Noel Gallagher: Still Angry

Reflecting on almost 15 years of success with Oasis, Noel Gallagher, despite a £14m fortune, insists he is still working class. But, he tells John Meagher, the 'baggage' of kids and ex-wives has made him grow up

'The boredom is driving me f***ing mad." Right now, Noel Gallagher is supposed to be in the middle of a world tour. Instead -- thanks to an on-stage attack by a fan in Toronto on September 7 - he is recuperating at his London home. And he's not happy about it.

"There's always some f***ing calamity that happens to us on the road, and I'm just glad we got it out of the way quickly. I just didn't see this one coming." Quite literally, as it turns out. YouTube footage shows the intruder running up behind the guitarist, pushing him to the ground. He sustained broken ribs. His attacker was subsequently arrested.

Today, in his management company's office near Paddington, London, he looks pale and drawn - something he puts down to being the father of an 18-month-old son, Donovan.

The last thing he expected to be doing a week before the release of Oasis's seventh album was babysitting.

"I just can't get my head around the fact that we still aren't on the road," he says. "I'm waiting for the doctor to give me the all-clear for the UK dates, but it should be fine. I'll go out of my f***ing mind if I can't play them."

The British arena tour kicks off in Liverpool on Tuesday and includes two sold-out dates at Belfast's Odyssey Arena at the end of this month, will give fans an opportunity to hear the new songs for the first time.

The album, Dig Out Your Soul, could only have been made by Oasis and there are plenty of moments on it that are likely to sound incendiary live. But after something of a creative upswing with their last offering, 2005's Don't Believe The Truth, this collection is considerably less inspired.

Tellingly, Noel - once Oasis's sole songwriter has penned roughly half the tracks - with the remainder contributed by brother Liam, guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell.

"People ask my why I don't write all the songs any more and I say, 'What's the point of being in a band if I write all the songs?' I might as well go solo if that's the case."

Noel wrote everything on the band's milestone 1994 debut Definitely Maybe - as well as fantastic b-sides like The Masterplan and Acquiesce. It was a prolific time - and a far cry from today's relatively spartan output.

"When I was writing those songs, I was 26 or 27. Everything I had was in an adidas holdall - that was my life. The older you get, the more baggage you get - kids, ex-wives. I've started to write quite frequently again, but not as much as back then. Who knows? Why hasn't Paul McCartney written a good song in a hundred f***ing years?"

What does he say to those who suggest that he writes the best songs and Liam should stick to his frontman duties? "I'd congratulate them on their taste. I like Gem and Andy's songs. I genuinely like what they do - and Liam as well. If I didn't, they wouldn't be on the album."

Yet, there were a pair of his own compositions that got squeezed out. "They were left off because of Liam ... " he trails off. "F*** knows what happened, but he got a bit emotional one day and stormed off and the songs got shelved. They'll be on the next one.

"It wouldn't be an Oasis album if there wasn't a point where Liam decided he didn't want to be in the band any more. Oh, and there was an incident when some f***ing lunatic turned up at the studio saying he'd written all the songs that we hadn't yet recorded. The police had to be called -- he threatened to kill us, although not Liam funnily enough."

The lyrics feature a myriad of references to The Beatles -- no surprises there, then -- and snatches of a John Lennon interview conducted by the BBC shortly before his death. The album was recorded in Abbey Road, the first time the band have used the fabled studio since their bloated 1997 album Be Here Now.

"It wasn't like we went to Abbey Road to rekindle our f***ing mojo," he says. "The ghost of John Lennon -- Liam and Gem feel it, but I f***ing don't. I don't believe in ghosts. Sometimes, the pair of them act like f***ing cats producing their own LSD -- and I'm a bigger Beatles fan than either of them."

There's a psychedelic, druggy feel to some of the songs but Noel says the days of "snorting my own body weight in cocaine" are over. "Haven't touched any class A drugs since 1998. I did it all, I enjoyed some of it and I decided I didn't need it any more. But if somebody invented a new drug ... yeah, I'd be having some of that. I'm a 41-year-old father-of-two - those days of a three-day bender are over for me."

He has little time for the much-publicised benders of Pete Doherty et al. "They're attention seekers. Doherty and Amy Winehouse romanticise about being dirty little f***ing street urchins carrying guitars around with them and living some kind of poetic f***ing torture.

"We're different, Oasis - we're working class. I would never be seen out with dirty fingernails or the same clothes for three days because the working class have pride. And you'll find those two are middle class who are rebelling against their mam and dad."

Suggestions that he has left his middle-class days long ago for the cosseted life of the London multimillionaire are given short thrift. "My credentials are impeccable. I came from f*** all. I didn't get a head start in life. When I was growing up in Manchester there was nothing - no jobs of any description. You couldn't even be a f***ing drug dealer because there were no drugs.

"In monetary terms, I'm not working class. It's a state of mind. It's in here" - he points to his heart - "the fact that we're still doing it and still take pride in it is working class. We haven't forgotten where we've come from."

He retains a fascination with the U2 machine, its size and longevity. "For about eight months, we were as big as them," he says. "But we didn't do the sort of things that keep you that big. For instance, we never played the game in America and we would have been really huge if we had. But I don't regret it - it's too f***ing corporate over there.

"Right at the height of it all, the record company booked us on David Letterman the night after we did a gig and we're going, 'Why do we have to do it the night after - why can't we do it the night before?' They said it couldn't be moved and we said we wouldn't do it - because we would still be out on the piss. They couldn't believe it. That's the way that we are as people."

He says he has no regrets. "If we were to do it all again, I don't think we would do anything differently.

"We wanted to enjoy it - it's hard work being in the biggest band on the world."

And, he adds, with a wicked grin on his face: "I'm not greedy -- £14m in the bank will do me just nicely."

Noel on..

- Arctic Monkeys: "[Frontman Alex Turner] is a scruffy little bollocks, but I thought their first album was good. The real test for it will be how many bands in the future will say they formed after being inspired by that album. Think of all the bands that started because of hearing us for the first time."

- Oasis's 1994 debut, Definitely Maybe: "It's a milestone up there with the Sex Pistols' album. I don't sit down and listen to it now, but when I hear something from it on the radio, I think it's f***ing brilliant. But you know, it almost feels that I didn't write it. People love it to the point now where it's seen as the best f***ing thing since the resurrection."

- His Irish roots: "It's like that Morrissey song, Irish Blood, English Heart. I have no English blood in me at all. I go over as much as I can - I take my daughter [Anais] over and when my son is old enough, I'll take him too. I love the smell of the place -- brings me back to my youth. Bought my mam a house in Mayo - it's somewhere they can all get together."

- His admiration for Coldplay: "I listen to Violet Hill and it's like The Beatles. I just think Chris Martin is a great songwriter. Liam f***ing hates them -- thinks their stuff sounds like Annie Lennox, but Liam can be a f***ing idiot sometimes."

- U2: "I f***king love U2 and I always have done -- I love the size of that band. Whether you like them or not, you cannot deny that U2 have written some great f***ing songs. People will not accept that Bono is sincere -- in this cynical age, they think he's really just a c***. But he's not."

- Tom Chaplin of Keane: "He's going on and on about being taken out of his comfort zone when making his new album. What the f*** does that mean? Why would you want to be uncomfortable when making an album? No matter what direction Keane take, it doesn't matter -- they'll still be shit."

- The art of songwriting: "When I pick up a guitar and I sit down to write a song I don't sit there and think, 'What do I really want to say?' I don't have anything to say to the world. I don't give a f*** about the world or anybody in it. I just write songs and they come from a place of truth to me and that's it."

- Critics: "They always say we're writing the same stuff. What does that mean? That I'm writing Live Forever again with different lyrics? They can't understand that a band like Oasis are so successful and can sell out Wembley Stadium ... I don't consider myself to be an artist. I don't make music for the people at the Guardian."

- His epitaph: "Here lies Noel Gallagher -- who should have f***ing done that solo record."

Source: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Interview With Liam Gallagher & Andy Bell

it.dada.net had an exclusive chat with Oasis members Liam Gallagher & Andy Bell last week in Italy.

The interviews are split into three seperate parts.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Source: it.dada.net

Oasis Exclusive!

Oasis exclusive! Jagz remix of The Shock Of The Lightning!

Only available to mobile fanbase.

Reply JAGZ to 81088 to buy (£1.50)

Only available till Midnight Saturday (UK)

Source: Text from Oasis Mobile Fanbase

Earlier this month Oasisinet the launched the official Oasis java application for your phone. Once downloaded, the application works with your phone and the internet to give you the latest Oasis news on the move.

You’ll receive news updates from Oasisinet, competitions and have full access to Noel’s 'Tales from the Middle of Nowhere'.

To get a link to the application, click here and enter your details.

Noel Gallagher: "I Thought I'd Been Stabbed"

Three weeks ago, Noel Gallagher was assaulted onstage in Toronto, resulting in broken ribs for him and cancelled gigs for the band. Still recovering from the attack, the brains of Oasis tells Brian Boyd about his Irish attacker, his own Irishness, "that climate change bollocks", Pete Doherty's fingernails, Thom Yorke's singing, Silvermints and more

'IF I GO A bit silly and start talking rubbish during this interview, will you let me know?" asks Noel Gallagher as he awkwardly sits down in the offices of his central London record company.

"How will I know?" I reply. There's an ominous pause before a smile slowly spreads around Gallagher's lips.

"It's just these painkillers I'm on. They're the strongest painkillers known to man apparently, and people have been telling me I'm jibbering while on them. In my experience, the only fun time to take strong painkillers like these is when there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. Ha ha."

The Oasis guitarist is on painkillers because of three cracked ribs, sustained when he was pushed to the ground at a gig in Toronto last month. It's only when the words "Mark Chapman" crop up in the conversation that you realise how much of an effect the onstage attack had on Gallagher.

ON BEING ATTACKED ONSTAGE: "I WAS ABSOLUTELY SHITTING MYSELF"

"I'm a YouTube superstar," he grimaces. "I hear it's been the most-watched clip for years. People are talking about how well Liam reacted - you can see him on the clip going to clatter the guy who attacked me. But if you look carefully, you'll see he only starts to shape up when I'm surrounded by security guards. I've never told anyone this before, but the incident was worse than it looked; I actually thought I had been stabbed.

"The guy had been backstage where it had been raining. He than hit me from behind and I fell onto the monitor. I immediately felt a really sharp pain in my back, where the ribs had cracked. Then I looked down at my leg and he had left wet footprints on me. I though it was blood. I was absolutely shitting myself.

"Up until that point, everything had been going great. Paul Weller had just been on before us, and we had a monumental piss-up planned with him for later that night. Next thing I know, I'm in hospital. Where were security? The two of them were sidestage playing air guitar, that's where security were! This was a festival show, so we didn't have our own security. Obviously, now we have to rethink our security situation, but we don't want to get like Madonna and travel around with 400 people.

"And guess what I found out later? The guy who attacked me is Irish! He's 47 and I think he had just got Canadian citizenship. I haven't said this to anyone before because I don't want to be dragging the name of the Irish nation down all around the world."

ON IRISHNESS: "THERE'S NOT A DROP OF ENGLISH BLOOD IN ME"

"I clearly remember my mam saying to me and my two brothers when we were growing up: 'You're only English because you were born here.' And with a mother from Mayo and a father from Co Meath, there's not a drop of English blood in me. I recently had a child with my Scottish girlfriend, and there's no English blood in him at all.

"I feel as Irish as the next person. The first music I was ever exposed to was the rebel songs the bands used to sing in the Irish club in Manchester. Do you know, I think that's where Oasis songs get their punch-the-air quality - from me being exposed to those rousing rebel songs. It was all rebel songs and that godawful Irish country and western music.

"I grew up an Irish Catholic. I remember my mam would only buy Irish butter and milk. But then, during the 1970s with all the bombings, our local co-op wouldn't stock Irish produce, so my mam went elsewhere. I clearly remember my parents coming back from the Carousel Club in Manchester, the Irish club, and telling me about how all the cars in the car park had been vandalised by an anti-Irish crowd. It was scary."

ON SONGWRITING: "SOMETIMES I CAN ONLY MANAGE THREE SONGS A YEAR"

"I hit a real purple patch when writing this album. Sometimes I can only manage three songs a year, but this time I wrote the album super-quick. And even when we were mixing, I wrote another three songs at the mixing desk. I've about 30 songs going spare. I was talking to my manager last week about hiring a lyric writer to come in and finish them off. Three of the songs I hear girls singing - but no, Amy Winehouse isn't getting them.

"I can be a prolific songwriter when I put my mind to it. I had all of Definitely Maybe written even before there was an Oasis. I used to be a roadie with the Inspiral Carpets and I got to live the rock'n'roll lifestyle: I was touring the world and taking loads of drugs and setting up equipment in my spare time. I had all the rock'n'roll stuff without the hassle of doing photo-shoots or making videos.

"I never thought these songs would see the light of day. I wrote them to sing to myself when I was stoned. I used to play them when I was doing the soundcheck for The Inspirals. Then I was on the phone to mam one day from abroad and she said 'Liam's just joined a band'. I fell about the place laughing and when I got back to Manchester I went down to see them rehearse just to take the piss.

"Liam was one of the few people who knew I wrote songs, so he said, 'Play one of those shit songs you've written'. I played Colombia. They asked me to join the band . . . We signed for the now-paltry sum of $48,000 to Creation Records in 1993, but at the last minute Bono's label [Mother Records] offered to triple that amount. Now, that was a lot of money for unemployed Manchester kids. We stayed with Creation because Alan McGee had the contracts done up and had always said how much he believed in us."

ON EXCESS: "WE HAD ALL THE COCAINE IN THE WORLD"

"When you have all the time in the world and all the money in the world - which we did when we went to record our third album after two phenomenally successful albums - it's probably not a good thing. I should mention, of course, that we also had all the cocaine in the world. I still tell people that the Be Here Now album is the best advertisement against taking cocaine. It goes on too long, it's smothered by its self of self-importance - the same as coke users are. When I was writing these 11-minute epics, I kept waiting for someone in the studio to turn to me and say 'I think that's a bit long,' but no one ever did. We were the biggest band in the world at the time and no one would speak up.

"I still think there's some tunes on Be Here Now . You just have to uncover them under the 18 layers of guitars. I played an acoustic version of Don't Go Away recently on tour and, seriously, there were grown men in tears. I often think of going back to that album, using ProTools and re-editing the whole thing. The same as Paul McCartney did when he took Phil Spector's strings off The Long and Winding Road . Then I think, hold on, that album is part of the rollercoaster ride of being in a band. There's going to be all these ups and downs and ins and outs. Otherwise, you might as well be in Keane."

ON BROTHERHOOD: "I STILL BLAME LIAM FOR THE FACT THAT WE NEVER CRACKED THE US"

"The three songs I'm really proud of on the new album are Waiting for the Rapture, Falling Down and I'm Outta Time . I sing the first two. It's only on this album that I think I've really found my voice. Before, I've only sung lead vocals when Liam hasn't bothered to turn up for a tour - and I still blame him for the fact that we've never cracked the US. When we had one of the biggest selling albums in the world, and were about to begin a crucial US tour, he arrived at the airport, gave some ludicrous excuse when he couldn't get on the plane, and left us completely stranded.

"That aside, it can be difficult to be the second singer in a band where the first singer is such a great rock'n'roll frontman, as Liam is when he bothers to show up. But then look at the Edge in U2. He's got a great voice but you never really hear it because Bono is the main man there. One of my favourite tracks off Rattle and Hum is Van Diemen's Land , which Edge sings. So I regard myself as the Edge of Oasis. I will sing more in the future, though, mainly because I'm particularly proud of how I sing on Waiting for the Rapture . I really nailed that falsetto.

"On I'm Outta Time , Liam wrote a tribute to John Lennon. It could have turned out awful but I honestly believe it could be this album's Wonderwall . When Liam writes for himself, he sings better because he writes for his own vocal range. We even got a sample of Lennon's voice, which is the very last thing you hear on the song. We had to go to Yoko to get permission to use it. But that was easy; she loves us. Probably because she knows how much we all love John.

"Lyrics aren't my forte. For me, the words have always got to fit the tune. Whereas someone such as Morrissey, he gets the tune to fits the lyrics.

"Lyrically though, I'm proud of Falling Down on this album. You mentioned earlier that you thought it was about a comedown from drugs. That song started when I was sitting in my back garden this time last year and there was this beautiful early autumn sunset. I was thinking about all that climate-change bollocks and came to the conclusion that man really is incapable of destroying all this.

"But you wouldn't necessarily get that from the song. I don't do really do biography or 'issues'. I hate it when there's a song you really love and you think it's about a certain thing and then, years later, the songwriter says 'that song is about X or Y', and it's totally different to what you imagined."

ON OTHER MUSICIANS: "I LIKE RADIOHEAD . . . UNTIL THOM YORKE STARTS SINGING"

"I've never ever felt the need to do anything outside Oasis. The band is enough for me. This is not meant as an insult, but you look at Damon Albarn and if he's not writing an opera, he's doing this or that. I don't need all that. I have a life. I'm not a careerist. I really hate these bands who always seem to be saying, 'now, on the new album we've worked really hard to get out of our comfort zone'. Fuck that. I spent 18 years building my comfort zone and I'm not going to leave it. And then bands such as Radiohead and their 'artistic progression' . . . Christ. I like Radiohead - until Thom Yorke starts singing.

ON CLASS: "I COULD NEVER BE LIKE PETE DOHERTY AND GO OUT WITH DIRT UNDER MY FINGERNAILS"

"The happiest time of my life will always be when I was eating at a Brunch bar - do you remember those? - in Charlestown in Co Mayo. Brunch bars and Silvermints will always have a special place in my heart because you could only get them in Ireland. We used to spend six weeks every year in Charlestown. It was magnificent. We were coming from a council estate in Manchester - and we lived at the end of cul-de-sac - to these 360-degree panoramic views. We loved it as kids. We could go fishing in the river or help with bringing in the hay.

"One of my earliest-ever memories is of going to the well by the house in Charlestown to get the water, because we had no running water there when I was a child. I still go back at least once a year, and even just the smell of the place immediately brings me back to those happy, happy childhood days.

"I still have a very strong sense of identity, a sense of being a working-class son of Irish parents. That's why I could never be like Pete Doherty and go out with dirt under my fingernails, a top hat on and my shirt hanging out. Working-class people take pride in their appearance. They'd never go out looking like that.

"One of the worst things that ever happened to me was when I said that thing about Blur [in an interview in 1995, Gallagher said he hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James would "get Aids", which he later retracted and apologised for]. My mam rang me up when she saw that and she was really angry and she said to me 'I didn't bring you up to talk like that,' and that stung me so much.

"Despite all that has happened - those massive selling albums, those huge gigs at Knebworth, being called 'the saviours of British music' - I've retained my identity. Even at the very height of our success, I never thought I was any better than the next person.

"In fact, the opposite is probably the case. I'm still sitting here waiting for my luck to run out."

Source: Irish Times

Oasis Intererviews From Clash Magazine

Read some exclusive interviews with Oasis from the new issue of Clash Magazine, click into the band members name for each interview.

Liam Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Andy Bell
Gem Archer

The magazine is on sale from Monday.

Source: www.clashmusic.com

Oasis Looking Forward To Liverpool Dates

Reviewing CDs can be a fairly mundane task. Every week dozens land on my desk, and no-one in the office bats an eyelid.

That is until this week. This week, there hasn’t been a day go by where someone hasn’t asked if the new Oasis album has arrived.

It seems the simian- featured Mancunians , plus new Scouse drummer Chris Sharrock, still have the power to spark the music-loving public’s imagination.

Even the band’s guitarist Gem Archer can hardly contain himself.

It’s the band’s seventh album, and the third with the involvement of Gem. He and former Ride and Hurricane £1 guitarist Andy Bell joined Oasis around 1999 after the departure of original members Paul ’Bonehead’ Arthurs and Paul ’Guigsy’ McGuigan.

“I still love it,” beams Gem when asked how he feels about the album, just days ahead of its release on Monday.

“In the past, if you’d been out with Liam Gallagher at night and you ended up back at his house after the pub had shut, he’d play you the new album 15 times, but this time around, you might get it 30 times. That says it all!”

The band head to Liverpool to start the UK leg of their tour on Tuesday, and Noel seems full of expectation about it.

“There’s something about the city that’s been ingrained in me from being a childhood Beatles fan. The architecture, the street signs, everything.

“I love playing live full stop, but we’re playing in Britain, indoors to the perfect number of people for it to still be intimate.

“It’s going to be insane.”

Dig Out Your Soul was recorded in Abbey Road studios, the spiritual home of The Beatles, another link with the city.

Unsurprisingly, given their track record for homage to the Fab Four, Oasis’s latest offering comes with no short supply of Beatles references. There’s even a snippet of an interview with John Lennon used in the Liam-penned track I’m Outta Time.

Dig Out Your Soul is out on Monday.

Source: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Liam's Gallagher's Legging It In Sports Gear

Liam Gallagher in leggings? Now that really is a sight I never thought that I would see.

The snarling Oasis frontman was spotted in his jogging gear as he shopped with missus Nicole in North London.

If he was wearing the hood to try to keep a low profile before the release of the new Oasis album Dig Out Your Soul on Monday, it didn’t work.

I wonder if he was looking for the Milk Tray?

Source: www.thesun.co.uk

Photos Of Oasis' Dig Out Your Soul Limited Edition Box Set

Oasis are pleased to announce that for the first time ever they will be making available a special, fully-loaded limited edition box set of the new album, 'Dig Out Your Soul'. This amazing looking set contains four heavyweight 12" vinyl discs, two CDs, a DVD and hardback book all housed within an embossed hardback box. In fact this is the only way to get the album and the complete set of all 9 bonus songs, remixes and films that were recorded during the album sessions. This unique collectors item will be available for purchase exclusively through the band's website, and can be pre-ordered now, for worldwide delivery on Oct 6 Click Here open in new window to find out more and order while stocks last!

Description:
Shoulder box containing large quarter bound hardback book including hardback 24 page book, 2 x CDs, 1 x DVD & 4 x heavyweight LP
Plus a Digital Download Of The Album

Release Date 6th October 2008
Tracklisting
CD
1. Bag It Up
2. The Turning
3. Waiting For The Rapture
4. The Shock Of The Lightning
5. I'm Outta Time
6. (Get Off Your) High Horse
7. Falling Down
8. To Be Where There's Life
9. Ain't Got Nothin
10. The Nature Of Reality
11. Solider On

Bonus CD
1. Lord Don't Slow Me Down
2. The Turning (The Jagz Kooner Remix)
3. Boy With The Blues
4. Falling Down (The Chemical Brothers Remix)
5. The Shock Of The Lightning (The Jagz Kooner Remix)
6. I Believe In All
7. To Be Where There's Life (A Richard Fearless Production)
8. The Turning (Alt Version#4)
9. Waiting For The Rapture (Alt Version#2)

DVD (Region 0)
1. Gold & Silver & Sunshine (The Making Of 'Dig Out Your Soul')
2. The Making Of 'The Shock Of Lightning' Video
3. 'The Shock Of The Lightning' Video

Vinyl 1
Side 1
1. Bag It Up
2. The Turning
Side 2
1. Waiting For The Rapture
2. The Shock Of The Lightning
3. I'm Outta Time

Vinyl 2
Side 3
1. (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady
2. Falling Down
3. To Be Where There's Life
Side 4
1. Ain't Got Nothin'
2. The Nature Of Reality
3. Soldier On

Vinyl 3
Side 5
1. Lord Don't Slow Me Down
2. I Believe In It All
3. Boy With The Blues
Side 6
1. Falling Down (The Chemical Brothers Remix)
2. To Be Where There's Life (A Richard Fearless Production)

Vinyl 4
Side 7
1. The Turning (The Jagz Kooner Remix)
2. The Shock Of The Lightning (The Jagz Kooner Remix)
Side 8
1. The Turning (Alt Version#4)
2. Waiting For The Rapture (Alt Version#2)

Click here for more information on the box set.

Thanks to Noel's Left Eyebrow from Spain for the pictures.

Liverpool Academy Hosts Oasis Aftershow Party - 7th October

On the opening night of the Oasis UK Tour, 7th October, the Official UK Tour DJ Phil Smith will be celebrating the opening night at the Liverpool Academy by doing his Oasis Tour DJ set following the Oasis gig. Plus there's plenty of entertainment beforehand for those who have not been lucky enough to obtain tickets.

We have also heard from his agent Brave Music Agency that Phil may also join Liverpool Academy for the second night too but not confirmed as yet - so watch out for additional tickets going on sale for the 8th October.

The entry will be free for all 7th October Ticket stub holders on a first come first served basis. But buying an advance ticket guarantees admission - so it is advisable to purchase a ticket at £3 as it may sell out.

Tickets are on sale now and priced just £3.00 and can be ordered here.

Russell Brand On 'Dig Out Your Soul'

Friend of the band (and 'Vampire lamp-shade'*) Russell Brand has been adding his unique take on 'Dig Out Your Soul' to some forthcoming TV Adverts. The ever loquacious comedian recorded so many that we thought we'd let you see some of the more amusing ones online.

Excavate yourselves!

* This quote is taken from Noel's 'Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere'. To read the rest of the entry, click here. To register to read them, click here

Source: www.oasisinet.com

New Oasis Photo Exhibition Heading To London

Show will span the band's whole career

A new version of a famous Oasis photo exhibition is heading to London.

Trusted Oasis photographer Jill Furmanovsky first staged the 'Was There Then' exhibition' at the Roundhouse in 1997, the result of three years in the band's inner circle.

To celebrate ten years since the launch of Furmanovsky's influential music photography collective Rockarchive.com, a new version of the exhibition is returning to the same venue.

Logically enough named 'Was There Then Again', the new show will update the collection with pictures from the last decade.

The show will open later this autumn.

Furmanovsky describes the band as: "a rock photographers dream."

She remembers: "The greatest gift and biggest challenge was shooting Noel and Liam, the singer and the songwriter in a mega band. They were brothers in arms, polar opposites in personality, working through their difficult relationship. I was a Diane Arbus fan, intrigued by family relationships, the Gallaghers were a gift to me."

Furmanovsky is also showcasing Rockarchive.com material featuring the likes of The Clash, Bob Dylan and The Who at an exhibition in London's Carnaby Street this October.

Source: www.nme.com

Pic: Jill Furmanovsky/rockarchive.com

The Wit And Wisdom Of Noel And Liam Gallagher

Noel Gallagher recently bemoaned the poor quality of questions posed to him by journalists. "The amount of interviews where someone's come in, out the tape recorder on and go, 'So tell me about the new album?' It's like, is that the best you can come up with? You tell me about your fucking coffee table – what's to say about it?"

Pic: Jill Furmanovsky/rockarchive.com

Full 30 Picture Photo Gallery on NME here

Source: www.nme.com

Oasis Song The Turning 'Rips Off' Cliff Richard's Devil Woman

Oasis appear to have taken inspiration from the intro to Cliff Richard’s Devil Woman for The Turning, a track on their new album - and that will be no surprise to followers of the Mancunian magpies.

Noel Gallagher has previously admitted plagiarising Burt Bacharach classic This Guy’s In Love With You for Half The World Away – better known at the theme music for The Royle Family.

Monty Python sideman Neil Innes eventually received a co-writing credit for Whatever after his record company’s lawyers pointed out its incredible similarity to Innes’ How Sweet To Be An Idiot.

Early Oasis stomper Cigarettes And Alcohol channelled T-Rex’s Get It On, while later single Lyla bore a frightening resemblance to Neighbours actor Craig McLachlan’s Mona.

And it’s even been suggested that some Oasis songs might sound a bit like The Beatles!

But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s the Cliff ‘classic’ here.

Source: www.mirror.co.uk

Win Tickets To See Oasis & A Limited Edition Goodie Bag!!!

When tickets for Oasis' upcoming UK arena tour went on sale back in August, every single show sold out within a matter of minutes.

With the brilliant single 'Shock of the Lightning' released this week and Oasis' best album since 1995, 'Dig Out Your Soul', hitting the shelves on Monday, those who missed out on tickets are kicking themselves.

Luckily for you we have a pair of tickets to the band's Sheffield Arena show on October 10!

On top of the tickets the lucky winner will also get a tote bag, a badge, playing cards, a cigarette amp (all are ultra-limited edition) and a 7'' of the single 'Shock of the Lightning'.

For details click here.

Source: www.gigwise.com

'Liam's The Last Person I'd Go For A Drink With'

Noel Gallagher is talking about fame. And he, more than most, should be qualified to discuss the subject.

After all, this is the man who, as one of Oasis's fighting Gallagher brothers, has spent a good part of the past 15 years having, not just his music dissected, but pretty much every word he's uttered and every deed he's done scrutinised as well. Particularly in Britain where, depending on whom you talk to, he is regarded as a) something of a national treasure, or b) as that dodgy uncle who can be counted on to make inappropriate remarks at weddings. Whatever your take, one thing Noel Gallagher can never be called is bland.

"I've never had a problem with fame. If anything, I enjoy being famous. It's a f- - -ing great thing," the 41-year-old says with a shrug. "I've always seen it as part of the job. There's no way you can be successful in music and be anonymous - that's mental. You cannot be in a rock'n'roll band and be anonymous. Unless you're in Kraftwerk or something like that. Liam doesn't deal with it very well - do you know what I mean?"

Indeed, Liam Gallagher told Britain's The Times recently that Noel "loves being famous. He adores it. I don't think about it. I don't do what famous people do. I don't go to famousy events. As long as I'm in a band and making music and playing gigs, I couldn't give a f- - -."

Of course, Noel's perceptions on the whole business of celebrity may have changed slightly since our conversation, just weeks before he was being poleaxed - and breaking a few ribs in the process - on stage by a 47-year-old Canadian "fan". (Though if you've seen the YouTube footage - which has been viewed by more than a million people already - you'll see Liam raise his fist, think about jumping in for a second, only to finally back away. Back in the '90s, during those legendary drug-fuelled days, chances are, the younger Gallagher would most probably have thumped the stage invader. Repeatedly.)

Of course, things have changed markedly for both Gallaghers. These days, Noel is dad to nine-month-old Donovan (with long-time girlfriend Sara MacDonald) and eight-year-old daughter Anais (with ex-wife Meg Mathews), while Liam is a father of two boys - one with an ex-wife (Patsy Kensit), one with his present wife (Nicole Appleton), and a daughter from a brief relationship with Pete Doherty's ex (Lisa Moorish). They are no longer the rabble-rousing brothers of the mid-'90s who took as many drugs as they could while somehow producing two of the greatest British rock albums ever - Definitely Maybe and (What's The Story?) Morning Glory. And they've managed to stay enduringly popular (influential British music paper NME had a countdown to their new album's release on its website) despite a spate of albums that are considered to have never reached the heights, commercially or critically, as the first two.

Their new album, Dig Out Your Soul, might finally change perceptions of Oasis as being some sort of Beatles rip-off. For the first time, they've put away the guitars - well, sort of - and embraced a trippier, Stone Roses-type feel. Lyrically, Noel has also turned inward, with religion and spirituality common themes on the album.

"The strange thing is, is that the lyrics are all quite similar - they all mention God, and Jesus, and the f- - -ing light and the rapture, and angels," Noel says. "And that's happened very much by coincidence because none of us write together and none of us discuss what we're writing about - that would make us like Radiohead."

But if you ask Noel whether he's stepped out of his comfort zone with Dig Out Your Soul, he rejects the idea immediately.

"I can't stand it when bands say, you know, on this album we really stepped out of our comfort zone. What does that mean? This is not a f- - -ing game. This is soul, man. It's about humanity. It's not a test. People who went to university are always trying to get themselves out of their comfort zone and I always say, 'I'm working class. It's taken me 15 years to build a comfort zone and I'm not getting out of it for no f- - -er.' "

Noel was born in Burnage, a fairly rough area of Manchester, the middle child of Irish parents, Peggy and Thomas Gallagher. He had a fractious relationship with his alcoholic father, whom he says regularly beat him and his older brother Paul. Today, he's nonplussed about the beatings he took as a child and says that that sort of thing was "common" around his area. "We just got on with it," he says.

Peggy divorced her husband when her sons were barely out of their teens and today none of the sons have any contact with their dad. When asked whether he finds it hard to leave his own family for long stretches on the road, Noel shakes his head.

"You know, I saw my dad every day and look how that turned out. My kids understand - well, my daughter does - that dad's got to go to work. I've just had two years off. My son's only nine months old, so he doesn't f- - -ing know anyway, but my daughter understands that I'm not going to be around much for a year-and-a-half, but after that year-and-a-half I'm going to be around for two years. And they've got a wealthy dad. They'll get nice cars on their 17th birthdays," he says, laughing.

Noel says parenthood this time around is a vastly different experience. When Anais was born, he says, he and Mathews were coming to the end of a marriage that had begun at the height of Britpop and all of the madness that had ensued with the period. (Noel says that when he and his wife gave up drugs, they discovered they had "nothing to talk about".)

"It's great - it's nice to have a boy, to have a son and heir. He's a great lad. Really, really good natured. It's going to be nice, because my daughter is obsessed with ponies and all that girl stuff, and I'm a bit like, 'OK, whatever,' " he says, throwing his hands up. "It'll be nice to have a lad if he's into football and, hopefully, music. It would be great to pass the guitars on to somebody, because I don't think my daughter's that interested. She prefers the computer and Girls Aloud."

In fact, Noel says he often has to get his daughter's help for technological advice. "She just gets on the computer, and goes, tap, tap, tap. I don't know what the f- - - she's doing."

He's not big on downloading individual tunes online, either. "All the soul's gone out of it, you know? Imagine if The White Album came out now: 'Oh, I'll just take tracks one, two, seven, and nine.' F- - - off."

Noel says that songwriting as a craft still holds as much sway over him as it ever did and he even finds his output more prolific than it was a decade ago. Thanks to wealth and fame, the subject of his lyrics, he says, has changed markedly, though.

"When I was in my 20s and writing Definitely Maybe, to me that was my entire life. It was just based around this guitar that I had and writing songs. And I had nothing else in my life. I had no money, I didn't have a wife or kids, I had no baggage. It was just me against the world. You fast forward 15 years and you've got kids and money, so you're writing from a different perspective, so in that sense, it changes."

Of course, with songwriting duties now shared among the band - guitarist Gem Archer chipped in with a couple on Dig Out Your Soul, as did bassist Andy Bell. Liam contributed three songs.

"I find it difficult to talk about his songs because every time I do, he's like, 'That's not f- - -ing what it's about', so he can speak for himself," Noel says, sighing.

In fact, Noel says he doesn't understand the fascination people - and particularly the media - have over his relationship with his brother. He says he doesn't think their constant bickering and arguments are anything unusual at all.

"Me and Liam can say disgracefully hurtful things to one another and the other guys in the band will be going, 'F- - -ing hell,' " he says, "But imagine being in a professional relationship with your brother and trying to share the limelight for 15 years. It would drive you f- - -ing insane.

"As much as we don't get on, we don't not get on. He's my brother, that's where it ends. He's the last person in the world I'd go for a drink with - the last person. Seriously. If there was Armageddon tomorrow and I was walking through the nuclear waste of the planet and I saw him coming towards me in the distance, I'd be like, 'Couldn't it have not been someone else? Did it have to be you?' And he would think the same thing."

Noel says outside of music, football - specifically, Manchester City - remains his passion, but then adds, surprisingly, that his mate Ringo Starr is doing his best to get him to step back and smell the roses. Literally. "I saw him not too long ago and I was asking him what he was doing in England - because he lives in LA - and he says," doing a spot-on impersonation of Starr, " 'I always come back to England for the Chelsea Flower Show - have you ever been to the Chelsea Flower Show?'

"And I'm going, 'Well, no, I haven't.' So I say, 'Why do you go there for?' And he looks at me, like really surprised, and says, 'To see the flowers.'

He's like, 'You should really go and see the flowers. They're beautiful.'

And I thought, 'What a f- - -ing hippie,' and then I thought, 'Well, maybe I'll check it out next year.' You know, he is a f- - -ing Beatle, after all."

Source: www.smh.com.au

Oasis Premium Tickets On Sale Now!

If you missed out on Oasis tickets the first time round (well, they did sell out in under an hour...), Seetickets have just made a limited number of Premium Packages available for their sold out UK tour.

These special limited packages include a top price reserved seat for the show of your choice, a limited edition Oasis tote bag, an Oasis tour programme and £10 off the limited collectors edition of the Dig Out Your Soul box set available online from oasisinet.com.

To get your hands on one of the hottest tickets in town, simply click here.

Source: www.ents24.com

Gem: Oasis Can Go On Until Their 90's

Oasis could outdo the Rolling Stones and continue to rock into their nineties.
While Mick Jagger and Co are still going strong in their sixties, Gem Archer of Oasis reckons his band could keeping going longer because Liam Gallagher doesn't move on stage.

The 41-year old guitarist laughed: "Liam invented Stillism. There's no jogging around on stage like Mick Jagger in this band, so we could be doing that until we're 90."

Once the wild boys of Britpop, Oasis have quietened down, with Liam telling of his love for cooking salmon, jogging and early nights.

Gem admitted all the band were into fitness, but was keen to emphasise: "We're not like Sting or anything. "I was one of those guys who could eat rubbish all day and didn't know what hangovers were. "But I don't want to be 50 and doubled up.

"If we're going to put ourselves in line with The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, The Who and Led Zeppelin, we can't let the side down."

Liam, big brother Noel, Gem and bass player Andy Bell release new single The Shock Of The Lightning this week and seventh studio album, Dig Out Your Soul, on Monday.

Despite their new quiet lifestyles, Oasis have been making headlines. Noel is still nursing three broken ribs after being knocked over on stage by a fan in Toronto. Their UK tour includes four sold-out Scots dates - Aberdeen Exhibition Centre on November 1 and 2 and Glasgow SECC on the 4 and 5 - and Noel will play through the pain.

Dig Out Your Soul is a massive return to form for a band who failed to match the initial success of their first two albums.

Alan McGee, who discovered Oasis at Glasgow's King Tut's, claims it is as good as other rock legends' seventh albums, The Beatles' Revolver and the Stones' Beggar's Banquet.

Gem said: "The cliche is that bands can't wait to get away from their music once it's recorded, but I nearly listened to it again last night.

"In the past, if you'd been out with Liam and ended up back at his after the pub shut, he'd play you the new album 15 times. But this time around, you might get it 30 times. That says it all."
It's Gem's third album as a member of Oasis. He and ex-Ride guitarist Andy joined in 1999 after the departure of Paul Arthurs and Paul McGuigan. While Noel has always been chief songwriter, this album has three songs by Liam, one by Gem and one by Andy.

Durham-born Gem's tune, To Be Where There's Life, began as a jam with his 12-year-old son.
Considering Noel's track record includes Live Forever, Wonderwall and Acquiesce, competing with him for space on an album can't be easy.

But Gem, real name Colin, says he thrives on the competition and thinks it's healthy for the band.
"The very fact Noel is even asking what songs I've got is incredible," said Gem, "even though he's the guy who wrote three songs just while we were in Abbey Road.

"That's a bit galling, but come on, it's Noel. Everyone can fluke one good song, but he's written a lot of very, very good songs."

The highlight of the album is Falling Down and Gem said: "It was one of the ones Noel demo'd by himself in Abbey Road, the night before we recorded it properly.

"Not only is it one of the best songs he's written, but the production is mega."

It all bodes well for the band's first British tour since 2006 which kicks off in Liverpool on Tuesday. Gem said: "I love playing live, but we're playing in Britain, indoors, to the perfect number of people for it still to be intimate. It's going to be insane."

Source: www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Noel Blasts Amy

Oasis star Noel Gallagher pulls no punches in this sensational interview, taking a pop at all his chart rivals.

He blasts Amy Winehouse as a “waste” and charity pop concerts as “bullshit”.

Noel, 41, does not spare his brother Liam, 36, either – he gets mocked for wearing make-up and dying his hair.

Here, Noel speaks exclusively to the Daily Star on the eve of the release of his band’s comeback album, Dig Out Your Soul.

And he is clearly a man who loves to Look Back In Anger...

Hellraiser Noel Gallagher has lived the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle to the full – and survived to tell the tale.

He quit using cocaine 10 years ago.

And he has no respect for the likes of Amy Winehouse, 25, whose descent into drugs has left her a wreck.

Noel says: “She’s got an undeniably great voice, but there’s plenty of great singers in the world. It astonishes me that fame seems to hit those kind of people hard.

“They kind of pull down the shutters and become drug addicts because they can’t deal with it. So f*** her. There’s no point wasting words on people like that. They have no respect for themselves so why should people have respect for them?”

Oasis have always refused to join in charity gigs such as Live 8 and Live Earth. And Noel criticises bands who do.

He asks: “Global problems are very easily solved by rock stars, are they? They say: ‘Starving people in Africa? Let’s do a gig, that’ll sort it out.’ It’s f***ing bullshit.

“Radiohead can get on their battery-operated pushbikes as long as they like, but they’re pissing in the wind.

“You can’t put a load of rock stars up on a stage and expect to wipe out global poverty. That’s ludicrous.”

Noel has no kind words to say about chart-toppers Keane, either.

“No matter how hard they try, they’ll always be squares. Even if one of them started injecting heroin into his c**k, people would go: ‘Yeah but your dad was a vicar.’”

You would hardly expect Noel to be a fan of singer James Blunt, 34, either. And you’d be right!

“I’m sure Blunt is just saying he lives in Ibiza for effect,” says Noel.

“I’ve had a house there for 10 years and I haven’t see him once.

“I heard he’s got a nightclub in his house, which is strange, because he doesn’t look like he could take a stiff cocktail.

“But I must say it did make me quite uncomfortable knowing I was there and he was up the road somewhere being sh*t.”

Although he’s pals with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, 31, Noel says the rest of Oasis hate his band.

He admits “I’m not in a band full of Coldplay fans, there’s only me – the others hate them – and U2.

“I think they’re a bit insecure because Coldplay and U2 sell more records than we do. I like them.

“Chris fascinates me, even though he’s proper posh. I don’t think I’d be Gwyneth Paltrow’s cup of tea, though. I swear too much.”

Noel’s legendary rows with his brother have often led to full-scale punch-ups. And they could be heading for another one once Liam reads this.

Noel says: “Liam’s been dyeing his hair for a while and he wears make-up. I’ve seen him wearing eyeliner at parties, looking like a character from A Clock­work Orange.

“And he knows about his moisturisers. I think he’s trying to head off old age, but it’ll catch him.

“Turning 40 doesn’t bother me as I’ve always felt older than I am. I’ve never traded on my good looks like Liam.

“To me, it’s not about the haircut or jawline or belly. I’m known for my songs. I can do that at any age.”

Noel is still recovering after suffering three broken ribs in an onstage attack in Toronto, Canada.

A man ran on stage and shoved him on to an amplifier. But Noel is happy that footage of the incident taken by fans on mobile phones has made him an internet sensation.

“It’s quite exciting being a genuine YouTube superstar! But the painkillers have left me feeling a bit braindead. Sometimes I drift off and I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

He says one bit of footage apparently shows his brother running away, then trying to punch the invader once he is safely in the arms of security.

“Liam got all brave once the security guards turned up,” he says. “I got taken straight to hospital.

“But we’re not going to become one of these American bands with more security guards than musicians on stage. We don’t go in for that Madonna crap.

“We’ve got enough security guards as it is. If they’d been doing their f***ing job properly instead of playing air guitar, I’d be all right.”

Critics say Dig Out Your Soul sees Oasis return to the rocking form they had when they first found fame in 1994.

But don’t expect them to copy Radiohead or Keane and start giving tracks away for free to their fans.

“No one’s getting anything free from me,” says Noel. “If they can find it on the internet and steal it, good luck to them.

“But we’re not going to put it in anybody’s f***ing pocket for free. F*** that."

Source: www.dailystar.co.uk

Russell Brand and Noel Gallagher Viddycast

This week, Russell's celebrity co-host was wrinkly rocker, Noel Gallagher. They were joined by Katy Perry and Sarah Silverman.

Click here to listen again or download the podcast (from Tuesday).

Oasis? They're A Joke, Say The Kaiser Chiefs

The return of the Kaiser Chiefs signals the start of an autumn in which many of the big hitters of British rock are gearing up for major releases. After a year that has been largely dominated by soul divas such as Duffy, Adele and Estelle, the next few weeks will see new albums from Oasis, Keane, Razorlight and Snow Patrol.

Chatting over mugs of tea in the bar of their London hotel, though, a clutch of confident Kaisers appear to welcome the competition.

'We know what a lot of other bands are up to, because we read the papers and we're still interested, as fans,' says Nick, 30. 'But we don't worry about them; we do our own thing.'

'We're also going strong while so many other guitar bands have fallen by the wayside,' adds Ricky, also 30. 'People think that we look on other bands as rivals, but we don't. I listen to groups like Bloc Party and the Arctic Monkeys with great interest. They spur me on, especially the Monkeys. They're a great band, and they make us work harder.'

One group with whom Ricky and his bandmates have had a more fractious relationship are Oasis. Noel Gallagher has made a string of disparaging remarks about the quintet, recently claiming in a Radio 1 interview that he never liked them, despite the fact that he 'did drugs for 18 years'.

The Kaisers themselves dismiss Noel's barbs with typically bluff Yorkshire humour, while pointing out - quite reasonably - that he insults them only to whip up support for his own records.

Guitarist Andrew 'Whitey' White says that the band can brush off Gallagher's jibes as long as they are delivered with a touch of wit.

'He's come out with some pretty uncomplimentary things, but he's also an extremely funny man. He said we were the new Freddie And The Dreamers. So I took a look at Freddie And The Dreamers on YouTube and I have to agree: we are a bit like them.'

'Noel hasn't said anything I'd find offensive,' adds Nick. 'I bumped into him at King's Cross Station recently and it was all fine. It's like a boxing match. We punch each other and then we shake hands and hug at the end. We just don't meet the next night to talk about the fight.'

Read the full interview here.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk