Countdown To The Brits - Part Three

(1999–2003) Transitional Stage

In early 1999 the band began work on their fourth album. First details were announced in February with Mark "Spike" Stent revealed to be taking a co-producing role. The majority of the album had been written by a now "clean" Noel Gallagher, who had quit taking cocaine in the summer of 1998. This was to have a major influence on the lyrical content of the album. Recording sessions began in the south of France in April, with everything believed to be have been going to plan. Behind the scenes, however, things were not going well and the shock departure of founding member Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs was announced in August. This departure was reported at the time as amicable, with Noel stating that Arthurs wanted to spend more time with his family. Arthurs' statement clarified his leaving as "to concentrate on other things". However, Noel has since offered a contradicting version: that a series of violations of Noel's "no drink or drugs" policy (imposed by Noel so that Liam could sing properly) for the album's sessions resulted in a confrontation between the two. Oasis fans were given a further shock days later, as the departure of bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan was announced. McGuigan said later that the departure of his close friend triggered his own.

The now three-piece Oasis chose to continue recording the album, with Noel Gallagher re-recording most of Arthurs' guitar and McGuigan's bass parts. The hunt was also on for replacements for the two guitarists with such names as Bernard Butler, Johnny Marr, John Squire, David Potts, Gary "Mani" Mounfield and Steve Cradock all rumoured to be contenders to fill the positions. The first new member to be announced was new lead/rhythm guitarist Colin "Gem" Archer formerly of Heavy Stereo, who later claimed to have been approached by Noel Gallagher only a couple of days after Arthurs' departure was publicly announced. One of Archer's first roles was on November 5, 1999, where he took part in filming of the promo video for Oasis' new single, "Go Let It Out", which was the first single to be taken from their new album. David Potts, who was rehearsing at the time with the band, backed off because he thought he would be sacked soon and didn't want to play the bass. The band then drafted Andy Bell, former guitarist/songwriter of Ride and Hurricane#1 who was announced as their new bassist, a week later. Bell had never played bass before and he was obliged to learn to play it, along with a handful of Oasis' back catalogue of songs, in preparation for a scheduled tour of America in December 1999.



With the death of Creation Records, Oasis formed their own label, Big Brother, named after Noel, which released all of Oasis' records in the UK and Ireland.

Oasis' fourth album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, was released in February 2000 to good first-week sales. However, the album was met with lukewarm reviews and seen as a small but noticeable departure from their traditional sound, with more experimental, psychedelic influences. To coincide with the general atmosphere of change surrounding the band, the cover of the album — an animated photo of New York — featured a new "Oasis" logo designed by Gem Archer and was also the first Oasis release to include a song written by Liam Gallagher, entitled "Little James". As of now, Standing is among the band's lowest-selling albums worldwide, although it did spawn another UK #1 with "Go Let It Out" and contained "Fuckin' in the Bushes", which is often used as an opener for Oasis gigs.

The spring of 2000 saw the new line-up embark on a world tour, although the album had received largely substandard reviews. The tour proved to be initially successful, but again eventful. In May, they were forced to cancel a gig in Barcelona a few hours before the scheduled start because of tendonitis in one of Alan White's hands. As a result, the band spent the whole evening drinking instead, and a drunken fight broke out between the Gallagher brothers after, according to Noel, some derogatory comments from Liam, who questioned the legitimacy of Noel's young daughter, Anais. Feeling he could no longer be around Liam, Noel flew to his holiday home in Ibiza and a press release was issued on his behalf, announcing that he had quit overseas touring, and would therefore not be present at the rest of that year's European shows. Despite the absence of Noel, the rest of the band decided to continue with the remainder of the tour, with Gem Archer moving across to the other side of the stage to perform Noel's lead guitar parts and ex-Paul Weller and Mother Earth guitarist Matt Deighton being drafted in to take over rhythm guitar duties.

After two months of ongoing rumours about the band's long-term future after every such sibling brawl, Noel returned for the Irish and British legs of the tour, which included two major shows at Wembley Stadium. A live album of the first show, called Familiar to Millions, was released in late 2000 to positive reviews. The second Wembley show, which was being broadcast live in over a dozen countries across the world, including the UK's Sky One, was a chaotic affair. Liam was very clearly drunk, making several rambling statements, which included a derogatory announcement of his separation with his wife, Patsy Kensit and also at brother Noel. He also had trouble singing in tune and at times changed the words to certain lines and at other times did not bother to sing at all.


Along with Liam, Noel and Alan both ended their marriages during this period. Liam started a relationship with former All Saints member Nicole Appleton, who soon became pregnant with their son Gene. Noel started dating publicist Sara MacDonald and their relationship continues to this day, even though the pair broke up for a short time in 2002.

Throughout 2001, Oasis split time between sessions for their fifth studio album and live shows around the world. In January, the band played three festival dates in South America before returning to England for studio work. In May, the band travelled to North America for the month-long 'Tour of Brotherly Love' with The Black Crowes and Spacehog. Alan White missed the tour with a thumb injury, and was replaced by older brother Steve. Noel and Gem joined The Black Crowes on stage at the end of most shows, performing classic rock covers. The tour was followed by a June gig in Paris supporting Neil Young and July appearances at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and a festival show in Bangkok, Thailand. In October, following two months of recording, Oasis performed six shows to sold-out venues in London, Manchester and Glasgow. Dubbed 'Ten Years of Noise and Confusion,' the shows celebrated the band's first ten years as a live act.


Heathen Chemistry, their first album with new members Andy Bell and Gem Archer, was released in July 2002. The record retained an experimental flavour from the previous one, but also borrowed heavily from English rock music of the 1960s and 1970s with a Lennonesque influence by Liam, who was rapidly growing as a capable songwriter, creating the gentle acoustic ballad and subsequent top 3 single, "Songbird". Heathen Chemistry was also a much more balanced recording process for the band, with all of the members, apart from White, penning songs. This new working method, along with less fighting and drug and alcohol abuse in the studio, ultimately gave the record a more relaxed feel compared to past efforts. Johnny Marr provided additional guitar as well as backup vocals on a couple of songs, and while critics gave Heathen Chemistry lukewarm reviews, it was commercially successful. Around this time, Liam also provided vocals for the title track of the 2003 album Scorpio Rising by the duo Death in Vegas.



After the album's release, the band embarked on a world tour that was successful but once again flavoured with incidents. In late summer 2002, whilst the band was on tour in the US, Noel, Bell and touring keyboardist Jay Darlington were involved in a car accident in Indianapolis, IN. While none of the band members sustained any major injuries, some shows were cancelled as a result. Liam also suddenly bolted offstage for no apparent reason during a show in Fukuoka, Japan, leaving Noel to take over vocal duties. It was the second Fukuoka show in three years that Liam failed to complete.




The band ended the year by embarking on a short UK arena tour. 2003 began with the release of "Songbird", the fourth single taken from Heathen Chemistry. It was the first Oasis single that hadn't been written by Noel Gallagher, and reached number 3 in the official UK charts in February. The band then ended the Heathen Chemistry tour in March by performing two shows in Dublin, before returning to Germany to play four rescheduled dates.

Source: Wikipedia

Noel Gallagher Chuffed To Be On Rock Landmark List

Noel Gallagher has said he is happy that his band have made it onto an official tourist list of British rock landmarks.

As previously reported, Berwick Street in London has been included on VisitBritain's "rock map" after it featured on the cover of Oasis' 1995 album '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?'.

Speaking to NME.COM the guitarist revealed he chuffed to be on the list, even if he isn't as pleased with the LP's sleeve.

"Do you think people do the thing down the street like they do at Abbey Road. That would be fucking great wouldn't it?" he joked. "I wouldn't mind but it's such a fucking shit cover. [But] I'd like to think Japanese people do walk down that street in rush-hour dodging black cabs. I hope they put up one of those blue plaques!"

For more on Oasis see next week's special souvenir issue of NME, which will be on UK newsstands nationwide from February 14.

Not only will it feature a brand new exclusive interview with Noel Gallagher, the issue boasts three classic covers handpicked by the guitarist and a comprehensive look at Oasis' career so far.

Source: www.nme.com

Russel Brand On Oasis At The Brits

Another potential hazard to Brand, but not the show itself, is Outstanding Contribution To Music recipient Noel Gallagher, with whom Brand has been conducting an on-air war of words on Radio 2.

“Noel rings up my radio show every Saturday night. And we’ve talked about this. He said, ‘Don’t you dare try to upstage us, the evening is about Oasis, not about you. Don’t ruin this perfect night’.”

“And, I said, ‘Noel, you’re just a footnote. It’s all about me, so try not to tarnish it’. So there y’go. And I’m sure, as the time draws near, hostilities will increase.”

The funnyman has even suggested that Oasis’ end-of-show set, supposed to be a celebration of their greatest hits, should include a new, surprise composition. “I told Noel, he should play, perhaps, a special ballad, in homage to my hosting. I thought they might compose one specially. I’m pretty sure it’s an unfulfilled ambition for them, although I suspect the title might be something cruel and hurtful.”

When it comes to the crunch, though, Russell Brand reckons it will all be alright on the night. The ghosts of BRITs past won’t show up. Everything will run smoothly. And the guests will behave impeccably. Or at least, they should. “I think everything will go well. The bands performing are great. It’s a wonderful night for British music.” He smiles knowingly. “I’m sure even Liam and Noel will conduct themselves with decorum, like a couple of Jane Austen characters. They have such good manners,” he says. “When it comes to collecting their Outstanding Contribution To Music award, Noel will just curtsey.” And Liam? “He’ll salute.”

Source: Brits Magazine

Stars Speak Out About Oasis Contribution To Music

John, The Coral
"Oasis changed everything! Before, it was scallys and skinheads and as soon as they'd come up all these Scallys started growing their hair!"

Billy Crogan
"I like Oasis. I just don't the rehearsing of the "bad rock attitude."

John Mayer
"Oasis are fantastic. The Gallagher brothers are like professional wrestling - they're not really hitting people over the head with a real trashcan, but it's fun to watch. it's great theatre. It's kind of like Alice Cooper with a microcassette recorder."

Alesha Dixon
"I love Oasis, I think they're great! My mates at school loved them but, erm, I liked Take That."

My Chemical Romance
"(What's The Story) Morning Glory? is one of the best albums of all time. The Whole Brit pop thing affected us on a deep level. But if we were in the same room I'd keep a safe distance. Although they seem like alright guys, you don't want to assume they're gonna like you!"

Corinne Bailey Rae
"The first album helped me to learn to play guitar. Before that, pop music was about The Inspiral Carpets or EMF or impenetratable stuff like Quincy Jones. Noel made song writing about melodies again."

Dan Gillespie-Sells, The Feeling
"I was so excited when Oasis's first record came out. Noel is such a great songwriter. Those songs will be around for many years."

Jon Fratelli
"Oasis and Blur were probably the last great bands to come out of Britain. I like the classics, because it's hard not to like them, but I like the B-sides album, too. My favourite Oasis song is on there, Rocking Chair."

Danny Jones, McFly
"I think Oasis are one of the most influential bands of all time. I've met Liam, talked to him for ages and had a beer with him. It's like meeting my idol. I can die happy now."

The Kooks
"We've seen Oasis about seven times! The first tune when Oasis play festivals is unbelieveable, because the guitars are so massive. And when they do cigarettes & alcohol... Brilliant!

Michael Stodart, The Magic Numbers
"Oasis got loads of people buying guitars and joining groups and wanting to write songs and being abit crazy. We met three of' em... even Paul! "

Orson
"The 1990's certainly belonged to Oasis. The first part of the millennium, too. Terrific band. "

Wayne Coyne, The Flaming Lips
"The moment I most loved about Oasis was at Glastonbury in 2003. They played an Oasis song over the PA for the crowd and it was the biggest singalong of the day. There's some kind of human momentum that comes along with a hundred and thirty thousand people all identifying with something so clearly. "

Simon Webbe
"I grew up listening to Oasis, they're good Manchester lads. And because of Wonderwall, I have Noel to thank for my daughter, Alannah! "

Russell Brand
"My favourite Oasis song is Songbird, because of how it was named. When Liam wrote it, he said, "I wrote a song for my bird. It's called Songbird."

Matt Willis
"In Noel and Liam you've got the basis of every great rock'n'roll story. Two brothers who love/hate each other, but you know each one could not exist without the other. I love you, Oasis! I love you! "

Source: Brit's Magazine

Gallagher Glad To Get Lifetime Honour While He Is Still Young

Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher is relieved he is receiving the Outstanding Contribution award at this year's Brits (14FEB07) - he wanted it while he still young to enjoy it.

The Wonderwall mastermind would hate to have received the honour when he is older because it would have felt like a sympathy vote - and the 39-year-old guitarist want's the British band to go out on a high.

He says, "I want to do it before I go bald. I'd like to do it before I'm 40 and still young to legitimately wear a black leather jacket.

I'm glad we're getting it now. When footage is shown of future Brits, there won't be a fat, old geezers accepting it."

Former Beatle Ringo Starr will present the award to the band at next Wednesday's music ceremony in London.

Source: www.contactmusic.com

Noel Brands Liam A 'Lunatic'

Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher has branded his bandmate brother Liam a 'lunatic', insisting he is too easily led to be taken seriously. Noel, 39, is convinced his younger sibling still has the personality of a very young man, despite being 34 years old - and he regularly exploits Liam with his superior intellect.

He says, "Liam has really long hair at the moment and looks like a lunatic, which is about right. "He's still a very silly young man and talks out of his a**e 23 hours of the day. "You say, 'Hey Liam, what about putting a choir on that song?' He'll say, 'Brilliant, yeah, f**king choir, man.' "Then someone will go, 'Choir? That's a bit poncey isn't it?' And he'll be like, 'Yeah, no, choirs are s**t, mate, f**king rubbish.' So you can have good fun with Liam in the studio!"

Source: www.contactmusic.com

Rock 'N' Roll Stars

“The reason Oasis are accepting the BRITs Outstanding Contribution Award,” says Noel Gallagher, “is that I want to do it before I go bald. Simple as that.”

For a band of Oasis’ stature, it was always a question of when, and not if, the nod would come. The November 2006 release of Stop The Clocks, their most recent disc and a best-of compilation, provided the ideal moment to pause for reflection. When the BRITs invite came, it was accepted.

“My argument was, I’d like to do it before I’m 40,” says Noel. “I’m going to go there and still be young enough to legitimately wear a black leather jacket. Whereas there’s always the chance you could go there and look like one of Pink Floyd.

“I’m glad we’re getting it now. When footage is shown in the future of the lifetime of The BRITs, there will be fat old geezers accepting it,” the 39-year-old grins. “And there will be one f***ing super cool rock’n’roll band. We all still look pretty good.”

When the band ‘dress from the floor up’, match their guitars to their shoes, and stroll on stage on BRITs night, it will be a special moment for many of the show’s other stars, as well as Manchester’s finest. From Razorlight to Kasabian, The Killers to Corinne Bailey Rae, it was Oasis who inspired them to first form a band.

Noel says, “I feel incredibly proud that we had an impact. Arctic Monkeys were nine when Definitely Maybe came out. Oasis was their first gig. Kasabian were in the crowd when we played Earls Court in 1994. Now it’s all come full circle.” Before Christmas, Kasabian themselves sold out the same venue. “And they were on stage and I was in the crowd watching them. It bends my mind.”

And yet Noel is not ready ? well, not quite ? to take on the mantle of Yoda of rock. He’s still too much of a fan himself to think about that. “I won’t feel like an elder stateman until Paul Weller dies.” A huge influence, alongside the likes of The Kinks and The Beatles, the 48-year-old Jam legend has always been king in Gallaghers’ eyes. “He’s still in charge. Until he goes I’m only second in command.”

Oasis were formed in Manchester in 1991, when Noel, then an Inspiral Carpets roadie, joined his brother Liam’s band. In 1994, along with long-gone founding members Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan, and Tony McCarroll, they released debut album Definitely Maybe, which sold 7 million copies, and went on to shape the sound of the next generation.

The double BRIT-winning, 20 million-selling follow-up came just a year later. But, says Noel, “I wish I could remember recording (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?. Twelve days and it was done, then I mixed it.” He muses, “Three weeks work, maximum, and the next thing it’s the biggest thing since Sargent Peppers’. How did that happen?”

In fact, says Noel, “The whole of 1995 to 1997 or 1998 is an absolute whirlwind of s***! What happened there?” It was slap-bang in the middle of the Brit pop explosion, with war being fought between Oasis and Blur, and daily doses brother-bashing in the press. Noel says, “You go mad with success. We’re talking about kids from a council estate here.

I never went to f****** university. I don’t know what a paint brush is, I never went to art school. I never experimented in my f****** youth. I worked on a building site then I sold out Madison Square Garden. Get on that”.

Fame and wealth brought a freedom never before imagined. He says, “My madness lasted five years, and that’s great, brilliant. But you have to know when to stop,” Noel shrugs. “Either when your bank manager says you’re bankrupt, or when you’re in rehab, or when you’re in hospital with your liver beside you in a glass box.”

“Eventually you come back from it. There comes a point where you know that’s it now, I’ve had enough of this.” The last album conceived in the fray was Be Here Now (1997). “It was the one album we set up properly you know. But it made me realise you can’t set things up and force them.” Despite being the band’s fastest selling album, it’s not a Gallagher favourite. “But I’m allowed to say that, no one else can. We f****** p***** it up the wall on that one.”

More recent albums, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants (2000), Heathen Chemistry (2002) and Don’t Believe The Truth (2005) saw experimental changes in mood and in line-up, but all of the band’s studio albums ? as well as eight of their singles ? including often overlooked post-millennium hits Go Let It Out (2000), The Hindu Times (2002), Lyla (2005) and The Importance Of Being Idle (2005) ? made UK No 1. In addition, they have sold 50 million albums, earned numerous accolades and, of course, picked up four BRIT awards to date.

Oasis in 2007 have a new regular line-up; Gem Archer on guitars and vocals, Andy Bell on bass and on a less official basis, Ringo’s son, Zac Starkey, on drums. However, it’s the mesmerising relationship between Noel and Liam, which Noel credits as being “the great achievement in itself”.

Playing in a band with his sometimes wayward, but now 34-year-old brother is, he says, “half the time amazing, half the time the worst pain in the a***.” The famed slanging matches, says Noel, are just the Burnage way of sorting things out. “Where we come from there’s a lot of straight talking. We call a spade a spade. I daresay in the Coldplay camp, a spade is a symbol of the working man’s struggle against the oppressor, the landlords, and tyranny of the Royal family. Well, it don’t work like that in our band.”

And in a straight talking, Burnage kind of way, he says he’s happy. “Most singers are idiots, you know. I wouldn’t be in a band with anyone else.”

Source: www.brits.co.uk

Brit Awards On US TV And More

The Brits Awards this year will feature a performance by Oasis. The band is there to pick up their Outstanding Contribution To Music award. The BRIT Awards 2007 will be broadcast on ITV1 on Wednesday February 14th at 8:00pm. Non UK viewers will be able to enjoy the show taped on following dates:

International television dates

HRT, Croatia End of February
RTP, Portugal Around 20th February
TNT, USA 5th March
WHD, Japan End of March
XYZ, Australia 25th February
MBC, Dubai 21st February
TV Norge, Norway 23rd & 24th February

Thanks To Sean

Noel Gallagher On Virgin Radio

Noel Gallagher will be interviewed on Virgin radio's Breakfast Show byChristian O'Connell on Monday morning, the show starts at 6.00am and finishes at 10.00am.

Listen to the show Here

In Next Weeks NME

In next weeks magazine, the Oasis collectors' issue.

Three different covers, handpicked by Noel. Plus, the A to Z of Britain's greatest band!

Source: www.nme.com

Brit Awards To Get Shown In Canada

For all you Canadians, CBC is showing the Brit awards on Thursday, February 15th at 8pm.

Source: www.cbc.ca/britawards

U2 Should Shut Up About Africa Says Noel Gallagher

In his only pre-Brits interview, Noel Gallagher of Oasis is as acerbic as ever about his pop rivals. He talks to Neil McCormick about fame, money, changing the face of pop – and his troublesome little brother

Noel Gallagher has four Brit awards, although he doesn't know where any of them are. "I'm usually in such a euphoric state after picking up an award that I give them to the most random people – the waiter coming up with a quail egg, 'Here y'are, you have that.' "

Noel Gallagher, Oasis, who is about to win a Brit Award for Outstanding Achievement
Noel Gallagher: a straight-talking rock star entirely without airs and graces

At the 2007 Brits next Wednesday, Oasis will pick up the Outstanding Achievement award. In his only interview ahead of the ceremony, however, the outspoken band leader does not prove a great ambassador for the cause.

"It's a TV show, innit? It's the big carve-up for the major record companies. I love ceremonies. It can be a colossal night out, but the awards themselves don't really mean anything.

"It's not like you win an Oscar, and you can charge 40 million dollars for your next film. The ticket price won't suddenly be going up at Oasis gigs. Although that's not a bad idea!"

Gallagher's reasons for accepting the award are reliably pragmatic. "They're gonna keep asking every year. So do we get it now, when we're in our thirties or are we gonna wait til we look like one of Pink Floyd?

"With the greatest respect to Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Bob Geldof and the Bee Gees, when they got it, their star had waned considerably. We had two number-one singles last year, we're punching our weight with the young kids, we still look good."

It is amusing to hear Gallagher preface statements with "with the greatest respect" when he shows absolutely none. He remains reliably scathing about old sparring partners such as Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, whose bleak electro solo album has seen him nominated for Best British Male.

"Thom Yorke sat at a piano singing, 'This is f***ed up' for half an hour. We all know that, Mr Yorke. Who wants to sing the news? No matter how much you sit there twiddling, going, 'We're all doomed', at the end of the day people will always want to hear you play Creep. Get over it."
Even friends and allies come in for the patented Gallagher brand of scorn: "It's the same with U2. Play One, shut the f*** up about Africa."

And as for family matters: "Liam's got really long hair at the moment. Looks like a lunatic, which is about right. He's still a very silly young man. Talks out of his arse 23 hours of the day. It's like a sketch in The Fast Show. You say, 'Hey, Liam, what about putting a choir on that song?' 'Brilliant, yeah, f***ing choir, man. Top.' Then someone will go, 'Choir? That's a bit poncey isn't it?' 'Yeah, no, choirs are s***, mate, f***ing rubbish.' So you can have good fun with Liam in the studio."

With his crinkly-eyed, genial smile and bluff Northern-comic delivery, Noel seems to have the talent for dispensing insults without really causing offence.

Shaped in a boisterous, working-class environment, he is opinionated the way a man might be among friends in the pub. Innately approachable, and not inclined to take himself too seriously, for a rock star of his magnitude, he is almost entirely without airs and graces.

"I like to think I keep it real. Liam keeps it surreal, and somewhere between the two we get on all right."

With their swaggering attitude and monumentally catchy songs, Oasis were a phenomenon in the '90s, dragging British rock music out of the doldrums.

Perhaps unexpectedly, it is the group's cultural impact that Noel cites as his outstanding achievement. "We inspired a lot of kids to buy guitars and get into bands in the first place."

Look at all the bands up for awards at the Brits: Arctic Monkeys, Kooks, Kasabian, I dare say every new band that matters over the past few years has cited Oasis as an influence.

"Before we came along, success was a dirty word. We kind of reinvigorated ambition. As dumb-arse a message as it was, looking back now, it was 'Things are s***, so we might as well celebrate something – let's celebrate being young.'

"There was a euphoria in the music and the way it was delivered, and, as the crowds started to get bigger, it fed off itself until it became less about the band and more about being with all those people, jumping up and down, drunk to the music."

As supportive as he is of young bands (who are rarely subjected to the tongue-lashings reserved for his contemporaries), he is not entirely convinced by the new Britpop dawn.

"I wouldn't say it's a golden period for British music. It's a slightly brown period. There's a lot of good tunes on the radio, but there doesn't seem to be one all-encompassing thing that holds it together.

"The youth have got themselves looking smart, skinny jeans, big hairdos, ties and jackets, which is half the battle. It's let down by the fact that everybody's too eclectic. It's kind of, 'Yeah man, I love Bloc Party and I really do like Jay Z's new album as well, and that Devendra Banhart – genius.' That's the death of cool right there. You can't be a mod and a rocker. You have to choose sides."

For such an intelligent, belligerent rock-and-roller, Gallagher's values are oddly conservative. "I've never been interested in pushing music forward.

"Life is so chaotic in Oasis anyway, I never know who's in the band this week. I don't want to be experimenting as well – 'Let's try this in an urban cybersonic punk style.' No, give us that Marshall stack and that guitar. I know where I am with that, thank you very much."

Which is why Oasis, for all their line-up changes, for all their early promise as the most exciting musical phenomenon since the Beatles, have essentially remained unchanged over the years, adhering to a simple philosophy that boils down to "You can't argue with a good tune."

Instinctively opposed to self-analysis, Gallagher describes songwriting as "a calling" and says: "As I get older, I don't aggressively pursue songs. All the great ones just appear."

He claims not to think much about lyrical meaning, yet recognises recurrent themes – "escape, love and hope". It is only the sheer quality of Gallagher's writing that prevents Oasis sliding into irrelevance, or creatively atrophying in the fashion of Status Quo. Although they have certainly come close.

Despite his acerbic criticisms of all and sundry, Gallagher cheerfully admits to having misplaced his own much-cherished coolness, credibility and creativity "a couple of times".

"The first sign is when the clothes start to go bad. At the end of the '90s – fur coats and f***ing sunglasses. I had a Rolls Royce I couldn't drive. I remember thinking, 'I only signed off four years ago – how have I ended up with one of them?'

"But I'm glad it got like that. We went for it, and pushed it to the point that it could not get any bigger, it couldn't get any more mad, you couldn't get any more fur in this coat if you tried, the shades couldn't be any more mirrored, they're mirrored on the insides.

"Then there was a kind of stepping back and going, 'This is all bull****, I've become a laughing stock' – if only in my own bedroom."

Despite the tensions of his relationship with Liam, he insists Oasis will never break up. "If we weren't related, Oasis would have ended after a couple of records.

But I have always got to put up with Liam. There's always Christmas and kids' birthday parties. And, as bad as it sometimes is being in the band together, I think it would be worse for each of us not working with each other. And I don't know why I say that, because in theory it would be bliss, but I kind of know, deep down, it wouldn't work."

Which is why his long-mooted solo album is is no closer to appearing.
advertisement

"Somehow I don't really see me at the Borderline playing a mouth organ to 150 people on a Wednesday. Every time I write a song, I envisage them in football stadiums with loads of people going f***ing mental. And that's Oasis."

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Whats The Story?

In Britain, it was always going to happen. The rise of Oasis in the mid ’90s, like the rise of a fascist dictator, was tribal, libidinal, irresistible. Overexcited music writers dropped their pens and shed their critical delicacy; the industry had a hot flash; and the simple folk of the pubs and clubs, bug-eyed on cheap cocaine, rallied to this new thing with a wild, self-discovering gladness. And why not? Five shifty and truculent Mancs with four chords per song and lyrics of nursery-rhyme effrontery (“I’m feeling supersonic!/Give me gin and tonic!”), Oasis were a relief, a living retort to every tendency in popular music for the previous 10 years. No Black Flag or Black Sabbath in their past: the depressive slurrings of grunge had nothing to do with them. Neither did godless techno (except insofar as it provided an opportunity to take drugs), or the local squalor and neurosis of indiedom. In their combined lifetimes Oasis seemed to have heard only two albums: Never Mind the Bollocks . . . and Rubber Soul. They dressed with working-class propriety — clean shirts, brushed hair — and sang rowdily about wanting it all and living forever. And with the release of their 1994 debut, Definitely Maybe, they seized a title for which there were suddenly, remarkably, no other contenders in sight: the title of Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.

In the US, on the other hand, it was always not going to happen. Easier to see this in retrospect, of course, but even in their first feints at global domination Oasis, at some level, appeared to be aware that they weren’t going to crack America. Noel Gallagher, band boss/songwriter, was canny and pop-literate enough to understand that the tide, post-Cobain, was against them, and as for his little brother Liam . . . in his 1997 book Take Me There, journalist Paul Mathur records an encounter that took place in July 1994 in the foyer of New York’s Paramount Hotel, hours before Oasis’s first gig in the US, between Liam Gallagher and what Mathur calls a “grunge pest.” “You’re never going to make it in America,” prophesied this flannel wearer in passing. “I bet you sound like the fuckin’ Soup Dragons. America doesn’t need you.” Gallagher’s response was vintage: “Listen, man, I can do things you can’t even dream about. I’ll steal your soul and you won’t even notice. I’ve stolen it while you were standing here. . . . And you can fuck your fucking Pearl Jam too.”

The American Anglophile tends to enjoy Englishness in its more wistful and literate forms: Morrissey, Blur, the Kinks’ Waterloo Sunset, shy bards coiled at rainy windows. Liam Gallagher had no place in this company. On stage, snarling, hands behind his back and a tambourine round his neck (as if it just been broken over his head), he had the demeanor of someone scornfully blowing off a prestigious audition. He didn’t “rock out” or fling himself into the drumkit like a rag doll. When especially moved, he would give two fingers to the crowd or break into a brief and surly ape jig. And nothing could stop him from loudly proclaiming the glory of his own band: the best, the biggest, the baddest. Americans are not unappreciative of rock-star bombast, not at all, but they prefer it to be confined to the arena of hard rock, where the bigmouth can go shirtless and do star jumps off his Marshall stack. It’s all right for Ted Nugent, in other words, to talk about rocking your scrotum into a cyclone of burning skulls, etc., but not for the Shins.

And then there were the acts of straightforward career self-sabotage. Oasis’s 1996 US tour, which began a fortnight after their biggest ever English shows (two nights at Knebworth Park, in front of a total of 250,000 people), was a farce of exits and entrances. On August 27, as the band slouched toward the gate for their second transatlantic flight, they were startled to see their vocalist enthroned in the passenger seat of an airport buggy, its light busily flashing, heading at speed in the opposite direction. Liam had decided to stay home. At the tour’s first stop, in Rosemont, Illinois, the entire Oasis set would be sung by Noel, in his strained, serviceable, Mott-the-Hoople voice. Prevailed upon to rejoin his mates, the capricious Liam arrived a few days later, in time to perform the last track from the then new What’s the Story (Morning Glory) at the MTV Awards at Radio City Music Hall. Another disaster: “Champagne supernova up yer bum!” leered Liam into TV land before swatting his mic stand and loosening a slow length of drool from his pursed lips, all the way down to the floor. The tour limped on, to terrible reviews (“Liam Gallagher should have stayed in England,” opined Newsday after a show on Long Island), until on September 11 it was Noel’s turn to freak out. The brothers came to blows, and he flew home. The rest of the band followed two days later.

This was where Oasis blew it. Never again would they have the momentum to put a serious dent in the US market; never again would they be touring off an album as good as What’s The Story . . . Their third, 1997’s Be Here Now, was hugely half-assed and drug-bedeviled, its weak compositions tottering under a Glenn Branca orchestra of multi-tracked cocaine guitars (30 of them, according to Noel, on the song “My Big Mouth”). Here indeed was the creative white-out, the swamping excess foretold on What’s The Story . . .: “Someday you will find me/Caught beneath the landslide/In a champagne supernova in the sky.” Putting it slightly differently, a writer from Melody Maker described Noel as “riffing like a pack of ants on an old banana.”

Ten years later, Oasis have a more-than-comfortable share in the US market; on their 2005 tour they sold out Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl, and the surprise late-blooming excellence of the single “Lyla” got them into the Billboard Top 20. But the Oasis moment — the point at which the band’s mega-rhetoric coincided with the occult appetites of an enormous public — never happened over here. And no wonder, really; listening now to the songs that made their name, on the recent compilation Stop the Clocks (Epic), one hears not a well-oiled stadium shaker but a fiercely paradoxical little band, knocked together quite cynically out of the postmodern rubble (the empty phrasings, the borrowed riffs) but almost exploding with raw belief.

This, we now see, was the miracle dyad of the brothers Gallagher: in writing for Liam, the beautiful hooligan, crafty Noel was writing for his soul. And the lyrics he gave Liam have become magical with time, full of a spirit for which the word “positivity” seems far too prim: “I live my life for the stars that shine” (“Rock’n’roll Star”). A friend of mine once explained the apparently nonsensical couplet “Slowly walking down the hall/Faster than a cannonball,” from “Champagne Supernova,” as a piercing druggy image of mental acceleration and physical collapse. Whatever it means, there’s no question that the line that follows it is one of the most perfect arrangements of vowel sounds in the English language: “Where were you while we were getting high?” Oasis: masters of vacancy, full of heart.

Source: www.thephoenix.com

On This Day In Oasis History...

"Go Let It Out" is a song by Rock group Oasis, written by the band's lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. It was released on the 7th of February 2000 as the first single from the fourth studio album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. The song peaked at #1 in the UK charts.

The lyrics are a typical combination of positive sentiments and nonsense lyrics which Noel Gallagher uses to great effect in a number of Oasis songs. It is in a similar vein to "Roll With It" in that it encourages the listener to get on with their life without being specific about how this is to be achieved. The song contains elements from "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" by Johnny Jenkins. The title may be a reference to the line in "Hey Jude" by The Beatles, "So let it out and let it in, hey, Jude, begin".



The song, along with B-side "(As Long As They've Got) Cigarettes in Hell", also embodies the psychedelic feel which the band experimented with on the album. It couples this with an acoustic guitar chord sequence. "Let's All Make Believe", the second B-Side is considered by many to be one of the best B-sides from this era. Some people believe the lyrics of this song to relate to the cracks that began forming in the group at the time (see below), the lyric: "Lets all make believe/were still friends and we like each other."

Due to the departure of guitarist Bonehead and bassist Guigsy in the early recording sessions for Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, the track features only Liam Gallagher (vocals), Noel Gallagher (rhythm guitar, bass guitar, lead guitar) and Alan White (drums).



The song is also included on Oasis' 'best-of' album Stop the Clocks.

The b-side 'Let's all make believe' has recently been included in several lists as a 'hidden gem', such as Q magazine placing it at number one on its list of '500 best lost tracks' and at 4 on its 'list of songs to download this month - January 2006.' Q magazine said in the description 'If Standing on the Shoulder of Giants had contained this track, it would have probably got another star'.

Source: Wikipedia

It Should Have Been Number 1

As of Sunday 7th January, changes to the chart rules mean that singles can make it into the charts from download sales alone - a CD release is no longer required. This puts the charts back in your hands and lets you decide what should be number 1 and when!

So, we decided to start this website so that together we can put right some wrongs. With your help, we plan to identify the songs we think were a number one hit, or should have been number one, but were kept from the top spot by some naf song, or possibly something just as good that happened to come out at precisely the same time.

We start Monday 12th February with Oasis "Roll With It". Released 14th August 1995, it made number two, pipped to the post in the famous Britpop battle by Blur with their single "Country House".

Register now to receive a reminder to come back on the 12th February and download "Roll With It". Downloads from the 12th will appear in the following weeks chart. Together we can generate enough sales to make it happen. Together we can re-write history by making "Roll With It" number 1 …as it should have been 12 years ago!

Visit the website Here

Ricky Wilson Has Apologised To Liam

Kaiser Chiefs lead singer Ricky Wilson has apologised to Liam Gallagher for being "rubbish".

The outspoken Oasis frontman previously branded Kaiser Chiefs a "bad Blur" and mocked them for wearing make-up.

When Ricky came face-to-face with the wild rocker he said sorry for the state of his group, rather than get embroiled in a war of words.

The 'I Predict A Riot' singer told The Guardian: "When we met him, I ended up apologising - to Liam Gallagher! I said, 'Sorry we're so rubbish.'"

Ricky claims the band's new album, 'Yours Truly, Angry Mob', the follow-up to the hugely successful 'Employment', is about taking drugs and enjoying the trappings of rock 'n' roll success.
He quipped: "Our new album is about being rich and famous and taking lots of drugs, because that's what we do these days. I'm a big shot now.

Source: www.musicnews.virgin.net

Liam's Dig At Fan

Liam Gallagher clearly has high standards when it comes to the ladies.

The Oasis rocker blasted one male fan backstage at a recent gig for talking to two (not unattractive) female groupies.

Liam barked at him: "Don't like yours much. You should have gone to Spec Savers, mate."

Charming...

Source: www.mirror.co.uk

Oasis And The Smiths In 'Rock Map' Of UK

VisitBritain unveil map showcasing rock heritage

Oasis and The Smiths are just two of the bands featured on a special 'rock map' of the UK.

The map, put together by tourism company VisitBritain, features locations around the country that have been musically significant around England.

The map is intended to boost internal tourism as interest in rock tourism is set to increase this year.

Laurence Bresh, the general manager for VisitBritain, said: "We know there's huge interest in locations connected to popular culture.

"Everybody knows about tourists going to Liverpool to visit The Beatles locations, but it's much wider than that.

"People like to see the places that have inspired musicians - Oasis is the obvious one, Berwick Street (in London) where they shot the cover for '(What's The Story) Morning Glory'."

Salfords Lad Club, where The Smiths posed for the inside cover of 'The Queen Is Dead', is also featured, as well as infamous Britpop pub, Camden's The Good Mixer, reports The Guardian.


Source: www.nme.com

Countdown To The Brits - Part Two

(1994–1998) Britpop Era And Height Of Fame

Following a limited white label release of the demo of their song "Columbia", their first single, "Supersonic", was released in April 1994, reaching #31 in the charts. Their third single, "Live Forever," was their first to enter the Top 10 of the UK charts. After troubled recording and mixing sessions, their debut album, Definitely Maybe, was finally finished and was released in September 1994, entering the charts at #1, and at the time becoming the fastest selling debut album ever in the UK.


The band also garnered attention due to Noel Gallagher's penchant for taking the odd riff or lyrics from other artists. The track "Cigarettes & Alcohol" had a main riff which Noel Gallagher admitted he'd taken directly from T. Rex's 1972 release "Get it On". "Supersonic" had a guitar solo reminscent of George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and "Shakermaker" was reportedly the subject of legal action by the New Seekers due to the similarity to their song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing".

The best part of a year of constant live performances and recordings, along with a typically hedonistic lifestyle commonplace in young rock bands, were starting to tire the band out and a breaking point was finally hit during a gig in Los Angeles in September 1994 where Liam was under the influence of crystal meth, leading to a shambolic performance during which Liam made offensive remarks about American audiences and assaulted Noel with a tambourine. This upset Noel to such an extent that he temporarily quit the band immediately after and flew to San Francisco. He recovered enough to finally rejoin the band in a Texas recording studio in October 1994 to record new songs, most notably "Talk Tonight" which directly related to his recent experiences. Two of these songs were released as b-sides on Oasis' Christmas single EP "Whatever" which peaked at #3 in the UK charts and foreshadowed the band's move toward a mellower sound on the following album.


Oasis had their first UK #1 in April 1995 with "Some Might Say", the first single from their second album. At the same time, drummer Tony McCarroll was ousted from the band, replaced by Londoner Alan White, formerly of Starclub and younger brother of renowned studio percussionist Steve White, whom Paul Weller himself recommended to Noel. White made his debut for the band at a Top of the Pops performance of "Some Might Say".

During this period, the English press seized upon a supposed rivalry between Oasis and fellow Britpop band Blur. Noel Gallagher played along, telling The Observer that he hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James of Blur would "catch AIDS and die". He subsequently apologised for this in a formal letter to Melody Maker magazine.

On Monday August 14, 1995, Blur and Oasis released new singles on the same day, setting up "The Battle of Britpop" that dominated the week's music news. Blur's "Country House" outsold Oasis' "Roll with It" 274,000 copies to 216,000 during the week. Oasis' management came up with several excuses, claiming "Country House" sold more because it was more competitively priced (£1.99 vs £3.99) and because there were two different versions of "Country House" with different B-Sides forcing serious fans to buy two copies. An alternative explanation given at the time by Creation was that there were problems associated with the barcode on the "Roll With It" single case, which did not record all sales.

Oasis had begun recording material for their second album in May of that year in Rockfield Studios near Monmouth. Although a softer sound led to mixed reviews, Oasis' second album, with their first new member, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? became the second largest selling album of all-time in the UK. The album also went on to sell over 19 million copies worldwide and spawned two further hit singles, "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back In Anger", which reached numbers 2 and 1 respectively. The album's opening track, "Hello", with its sing-along chant, was a common feature of Oasis' live performances. It also contained their hit "Champagne Supernova" — featuring guitar playing and backing vocals by Paul Weller — that received widespread critical acclaim and peaked at #20 on the US charts. Despite not being released in the UK, it received significant airplay and remains one of the band's most popular songs.


In September 1995, bassist Paul McGuigan briefly left the band, citing nervous exhaustion. He was replaced by Scott McLeod, formerly of The Ya-Yas, who featured on some of the tour dates as well as in the "Wonderwall" video before leaving abruptly whilst on tour in the USA. McLeod later contacted Noel Gallagher claiming he felt he had made the wrong decision. Gallagher curtly replied "I think you have too. Good luck signing on". In order to complete the tour, McGuigan was successfully convinced to return to the band.

In February 1996, Oasis became only the third band after The Beatles and The Jam to perform two songs on the same edition of British music television programme Top of the Pops: "Don't Look Back In Anger" and a cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize". On April 27 and 28 the group played their first headline outdoor concerts at Maine Road Football Ground, Manchester. Highlights from the second night featured on the video There And Then, released later the same year. As their career reached its zenith, Oasis performed back-to-back concerts at Knebworth on August 10 and 11, 1996. The band sold out both shows within minutes; 250,000 people over two nights (13.5 million people applied for tickets), at the time a record-breaking number for an outdoor concert held in the UK.


The next month proved to be difficult for the group. On August 23 Oasis were due to play the prestigious MTV Unplugged at the Royal Festival Hall but Liam pulled out, citing a sore throat. He watched the performance from a balcony with cold beer and cigarettes, allegedly heckling Noel's singing between songs. The group left for a tour of American arenas early the next month but within days Noel flew home without the band, who followed on another flight. It received massive media attention and the group promptly issued a statement assuring fans that Oasis were not splitting up. Oasis' success at the 1996 Brit Awards was overshadowed by Liam's statement that "Has-beens shouldn't be presenting awards to gonna-bes." after being presented an award by INXS singer Michael Hutchence.



Oasis spent the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997 at historic Abbey Road Studios recording their third album. Be Here Now was released in August 1997, the band choosing to launch it on a Thursday rather than the traditional Monday. Preceded by the UK #1 single "D'You Know What I Mean?", the album was perhaps their most anticipated effort, and as such became the subject of considerable media attention. Anticipation culminated with the screening of the documentary "Right Here, Right Now" on BBC1 on the eve of the album's release. The attendant press attention and hype helped the album become the fastest-selling album in UK history (a record which still stands), selling 423,000 units on its day of release, and reached number 2 in the US album chart.

Be Here Now ultimately outsold Definitely Maybe worldwide but could not match the sales of (What's the Story) Morning Glory. Although early media reviews were positive, once the hype had died down, the album was criticised for being bloated and derivative with most of the critics focused on the extensive length of several songs, the heavier sound, and overproduction. Noel defined the album as "the sound of a buncha guys... on coke... in the studio... not giving a fuck."



The Britpop movement was over and the band failed to meet expectations with Be Here Now. After the conclusion of the disastrous Be Here Now tour, amidst huge media criticism the group decided to stay clear of each other and kept a low profile throughout 1998. Noel Gallagher also was criticised for firing most of his stacks of songs into B-sides. Some of these finally found a more high-profile home on The Masterplan, a compilation album of 14 B-sides, released in November. "There was a two- or three-year period where everything I wrote was just fantastic.", related Noel in a recent interview. "And, of course, if all the B-sides for the singles off Morning Glory would’ve been what became the Be Here Now album, I think we would’ve gone on to be possibly one of the biggest bands of all time. Not that we’re not anyway. But I think we would’ve been as big as U2, because I had an idea in my head for Be Here Now – it was to be the most bombastic, fucking hugest-sounding record of all time. And I didn’t worry too much about the words or the arrangements. But the really interesting stuff from around that period is the B-sides — there’s a lot more inspired music on the B-sides than there is on Be Here Now itself, I think." .

Source: Wikipedia

Noel's Gig A Teenage Rampage

Noel Gallagher sent the Royal Albert Hall's booking system crashing yesterday.

Thousands tried to bag tickets for two Teenage Cancer shows by the Oasis star, 39, on March 26 and 27.

Both were sold out by lunchtime.

Comedians Russel Brand, 31, and Noel Fielding, 33, are also on the bill for the week of fundraising events, along with Kasabian and rock Legends The Who.

A top secret special guest to headline a third gig on March 30 will be announced nearer the time.

Source: Daily Star