Queralt, jokes Bell, had "a proper job".

"Andy and I have done a lot of interviews over the years, and every time, the question about a Ride reunion came up," says Gardener. "Fifteen, 20 years I've been answering that question, and there was a time we thought it probably wasn't a great thing to do, but in the past few years, things have changed."

Bell reveals that he, Gardener and their manager used to meet up once a year to discuss the state of their affairs, and the various offers of reunion shows that had come in.

"We sort of ran out of reasons not to do it," he says. "It definitely helped seeing bands like The Stone Roses come back, and the joy it brought to people. My Bloody Valentine reformed too, who were so much a part of me getting into music.

"And after Beady Eye broke up, there were loads of comments online about how it might free me up to get Ride back together, so I knew there was an appetite for us to do something."

Recently, they performed to a rapturous reception at US festival, Coachella, proving that prediction right, and their UK shows sold out as soon as tickets went on sale.

They say they now know to give fans what they want at the forthcoming shows - songs from their first two albums, no new material.

"We've definitely come to understand what the strengths of Ride were," says Gardener. "You don't see those things when you're still in the band, you're too close to it. That's the beautiful thing about having this time away.

"We'd be idiots to go out and play a new album," he adds. "That's not to say we won't be writing, that happens automatically when get together and rehearse, but for now, we'll be playing to our strengths."

EXTRA TIME - BANDS THAT BURIED THE HATCHET

:: The Eagles, who split in 1980, used to say hell would have to freeze over for them to play together again. So in 1994, after reuniting, they performed their Hell Freezes Over tour.

:: The Sex Pistols broke up in 1978 after a turbulent three years. Glen Matlock, Steve Jones, Johnny Rotten and Paul Cook reformed in 1996 for the Filthy Lucre (which means 'money' - at least they were honest!) tour.

:: After splitting in the mid-Nineties - with Ian Brown and John Squire trading countless insults in the press afterwards - The Stone Roses announced their reunion in 2011 and spent much of the following two years touring.

:: Blur recorded 2003's Think Tank without guitarist Graham Coxon, who'd left the year before. Childhood friends Damon Albarn and Coxon patched things up in 2008, and headlined Glastonbury the following summer. They've just released their eighth album, The Magic Whip.

:: Led Zeppelin split in 1980, a month after the death of drummer John Bonham. They reformed for Live Aid in 1985, an anniversary party in 1988, their Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 1995, and one show at London's O2 in 2007, which is likely to have been their last.

:: Ride play a handful of UK gigs in late May and June. For details see ridemusic.net