Q_magazine_Oasis_Special by oasis lang

GK! T H E I R G R E A T E S TE V E R I N T E R V I E W . AND THEIR 20 BEST SONGS BY U2, AL MURRAY AND MORE

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It's been three yearssinceOasiswere last amongus,with Don't BelieveThe tuth, and there'smuch to catchup on. Join us,please,for an epic 5O-page voyagecelebratingthe return of the Gallaghers.En route expect,along with much else,to discoverrvhy computers areA BadThing, to run into Al Murray, Pub Landlord, and to pick up a tastyfish recipe,courtesyof mad old Liam. i>

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standback!) It waswith theseve{y words that Oasis'ssinger introduced himself to the patrons of hobbit-like chefAntonyworrall rhompson,s eaterie.Behold the new Liam Gallagher,a connoisseurof fresh fish and strangelykeen on that "bird"Anne Robinson. \ \ { } i i l } S : 1 l} { . i I \ 1 , , 1{ .} l } 1 , , 1 . 'l,' } { , " 1 "I t' r i , 5 i:l \ \ | | I l t \ l 1 . 1 . . \

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like a motorcycle stuntman: black ugging DKNY leather jacket, black

ed away laughing. And today,

is very much what it's all about. ucking mega, man," he says."We've hing really good foryou lot." nth Oasis album, Dig Out Your y for launch. Recordid at.{bey ios in London and producer use in Los Angeles, it mi as a ballsy rock'n'roll rec onto a coffee table "You're going to need fucking dental work when you hear this record. I dare you to get down the front when we do it live. I darcyott." But it's not all bravado. No, he says firmly, he will not go to the pub for the interview. Now aged 35,his drinking sessionshave to be rationed. He was out with new Oasis drummer Chris Sharrock (formerly ofThe La's. World Partv and Robbie Williams's band) last nighi. "I feel like a cock if I'm on it all the time." he savs. The more mellow Liam Gallagher is present on several songs on the new album, notably the reflective I'm Outta Time ["Looking back at a]l the things we ve done. . ."l.The track hints that the new, selfaware Liam - who married his long-term partner, All Saints singer Nicole Appleton in February zooS- seemsto have settled into a life of domestic bliss. It's one of three tracks he has on the new albuml the other two are uproarious stomperAin't Got Nothin' and mid-tempo closer Soldier On. Not that the seething Gallagher angst has completely evaporated. We settle down to talk and he discovers that his last Marlboro Light is bent. He looks at it like he might take it outside and beat it up. As he doesthis.

Q notices a brown-and-black amulet with ancient script on it dangling from his neck, the sort of thing you can imagine Harrison Ford slashing and punching his way across several continents to acquire. He won't sav who it was from becauselBut its provenarice is striking: it used to belong toJimi Hendrix. As so often with Liam. he can be warm and affable, but linger too long on a question and some unspoken intimacy threshold is crossed.I ask what the amulet's hieroglyphic symbolism means. He gets tetchy "I don't know. Some hippy shit. It's all that [affects deep meditative monotone] ommmmm shit, isn't it? Any'way, what are your questions?" You recorded the new album at Abbey Road. Was that you r cho ice? Too right. Our kid didn't want to go into Abbey Road. I think it was because there's a lovely bar there and he didn't want me near a bar. But as I pointed out to him, if I want to get to a bar I'm going to find one, aren't I? Also, he doesn't like Be Here Now, and we did that in Abbey Road. He gets his knickers in a twist about that album. I put me foot down and said, "I'm not going to that fucking place in Cornwall lSawmills studio, where the initial sessions for Don't Believe The Truth tookplace]where it didn'twork out lasttime becauseyou got your knickers in a twist.. ." I like the album title, Dig OutYour Soul. But where do you feel the soul ofOasis has been buried? Dig it out of where? Complacency? It's from a Gem l1'ricfguitarist Gem,Archer's track To Be Where There's Lifel.Itmeans fuck-all to me. It means what it savs.It's onlv a lyric. You use the words "dig" and "soul" you can't go wrong. You can hear on the record we've got some grooves going. \4/hen Iheard [opening track]Bag It Up I thought it sounded like a smacked-up Lennon. I thought, "This is where we should be going." Bag lt Up ("Someone tell me l'm dreaming/ The freaks are rising through the floor") and The Turning ("You search for the disappeared/l'll bury the gold") have some interesting lyrics... It's a dark album with some dark ly'rics. But at least there's no Wonderwall on there. I can't fucking stand that fucking song. Every time I have to sing it I want to gag. The new songs at least are saying something a bit different. Problem isWonderwall was a big, big tune for us and so you go to America and they're like, "Are you Mr Wonderwall?". and vou want to chin someone

that RobbieWlliams thing. Fuck him. [Sharrockbeing the drummer]was the only thing that wasgood about that clown.

I went out with him the other night. He didn't chew me ear off he let me speak.He drinks Stella and he's not fucking lightweight. He can handle his beveragesand that. And he can play the drums.

Oneof the newtracksyou wrote, l'm Outta Time,featuresa sampleof John Lennon's voice.What is he saying? "AsChurchill said,It's everyEnglishman's inalienableright to live wherethe hell he likes.\A/hat'sfEnglandJgoingto do,vanish? It's not going to be therewhenI get back?" It's oart of an interview he did when he was trying to get his green cardin NewYork or somethingandhe wasgetting slaggedoff for going to live in America.Canyou believe I fucking got awaywith that?JohnLennon on our fucking record?It didn't costasmuch asI thought it would. I wasfucking buzzin' off it. We got a load of fucking interviewsand it jumped out.And then I toyedwith the idea ofringing Yoko and askingifl could useit andI thought,"Fuckit", because I wastoo nervous.If she'dsaid,"No",then I wouldn't haveusedit. I'd hatepeopleto think wewere trying to make money of im, do you know what I mean?

He's RobbieWilliams's ex-drummer... Yeah, but he's also [La's frontman] Lee Mavers's ex-drummer. so fuck

What haveyou got in commonwith J o h nL e n n o n ? H ew a sa h i p p y . Not much,probabiyHe liked goodmusic and so do I. He rvasn'talwaysa hippy All

You'vegota newdrummer. Whatmakesa goodOasis member in 2008?

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I know is that I'm meself and I'm the bollocks. I totally buzz off meself and so rve'd get on fine. I'm not one ofthem trainspotters 'rvhoreads books about him. I think he made good music and was the coolest nerd going. I like the things he said and some of the things he said rvere daft.

stopped rvriting songs since that visit. I think, in a weird way, something happened to me.

D i d n ' t y o u h a v ea n i n t e n s e e x p e r i e n c e when you met Yoko Ono? Yeah.Too ladv I went round for tea and biscuits and Iivas there for ages,but I had to leave becauseit nas freaking me out.

Another ofyour tracks on the album is Ain't Got Nothin'. Totally different. S q u a l l i n gg u i t a r s . A n a g g r e s s i v el y r i c : '?ll lwant is the truth..." It's about that scrapin Germany IGallagher lost ttvo front teeth after a braw'l vith businessmen in a hotel bar in Munich in December zoozf I'ivrote it about six months after it happened becauseeveryone \{as going around saying, "It rvasdon'n to them [Oasis],they started it." No, it fucking $'eren't And it n'asn't even the press.It was the police and even friends of mine that I thought 'n'ould be on my side.They rr.erelike, "It rvas fucking you lot, all pissedup." And so I l.as like, "Fuckyou then, you bunch ofcunts. I knorv the truth."

What happened? It rvaswhen we played Radio City Music Hall in Neu'York. \\re rvere staying at Trump Ton'er, and me mate rang up and Yoko rang back and said, "Do you lvant a morning or just afternoon meeting?" I'rvasn'tsure. It r,vas too hear,y,man. So I had a brandy and went round there fOn o's apartment in Nev, York's Dakota BuildingJ.I had a cup of tea. She showed me round the place.And something lveird happened then, becauseI haven't

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D i d y o u n i c k a n y t h i n g ?A l i t t l e s o u v e n i r ? No. You'd go straight to fucking hell if you robbed from there. That's the place, isn't it?

What is the truth? I was having a drink in a fucking hotel bar. Next thing I know my security has picked me up and dragged me over a fucking table becausesome geezer is about to throw a glass table on me from upstairs in the balcony That happens and then there's a brawl. I never landed a punch. I never hit anyone. Someone stitched us up. Someone wanted to start a fight because ofrvho we lvere. In the guitar squallI can hear you shouting s o m e t h i n g .W h a t a r e y o u s h o u t i n g ? I dunno. I'm trying to recreate the brawl. I wanted glass smashing but we never got round to it. I was screaming, "You fucking cunts!" and "I'll fucking'ave yal" It's a bit psychedelic.It's a bit like The Kinks on acid. Where do you write? No special place.I haven't picked up a guitar for five months. I'm fucking scatty, me, man. I've got a carrier bag n ith bits of paper at the bottom and I keep me words in there.I don't sitthere andthink, "Rightnow D

l l " t { l : Q l 5 ' f ! : 1 1 ' l { i 1 ' ' f . i . ' \ \ l { ; , \ l . l , 1 { - 'lli r . i ii Et I'm going to tackle this or that subject", _ because then people put you in this bracket of"a tackler ofsubjects" and I don't want to be one ofthem people. But before we go any further I want to say I am completely winging this songwriting thing.I'm not . going to make out there's some big routine io it. I'm not a songwriter. I'm a rock'n'roll singer first. A piss-taker second. And then I'm a songwdter. What's the most recent song You've written? It's called Evil Eye and it goes, "Don't give me your evil eyel" It's a true story about this girl who's the daughter of someone famous in this country. Sh6 was getting a bit lippy with the old mince pies leyeslat a Black Crowes concert. She were giving me the evil eye and I said, "Don't fucking start'" She's like, [indignant squawk]"\lhaaat?" I've just decided to put it in a song. You once told me Your head is full of melodies but it's the words you struggle with. Do you feel inarticulate? What does that mean? You can't express what you feel in words and it's frustrating. Oh yeah, I'd say so definitely. But if I only wriie ro great songs in my lifetime I'lI be happy Do you ever co-write with Nicole? Nic? What. mv missus? No! She's into a different kinci of music, isn't she? She's into PearlJam. I fucking hate PearlJam. She was having a go about it the other night. I've got Lennon andJimi Hendrix and Bob Marley pictures on the wall. She's going, "Why can't I stick pictures ofpeople on the wall?" I says, "Who?" and she says,"EddieVedder." I said, "Get in the kitchen." I'm not having Eddie Vedder alongside Elvis andJohn Lennon. Who else is up there? Muhammad AIi,John McEnroe.'. John McEnroe? A BBCtennis commentator? Yeah,John McEnroe. Better than fucking Tim Henman. McEnroe was fuckinghaving it, man. He was the fucking bollocks' Youjust like him because he used to shout

at umpires. I like him because he was fucking passionate.

t-l*[rn h{,c}irrt"{}f}\t'a$ t.Lre rlS I x )l lot'ks" II llltl . lirt'1.,.i And he wasgood at tennis.I mean Bjorn Borg wasgood at tennis,but he never saidanyhing. He wasa plankby comparison You can'thavea picture ofa Plank on yourwall. Lasttime we met, in 2OO5,I askedyou to free associateideason keytopics.I said, "Marriage." Yousaid,"Dog shit." Things havechanged... Yeah,well, you haveto get married, don't you?I'm qetting olderandthe kids are 'asking, "fro* you'renot married?" missus.She'slovely These PlusIlove me"o-me things happen. Youtake fatherhoodextremelyseriously. Forexample,in 2OO5Youwere eating a lot ofsardinesbecauseyou wantedto livetillyou were l2Oto be with your kids... I'm still banging awayat the fish, man. Not the sardinessomuch. I'm totally on the

off."No, you fuck off.'

salmon now. fNorices Qstiflingasmilel I don't knowwhat you're laughing at, man. I've gone up in the world. The royalty cheoues have started rolling in again. I'm on the salmon, bigtime. Fish, man. What are your top three fish? Salmon. number one. Seabass at two. Sardines are third.

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Yoko's coming over. What's your signature s a l m o nd i s h ? Fucking salmon and

stir-frv Pre-heatYour oven for ro minutes. Fucking load of ioy sauce.Steamed.Getyour tin foil and put your salmon in it, wrap it up with a fold in the end.Put a bit ofwater and lemon in it. Put it in the oven at r9o.Fifteen minutes.Takeit out. Bit of stir-fry Loadsof soysauce.Fucking top dish.No mess.In the wok. Fucking sweet. Soundsdelicious.And healthy.What's for pudding? Followedby a big fat fucking line and a pint No,onlyjoking'.. of Guinness. That's interesting. Haveyou stopPed takingdrugs now...? Yeah... [mumbles something to himselfl I didn't catchthat. Yeah,not that much. . . Go on.Next question. asis spentJanuary and February zoo8 in Los Angeles, mixingthe new album at The \lllage studio and the house ofproducer Dave Sardv (who also oversaw Don't Liam stayed at the Truth). The Believe upmarket W Hotel in West Hollywood. Blfore long. he establishedregtilar TVwatching habits: every Thursday night he would be sure to catch car-crash reality-TV show Celebrity RehabWith DrDrew, in which the likes ofAmazonian actress Brigitte Nielsen and Hollywood D-lister Daniel Baldwin underwent treatment for their addictions in front ofthe cameras. At frrst, it was just idle viewing while he sprawled on the hotel's king-size bed. "It was hilarious, but healy," he recalls. "All these people addicted to crack." But after a while, Liam realised that his involvement with the programme I z had changed.

"The bloke who played Kenickie lactor Jeff Conaway from the film Grease/n'as on it and he was proper in a bad rvay,"he says. "Then I started getting really attached to him and feeling bad for him thinking, This is not funny, I feel really bad for him." Shortly afterwards Gallagher was invited to seeMaril;'n Manson play in LA by his friend, Manson's bassistTwiggy Ramirez. During the shorv,Manson spotted him in the audience and called him a "rock'n'roll nigger" from the stage. "I rvas like, I beg your fucking pardon, mate, but all the fans rvere like, Yeah, manl" Backstage, things got even n'eirder. "Fucking Kenickie walks in on cmtches," says Liam. "I'm like, What are you doing out? You should be in rehab. It rvaskind of emotional." Gallagher ended up givinghim one of his most prized possessions:a white "peace and Iove" bracelet that had been a gift from Ringo Starr "I felt I should passit on. And he got emotional and said,Hey, man, you tvant to come out to lunch? I don't knorv rvhy but I couldn't. I was like, No, you're alright, mate." K e n i c k i e :a h a n d s o m er e b e l i c o n w h o s u c c u m b st o d r u g p r o b l e m s . W h y d i d y o u identify with him so? Could that be you? No chance.Never.

Why haven't you got a d rug problem? - BecauseI haven't. I don't let it get to me, I've i got other things in my lite. I ddn't sit around ; s n o r t i n ga n d d r i n k i n g .

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a, But isn't "l can handle it" the classicdenial? Well, all I knorv is I must be solid or else the gear I'm getting is shit. I'm good. I'm srveet. A n d t h e m i n u t e y o u s t a r tg e t t i n g i n t o anlthing heary,just take the brakes off, man, and go on holiday Or lock the door, take the phone off the hook and'rvatch fucking Rising Damp. Eat salmon. Don't go out. Knon rvhatI mean.The night after the Manson show, s o m e t h i n g o d d h a p p e n e dt o y o u , d i d n ' t i t ? Yeah,the music rvasshit but the shords amazing It's like going to Hell. He's into all this Nazi memorabilia stuff. and the next morning I l'ake up and me pockets are full of Nazi badges.I'm shitting myself thinking, "\\here's all this come from?" I'rvanted to get rid of it, but I rvasn'tgoing to put it in the bin in my hotel. I can just imagine our kid's reaction if I had to tell him I've been arrested for being a fucking Nazi. So I rvent out and I'm rvalking down the street in LA rvith my hood up looking this rvay and that, tossing these fucking Nazi badges into people'sgardens.

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Youpaint Noelas the disapproving older brother. But he's become the new L i a m . H e r i n g s R u s s e l lB r a n d ' s R a d i o2 show every week. He's a regular on Radio 5 Live... Well, I'm glad you brought this up because he is, he's fucking'avin'it. He's non-stop. And the thing is he used to go on at me: "Look at you, Elvis, you can't stay away from the papers,can you?" Now he's phoning Russell fucking Bland's lsiclshow every five minutes. But fair play to him, he's 4r now. Let the old folk enjoy themselves, I say.Don't spoil their fun. In 2OO5, you seemed to be exploring the idea of religious faith. You claimed to be going to visit a cathedral. No, I rvasu.inding you up. What, go to church and say hello to the big man? Fuck that. I'm intrigued by it but I don't practise.I'm interested in people's need for guidance. Count me out. I'm not interested.I guide meself and if I bump into lr.alls I bump into rvalls.I'm a little bumper car, me. I keep bumping into questions and El ansrversand it's a top buzz...

i ' l ' l I t ' " (liV i l l l . \ ' ) \f \ " i l \ \ 1 i ' \ i l \ { , 1 { } ' . } t i E OK,l'd like to gaugehowyou'vereally changed.Hereare three scenariosfrom your past.Whatwouldyou do differently? One,getting bannedfrom CathayPaciftc airlinesafter getting into a fracaswith cabinstaffover a sconeduringa flight to A u s t r a l i ai n 1 9 9 8 . . . [Belligerent]Frcking right I'd do it again. I paid for the fucking seats.Everyoneelse got a scone,why wasI singled out?All the roadies- I had zo seatson that fucking flight - got one.But little me didn't get any lt's not fair. I wanteda fucking sconeand I stuck up for myself Two,goinghouse-huntingthe dayyou shouldhavebeendepartingfor a UStour in1996... Do that again,too,no problem.It's not that importantto me,makingmoneyin America. My family comesflrrst.Ifyou're a real fan of our band,then you'd under-fucking-stand. We canreschedulea gig, but wehad to make a decision1onthe hoisi purchase/thatday. If I wasgoing to seea bandI liked andthe singersaid,"I'm going to seea house,"I'd understand.Fuck'em.I'd do it again. i n c i d e n ti n 2 0 O O : T h r e e ,t h e B a r c e l o n a upsettingyour brother to the extent he walks off the tour. Yeah,I regret that. But shit happens.Ifyou can'tbe rude to a member ofyour own family, who canyou be rude to? I wasvery struck by what you once said:basicaIly that your father beat you whenyou wereyoung,but everything happensfor a reason.Yourangeris what you useto be a singer.Thereasonyou "attack" the microphone. Fucking right. I'm alwaysgoing to be fucking "at it" when it comesto performing. And it might not evenbe to do with any of that shit.That might just be somethingat the backof my mind but. .. I'm chilled.I'm angry,too.I've got a lot of angerin me,but it's controlled. What makesyou angry?Apart from scones. Oh,I dunno.Juststupidbastardsand shit music.Do you knowwhat I mean? Youneverfinishedschool,did you? No, they kicked me out when I was15.I got kicked out a few times but the main time was because I wouldn'twearthe uniform. Me mam couldn't afford the uniform. I had my own blackjacket,which I wore.They said, "You can'twearthat," so I said,"Fuck it." Then I had to begthem to let me backin, sothey bought me a uniform and I went back.But I fucked about again and got kicked out,soI got ajob at a gardencentre.While everyonewasworking at schoolI was painting fencesgetting J5o a week.Also I finished at half rz on a Friday,soI'd go down to the schoolgateson my BMXwith my wagesand waveme wad at everyonelmimics a man flashing his moneyl: "Look at that, you fuckers." But now.You'rean intelligentman. A m i l l i o n a i r eY. o uc o u l db u yt h e b e s t brainsto tutor you... What do I needthat for? I'm with me missus. I'm with me kids.I've got a nice little life. I'm F not fucking drinkingwith the lads all the O

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il tiii q lN { h1iViL.i\'" l.i.1lrf l',:r l.!. ii .i ! I il E time. I'm not caning it because you gr:ow out of it and fuck that anyway I'm enjoying spending quality time with my family and that feels right to me. That feels normal. What is your daily routine? Right, me clock is set for 6. At 6:o9 I have a coffee.At 6:15I'm out on Hampstead Heath, running like a fucking madman for two hours. I did eight to ro miles this morning. No music. Snow-white lrunn ing gearl,hood up, with all the animals everywhere. I get back in at 8. No breakfast. Take the kids to school. Mondayto Sunday. I love it. I'm addicted to it. Tell me what you think about as you run. I think about what cunt needs a slap. What light bulb needs changing. And what about the rest ofthe day? I have a salmon and stir-fry at rz o'clock. An apple at three. And then the same fucking meal again at six o'clock. About seven I might have a whole box ofJaffa Cakes with a cup oftea and then it's "bed-ways" at 10. YourTVviewing habits are quite interesting. There was a rumourthat you were goingto be on Countdown... What? Not me. Fuck. no. I like that bird. .. [on The Weakest Link]Anne Robinson. I'm not going to stick a poster of her on my wall or an;rthing, don't get me wrong. But I'm pretty good at The Weakest Link. I can fluke it out. And you like'7Os sitcoms Bless This House and Rising Damp. They're funnn but ultimately about angry and thwarted men... Don't care. I love them. That's me, totally. Rising Damp especially I can watch that all day I buzz offRigsby. He's a funny bastard and he looks after his pennies. Do you? No, I don't. I spend like a fucking trooper. Holidays. Clothes. Kids. Ex-wives. It all adds up. What was the last big thing you bought? I just bought a house in Henley-on-Thames, round the corner from George Harrison's house. The house in London is a twobedroom cottage on Hampstead Heath in the Vale Of Health. But we needed a bit more room so we got this gaff in Henley. I fucking Iove it, man. Loads ofpeople walking around in flying jackets and rowing. Antony Worrall Thompson owns my local, The Lamb. I go in there and say, "I am the fucking Salmon King, stand back." You've got a thing about celebrity chefs. You appeared on Gordon Ramsay'sTV show The F Word recently and had a go at him... My problem with him was that he was hiding the sweet potato round the back of a lamb chop. You know there's something shady going on when a geezer is hiding the food, don't you?Just display it. When I tucked into it, it was a bit lumpy and he says,"Well, vour missus cooked it." and I told him that irers is more of a pur6e. And he goes, "Well, that's not how sweet potato should be." And I said, "Your way is a shit way" I don't like my potato lumpy

Then there's yourfavourite TV programme: SpongeBob SquarePants. You see him as a kindred spirit, don't you? He's a fucking mental, full-of-beans, enthusiastic sponge that lives at the bottom ofthe seain Bikini Bottom. He's mad for it. He's got a mate called Squidward, who plays the clarinet and is a grumpy cunt like our kid. I believe my manager, Marcus Russell, is the reincamation of SpongeBob SquarePants. I'm having a huge painting done at the minute, a proper Andy Warhol-style portrait of SpongeBob. He'll be facing Elvis and Hendrix in the living room. The music industry is changing. People are trying different models. Did you consider givingthe album away on the internet? No. Costs us fucking money to make it. Look, I'm trying salmon, that's about as far as my interest in nerv things goes. I don't care about the industry. We write songs, record them and if it costs us money then people pay. I leave all the rest to Noel and Marcus. Some things don't change: Coldplay and U2 are stillyour big-name competitors... I saw a Coldplay show last night on the BBC. They played in the car park where Mr Blobby used to do his stuff I thought it was a bit weird. It was daylight and it looked a bit cheap. But, you know, Chris Martin is a nice guy and I'm sure they can write a good tune.

Criticism of the band has remained remarkably consistent over the years. Mainly that you don't change. It hurts when people say that we should change or we're boring. It hurts. I don't understand it. Well, I know we've been around for 15years and it's no longer an exciting thing but I think we're still exciting. When we play we're havin' it. There's a buzz. Here's a quote from your website: "What the critics don't understand is that at the core of Oasis's music is a feeling and that feeling is yearning." What are you yearning for? What does that mean? A longing. A sort of unspecific desire... Well, we're still up for it. We want to be the best band in the world. I still thinkwe are the best band. And I'm sort of getting over that "who's the best?" shit because that comes out when you're young. But we want to be the best.There's not a lot else out there. You've been a rock star since you were 21. Wouldn't you like to try something else one day? I was a rock star the day I stood in front of that mic, man. Might not have been a good one, but I stood up to the plate and went for it. But still. A life beyond Oasis? No such thing. I am Oasis.Not saying the others aren't, but Llove it and breathe it every day I'll do it forever. The Rolling Stoneshave. Do you have any recurring dreams? Yes.I've had it ouite a few times. It's this house. It's a beautiful house and half of it has been done up. But then I go to this other half, which is dark and spooky, and it hasn't been lived in and I'm going, "That's spooky What the fuck happens in there?" Maybe that's the part ofyou that you don't knowyet. The "unexplored" Liam. Yeah? Maybe it's the house I've just done up in fucking Henley We've done one room and I can't decide what to do with the other rooms. An)'way, there's nothing worse than a good-looking fucking know-it-all. I'm good-looking and I know a fewthings. That's enough. lf

J-henwefinishtalking,the ,1 mellow,caringLiam Gallagherisbriefly / A present.He savsI l,ook f/ li smart and that he Iikes ? I mv trousers. Well. he actuallv savs I'm not as scruffy as I was last time we met and that I must have had a pay rise. It's hard sometimes to divine whetheryou are dealing with the rock star or the "piss-taker". But one thing's for sure, he does have a plan for the future. When the kids have grown up, he says he and Nic will go and live in NewYork. "I love that city," he says."Buzz offit. Nic was born in Cana'da,but ihen she lived there for five years. That's the next step for me. And no, I'm not going to do acting or any of that shit. I've been offered a few things but it's not me. I'm just going to a place where I can be me." Q I

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'I'm*iTSirSthis songwrrtrng thrng.

I'm a rock'n'roll singerfirst,pisstaker second.'

\--Hangingon the megaphone: th€ Wonderwallvideoshoot, Woolwich,London,1995.

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THE

GRilTEST TRACKS Rhys Ifans, Edge,Irvine Welsh, Al Murray, Alex Turner and 15more notables pick the bestof the Gallaghers'back catalogue. Plot spoiler!LittleJamesmissesthe cut.

' F o u ri c ec r e a m sa n da StrawberrM y iwi,mate': R o l lW i t h l t s l e e v e o u t - t a k eW , estonS u p e r - M a r eJ,u n e1 9 9 5 .

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GEMARCHER ( i r r i u r r i s"lN o c l ' sr l e 1 r Ir1r ' . nside the vast. black-curtained warehouse space where Oasis are rehearsing for their forthcoming world tour, guitarist Gem Archer perches on an armchair and

contemplateshis nine yearsin the band.The Durham-born ex-frontmanwith Britpop-era pub rockers- and Oasis'sCreationRecords labelmates- Heavy Stereowasrescuedfrom oblivion when Noel draftedhim in following the suddendepartureoforiginal guitarist Paul"Bonehead"Arthurs in 1999.Today,the 4r-year-oldis not only a full-time member but a permanentsuPportto the elder Gallagher- the RonnieWoodto Noel's Keith Richards. Thisalbumwaswritten in sevenweeks with minimumchaos.What'schanged? You can never work it out, man. I do remember Noel going,'We're due an early one."That'sthe way we alwayswannado it, which isjust get in, put it down and get out. But it's not chaoswith us at all. there'smore a mod, working-classethic.Absolutely We don't messaround.We'renot a cosmicbunch of farmers,ifyou knowwhat I mean.I'm telling ya, ifyou're on time with Oasis,you're five minutes late.That'showwe are.You don't last this long by being flaky

Both Liamand Noelclaimtheyare the "positive force" in Oasis.Who'sright? Well. . . they areboth beyondpositivepeople. Liam is alwaysup. And that's the Liam I know. But neither onewill everlet the other be the positiveforce.Noel will seeLiam sometimes is this personI don't know.But obviouslyhe exists,LecauseNoel'shis brother.They'ie both really positive and alsovery very different peoplebut that'swhat makesitwhat it is. Otherwiseit wouldjust be anotherband.It's a strugglebut togetherthey'reavery powerful force,eventhough it's painful at times.They built their legendupon extremesand chaos. But they're still here,we're still producing music,we'restill living it. And this is what it soundslike. Knowwhat I mean?

'I believe in Oasis asmuch as Liarn and

Noel.'

Noelusedto say he couldn't imaginedoing this whenhe was40. You'reboth now4l. Howdoesthat feel? Noelhasalwayssaid"this is my band" Whenyou're4othere'sall the rules,but these and madeit clearthat it's not a democracy. arethe new rules.Aslong asyou keepyourself But is it a benigndictatorship? looking alright. None ofus arereadyfor our Well, he'savery cleverman, Noel, so bleacheddenimsyet.Alright, there'sa load of he'd be foolish ifhe waslike that. It's not bandsI haven'ta clue who they are,but some a democracy,but no band'sa democracy. stuffyou justthink, "Fuckinghell, is it even Obviouslyeverybodyhastheir ideas,but also worth learningyour name?"A lot ofthem, you've got to trust the head ofthe totem pole, to me,it's like they'retaking a gapyear out. asit were.And you needa focus.Everynow I'm not on aboutdrivingyour carinto a hotel and againhe'll go, "You cool with that?"and foyer,but. . . comeon,manl you developa telepathy I'm really into the It's saidyou'rea stabilisinginfluenceon recording sideof things, sothat'swhat I Noel, but you're a great encouragerof bring to it, the sound.Whereasifyou want Liam,too, especiallywith his songwriting. a really fanry guitar part or somebaroque WhereasNoelis maybemoredismissive. piano,Andy'syour man. And thenyou've got I do encouragehim, yeah,man. And Noel Liam, who isjust the full-on, positiveforce. lo/rO

would be the first to sayhe doesn'thave a lot ofpatience;I could never seehim sitting with Liam trying to find that chord.That's the way Noel is: if you haven't got it, fuck ofl With everything.Liam's deep,man, there'sa lot there.Oncehe'sup and running, you can't stophim; he lovesjust hanging out, Playing guitars.Ifyou're round somebody'sho tse really late and everybody'sbladdered,if there'sa guitar, we're off He getsmelodiesso easyit's untrue. He sayshe struggleswith words?I think he'stoo hard on himself. I'm Outta Trmelfrom Dig Out Your Soullisan amazinglyric, man. He wrote half ofthat and then didn't write the other half for about a year.He waslike, [impatiently]"Haveyou got any words,you got any words?"and I was like, "No, it'll come.Chill.You mighthave to write five pagesand chuck four out." And he sawit with that song.Ifyou force it, it'll never feel right. And when the right thing comes, it's like it's alwaysbeenthere.

Noeland Liamboth seemcalmerthese days.Are Oasis'sdays of bedlamover? 'Coursethey'll happenagain.How many times havethev said."It's all calmed down." How many times?It is what it is.When seriousthings happen,it's horrible, but this is the life. This is it. I don't like them little segmentsbut they happen.And they'll happenagain,'coursetheywill, there'sno chillin' going down.I knew what it waslike beforejoining. I remember Marcus/.Busse11, Oasis'smanagerlgoing, "A month will feel like a year."Wser wordshavenever been said.I don't know what that makesme in dog years.It's beennine years.I'm 9o.I'm Yoda. Why are you right for Oasis? I like to think I believein it asmuch asthem two.Asidefrom the band,we hang out. I adorethem both. I can'tthink ofa better bunch ofgeezersto play music with. And AndyJoiningthis bandwasdaunting becauseofall the extracurricular stuff, but the main thing that struck home wasthat it's a band that I recognise.Evenmy first gig was like, Gem,up the ramp, straight on, no soundcheck,make sureyou're in tune, away we go.Which is all the stuffI wasusedto.It still is a bunch ofgeezers,playing too loud. And that I canhandle.Q

IOASIS_ THE OTHERTHREE] GemArcher: 'lt's not a d e m o c r a c y ,b u t n o b a n d ' sa d e m o c r a c y . '

A]\DYBELL st:r. l'lassist " s1ri litu al atlr,'i asisbassistAndy Bell is a remarkably yoithful-looking 37,despitenotchingup zo yearsin rocKn'roll. The Oxford native - who founded shoegazingoutfit Ridein 1988,then Britpop chancersHurricane #r - wasinvited to replaceoriginal four-stringerPaul"Guigsy" McGuiganin 1999,at Liam Gallagher's behest.Nineyearson, Bell hasshouldered his shareof Oasis'ssongwriting dutiesaswell ashaving Noel Gallagher'sear.Ashe slides comfortably onto a sofain the band'sWest London rehearsalspace,Noel walks in and immediately placesa CD into a nearby player."I can't fucking decideon which one," bailagher says."Whaido you reckon,Andy?" Two paint-peelingversionsof Dig OutYour Soul track The ShockOf The Lightning later and Bell plumps, unexpectedly,for the one that's "lessbassy".Still undecided,Noel disappearsto look for someheadphones, Ashe exits,Bell offers a grin that says,"It's all part ofthe gig." Forthis albumNoelwaswriting full songs in one day.ls that kind ofcreativespeed spookyto witness? It is spooky He had this brainstorm and in three dayswe had The ShockOfThe Lightning, Falling Down and a songcalled Come On It's Alright, which wasgonnabe a single but we never finished it, During that weekLiam wassaying,"This ishowitwas during ...Morning Gloqy"I'd never seenthat from Noel. I think, before,he had writer's block.And now, suddenly,he'sjust turned it on again.At one pointwhile wewere mixing songsin LA, he wassitting in the live room recolding new songsat the rate ofone a day. And you vejust got to stepasideand watch it happen.We went into this recording session with a backlog of 5o,6o tunes.When bands say,'We'vegot 50tunes".., Well, we actually havegot 50tunes. That must be dauntlngfora songwriter likeyourself... Well, it's beeneasyto developthe confidence becauseright from day one I waswelcomed into the band with, "Give us the tunes,we needtunes."But I didn't reallv want this new one of mine [Dig Out Your SouItrack The Nature Of&ealityltobeused, it was too personal.But Noril picked it. I got divorced.And I went through therapy It felt my life wasempty of love at the time and .like

the way I dealt with thatwas by becominga staunchatheist,having beenbrought up a Christian.It wasa very religious upbringing. SoI read RichardDawkins'sThe God Delusion,and decidedI wantedto be an intellectual - scientific,logical and rational. And out ofthat camethis tune.It's me deciding there'sno mystery Later on, I stoppe?having the t'heraiy and endpd up falling in love again,and now I'm all Citholicirossea uf. frondl escollection round neckllwouldn't say of silver crcsses I'm religious,but I'm definitely spiritual' Now, as-farasI'm concerned,it's all about love.Wedon'tknowwhatlove is,butwe know that it's all there is. I canimagineyou having5am conversationswith Liamabout love belng"it all" in the custom-bulltBeatles Bar he'shadinstalledin his house... Happensnow and again.He's a deeP, deepthinker.Justlisten to Songbird.It's there in the music.He's a soulful person, full oflove. Liam hasthe heart ofa Labrador. But we'remore likely to play [arcadegame]

'Liamwas clisgustecl n'hert I wentmto j -r tneraDV. IJ

CircusCharlie in the BeatlesBar.He's got one of theseIcomp utei sedlglass-covered tableswith about r5,oooarcadegamesin it. But it's not just a BeatlesBar,it's a BeatlesHouse.A while ago he cameto rehearsalwith someSotheby'scatalogueand went, "D'you reckon I should buyJohn Lennon'dbath?For six grand?"But I don't thinkhe gotit. What did the Gallaghersthink about you going into therapy? Liam wasdisgusted.He thinks you should deal with ityourself. But I explained,and then he kind ofgot it. They don't need therapy,thosetwo.They'vegot suchselfbelief.They wereborn with something sovaluable,somekind of inner fire which will alwayskeepthem going.

Areyou and Liamthe cosmickids to Gem and Noel'sgrown-upvoicesof reason? Don't let Gem and Noel'sgrown-upfagade fool you. They're totally cosmic.I'm the sensibleone. Youfirst met the Gallaghersin 1994. Howwouldyou describethem then? The day Definitely Maybecame out, I was with them at the Hagienda.I wastalking to Noel about music and then I wassaying, 'Your album'sgreat,"and he went, "I've alreadywritten the next one.And the nexf one."I wasin the Creationoffice the first time they camein there for a showcasefor about 3opeople,and it wasthe sameasit is now They finishedwith I Am TheWalrus. I got introducedto them afterwardsand said,"That wasamazing:d'youwannacome on tour and supportRide?"jGuffawsl'Ihete wasn'tmuch differencebetweenthem. Noel would bejust aslikely to jump on your shouldersfrom behind asLiam. They were both quite excitable.And really friendly, too. Almost like you might imagine theywere on somesort of drug. Liam'snewsongAin't Got Nothingis about the bar brawl in Munichin 2OO2,whenhe lost histwo front teeth. What did you see ofthe fight? Nothing. I wasin the hotel watching Nirvana Unplugged and next morning got this phone call from the tour accountant,who I'd never met: "Hi Andy, it's your tour accountantand the reasonI'm phoningyou is because everyoneelseis in prison."Basically,all the securityguards,halfthe band,the tour manager.The few of us that wereleft went down io the gig and waited.In the end there wasn'ta gig andwe hadto go into hiding. Again.Whenyoujoin abandyoy dol texpectto spendmuch of your life in hiding inSwitzerland.And it's happenedquite a lot. What'sthe bestwayforyou and Gemto dealwith any flare-upsbetweenN0eland Liam?Mediate?Runaway? Valium.Well, when things get personal, you shouldn't get involved.But by and large ihings are very smooth,it'sjust when the wheelsdo come ofl they come offin a spectacularway.To be fiir, it hasn'thappened for a long, long time. Someof it's age,that old chestnut.But it's not smooth all the time. It's still fiery, becausewe care.But I wouldn't be in any -aother band,for all its madness.It's a laugh minute. It's the bestband ever. There'salwaysbeensome prettygood shockabsorberson this bandanyway. We cantake anything.We're like a tank. A Chieftain tank. And it's British.Q

A n d yB e l l : ' W h e nt h e w h e e l s do comeoff,they comeoff in a s p e c t a c u l awr a y . '

IOASIS_ THE OTHERTHREE]

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CHRIS SI{ARROCK 'l'lrt' r i { ' 1 ri l i ' r } * r ;r ; u ' r

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orn on the Wirral in 1964,Chris Sharrock cut his percussivereeth with'8os Scousecombo The Icicle $ ffi Wort t, before beating rhe skins . tr- -tr forThe La's,WorldPartyand,for the last rz years, Robbie Wlliams's backing band.Then Noel called... again. tr ffi

ff \"

This is the second time you've been offered the job of drummer in Oasis, isn't it? Noel says you were the original choice in 2004 before Zak Starkeyjoined... Yeah.Noel phoned me fouryears ago and said, "What do you thinklaboutjoining Oasl'sl" And I was like, "Yeah, interested, ring us back on Friday" And I waited four years for him to phone me back, basically. This time he phoned up and I was in bed watching Bargain Hunt. I hadn't done anJthing for r5 months. It was a bit of an uneventful time, so it was great to get a call. Haveyou always been an Oasis fan? Oh yeah. I've loved Oasis since they kicked off. I'm a fan, course. They're fucking great, aren't they? Best rock'n'roll band in ihi world, in my opinion.

Talk us through your drumming history... The Icicle Works were my first real band. Everyone talks about me'being in The La's but I was only there for about eight months. I left after the Mike Hedges session ftie original rygo version of the band's sole albumlwasscrapped and I ended up in the practice room on the Monday, just me playing drums and Lee lMaversJreading a book on African drumming. I just didn't turn up the next day I went straight from that to World Par$r That was weird, cos it was like going from early Beatles with The La's to the White Album. And now I've joined the mid-period Beatles. Have Liam or Noel evertaken the piss b e c a u s ey o u ' d p l a y e d w i t h R o b b i eW i l l i a m s for 12years? No! It's weird, no one's mentioned it. No one's taken the piss.Yet. As a drummeryou're quite a showman, throwing the sticks around... Well I won't be doing any ofthat. When you've got Liam standing in front ofyou, it doesn't seem appropriate. I'm just clinging onto the sticks for dear life at the moment, never mind tossing them around. I'm just trying to get the drums as strong as possible. AII zo songs in the set are classics. How will you cope ifthere are any rucks? [Laughs]I dunno. I'll probablygo and polish me drums orsomething.O

IOASISPICTURESPECIAL]

ALI

AROUNDTHEWOR In1994,photographerPaulSlattery joined Oasis on the road. He spent the next l2rnonths snapping the earth-shatteringrise of the greatestrock'n'roll band of their generation.And John McEnroe. ourteenyearsago,in March 1994, rock photographerPaulSlattery steppedthrough the doorsofEden Studiosin WestLondon carrying a caseof lager,readying himselfto meet a new Mancunian band recommended to him by a mutual sound-engineer friend. The band was.ofcourse. Oasis. "I walked in," Slattery recalls, "and all I could hear was Liam doing the megaphone bit on Bring It On Down. I thought, What a voice. It hit me over the head. They liked to have a beer and a laugh and ajoke. I thought, I can get on with this crowd." For the next year, Slattery rarely left the band's side, traversing the globe in their company and capturing their accelerated rise from the toilet circuit of lowly bar and club gigs to sold-out arenas. The results are now compiled in a book. Oasis:AYear On The Road-. "It was fantastic to be close to this band who I'd seen playing to 6o people in a pub, then by the finish theywere playing to r2,ooo people at Sheffield Arena," the photographer enthuses. "It was probably one of the best years of my life for full-on madness and excitement."

trBRIGHTON BEACH, 19JUNE1994 "Theywereplayinga gigat BrightonCentre,but the soundcheck wascrapandtheyweregonnapull Oflreland the gig.At the sametimethe Republic wereplayingltalyin the WorldCupandwe watched it in the hotelroom.lrelandwon,sotherewere Theycameonstagelate obviously celebrations. andNoelsaid,Sorry,wewerejustwatchingthe gameandthe scorewaslrelandI ltaly0, andthen Starand theycrankedstraightintoRock'N'Roll Afterthe gigthe serious the crowdwentbonkers. partyingcontinuedat the hoteloncewewere thrownoutof thevenue.The nextmorningweall emergedbit by bit fromthe heapof semi-comatose roomandI managed bodiesin LiamandGuigsy's shinglefor to coaxthemdownto the windswept You someclassicBrightonbeachphotographs. hadto workquicklysotheydidn'tget bored.Tony drummer]wasaquiet bloke,Guigsywas [McCarroll, verylaconicandBonehead wasalwaysa madman, keeping spiritsup.Hewasthe clown everybody's princeof Oasis,really." o ltl

IOASISPICTURESPECIAL]

NTOPOFTHEPOPS, 29JUNE1994 "ThiswastheirflrstTopOfThePopsappearance. TheydidShakermaker andplayedrt live.Youhad to spendalldaythere.lust to do onesongandyou didn'tget a rideDit wasa bring-your-own situation, It wasbloodyhot andthe bandwerelookingfedup,sittingaroundin a tiny,sweltering, beer-free room.I leggedit roundto the localoffle dressing that rmpfoved the to, u t *'.e-cold six-packs ;;,:

situationno end.Forsomestrangereason, Tony hadbeenpositioned rightat the frontof the stage, with Bonehead andGuigsyin the mrddleandNoel andLiamat the back.Liamwasn'tveryhappywith thissituation. Then,ofcourse,Tonyhadgoneinto the make-uproomandwhenhe retufnedhegot a rightloadfromthe fest ofthe band,Theyreally deridedhimbecause theyopposedanyattempt like,Fuckthat,l'mnot havingany at beautiflcation, of that shiton myface."

NNOELWITH ARTHUR LEE, LONDON,4JUNE1994 "Thiswasat the RoyalAlbertHall[the Creation UndruggedIOthanniversary shord ObviouslyNoel iswellversedin hismusicalhistoryandArthur Lee of Lovewasthis iconicgodfromthe '6Oswhodid this littleacousticEiE[that night].Turning up backstage at the AlbertHallwasprettyamazing for Noel.lt wasonlya coupleof monthssincethey'd playedthe Jug OfAlepubin Birmingham. Liamhad beenhavingproblemswith hisvoiceandhe decided not to sing.SoNoelandBonehead hadto go it alone Theywerequakingbeforethat gig.Bonehead was shakinglikea leat he lookedlikedeath.Theyplayed Shakermaker andLiveForeven lt wasthe first time l'dheardNoelsingandI realisedhe hada lovely, plaintivequalityto hisvoice.Liamwasless - he heckledfromthe audience." imoressed

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NIruSH CENTRE, LEEDS, IOAUGUST1994 " T h e y ' r sei t t i n ga f o u n db a c k s t a gaet t h e l r i s h C e n t r ei n L e e d sw i t ht h e i rb r o t h e rP a ual n d m a n a g eM r a r c u sR u s s ellils t e n i ntgo a J o W h i l e y b r o a d c a sotn R a d i oI a b o u tw h a th a dh a o o e n e d t h e p r e v i o unsi g h ta t t h e N e w c a s t lR eiverside g i g ,w h e ns o m eb l o k eh a dj u m p e do n s t a g e and assaultedNoel.INoelGallaghertold Q in 1995: "l looked up and this guy stood right tn front of me fucking smackedme...nearly took my eye out with a sovereignrlng he waswearing."/lthink he got v e r ys h o r ts h r i f t N , oew l a sn u r s i n g a b i to f a b l a c k eyethe next day,He'dbeena bit disturbedby the w h o l et h i n gb u tj u s t s h r u g g e idt o f fw i t ha s m i l e . "

EBONEHEADANDJOHN McENROE, NEWYORK 8 MARCH1995 " l t w a st h e s e c o n dt i m et h e y ' db e e nt o N e wY o r k . T h i sw a st a k e na f r e rt h e i fg i ga t r h eA c a d e m y . M c E n r oh e a db e e nk n o c k i n tgh e mb a c ka l l e v e n i na g n dh ew a sp i s s e dw h e nI t o o kt h a t p i c t u r el.t j u s to n eo f t h o s em o m e n t -s B o n e h e a d saying,Hey,get a pictureof me andMactogether. H e p u t h i sa r mr o u n dM c E n r o ae n dp u l l e dt h i s o u t r a g e o ufsa c e D . u r i n gt h e g i gN o e lp l a y e dT a l k T o n i g hat s p a r to f h i ss o l os e t a n da l lt h e c r o w d l i t t h e i rl i g h t e r sA. n dh es u d d e n lsya i d G , o d d, o n ' t l a v en og a sl e f tt o l i g h ty o L r ' f a g s . d o t h a t ,y o u ' l h I t h i n kh ef e l ti t w a sa b i t ' f o c k ' . " ||44_

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IOASISPICTURESPECIAL]

NAGOYA, trLIAM ONSTAGE, 1994 19SEPTEMBER "Thatwastruly the Oasisgig.Thegigof gigs,l've n e v e rs e e na b e t t e rs h o wi,t w a s j u s tp h e n o m e n a l . I t w a st h e i rl a s tg i gi n . J a p aann dI c o u l df e e lt h i n g s w e T eg o n n ab u i l du p t o t h i si n c r e d i b lcel i m a xY. o u s l lt h e h a n d sc o m i n gu p . c a ns e ei n t h o s ep i c t u r e a I spentmostof the gigin that yardof no-man's. uring l a n db e t w e e n t h e b a n da n dt h e f a n s D Noel'a s c o u s t i sc e t ,y o uc o u l dh e a ra p i nd r o p t, h e t n dw h e nt h e s o n g a u d i e n cw e a st o t a l l ys i l e n a e n d e dt,h i sn o i s ee r u p t e dL, i a mw , h or a r e l ys m i l e s o n s t a g ew, a sb e a m i n gl t. h a db e e ns of a n t a s t i c t h a t t h e yd e c i d e tdo d o a n e n c o r e t h e f l r s to n e Star. they'deverdone.Sothey did Rock'N'Roll the band Thecrowdwerecryingand backstage y ere w e r ec r y i n gC. e r t a i n lBy o n e h e aadn dG u i g sw w r pn gt e a r sf r o mt h e i re y e sl.t w a si n c r e d i b l e . "

IOASISPICTURESPECIAL]

N NOELANDTHEPARROTS, Weturnedup andtheywefealreadyon andNoel TOI(YO, 16SEPTEMBER 1994 andLiamwerejust unbelievably excited... theyjust "Whata nightout that was.lt wasouf flrstvisrtto Japan.Quitea fewpeopleknewaboutthisTokyo CavernClub[in the Roppongidrsfrlctlandthis legendary bandcalledTheParrotswhoweremeant to soundJust likeTheBeatles, so of coufsewe hadto go. [TheParrotsweresubsequentlytnvited by Arctic Monkeysto support them at their Lancashire CricketGroundshowsrnJulv2007.1 ||84

couldn'tbelievehowgoodtheywere.Bonehead a n dN o e il n p a f t i c u l awf e r e J U m p iunpga n dd o w n on therrseatswhistling thelrapproval aftereach number. TheguywholooksikeJohnLennonin a sw e l l . t h e p i c t u r es o u n d e d j u sl ltk eJ o h nL e n n o n Theywerefantastlc. OfcourseNoelhadto get up w i t ht h e m I. c a n ' tr e m e m b ewr h a ts o n gh ep l a y e d . T h e r ew a sa l o to f d r i n ki n v o l v e d . "

FANS,NAGOYA, UNOELAND 1994 19SEPTEMBER

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" T h i si sa f r e rt h eg i gi n N a g o y aN. o e h l a ds om a n y presents fromhisadoringfemalefanshehadto get a n o t h esr u i t c a steo p u tt h e ma l li n .l ' v eg o ta n o t h e r p h o t oo f h i ms i t t i ' r go n a s J i t c a s et r,y i n gt o c l o s e i t .I nO s a k am, ea n dN o e l w e nfto ra w a l kb e c a u s e hewantedto flnda pairof Clarksshoes.Therewas loadsoffanshangingroundthe frontentrance of the venueandI saidto Noel,Let'sgo round go in the backway,andhe said,No,fuckthat,we'11 the ffont door.Hewantedto givesomet meto the fans.Weranintotwo gir s whosaidthey'dtravelled f r v eh o u r sb yt r a i na n dc o L l d n g ' t e rt c k e t sN . oel j r s t r o o ko f fn i sl a m i n a taer d g a v ei r r o o r e o f t h e m a n dm a d em eg i v et h eo t h e fo n em i n e . "

IOASISPICTURESPECIAL]

EVAN NONSTAGEWITH DANDO,LONDON, 50AUGUST1994

"Thiswasthe in-storeperformancefor the releaseof DefinitelyMaybeat the Virgin at MarbleArch.Therewerequeues Megastore aroundthe block.I got thereabout3.30 in the aftefnoonandljust couldn'tbelievethe number of peopleswarmingaroundOxfordStreetand ParkLane.Therewasa realbuzzgoingon around the releaseofthe album.EvanDandoofthe hadbeenhangingaroundthe band Lemonheads a bit. He'dseenthem over in NewYork.He liked Noel,I think,and hewantedto hangaroundwith this upcomingrockband- get himselfa bit of coolness.They'dtake the pissbut they werequite happyto havehimaround."

TOI(YO, E LIAM,ROPPONGI, 15AUGUST1994 "Thatwastheir first nightin Tokyo.Weweregoing out for a biteto eat neafour hotel.lt started rainingandsomegirlwhowaswith ussaid,Liam, here,you needan umbrella.They'revery umbrellain Japan.My planehadarrivedan hour conscious of girls beforetheirsandtherewasa smallgroup who'dcomepreparedwith their CDsand records all readyfor the bandto sign.But this wasa tiny dfop of attentioncomparedto whatwasto come." r200

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rtherner) I'm a rock stan) Indeed he is.And among the issuesNoel Gallagher,famous son of Manchesteawill consider this very d*y are the joys of sniffing glue, the trouble with computers and what precisely "TheTall One" doesin Radiohead. l \ t ) l i l ) S : ' l ' }{ \ l l ) t } \ l , l i l ' l { l ' l ' l l l l ' l S :l } \ \ ' I l ) l t \ | | " l ' l \

here around one in the morning y through a night out in with Noel Gallagher. The evening hours earlier in a spit-andpub calledYe Cracke (former hole ofJohn Lennon during his

days)and will carry on to Bumper, b wherethe Oasisleaderwill - as has been the general theme of t - to be accosted by a parade of Scousers. now, though, Noel is standing :d behind The Meropolitan bar,

t. Around him is a gaggle fans and assortedlocal all of them hanging on to his . He is telling his Maroon 5 story, heard earlier. something like this.Oasisare in

is their wont, they're having a night out. In a bar, a man wanders up to Noel and asks him if he'd say hello to his mate, who was so inspired by Oasis as a youth that he picked up a guitar andjoined a band. So, Noel asks the friend: what band are you in? I'm the bassist in Maroon 5, comes the reply. "And I was pissed, right?" Noel grins, Marlboro Light in one hand, bottle of Corona in the other. "So Ijust started laughing and going,What, Maroon 5?From Oasis?What's that all about? His mate's going, There's no need to be fucking rude, man. And I'm llke, [mock indignantlyl I'm only taking the piss. [\44u'spers mischievouslylBut you are shit, though." Several hours later, at a party in a glasswalled mansion high in the Hol\'wood Hills at which the members of Oasis are now acting Iike "tJpical Brits on the piss abroad", having commandeered the decks and endlesslv spun The Stone Roses'She Bangs The Drums, Noel bumps into the Maroon 5 bassist again outside the toilet. "And as I'm coming out, I said to him, for ajoke right, Fuckinghell, areyou still here? D'you know what he said to me?" There's a pause, and Noel delivers his punchline. "This is my house." The assembled group erupts with laughter and the guitarist doubles up. "I was like, Nice fucking gaff, man."

Ever the salty raconteur, Noel Gallagher has been recounting tales of Oasis's Californian exploits all evening. Such as the night when, having worked out their Rastafarian alter egos from website Da Reggae Name Generator (Noel's was "General Dread"), the band ended up at a roots reggae club where Noel and bassist Andy Bell took to the stage, "pissed as arseholes", very nearly toasting in a pass-the-mic session,before the bassist sensibly dragged his bandmate away Tonight, Noel is blowing offsteam after a week in the European Capital Of Culture, beddingin new drummer Chris Sharrock. formerlv ofThe La's. World Partv and Robbie Wlliams's band. In a booth at ihe Metropolitan, he sits drinking with Sharrock, Oasis guitarist Gem Archer, Travis's Andy Dunlop and former Coral guitarist BiU Ryder-Jones, all the while fielding the advances ofdrunken fans at intervals of roughly zo seconds.While he politely declines most requests for camera-phone pics, he shakes hands and chats with the likes ofbespectacled Bang-On Bob,43, and his missus,49 ("Sex mad, she is. Have you got a new LP coming out?"), and rolls his eyes at a hefty, foghorn-voiced girl called Maria whose oft-repeated catchphrase has him in frts ("Ill tell yer what, I'll tell yer fuck all"). He's in his element. "These are my people," he yells in Qs ear. "Salt of the earth. Why would you want to go out with a load of minders? It just attracts attention." But the unspoken fact remains that if any of these drinkers suddenly turned ugly, his extended group of mates would likely intervene. Two hours later, Noel - trim and youthfullooking aside from his grey forelock ("It appeared when The Stone Rosessplit up") - steps outside for a 3am fag. He claims to smoke only three cigarettes a day "My doctor says,Ifyou're only smoking three, why bother? And I say, Cos I enjoy them." Later, nudging 5am, in the deserted bar of the Hope Street Hotel, more beers are ordered as the sound ofbirds chirruping at daybreak can be heard outside. Talk turns to the first time Oasis visited Graceland. "We wentround and saw everything," Noel recalls, with a bleary-eyed smile. "Then we tried to go upstairs and we saw it was roped off. The security guy's going, Sorry, you can't go up there. We're going, Why?

He'sup there,isn't he?Go on, you cantell us." ewind rz hours, and Noel Gallagheris ordering a cappuccino and sitting down with Q in the basement bar ofhis hotel. Through the glass roofabove his head, a group of fans who have caught wind that he's staying here can be seen loitering on the pavement. Readying himself for the release of Dig Out Your Soul, the guitarist is in good, if wry spirits. If zoo5'sDon't Believe The Truth found the band regaining their artistic confidence, the Outstanding Contribution award they picked up at the Brits two years later rubber-stamped their status as the most successful British band ofrecent times. Only Arctic Monkeys have come

close to matching Oasis'simpact, though Alex Turner has shied away from ravenously embracing fame in the way the Gallagher brothers did. At 4r, Noel seems content with his elderstatesman mantle. In conversation, he operates in two default registers: mercilessly taking the piss out of someone or something or ranting at the modern world like he's auditioning for TV series Grumpy Old Men. He becamea dad again in zoo7. when partner Sara MacDonald gave birth to the couple's son, Donovan. Butwhere brother Liam has stepped back from the limelightto focus on domestic life, Noel has become ubiquitous - going on a semiacoustic "solo" tour to promote 2oo6's Stop The Clocks compilation, phoning in to London radio station talkSPORT, and regularly turning up on his mate Russell Brand's Radio z show to voice his

'T' _N O I.L GAL T.A{t}-iER l H ri {t I NT'F"I{VIE1\' expressed his interest injoining. "[Back then]itwas like, Do #e want Beatles stories or La's stories on the tourbus?,, he sayswith a laugh. "Show of hands. It came down in favour of The Beatles."

Soyou'renowontoyourfourthdrummer... I don'tknowwhatit is.WithTony[McCarroll,

original drummerlat first, he had to go for the sakeofthe band.Wth AlanfiVhite. McCanol l'sreplacementl,that'ssomething that went on betweenAlan and Liam andI" don't want to get in the middle of all that. Zak wassaying,"Look,I don't think my head,sin the right placeto go awayon tour?ora year and a half " Wewerejust like,.Fuckinghell, bummer, man." Cos,y'know, *e're well awareofhowit looks.Thenyou pick up the papersand it's like me and him havehid a big fall-out. Nothing wasfurther from the truth. But,yeah,we'regerring into [Spinal Tap -styI e_lexploding drum mir territory StumpyJoewill be next.

DigOut YourSouladdsa morepsychedelic edgeto Oasis'ssound. Wasthat always theplan? We don t really like.settingout ground rulesabouthow we'regoing to approacha record.I'm sickof band'swh"o,beiorevou heara record,arealwaystellingyou ihe concept."The producei took uiout ofour comfort zone."Explain this to me.What'sa comfort-zone?And why arepeopleso otsessedwith getting_;ut ofit? fMockingly] 'r ne tnrng ls our producermadeus record all the basspartswith one hand tied behindour back,justsowe couldpush ourselves." Fuckofl Getin thereandget it fucking done. 5o you didn't think of tappingup BrianEno and letting him bring a hypnotistinto the studio like he did with coldplay? Or holding up the fucking cards[Eno's Obli que Strategiescards,-whichfeature commandssuch as "Honour the error as an.intentio-n." and "Tryfakingir'J..Letgo of a.lJyour inhibitions."No. Wetresongwriters. We write songsand we go in rhe stu-dioand recordthem asbestwe ian.

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Goon. Let Enobring the hypnotistin. you might enjoyit. [Laughs]Fuckoff'lIf Brian Eno saidhe was gonnawalk aroundthe studiowith a bis placardsaying,"GolfSale",I'd do that. "

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seeminglyinexhaustibleopinions. Theseopinionscausedmuch debate earlierthisyearwhenhe dismissedthe prospectofJay-Zheadlining at the Glastonburyfestival.',I'm nlothaving hip hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong."ne ti'ta ttre BBCin April. The night that ii-rerapper openedhis setwith iparody of Wonderwall. Noelwasat the BBC.appeaiingon Brand.s show,surprisedthat hii'mobilEwas constantlyringing.

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"It was genius," he says ofJay-Z's response. .."It had turned into a moial isiue, like I was some kind ofmusical racist. But I actuallv IikeJay-Z. Look, hisprofile went through'the roof, Wonderwall went back in the chais. everyone'sa fucking uinner," Dig Out Your Soul marks the swansons of drummer Zak Starkey. who joined Oasis in zoo4.Noel admits that Chris Sharrock was their first choice when Starkey,s predecessor Alan White left, before RingoStarr's son

Everybody'swritten songsfor the new 19cor!. Canopeningup the songwritingto the wholebandbe frustrating? No, not at all. It savedthe bandin a way I don't think I could do it any -or" - ,i songsfor an album. six B-sidesor extra tracks,y'know.The last album that I wrote everysingle thing^on_was lzooo'slStanding -. On The ShoulderOf Giantsand I'd kind of come to an end.I didn'twant to drive it anymore. Youdid let Liamrecord Litile Jamesfor that onethough,didn't you? But see,that wasan exercisein psychologv CosLiam had alwayssaid,,.\lVeft, if t stan"" wntmg songs,you won't fucking usethem anyway"And backin the 'gos,I,d havebeen going, "No, I wouldn't fuckinguse them, costhey're shit."But he saidhi,d written this songand he wasreally into it. And if I was E

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E gonna say to him, "We're not even gonna record it", he would've just gone, "Aw, fuck it, whatever." He may have given up. Little James isn't the greatest song in the world. In fact, it's one of the fucking shittest. But it was a case of "Right, you're gonna have to put your money where your mouth is now, cos it's going on the fucking record and [antagonisticallylsee how you like it when people are fucking slaggrng you off." And how did he likeit? He hated it. It still drives him fucking potty

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I t s o u n d sa s i f D i g O u t Y o u r S o u l w a s a fairly painless record to make... Yeah.AII our records are.Ifyou know what you're doing before you get in there. It's a working-class thing as well. It's the workethic. I don'twantto goin andmeander about for three days on a keyboard sound. I'm not an experimenter. It's the same with drugs. Middle-class kids experiment

11*

with drugs. Working-class kids get fucking stuck in.

rene:rber vour acid trios and mushrooms ar:l {rue sniffing rvhen you were a kid.

S o m e b a n d s ,s u c h a s R a d i o h e a d ,s e e m t o t i e t h e m s e l v e si n k n o t s m a k i n g a l b u m s . . . I've got to say,Radiohead,I'm totallyhaving it, until the little fella starts singing. And then it's like this big anvil drops on your head and you're justlike [mopey], "Fucking hell, sorry for enjoying that, you're right, there are people dying in the rvorld, I'm sorry about that." Here's one thing about Radiohead I'd like to know: what doesthe tall fella do? What does he do? I knowwhat little Thom does,I know whatJonny does,I know what Colin does,I knou. rvhat the Samaritan does on drums. \\rhat do you do?

G l u es n i f f r n g ? O]-... e"l That n'as my first ever drug. Me and 'gos. Lra::: '...ere gonna bring it back in the \\'e :al a serious conversation about it once. \\'e ',-.c:e going on tour and there was loads of c..":re around and we were like,We sho:-: rcking bring back glue sniffrng, 'r-man L knorv what? It was brilliant. But Bag I: - : isn t about that. It was kind of reme:: :.nng all the old acid trips we used to ha'.. : the local golfcourse. That period of n:', .::e ::,lm 14to 17.

How muchof DigOut Your Soul's trippy element is basedon your own experiences? [Opening track]Bag It Up is about the times I used to do psychedelic drugs. You always

W e r e t h e r e a n y d i s a g r e e m e n t si n t h e s t u d i ot h i s t i m e ? Not rea"-'. ::m rvalked out once, over this song Tt t L '. \tith The Blues,which I still mairta,.. : :::s day I could have got a better ending : -: --:. j he didn't. He got in some backine'. - :",-srsl'ho would've been more

rn place on a \\'estlife record. \-knorr,. four ma.ma:doing the soul backing_r.ocal 1rg ; hing -\nd rhe) \\'ereshrieking.A-ndI rvas being a bit. like. fdrsmrsslre lalgh/..Is this rr'hatit's fucking come to?" And.-blesshim, he n'alked out. But then he realised that he was in the middle of nowhere in LA and he can't drive. So he had to come back i n and,say.I sheep i sh lyl " Can somebody give me a lilt?" Other than that, rhere rr.as him sayng.."I'm not gonna sing today. I m gon na sing nexr Th ursdayat three, because. y'know. I need to prepare myself for the magic." Does he get nervous about doing vocals? 'Course he does,yeah. I understand, because your instrument is there 1points at throat/ a n d h e ' sn o t A n n i e L e n n o x .H e ' s n o t a srnger,as such, who'll sit in a darkened room with a dehumidifier and go la-de-da. I remember being in a dressing*roomonce rlhen Chris Martii waswarmiig up to do a gig and I thought he was having a seizure. He wasstretching his neck andill this gear. It was like. "Fucking hell. whar are you " doing?""Vocal exeicises.Don't you do that before you go on?" And I was like, ,,No. I drink." But it's difficult for singers. I,ve never met one that didn't live in fear of going t o t h e m i c a n d n o t h i n g c o m i n g o u r .T h e " va l l " have (hat insecurity.They havEone bad lig a n d t h e i r w o r l d c o m e sc r a s h i n gd o w n . " " Insecurity isn't something youd associate with Liam... You'reiaving a fucking laugh, aren't you? The y3.I h" is, it's icreaming insecurit)z Y'know, the having it out with phorographers, rhe look and ill that, that,s the shield, man. D you know what I mean? And^thegiving it the big "I am". that'sjust the fronting it. But he'sa mouse.Seriously. 'h

ne day shy of three weeks later. and Noel hasturned upearly ffi ffi forhismiddaymeeting ff with Q at his management's Marylebone oflicel Unfussily dressedin black leather bomber jacket and bluejeans, he sits on a sofa in a side office flickingthrough a copy of a recent issue of Q. On the table befoie him lie his fags.keys and a D\D of The La.s busking in Covent Garden for Comic Relief in 1989."You should seeby the time thev do Feelin'," he enthuses,evei the fan. ,,Eveirthe tramps are up dancing "So what happenedthat night in -. Liverpool? It all got a bit fucki"ng blurry... Noel isn't lying when he boas-ts about his wori. He has been up for "t[ic. hours today,keen ro do the remainder ofthe Q interview before he shoots offto rehearsalsin West London. He's got his Grumpy Old Man head on againlEven before we sran.he'sholding forth oi everything from politics ("All about image now..)to" knife crime t"lf you've gor a k"nifeon vour personand you'ie nor i; a kitchen,yo'u.re going to jail. You're not going.ounh you, mare's house to slice frict in'g pear. ire " Iol?").Ana tften there's the glowing trend for bands to give away their irusic oiline. At one point in Liverpool, he'd said,,,I don,t trust anlthing that's free." "Well how_wouldyou?" he saystoday, voice rising. "You don't get fuck all for fuck all. Somebodysaid to mi, you know rhe El ,n. tr W q-a

il'Hil {t lNl'!,li\''l f.\'\r- }'i{)}.L ll,\Ll-,{{lllIll E only thing you get for free in this world? The napkins in McDonald's. And whenyou think about it, that's fucking true." Presumablyyou never considered doing a Radiohead and giving away Dig Out Your Soul for free, then? Yknow, we didn't hire out Abbey Road for two months at fucking two grand a day and then go to America with the most expensive producer in LA to come back 'Ave it." I think and sav. "You know what? the time to start shitting it is when Uz start giving records away What point are people trying to make here? What point are The Charlatans trying to make by giving their album away? The likes ofJohnny Borrell will take it too far. "Have the record, have my guitar, have the drums, in facttake me as well, I'myours." Do you ever feel like a traditionalist in a changingworld? Yeah. All this shit started with webcams in the studio. Who wants to see the drummer walking round in his socks?I think there's too much information for people now. Surely the magic draws people in. The internet to most people is the be all and end all of everlthing. "Oh, have you heard the new Coldplay track? You can get it for free on www..." Here. Get on this. I haven't got a fucking computer. Seriously? No, I don't have a computer. I do not live in that world. I know I've got this far in my life without a computer. I don't fucking need one. Gem uploads my iPod to go on tour. I wouldn't knowhowto download. You never use email? AJI the people I need to speak to are on the end of the ohone. That's it. I understand that that little fucking computer is the greatest invention probably of all humanity But for the running of my day-to-day life? People don't go to the supermarket! You never really need to leave the fucking house any more. Get your food delivered, read the papers online, Iisten to music online, watch the telly, send your kids to school by email. You don't have to go to the pub cos there's a chatroom. Bends my fuckinghead. The other big trend is for bands to '?o green". What do you think about Oasis's carbon footprint? You've got to make a living, y'know what I mean? Can a rock'n'roll band go around the world and put on the show they want to and not leave a carbon footprint? And anyway, it's always the rock stars that get it in the neck. Never mind the fucking Chinese. Or the Americans. Pissing out pollution into the atmosphere. I'll tell you what. If I could get the four million people that come to seeOasisto London and do 6oo nights at Wembley, believe

i you me, I'd fucking do it. I'm a Northerner, I'm a rock star. Don't worry me with the details about carbon. I don't know what carbonis [laughs]. How's Liam thisweek? He's alright. We've been in rehearsals for weeks and I don't think he's uttered a single word to anybody yet. I don't know whether he's taken a vow of silence.He seemsto be very focused. He does his thing and then he gets ofl But.. . he's not been very forthcoming. He gets somebody to call him a taxi during the last song and then he's off and that's it. And it's like, it's fair enough. Each to their own. We all can't be zr forever. I've not spoken to him a great deal, to be honest. Outside of the group thing. We value our time. I mean, who wouldn't value time away from each other? How often do you see each other outside ofthe band? Kids'birthdays. Weddings. That kind of shit. When was the last time you socialised together. The two ofyou goingfor a pint? A pint together, the two of us? I don't think we've ever done it, ever. Never? When I was r5, he was ro. When I was zo, he was r5. D'you know what I mean? You're not hanging around with your little fucking brother. Now it doesn't make a difference, but we've got family and kids and he's got a circle of friends that he hangs out with up in Hampstead. I live in the West End. There's no cause for us really to see each other. We never bump into each other.

Thelast Oasistour endedin March2005. Youstarted recordingthenewalbumin October2007. Howdid you copewith the downtime? Well, I'm not one ofthose peoplewhere I get backand I standat my front door and expect it to open electricallybecauseI still think I'm in a hotel. I'm not a fucking idiot. You read interviewswith rock starsand thev sav -b""i. fmoronic USdrawl],"Oh,man, I ca-e offthis world tour, man, and my wife said to me, Hey passthe sugar,and I wasgoing, Sugar?What the fuck's sugar?"You can't bringthat shithome withyou.What I do is I sit round the housefor agesand don't do anlthing. Then I start doing up the house. Normal shit.I don't write on the road or keep a diaryon my musingson Seattle. Too busy getting pissed.I wouldn't say,"Hey, I have a great life offstage."But it's like a normal fucking existence. But as someonewith a distinct work ethic, it must be weird havingmonthsand monthsoff. Don't you get bored? Yeah.After three or four months I'll start fiddling about on the guitar and maybe do a bit of writing, but I don't really chaseit.

'Radiohread, l'ilr Lotally lraviIrg it,,unl,il the litlle f clla s{arlssinging.'

i il-It Q INTER\iil-\,\'-li{)[L {;ALL,\(}}iilR i E When I wasyounger,I usedto think, "Right, I'm an utter fucking chancerand I'm gonna get found out within the next 18months, so I'm gonna do asmuch asI can."Fifteenyears down the line, you think, "Oh, I'm not going anywherejust yet." SoI don't really chaseit, y'know, and think, "Must keepwriting." Earlierthisyear,youclaimedyou soldyour housein lbizabecauseJamesBlunt moved in downthe road... No,no,no,no.Youknowme.I can'thelp but take the piss.I got to 4o and I waslike, "Do we fucking needa housein Ibiza any more?" It usedto annoy me thinking there wasthis bighousesittingthereempty But,no,itwas nothing to do withJamesBlunt. But that's just too good a fucking story to resist.I've gotta say,I never bumped into him once. I'm convincedhe doesn'tfucking live there, that it's all a ruse for the press.And he doesn't look like he canesit to me. Didn't he put it in one ofhis songs?"I'vetakenshitloadsof drugs."It's like, [posh accent]"I'vesmoked somemarijuana and now I'm eating fucking shitloadsof chocolate." What aboutyou and drugs?Youknocked cocaineon the heada longtime ago.ls that stillholding? It wasduring aWorld Cup Yeah.June'98. match on the telly. I'd had a can of RedStripe and two big lines ofcharlie for breakfast. I got up to watchthe game and then, I was just like, "Fuck me, I don't feel too well." I'd felt fucked on drugs before.I've beenslapped awakebyBobbyGillespiein myhouse. I passedout. Somepills or something.And Bobby,blesshim, thought I wasdoing aJimi Hendrix. The nextthing, I'm fucking woken in me front room by BobbyGillespie punching me in the face.He's going [un canny Glaswegianbrogue], " Areye back, man?I thought I'd lost ye,man." But at that point [n '98JIwaslike, "This is something completely different, I really don't fucking feel well." Heart palpitations,sweating. I might havedone one line about six months after,when I wassopissedI had to do one to soberup.But other than that. . . it's just, I'd doneit, you knowwhat I mean? Didyou sufferany kind of addiction hangover? I wasaddictedto the lifestyle.\44thcocaine you get addictedto your own ego,that'sit. The most difficult thing wascosI'd just said[snapsfingers], "Right, I'm not gonna do it anv more."Mv circle of friendswere still bang at it. Buti doneit on me own.It waseither that or go to The Priory Four grand an hour? For somebodyto tell me what I really should alreadyknow about myself anyway?And it waslike, "No, I can do this."SoI startedto drink more and then got slightly into prescriptiondrugs - sleeping tabletsand uppersand downers- until my doctor said, "To be quite honest, you might as well get back on the gear because these are worse for you." I can go out now and the snifter's everywhere and I'm just not at it. I know for a fact ifl have one line, that leads to being in a crack house in King's Cross eight hours later with a load of fucking guys reciting poetry to you cos they think they're Pete Doherqz Oasis picked up the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the Brits

in 2007. You'reofficiallyup there with the likesof TheRollingStonesand U2... I don't give a fuck what spotty,divry little indie bandsthink about me.My peersare fucking Bono and Chris Martin and MickJagger and Keith Richards.I don't give a fuck about what somecocksucker irom TheWombatsthinks of Oasis.or anyonefrom the fucking LastShadow Puppets,y'know.I'm not arsedabout anv of them. Thev're sobeneathme it's unbelievable.'

world, y'know.Let'sgo and havea night out,man.

You're4l now.Howdo you view getting older in a rock'n'rollband? I did havea point on the lasttour. . . I'd seen that a new generation,the kids,had arrived down the front. And I waslooking at them and I'd think, "Fuckinghell, they'resoyoung, they'relittle kids."It's like, 'What the fuck are you looking at?"But it dependswhat mood I'm in. SometimesI think, "Aw, fuckinghell, canI be arsedgoing on anotherphotoshoot? Videos?Can'tbe arsed."But then I get home in a goodmood and I think,'Vell, what else would I be doing?Writing forewordsfor some '9os?Or satin a demo stupidbook aboutthe studiowriting songsfor otherpeople?"lll do this until somebodysays,"Comeon.You know whenyou thought weweregonnafind out you werea chancerin r8 months?Well it's beenr8 vears.We put it to a referendum.You got the No vote,mate.Offyou go."

Howdo you seeOasisin terms of those other big bands? When I go and seeUz, I just think, "Fuck me, I wish we could do that, be that greatest showon earth."And then I'd like to be in a band that seemsto be asuniversally loved as Coldplay But at the end ofthe day,you've just gotta be who you are.We made it to be a stadium band.How, I do not fucking know.Becausewe'renot stadium-rock stars.I genuinely think that peoplecome YouoncecalledPaulWeller"the to an Oasisgig to be with other people Victor Meldrewofrock". But isn'tthat at an Oasisgig.We don't really have nowyou? to entertainthe crowd,they entertain Yeah.IGnhsll'm surewe bondedunder themselves.I like that bit in betweenthe a grey cloud somewherejust going like, songswherethere'ssilence,becausethat's human atmosphere.There'sthat buzz. [sucksfag]"Alright, geez.""Alright, mate." "Shit,innit?" "It's fucking rubbish."[Laughs] "What arethey gonna play next?"I'd If something'sshit, he could speakfor hours rather that than laserbeamsand the constantbombardment of political messages about it. Bit like myself. on the screens.There'senough shit in the ln the Oasistour film Lord Don't SlowMe Down,you marvelledat the energyof TheRollingStonesandsaid,"At 58, I'm fucked." Howdoesthe prospectof a lS-monthtour makeyou feel? It'll be the sameasit alwaysis.The first three or four months will be amazing, the last two months will be amazing because you'recomingto the end of it. The bit in the middle, that's the fucking slog.If peoplewannaknow what it's like, watch the film, that's exactlywhat it's like. There'sa lot of great nights out, there's a tenseatmosohereon various occasions. But if I fucking sum it all up, it's better than beinga hoodie.D'youknowwhat I mean?

ising from the sofa,we step backinto the main body of the Ignition Management officeswherethe dozenor so staff- nearly all ofthem female - attendthe phonesand computers, working the pre-releasebuild-up beforethe appearanceofDig Out Your Soul in October. Almost instantly Gallagher'sfacecontorts into a grimace.Somethingis clearly . annoying him. It appearsto be a song playing on the radio. "ScoutingFor Girls?"he exclaimswith disgust. "Scouting For Fucking Girls?! Radior were interviewingkids goinginto Glastonburyand saying,Who areyou looking forward to seeing?And someof thesekids were saying,ScoutingFor Girls. I mean,comeon..." world-famousmusician A 4r-year-old happily stuck in his ways,there'sno taking Noel Gallagherout of his comfortzone. "I've spentr5yearsbuilding this," he announces,surveyinghis empire,his eyes creasingup with mischief again."I ain't fucking going an).wherefor anybody,d'you know what I mean?It's nicehere."8

'f've

spent 15years buildingthis.

I ain't guFS an\-where for

anybndy.'