Bono: Liam And Noel Gallagher Are "Incredible"

U2 frontman Bono said he has no hard feelings towards Liam Gallagher despite him slagging off his band and thinks he and his brother Noel are "incredible" musicians.

But when it comes to Liam and Noel's tumultuous relationship, the 57-year-old singer does not think anyone would be able to help them make peace, reported Femalefirst.

"I think there's more chance of sorting out the Middle East than mediating between the Gallagher brothers ... But they're incredible. They are both part of oasis. And Liam and Noel are incredible," Bono said.

Noel was the support act for U2 for their special tour marking the 30th anniversary of 'The Joshua Tree' album, and Bono has heaped praise on the 50-year-old guitarist comparing him to music legends Paul McCartney and The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson.

"Noel Gallagher - He's an extraordinary force. You forget because he's so understated. This is one of the greats, this is like Brian Wilson, or, this is like Paul McCartney, or just like Ray Davies.

"He's right up there. And having him around is fun too and we get in to similar trouble. He's very Irish really.

Source: www.business-standard.com

Noel Gallagher: I Saw The End Of Brit Pop

Noel Gallagher revealed he saw the end up Brit Pop before it fizzled out.

The songwriter's former group Oasis were the biggest band to emerge from the rock sub genre than came from the UK in the 90s and although it was a very special time for music he knew it was the end era.

He said: ''It was an anniversary of something recently and somebody showed me a list of the album chart back them and in one week, it was Oasis, The Verve The Manics, Pulp and Blur, were like at least five of the top ten, and had been for most of that year. And I felt, I remember saying at the time that that era was the end of something, that that would be the last time that something like that would happen. There just isn't that culture any more. I have a 15-year-old daughter who is like, 'Albums? They take too much time just give me the track man.'

''I guess it was the end of pop music as we knew it and then the internet came along and bingo.''

Meanwhile, the 48-year-old musician added that he was inspired to write albums with B sides by the soul and rock groups of the '60s, such as The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.

He told Steve Lamaq on BBC Radio Six: ''We were all derived from, maybe not so much The Manics, but we certainly were derived from those pop records and The Verve were the same and Blur probably.''

Source: www.tv3.ie

Record Store Day Unveils 2014 Releases: Oasis, Paul Weller, Nirvana, Jake Bugg, And More

Nirvana, Paul Weller and Oasis are among the artists who have contributed releases to Record Store Day 2014.

Paul Weller will release new material on a seven-inch, with the single limited to just 2,500 copies. Meanwhile, Nirvana's 'Pennyroyal Tea' will be released on the same format and Oasis' debut single 'Supersonic' will be re-released on 12-inch. A full list of all of this year's releases can be found on the official Record Store Day website.

David Bowie has outlined plans to release a seven-inch picture disc of 'Rock'N'Roll Suicide' in the UK. First released as a single in 1974, the new version is backed with 'Farewell Speech', recorded at the final Ziggy Stardust concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon in July, 1973.

Sex Pistols will release a limited-edition numbered seven-inch vinyl boxset which features alternate takes of 'Never Mind The Bollocks' tracks, plus two 1977 studio mixes of 'Belsen Was A Gas', including a previously unreleased demo version of the song.

'Live At Silver Platters, Seattle' is a four-track EP recorded by Jake Bugg at the singer-songwriter's January 20, 2014 instore show in the US city. It sees Bugg performing acoustic versions of tracks from his debut album and 2013 follow-up 'Shangri La', including breakthrough hit 'Lightning Bolt'.

Meanwhile, LCD Soundsystem's farewell concert, 'The Long Goodbye: LCD Soundsystem Live At Madison Square Garden', will come out as a five-LP set for Record Store Day, with a wider vinyl and digital release set for May 19. The recording will be an unabridged version of the band's final gig, coming in at almost four hours long.

Suede will put out their single 'Let Go' on vinyl for the first time. The track was originally released as a limited-run CD single in Sweden in 1999. The seven-inch will feature 'Heroin' as a B-side.

Green Day have announced plans to release 18 demos, including a previously unreleased track from recording sessions from the 2012 '¡Uno!', '¡Dos!' and '¡Tré!' trilogy. The release will be available on coloured vinyl, CD and cassette.

Savages, Drenge and Summer Camp are among the bands set to appear on a charity album released in conjunction with Record Store Day UK and War Child. War Child will be the official charity for this year's event and, together with XFM, a limited-edition record has been produced featuring the best of DJ John Kennedy’s X-Posure Sessions.

Other big name artists contributing to this year's event include Damon Albarn, The Beach Boys, Chvrches, Edwyn Collins, Disclosure, Fleetwood Mac, Haim, Joy Division, Kings Of Leon, Metronomy, OutKast, Slipknot and The Rolling Stones, while Temples and Jagwar Ma have teamed up for a split seven-inch.

A number of mystery artists have contributed to the Secret 7" project in which seven tracks are pressed onto vinyl 100 times before artists are invited to design one-of-a-kind sleeves for the records. The names of the seven artists and musicians will be revealed this Monday (March 24).

Chuck D has been named as the official ambassador of Record Store Day 2014. Speaking about his appointment, he commented: "In this age where industry has threaded the music sound with virtual sight and story I am honoured to be called upon to be Record Store Day Ambassador of 2014. With the masses, neck bent into their smartphones, let all of us music lovers GPS our way into a reality that is the record store. It's worth a great try, let's do this."

Record Store Day was launched in the US seven years ago, coming to the UK a year later.

Source: www.nme.com

Check out the current collection and offers from Pretty Green here.

Noel Gallagher On Reforming Oasis, Beady Eye His Pet Cat 'Boots' And More

Victories in art are difficult to call, but in the wake of the break-up of Oasis three years ago, time has been kinder to Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds than it has been to brother Liam’s Beady Eye. It’s no surprise, really. Even within the Oasis lightshow—the sparks from the friction between the Gallagher siblings spanned almost two decades—it was clear that the band’s best songs belonged to Noel. The elder Gallagher is now back in the United States for another leg of a seemingly endless world tour, his first as a proper solo artist. While resting up for this current jaunt in a hotel suite near Lille, France, Noel Gallagher spoke with The A.V. Club about abandoning projects, feeding his cat, working with hippies, and looking like Keith Richards.

The A.V. Club: Listening to Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds now, without the distraction from the Oasis breakup, it sounds like it has joy in it, something that might have been missing from the last couple of Oasis records.

Noel Gallagher: Well, the real difference is that I’ve written the whole album. On Oasis records, there were always four songwriters, so you would never get a concise feel or flow. Liam would write a certain kind of song and Gem [Archer] would write a certain kind of song and Andy [Bell] would do the same. Then, you put them all together and try to make them fit as best as you can. This album has a very definite narrative. That’s just ’cause I’ve written it all and I put it all together. I guess it’s just more of a personal statement. But I agree with you. There is a lot of joy on it.

AVC: The trilogy of videos that was released when the album came out was filmed in and around Los Angeles. The album cover photo is of you in front of the iconic Jack Colker Union 76 gas station in Beverly Hills. Were you out to brand yourself anew as a Southern California singer-songwriter?

NG: [Laughs.] It just so happened that all of that took place because of economics. It’s cheaper! All of those things were done while I was mixing the record. I recorded it and mixed it in Los Angeles, so I just happened to be there. I guess things develop their own meanings to certain people. I wouldn’t have even been in the videos if it wasn’t for my management, who insisted I was in them in some way. I’m not too sure I was branding myself as anything. There seems to be a rule that one has to be on the album cover if you’re a solo artist. I don’t know when that rule came in. I certainly won’t be on the next one, that’s for sure. But yeah, there is kind of an American feel to it, visually. It’s a strange one. It’s an odd one. I don’t know what to make of it, because I couldn’t be less American. But everything was done in America. All of it. So, there you go. What does that say? I don’t fucking know. [Laughs.]

AVC: Well, with Thom Yorke moonlighting as a Los Angeles DJ and starting a new band there, Atoms For Peace, it seems like there might be a secret society of big British musicians hiding out together…

NG: Oh, fuck that. I don’t fucking mix with anybody—British or any other musicians. I tend not to hang out with musicians. You know why?

AVC: Why?

NG: Because they’re fucking idiots.

AVC: You’ve become quite a blogger. Your “Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere” diary is a regular feature on The Huffington Post, of all places.

NG: This came about on the last Oasis tour, when the people that ran our website said, “You have to have some personal involvement in this, because you’re like the last band in the world.” We never had any involvement in it whatsoever. We were like, “Fuck the Internet.” I didn’t even have a computer at the time. I thought, “Well, I’m not interested.” They said, “Well, look, can somebody do a tour diary?” I think one of the other band members started to do it and it was fucking awful. It was shocking. So, anyway, as I tend to have a lot to say for myself, it fell to me to do it. It just carried on from there, really. But let’s be under no illusions about what this actually means. It’s just a way of drawing people to the website so I can sell them some shit. That’s all it is.

AVC: Are you just warming up to pen a tell-all memoir? You could probably sell a lot of books.

NG: Everything I’ve got to say, I can say in my music. But I guess once you get into that [Internet] world, it’s very difficult to fucking get out. With the last Oasis album, I thought, “Well, that’s that.” But my management was like, “You can’t stop now. We’re selling these kids so much shit! If you stop, we can’t sell them more shit!” I was like, “Oh. I do like selling people shit…”

AVC: Britain got very nostalgic over the summer during the Olympics, even for its bands. With Blur performing and the Stone Roses reuniting right at the time Oasis has gone missing, does it make you think fondly about the “old days”?

NG: You have to speak to the individual members who get into these reunions. I’m sure they’ve all got valid reasons; it’s not for me to say. I know it’s a thing these days. And I know from experience now that the one way of stopping people from just asking about fucking reunions is to actually do it. And then people stop asking. But I’m afraid I won’t be getting involved in any of that. There’s no need for me. I’m not interested in that kind of a thing.

AVC: It comes up so quickly, too. It’s only been three years.

NG: Yeah! Honest to God, it was about six weeks after I left people were saying, “Do you think you’ll ever get back together?” I was like, “I haven’t even made a fucking record!” It’s like, fuck me! It cost me about a half a million fucking dollars to get out of that band, and then people were saying, “When are you going back on tour?” I was like, “What the fuck?”

AVC: Do you think if you got your record out before Beady Eye did, the appetite for an Oasis reunion might have been quelled for a bit longer?

NG: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. The thing with Beady Eye is… their singer does them a great disservice. By pronouncing that they will eventually be bigger than Oasis? I was just like, “Oh, dear.” But I think they caught a lot of flak that was quite undeserved, really. It’s only their first album. I think they’ve got a great album in them next time. They need one. They fucking need one, that’s for sure.

AVC: Are you resigned to being asked about Liam for the rest of your life? It’s not like he’s Art Garfunkel and you’re Paul Simon.

NG: [Laughs.] Wow.

AVC: You’re blood. You’re brothers. It’s not like he’ll just disappear and no one will ever ask you about him again.

NG: Yeah, maybe. It’s just one of those things, you know? I don’t mind. It depends what the question is, really. The reunion thing is a bit of a pain in the ass. It’s like, “For fuck’s sake.” What else do people want to know about you? I don’t know. I don’t mind. Ask me a question. I don’t tell any lies.

AVC: Well, apparently your mother and your wife are both practicing Catholics. Do they ever encourage forgiveness, even if it’s for the sake of having Christmas dinner together?

NG: Yeah, I’m sure she’d be thrilled if we did. But really, I’ve got one true failing as a human being and that is, I find it very difficult to forgive people. I accept that, but that is the one flaw in my character that keeps me from being pretty much the ultimate human being. It’s just something I have to live with. I find it very difficult. Particularly if I’ve been sued. I don’t do forgiveness.

AVC: Do you hold grudges? Because forgiveness and holding a grudge are.

NG: Oh fuck yes I do! Oh yeah. I have some grudges that go back to the ’80s.

AVC: Any you’d care to share?

NG: Oh, they know. They know.

AVC: Unlike Oasis, the High Flying Birds is a project you’ve financed yourself. Are you coming out ahead in the deal? Are you done with the old way of doing business?

NG: Oh, yeah! I’m coming out ahead. It’s all gone very much according to plan. The second album [with Amorphous Androgynous] ended up having to be scrapped. That cost me a fortune. I made a tour film, which cost me a fortune, which I also scrapped. But all that being said, I’ve come out ahead. My wife is thrilled about that. She gets a new kitchen. My children are thrilled. They get to go to schools without metal detectors. My cat. He’s thrilled. It means he’s not gonna get thrown in the canal anytime soon.

AVC: What’s the cat’s name?

NG: Boots. Don’t ask. A 4-year-old named him. I would have called him Mr. Whiskers. But there you go. What do I know?

AVC: You just said the album you made with Amorphous Androgynous is scrapped. Is that official, or are you still considering releasing it? 

NG: No, I don’t think it will come out. I’m pleased with the songs. The songs that I did when I was in the studio—I’ll probably re-record them. But the moment has passed, I think. Do you know what I mean? When you have records, there’s a window before their moment passes. I’ve already moved on from that Amorphous Androgynous thing. I’ve written a bunch more songs since then, so I’m afraid—unfortunately—the success of this album killed that one. I wasn’t planning on being on tour for 15 months.

AVC: What’s wrong with it? What don’t you like about it?

NG: Well, it was a record that contains songs that weren’t conventional songs. It wasn’t verse-chorus-verse-chorus. They’re a bit trippy and a bit floaty. My songs, in general, they don’t really rely on the mix. They’re all written on acoustic guitar. They’re as good with me just singing them into the microphone in the style of Bob Dylan as they are with a full band. The High Flying Birds album didn’t rely on the mixes. The songs were there. This was a record that—absolutely, 100 percent—relied on the mixes, because they weren’t songs, so to speak. They were grooves and, you know, there weren’t many chords in them. And the mixes weren’t fucking right. And unfortunately, I didn’t have time to go back in and remix it. And now I’m too fucked. I’m fucked. I’ve been on the road for 15 months. I am fucked.

AVC: Have you considered having someone else mix it?

NG: No. I’m a little bit of a control freak when it comes to my music, unfortunately. I need a holiday. I’ve suddenly started to look like Keith Richards. That’s not good.

AVC: And he’s older than you are.

NG: He’s a hundred years older than I am!

AVC: One could imagine this project fading into obscurity, or lingering in the minds of your fans, like the Beach Boys’ Smile, until you relent and finally release it.

NG: Maybe. I guess there’s lots of things that one could revisit down the years. I don’t know. I don’t even know when I’m going to make another record. Right now, I’m in the middle of touring and it’s taken quite a lot out of me. It depends. If I got in the studio next time and somebody says, “What about that track you did with those fucking hippies?” I might go and listen to it and think, “Hmm. Well, okay.” I don’t know, but I don’t think so.

AVC: What’s it like to come over to the United States now, on your own, without being in “the big band” with “the big tour”?

NG: I’m resigned. No, resigned is not the right word. I’m not going to have another hit in America. I’m not bothered about that. I don’t think anything would stop me from going back and playing and releasing records there. I’ve got a lot of love for that country. I don’t fly across the Atlantic Ocean and wish I was in the top fucking 100, you know? I don’t wish for things like that. All I know is that when I go there, a lot of people turn up, they seem to like what I do, and therefore when it comes to the next time around, I’ll insist on going back there. I’ve grown to love America. In my 20s, I fucking hated it. There were just so many ludicrous fucking rules. But the older that I’ve got, I kind of fell in tune with it. I enjoy going there now. It’s a great place to sit on a tour bus and stare out the fucking window and just think, “Fuck me. You could get a lot more people in here!” Why is the rest of the world so overcrowded? Nobody lives in America! We’re all squashed up on top of each other in London. What the fuck?

AVC: You’re looking forward to it.

NG: I am going to be very good. I’m going to look tired. I’m going to look like Keith Richards. But I am going to be fucking good.

Source: www.avclub.com

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds have released International Magic Live At The O2 DVD through Sour Mash Records.

They are currently playing the US and Canada alongside Snow Patrol and Jake Bugg.

For details on the above and more click here.

Noel Gallagher's Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere (Vol.2) Part Fifty One

From Noel Gallagher's 'Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere' tour diary.

That day was a fucking nightmare. Iree Nancy and our 2 princes had arrived in Los Angeles for a little holiday so I decided to fly to Vegas on the day of the gig. Not something one would ordinarily do as it can be fraught with danger. So . . . got to the airport on time, checked in and all that, sat around for 2 bastard hours until some cunt announced that the flight had been cancelled!! Not to worry though thought I, we still have plenty of time. We'll just get the next one . . . can't we?? Nah . . . the next one was fully booked leaving me stranded!! Had to negotiate trying to get my bags OFF the airplane that had been cancelled only to be told that they'd already been booked on to the flight after that!!! So . . . had to leave my bags at LAX and hire a car to drive me 6 BASTARD HOURS through the desert to try and make the gig! The scenery was incredible and I did get to stop at a Burger King (I ain't been in one of those joints for YEARS!) which was nice . . . on't tell the wife though! Was supposed to be onstage at 9pm. Didn't arrive until 9:35. Walked straight in and onstage at 9:40!! Felt like Elvis . . . that may have been the burger though?!?! Great gig. Lot's of Brits, so it was a good laugh. There was a few roly-poly's in from Yorkshire. I know that because they kept chanting "YORKSHIRE,YORKSHIRE.." at every available opportunity. I bet their ex-wives would've been most proud!!!

Up early the next morning to drive 6 hours the other way back to the Coachella Festival again.They have it on twice now see? By the time we got there it was 114 degrees!!!!!! ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN DEGREES!!!!!!! Holy fucking shit balls?

The gig went pretty much the same as the previous weekend. The night itself followed pretty much the same pattern. Not as chaotic but right up there all the same.

Drove back to LA the next day not feeling great. Spent the day discussing what we could remember about the night before which in my case was virtually nothing. Good job Nancy had her shit together or it could well have been consigned to the dustbin.

The next day I had a video shoot for my new single. That'll be the 5th off this album which is unprecedented in all my time making records. This album is fast becoming my "Thriller"!! I played the part of a slightly hungover grumpy northern taxi driver which is just as well as that's exactly what I felt like. I feel it's some of my best work and most definitely worthy of at least one Bafta. That actress Mischa Barton was in it too. Nice girl. City fan would you believe!?!?

You currently find me in Sao Paolo in the great nation of Brazil. Been on holiday the last week. In a place called Laguna beach. Paradise. Home of the most over-rated band in all of music . . . "The Beach Boys". Nice gaff though.

ONWARDS.

GD.

Source: www.noelgallagher.com

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Noel Gallagher Hates The Beach Boys

Mark Hoppus sits down with Noel Gallagher to top about his list of top bands ever. Sadly, The Beach Boys didn't come close to making the list.