From Rock&Folk Magazine from france, Photos by Mathieu Zazzo
Gem says that they aren't saying that they 'have invented a new kind of music. Nobody would believe that. The truth is that after 10 years with Oasis, we have acquired automatic reflexes. We put out this album under the name of Beady Eye but it could have also been the new Oasis record. We have matured on the side of technique. The difference is that we are more involved than ever before.
Here is a rough translation of the article (Thanks to Sollydarling).
Interview by Jean-vic Chapus
R&F : You have said that this band is the continuity of Oasis but with better songs. At an age when most bands try to find gimmicks to sell, don't you think that such an argument is a bit weak ?
Liam: We're not a fucking progressive band man! You won't hear that hippy music in our stuff. Go listen to some Radiohead or Gorillaz if you want weird songs. We are only interested in one thing which is the simplicity of rock'n'roll : 3 or 4 riffs, a melody that really touches you. Since I was a kid, I've always turned back to the same albums: those by The Beatles, John Lennon, Sex Pistols, the Stone roses and the Rolling Stones. They are the reason for the man I am today. Lately, The Rolling Stones have become even more important for me, man. But the Stones from the 'Street Fighting Man' era right! The kind of music that moves you no matter your age or where you're from.
Gem : Before starting Beady Eye we have listed all the things that didn't work anymore with Oasis. Without trying to hide the truth from us. And what was wrong were the way too long tours, always going to the same hotels and same stadium/venues. Slowly bur surely these things make you lose your flame a musician. Your actions become automatic. You can't build a career in the rock industry if you're only releasing an album every 3 years and if you're always going to the same venues. Even if we're not 20 anymore, rock'n'roll still is something exciting, something dangerous, something that you do with your friends. I think that this Beady Eye album has taught us the basics again : simple rock songs, urgency and modesty.
R&F : Has there ever been the slightest moment of hesitation after the Oasis' split, that you should keep doing this without Noel ?
Liam : It happened after 13 months of an exhausting tour which ended the way you know. We already had ideas for songs. They were the best that we had since 'Definitely Maybe' so it would have been really stupid to stop. Each of us spent some time with its family and then we went back directly to playing together. One of the happiest moment of my life : me, my mates, a studio and songs that were incredibly good. No I've never had any doubts about making a new rock band. the only hesitation was to know whether or not we should do like the guys from Muse : "Hey! Why don't we go to the lake como in Italy ? There's good food there, great wine and great houses!"
Andy : The starting point was not to make the same mistakes we'd done at the end of Oasis. Money and success aren't the central interest with Beady Eye. I think we'd rather play in smaller venues from now on. Though Liam insisted that we have a say on everything, the album artwork, the music videos, the touring plans. He wanted to re-instore a democracy long gone.
R&F : Liam Gallagher, a democrat ?
Liam : I don't want that the people playing with me feel frustrated in any ways. Oasis was mainly about me and Noel. Beady Eye is a collective. A hippy thing if you want. If tomorrow, one of the band member comes to me and says 'Liam? I'd like to wear some fucking black sunglasses in our new video', I'd tell him, 'Alright mate, no problem, do what you want. You've as many rights as me'. It's not a democracy, it's an organised anarchy, you know what I mean ? I believe in organised anarchy. The chaos.
R&F : It's hard to imagine someone like you, Liam, doing anything else but rock'n'roll in his life. Do you remember the first time that music took hold of you ?
Liam : Of course I do ! I come in a dirty music shop in Manchester, I'm around 16 or 17 and I don't know what to do with myself and then I hear this fabulous thing : the song 'I Wanna Be Adored' by the Stone Roses. This track has changed my whole mind. I identified with his song (he gets up and starts singing) : 'I wanna be adored.. I wanna be adored..' Great! So I took the disk or borrowed it, I can't remember. I learnt all that I could on the singer, Ian Brown. For a kid that hasn't found its own personality yet, it really counts. At school, I was crazy, I always talked about 'I Wanna Be Adored'. But since I didn't pronounce the name well, some of my friends told me :"Yeah the Stooge's song, 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' ! That's cool Liam ! I'm gonna put it on a tape for you !' I loved it and it all started. My life had a sense. My mates, some shit in the neighbourhood of Manchester, girls and rock'n'roll. It all started with the Stone Roses.
R&F : Do you think that 15 or 16 year olds can feel the same now, listening to a mp3 of Beady Eye?
Andy : Good music is still good music, and it is the case no matter how you listen to it. But while telling you so, I believe that what's really important now is the live experience. I believe more & more in the physical experience of the concert to stop the diving of the whole industry in an immaterial world. You just had to look at the last Oasis concert to realise that : there were more & more teenagers in the audience. And I can assure you that those kids don't buy our albums : they download them. This is fine for me by the way.
Liam : Rock gave me life so it's about time that I do the same right ? With Oasis, Beady Eye or any other band.
R&F : At the moment, England seems to be really into this new wave of rock bands, The Vaccines, Brother. For these bands like the Arctic Monkeys or The Coral, you are now the old ones..
Liam : Arctic Monkeys and The Coral are alright, but the other ones, they're not interesting! These guys are not bad, they are simply not ready yet. They have the face for this kind of job but that's about it. The Vaccines, who are they ? Another version of the fucking Ramones. We've got nothing to be afraid of.
Gem : The problem with the bands you're talking about is that they only aim for the singles market. They put out a good track, sometimes two and then they disappear. The challenge nowadays is to make an album that lasts. I'm much more impressed by Paul Weller's double album '22 Dreams'. Here's a great album.
R&F : Is it important for you to know that your audience is not ageing exclusively with you ?
Liam : If our audience had not looked younger with the different Oasis tour, I don't think it would have been worth it to be in Beady Eye. Well, there's the selfish pleasure of writing the best songs in the world with your best mates but apart from that.. It's useless to put out an album to only be the favourite band of 40 year olds. You never go far with that kind of person ! From time to time there are kids coming to talk to me in the streets and I can see myself in them. They know that good albums have one goal : fill the void in the life.
R&F : But for some teenagers, Oasis, and maybe Beady Eye, is their older brother favourite band, or even their father's..
Gem : Every year, there's a magazine that says 'It's official, this time rock'n'roll is dead and buried !' But it never happened. I know kids who loved what they've heard of Beady Eye and also guys from the 'dubstep' scene. The two are not at war. We are not trying to persuade the new generation that rock and pop are the only music in the world : we want to write songs for everybody. I'm happy to know that music is as exciting nowadays as it was 20 or 30 years ago.
Liam : Apart from the whining people in the music labels who are stupid enough to tell the new generation 'Stop it all kids ! We're going to tell you the truth : rock'n'roll, all that, it was better before!' Bollocks! Rock'n'roll is always better in the present moment. Even if you have to respect those who were good before you. Respect is something very important, but it doesn't stop you from going forward. The rest doesn't count. You know The Who song 'The Kids Are Alright ?' Well today, nothing has changed : 'the kids are still alright. They are right when they want their rock bands to kick the elders' arse. They are right to listen to Beady Eye and also techno music or whatever, I don't know. I wouldn't keep on with this job if I thought that the history of rock'n'roll was over. There are still pages to be written.
R&F : Do you think that a rock band can still be the soundtrack to today and the future ?
Andy : The history of rock'n'roll won't stop before long. Anyway it is controlled by lots of different things : there are the drugs of the time, the political leaders, the social events, all that.
Gem : Rock is a generic term used to define lots of different styles. There's always somewhere in the world where music is gaining a lot of importance : think about reggae in Jamaica, think about the psychedelic scene of San Francisco in the 60s. All these kind of music have changed the world and don't worry, there will be other ones during the other 50 years to come.
R&F : Would you say that the Beady Eye album, with its influence from the past, is set in the present ?
Liam : I'm sure of that, and I say it without any arrogance. Our album is rock with the vibe of the street. Just like the fucking Rolling Stones in the 70s. At the moment, students in England are in the streets. They are protesting against their shitty life conditions. We hadn't seen this since the demonstration against the war in Iraq. When I'm out, in the streets of Manchester or London, I can feel that spirit of popular revolution coming. People are starting to think by themselves again. That's a new situation. A comeback to the punk way of thinking. We're really into that.
R&F : Liam, in an 1994 interview, about Oasis, you had said that "Our music speaks to all those who have a shit life. All the people from the working class who, everyday, buy cigarettes and a beer at their local pub will understand our songs." Could you say the same thing about Beady Eye today ?
Liam : Fuck did I really say that ? Bollocks ! In 1994? The working class, haha, that's a fucking joke ! The truth is that the working class doesn't exist anymore. Well, the living conditions have worsen for everybody, that's obvious. Now my view would be 'Beady Eye is for all the people who have a void in their life, all those who still believe in songs'. If we want to escape from all this shit, there aren't different ways to do so : drugs, a FC Barcelona football game, a goal from Carlos Tevez for Manchester City, an old Muhammad Ali video and a rock'n'roll album. This is my philosophy.
R&F : When you created Oasis, your view was pretty clear 'We're going to be the best rock'n'roll band in the world'. You finally manage to reach that goal, you're filling stadiums. You do know that a commercial failure for Beady Eye would make you lose your credibility ?
Liam : That's the magical thing of this band man : win more than we have bet or lose everything but with style ! We've had enough of being the rock stars who don't take risks anymore or that always repeat the same story. Worse, that situation wanted by someone in the band started eating us from the inside. Clans appeared in Oasis. On one side, the 'conservatives' and on the other, the 'reformers' if you know what I mean. Well I'm going to explain this to you another way. One day you say 'I want to play at Madison Square Garden!' It's a dream. You can't stop annoying other people with that 'When are we going to Madison Square Garden ? Is it long before Madison Square Garden ?' Because your songs are excellent, someone offers you to be on the bill for a concert at this fucking Madison Square Garden. The day comes and you're just over the moon. You put on your best shirt. You drink your best whisky. You go onstage and you give it all. After the show you realise that you weren't the headliner of the concert at the Madison Square Garden : only the third band. So what ? You're still happy. You've achieved your goal. You can move on to something else. No need to insist on this. Life's beautiful man.
Gem : A couple of months ago, we had a meeting, but as mates, simply to talk about music. A great time. It's funny but we had never done this when we were in Oasis. We were all in a pub and we realised that the bands that had had an impact on us were neither rich nor famous : the Velverl Underground, 13th Floor Elevators, Stooges. even the album 'Village Green Preservation Society' by The Kinks has never figured in that bloody top 50. Those albums are our DNA.
Liam : even the Sex Pistols man ! They didn't sell that many records and look at what they have left. I've always wanted to be from that family than to shake hands with Jon Bon Jovi.
R&F : We get the feeling, listening to you, that with Oasis there was on one side the people who were happy playing in stadiums and those who really wanted to be the headliners in these stadium..
Liam : In every human adventure, at one point, your goals differ. People don't have the same dreams. I never wanted to be a respectable and respected band. I don't care about the opinion of the people in this industry, of the cream, the posh people of London,.. We weren't part of the same band at the beginning and anyway, we will never speak the same language. I belong with the people and I will stay with the people.
Visit my newly launched Beady Eye fan site www.standingontheedgeofthenoise.com by clicking here.
