Photos From Liverpool

I have added all my photos from my trip to Liverpool including the Oasis gig, the city and some of the city's top tourist attractions, find them by clicking here.

Did you go to last nights or tonight's gig or future gigs?

Send in your pictures to scyhodotcom@gmail.com and I will add them to tour archive.

Noel Gallagher Interview: Oasis Super Gig Planned For Manchester Next Year?

Tonight, he's a rock and roll star

Noel Gallagher is unquestionably one of the most popular songwriters of his generation. On the opening night of Oasis's latest tour, he spoke to Ed Thomas about the next 18 months he'll spend on the road, Manchester City and... the X Factor?!

In light of the recent unsavouriness which saw him pushed off stage at a festival in Canada, Ed begins his interview with Noel by asking how the incident has affected him.

Answering with trademark candour and wit, Noel explains how it's shaped his feelings towards playing live.

He also touches base on why the tour began in Liverpool rather than Manchester and the influence the city has gone on to have since the band's early days. Then it's on to the perils and pitfalls of life on the road and the X Factor's role in the cultural life of Britain in 2008.

Lastly, Ed asks the question it's irresistible to ask any Manchester City fan - even Noel Gallagher. Just how does it feel to support the richest football club in the world?

Click Here To Watch the Noel Gallagher interview in full

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Noel also spoke of a super gig in Manchester next summer

Oasis Interviewed On The New Album

Source: Via YouTube

‘I’m Not A Pizza Boy’ Says Liam Gallagher

Bizarre admission by Oasis frontman as Noel Gallagher tells Xfm how the band divvy up singing duties.

Noel Gallagher has told John Kennedy and Xfm that things got a little heated when the band were trying to decide who would sing each song. Gallagher and guitarist Gem Archer were chatting on X-posure last night about the making of the band’s seventh album, ‘Dig Out Your Soul’.

In the hour-long interview, Noel was typically candid and forthright with opinions. When describing how the band decided on who would sing each song, the singer said:

“If a song requires a bit more thought about the delivery, then I’ll do it. It’s very difficult to talk Liam through how to deliver something because he looks at you like you’re talking Swahili. If I say ‘Yeah, but the delivery not’s right’, he’ll turn around and go, ‘I’m not a fucking pizza boy, mate. I’m not delivering nothing’.”

Gem Archer continued:

“Dave [Sardy, the band’s producer] once said to him, ‘It sounds great Liam, but do it like you’re telling a story’. Liam says ‘Ok, no worries’. The tape starts rolling and Liam goes ‘Once Upon A time…’.”

Listen to the interview again by clicking here.

Source: www.xfm.co.uk

Oasis Still Rockin’ And Rollin’ With It

It’s a measure of the love the Gallagher brothers have for this city that they made sure they kicked off their homecoming tour in Liverpool.

It’s the closest to Manchester they’ll get on this tour, and the crowd was packed with fans from down the M62, jumping around with the Scouse music lovers.

But Oasis have always had strong links to the city. From their early collaborations with the Real People to friendships with Digsy, The Coral, Howard Eliott Payne and their new support band Sixteen Tonnes, the Gallaghers are well-versed in the Scouse music scene.

And the crowd knew it. From the moment the band appeared on stage they were greeted with a joyous reception.

Launching into the superb Rock’n’Roll Star, Liam reminded us all that he is still the consummate rock icon. Dressed in a black leather jacket and skinny black jeans, he swaggered his way through the hour and 40 minute set with finesse.

Ever the angel to his devil, Noel shone in a white jacket and blue jeans, caressing ever-more beautiful sounds from an array of guitars.

As a nod to the band’s latest addition, Wirral drummer Chris Sharrock, they dedicated the second song to him, a rousing rendition of Lyla.

Liam pointed out: “It’s quite fitting that our first gig back should be in Liverpool. Chris is one of your own. But he supports Tranmere, so we’re not sure what to make of that.”

When the opening bars of Cigarettes And Alcohol rang out, it was all the stewards could do to contain the fans.

The standing crowd allowed the arena to show what it can do – with a packed audience it flexed its muscles and showed itself to be the perfect venue for a rock ’n’ roll show.

Among a set dominated by new material – it may be great, it may not, but the album only came out yesterday, so no-one’s going to sing along – the highlights were Slide Away, What’s The Story Morning Glory, Wonderwall and Supersonic.

For the encore, Don’t Look Back In Anger almost tore the roof off the arena, showcasing Noel’s combination of gritty, rough-edged guitar, and that voice that shoots straight from the heart.

They finished off with yet another nod to their love affair with Liverpool – their cover of I Am The Walrus.

Oasis have been away for too long. But if last night is anything to go by, they were worth the wait.

VIEW a photo gallery from Oasis' ECHO Arena gig by ckicking here.

Source: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Oasis In Liverpool Videos

From Sky News, broadcast 8th October 2008. Clips from the Liverpool Echo Arena gig the night before and a brief interview with Liam before the gig.



A video of my photos from Liverpool, Including a trip to Anfield, The Beatles Story and of course the concert. I will ad them all to the archive ASAP.

Ryan Adams: "Tonight, i'll Be Liam Gallagher

Ryan Adams reveals his Stars In Their Eyes moment with Oasis and Liam's Yoda-like Advice

Ryan Adams has been getting advice from Liam Gallagher after filling in for him on Oasis' US tour.

Speaking to NME, the alt.country man revealed he got to live out every Oasis fan's - and his own - dreams of by fronting the band during a soundcheck.

Adams sang one song when he supported Oasis on their North American tour in August and September, just before Noel Gallagher was pushed over at the Canadian V Festival forcing the band to postpone several dates.

"There's only one kiss I can ever remember having that could outdo that moment," gushed Adams. "[It was] unbelievable like, 'Oh my God!' It was really something else!"

Adams explained that after his "work experience", Liam even had a few words of advice for him.

"Liam's very confident onstage and he noticed I can be shy, so we talked about it one day," recalled Adams. 'I said to Liam that sometimes he just stands there like he's holding his guard. He was like, "I'm embracing it, I'm letting it happen to me and I'm letting it in; I'm holding a moment'. In that very moment Liam gave me a gift he'll never know. I tried it in my own show and I had the best show I've ever had, simply because of what he told me. It's wonderfull to be learning from them, to see them keep evolving."

Source: NME Magazine

Pictures Of The 1st Night Of The Oasis UK Arena Tour

A few of my own pictures from the gig in Liverpool last night, I will add all the others later today to the Dig Out Your Soul Tour Fan Archive.

If you went to this show or any of the other upcoming shows email in your pictures to scyhodotcom@gmail.com and I will add them to the archive.

Oasis Star Returns After Attack

Oasis star Noel Gallagher, who was attacked on stage a month ago, has shaken off his injuries to launch the band's UK tour in Liverpool.

Gallagher suffered three broken and dislodged ribs when a fan pushed him over at a festival in Canada.

A string of gigs had to be cancelled, but he showed no obvious signs of his injuries at the Liverpool Echo Arena.

The gig came as the band found out that their new album Dig Out Your Soul sold 90,000 copies in the UK in one day.

That makes it the fastest-selling album of the year so far, according to Music Week magazine.

At the Liverpool gig, Noel did not mention the incident in September when a fan ran across the stage and pushed him onto his monitor speakers.

He did not appear to be having any trouble, but he did stay on the sidelines for much of the show, leaving brother Liam to swagger and showboat to the raucous crowd, and to sing all but four of the 21 songs.

"I thought he was a bit quiet tonight," said one fan, Dave Booth, of Noel. "I didn't think he sung as much as I thought he would, but he was top class. Can't have no complaints."

The attack was mentioned by boxer Ricky Hatton, who introduced the band.

"Anyone jumps up tonight, they'll have me to deal with," he told the crowd.

'The people's favourites'

The show mixed classic anthems like Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova and Cigarettes and Alcohol with material from the new album.

Judging by the reaction of the 10,000-strong audience, Oasis still have a strong claim to the title of the biggest band in Britain.

"Oasis are back," said Craig Coats, 25, from Durham.

"Oasis have always been the best band and they always will be, they've come up with some new material, they've done a concert and they've pulled it off.

"Oasis will always be our favourites - the people's favourites."

"No matter what anyone says, the new album rocks," said David Jones from Liverpool. "The place was bouncing."

Another fan, Steve Woosey, 40, from Runcorn, described the show as "absolutely fantastic."

"Oasis are just the best - other than Pink Floyd, they're best in the world. It was murder to get tickets, but we got them. Brilliant," he said.

Tickets for their 18 UK dates - their first British shows for 18 months - sold out in less than an hour when they went on sale in August.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Oasis's Liam Gallagher Wants To Make Noel's Attacker "Eat His Own Dick"

While the world waits to see what happens to Pickering, ON's Daniel Sullivan, the man who physically assaulted and broke the ribs of Noel Gallagher onstage at last month's Virgin Festival in Toronto, Oasis front-man Liam Gallagher has said what he would do to the man if it were up to him.

Speaking with Sky News, Liam confessed: "It's not nice when you look down and see your brother on the deck. If it was up to me, I'd have cut his [the attacker's] dick off and made him eat it."

Oasis released their seventh album, Dig Out Your Soul, yesterday (October 7), the same day they began their UK tour in Liverpool. The band are set to make up their postponed London, ON date at the John Labatt Centre on December 15.

Meanwhile, the 47-year-old Daniel Sullivan is due to appear in court on October 24.

Source: www.exclaim.ca

Oasis Kick Off World Tour In Liverpool

Keep checking back into this post for the setlist as it's played:

Ricky Hatton introduces the band on stage

F**king In The Bushes

Rock N Roll Star

Lyla

The Shock Of The Lightning

Cigarettes And Alcohol

Meaning Of Soul

To Be Where There's Life

Waiting For The Rapture

The Masterplan (Full Band, not Acoustic)

Songbird

Slide Away

Morning Glory

Ain't Got Nothing

The Importance Of Being Idle

i'm outta time

My Big Mouth

Wonderwall

Supersonic

Don't Look Back In Anger (Acoustic)

Falling Down

Champagne Supernova

I Am The Walrus

"Goodnight Liverpool"

Club NME To Give Away Rare Oasis Records

Oasis are set to give away a slew of prizes through upcoming Club NME club nights, where their new album 'Dig Out Your Soul' is set to be aired in full.

At each club night fans will be able to win an Oasis mini amp plus rare 12-inch vinyl promos of the band's songs 'The Shock Of The Lightning' and 'Falling Down'.

At the start of each night 'Dig Out Your Soul' will be played in full.

The Oasis playbacks and giveaways will take place at:

Bristol Croft (October 7)
Brighton Coalition (8)
Hitchin Remix (9)
Doncaster Priory (10)
Swansea Sin City (10)
Hull Welly (11)

Source: www.nme.com

Oasis Dig Out Huge First-Day Sales For New Album

Oasis have claimed one of the fastest first-day sales of the year, with their new album Dig Out Your Soul selling nearly 90,000 units during its first day of business.

The Big Brother-issued album up to yesterday was outselling the present number one, Hand Me Down/Columbia act Kings of Leon’s Only By The Night, by nearly five units to one. The Kings of Leon album itself only three weeks ago achieved one of 2008’s best first days when it opened with just under 80,000 sales.

The Oasis retrospective Stop The Clocks, also released by Big Brother through Sony BMG, should make a return to the Top 40 this weekend, moving up from its present chart position of 34.

The new Oasis album is expected to be joined in the Top 10 this coming Sunday by Columbia’s new Bob Dylan set Tell Tell Signs – Bootleg Series Vol 8. The last Bootleg album reached 21 in September 2005, the highest chart placing to date for the series.

Around new entries from Oasis and Dylan, the current chart is set to shuffle around with last Sunday’s big new entries at two and three, 19/RCA act Will Young’s Let It Go and Polydor act James Morrison’s Songs For You Truths For Me, both likely to move down a place when the new chart is unveiled.


Slam Dunk Records signings You Me At Six are challenging for a Top 20 debut, while the chart will also welcome in a new entry from The Clash, The Sony BMG-issued Live At Shea Stadium, and a Chicane retrospective, which is released through independent Modena.

While they are almost certainties to top the albums chart, Oasis on singles can probably say goodbye to their attempt to head the chart with The Shock Of The Lightning, which debuted at three on Sunday but is now slipping down. It continues to be outsold by the current number one, LaFace/RCA act Pink’s So What, which still leads the market this week, and the Kings of Leon hit Six On Fire, but Oasis have now been overtaken by Island act Sugababes’ Girls.

A&M/Polydor signings The Courteeners are in a two-way battle with B Unique/Polydor’s Kaiser Chiefs for highest new entry honours, although both their new tracks – That Kiss and Never Miss A Beat – are almost certainties for Top 10 placings.

Hard2Beat’s Platnum’s latest single Love Shy (Thinking About You) has so far gained around 70% in sales from last week following its physical debut on Monday. Meanwhile, new entry activity within the Top 40 this coming weekend should include Relentless/Virgin’s Cage The Elephant and Fiction/Polydor’s Snow Patrol.

Source: www.musicweek.com

Gallagher Brothers Wade Into Downloads Row

Rocker Liam Gallagher has hit out at music-lovers who download albums for free, insisting he does not want them as fans.

The Oasis frontman says the idea of giving away records on the internet "doesn't sit right with me" because it costs bands money to record.

And his brother Noel also waded into the row by comparing music company executives to "Wall Street idiots" who drive sports cars in the middle of the credit crunch.
Singer Liam tells USA Today newspaper, "This is my living. It costs me to make it, and it's going to cost you to buy it. If they won't buy it, I don't want them as our fans." Record company bosses estimate that illegal downloads cost the industry 25 per cent of profits.

But guitarist Noel insists executives are wrong to complain, because the lost money would only have been frittered away.
He adds: "That's what was spent on champagne and limos. It's good when record companies panic. They need to streamline. Just like these big banks going under, and those Wall Street idiots driving Ferraris. What about people who had a hurricane rip apart their community? That's real pressure, my friend."

Source: www.pr-inside.com

Oasis Reveal Proms Show Secrets

Oasis have explained why they are drafting in a choir for their forthcoming BBC Electric Proms show.

Noel Gallagher said the band decided to join forces with the Crouch End Festival Chorus because the "BBC like to do something special" for the event.

The band had the option to team up with Kasabian, but decided to work with a choir instead.

The Manchester quintet are due to close the five day festival at the London Roundhouse on 26 October.

Explaining his reasons for picking the choir Noel said: "Instead of wheeling Tom (Meighan) and Serge (Pizzorno) onstage and going through some Rolling Stones tunes, I said, 'When the crowd sing when I'm singing the big songs, you can never hear yourself sing anyway so why not take that and put that onstage?'.

"We thought let's not have a gospel choir dressed in black doing that dance that they do. Just have an everyman choir of normal everyday people in their own clothes that back us."

He also revealed that the band have axed Live Forever from the set of their UK tour, which kicks off at the Liverpool Echo Arena on Tuesday.

Noel Gallagher said: "Of course there's going to be a massive backlash. But if we were to play every song the fans demanded we'd be like Bruce Springsteen playing over three and a half hours."

He went on: "When I put the set together it was only our new drummer Chris (Sharrock) that noticed it.

"He said, 'Are we not going to do Live Forever?'. I was like, 'Do you know what? I hadn't even noticed'.

"I was like, 'Shall we do Live Forever?' and everyone was like 'I don't know. Do you miss it? I don't miss it'.

"One thing that annoys me about the live version of that is Liam refuses to sing the falsetto so it's quite ludicrous that we've got away with that for 10 years. Anyway all the fans can go and play it afterwards."

Despite leaving the famous track off, which is widely regarded as one of the 'greatest indie anthems' ever, Noel did confirm that the band would be playing a song from Be Here Now for the first time since the album's tour in 1997.

The guitarist also said that he was recovering well after he was injured by a fan at the V Festival in Canada last month.

He said: "I'm totally on the mend. I've been shown by my doctor how to do these funny little wiggles.

"It's called the camel and the cat where you get on all fours and you arch your back up.

"It's funny the osteopath was going, 'This one is called the camel and this one is called the cat'. I thought, 'I might sample that'.

"Seriously though, I can't wait. Liverpool will be the first night of the British tour and it'll be quite exciting."

Noel Gallagher was speaking to Radio 1's Zane Lowe.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Oasis UK Arena Tour Starts Today In Liverpool

Oasis' UK Arena tour kicks off at the Echo Arena in Liverpool tonight for the first two nights of the anticipated UK tour.

The tour then moves on to Sheffield, Birmingham, London, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Belfast, Aberdeen & Glasgow.

I'm going to the show tonight so I have scheduled in a post for 9PM (UK) tonight, I will edit the post and add the set list live from the show via my phone.

Noel told Zane Lowe last night that there will be one song from Be Here Now but no Live Forever, and it will be their longest ever set list.

We’re Still Better Than Oasis

Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson is unrepentant about kicking off a row with Oasis by saying his band were better.

He told me: “I really opened a can of worms when I started talking about Oasis.

“It’s like a game of tennis now and it’s showing no signs of stopping. But at least we’re selling some records.”

Ricky reckons the first two Oasis albums were top-notch but things have gone a bit downhill for Noel and the lads.

I can’t agree but hats off to him for his honesty.

Sorce: www.thesun.co.uk

Is Oasis about to 'Dig Out' another breakthrough?

A dozen years ago, a Rolling Stone cover trumpeted "Oasis have conquered America, and they won't shut up about it."

The British band has lost some U.S. ground since 1995's (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, but they're still mouthing off.

REVIEW: 'Dig Out Your Soul' is a delight

That breakthrough album sold 3.9 million copies, seven times the combined U.S. sales of the group's last three studio albums. The dip is surprising because Oasis is the best rock band on the planet, its singer says.

"I don't say that for the sake of saying it," Liam Gallagher says. "There are other good bands. They're not as good as Oasis."

If seventh effort Dig Out Your Soul, released today, doesn't light up the charts, Oasis will compensate with receipts from a U.S. tour starting Dec. 3 in Oakland.

"It's funny that it seems Oasis is under the radar in the U.S., since they're one of the very few British rock bands able to fill arenas here," says Spin editor Doug Brod. "Oasis will never sell millions of records like they once did, but then very few artists will."

Slumping CD sales inspire artists to test unconventional distribution, yet Oasis, proudly old-school in its artistic approach, is leery. The band did stream Dig on its MySpace page last week, and Liam says he'd consider marketing innovations "as long as it's not selling out, and we don't look like a bunch of desperados."

But the notion of giving away music "doesn't sit right with me," he says, branding Radiohead's tip-jar sale of its In Rainbows download a publicity stunt. "This is my living. It costs me to make it, and it's going to cost you to buy it. If they won't buy it, I don't want them as our fans."

His guitarist brother, Noel, isn't distressed by piracy losses, which he figures siphon 25% off industry profits.

"That's what was spent on Champagne and limos," he says. "It's good when record companies panic. They need to streamline. Just like these big banks going under, and those Wall Street idiots driving Ferraris. What about people who had a hurricane rip apart their community? That's real pressure, my friend."

He prefers to leave business decisions to his manager.

"If he told me to sign with Timbuktu, I'd do it," says Noel, recalling recent business meetings "so mind-numbingly boring that you'd want to kill yourself. I look after choruses. That's my job."

A month ago, Oasis began whipping up excitement with single The Shock of the Lightning and a string of Canadian dates. And suddenly, a different bolt.

"I remember singing the chorus of Morning Glory and then I was in a heap on the floor," says Noel, who'd been assaulted onstage during a Sept. 7 concert in Toronto. "I can't remember seeing the guy. I had a bad pain on the left side of my chest. I couldn't stand up. I thought I'd been stabbed."

Initially treated locally for severely bruised ribs, Noel was diagnosed in London with broken ribs. The tour was halted, and it resumes tonight in Liverpool.

"I'm a bit down in the dumps and pretty spaced out on painkillers," he says. "Two ribs broke at the spine, so it's almost like a broken back. They can't manipulate them into place until they've healed. Another four weeks. It's taken the wind out of my sails."

The attack "freaked me out," says Liam, who attempted to tackle the assailant. He's less sympathetic now. "It could have been a lot worse. He'll live. It's mostly in his head now."

The Gallagher brothers' onstage harmony and offstage bickering have filled England's music press since Definitely Maybe arrived in 1994.

"Liam still takes the rivalry thing a bit seriously," says Noel, 41. "It's real with him. I do tend to annoy him a great deal. I don't mind that. When we get off tour, the last thing I want is to have dinner with Liam, after having dinner with him 365 nights. I've got another life outside Oasis. We're not 21 anymore. We're not The Monkees."

They're in rare accord on this.

"We haven't got a relationship, only musically," says Liam, 36. "I think he's a great musician. He thinks I'm a great singer. Do people want us to hold hands and walk in the park and have little coffees?"

The pair also share a high regard for their seventh studio album, which is earning critical raves, including "the most begrudging positive review I've seen in my life, from a magazine (The Observer) that notoriously despises Oasis," Noel points out.

Though U.S. sales have eroded, the band has maintained a solid reputation for Beatlesque guitar pop and Who-sized hooks and defiance, newly cemented by Dig's melodicism and dense psychedelia.

Oasis "may not have the current artistic cred of, say, Radiohead, but you can't underestimate their appeal as a classic-rock act," Brod says. "Their first two albums are masterpieces and they've recorded songs, such as Live Forever and Wonderwall, that are now part of the rock canon. What shocked me the last time I saw them — headlining Madison Square Garden a couple of years ago — was that the crowd was full of college students who were (kids) during the band's heyday."

An atheist, Noel is at a loss to explain Dig's multiple religious references.

"I don't believe any of the stories in the Bible, but I do like the imagery," he says. "I wish there were people with wings living in the clouds. But I don't see the hand of God anywhere."

Noel, who wrote six of Dig's 11 songs and is sitting on another 30 demos and finished tracks, says he's eager to release a solo album, provided Liam and guitarists Gem Archer and Andy Bell also pursue outside projects. (The band's fifth member, drummer Chris Sharrock, replaced Zak Starkey in May.)

"The others would have to agree, and that's not going to happen," he says. "They cry, you see."

Liam counters: "Let him do one. He's a big boy. It's not in my blood. I want to be in a band. I don't aspire to be a Robbie Williams."

Nor does he compete with Noel's songwriting output. "I write if nothing's on TV," says Liam, who contributed I'm Outta Time, Ain't Got Nothin' and Soldier On to Dig. "I get my kicks singing."

Besides, free time has grown scarce in both households now that parental duties encroach on their rock 'n' roll lifestyles. Liam rises at 6 a.m. for a run before taking his kids to school.

"There are other things in my life besides Oasis, like that big pile of ironing," he says. "But once I'm on that stage, let's go, man. Let's ram that music down people's throats. I haven't changed a bit."

Being a dad "has changed my life outside of the band profoundly," Noel says. "It hasn't changed my work in any way. But when I'm bored in a hotel, I get my videophone out and look at my children and wish I was playing cops and robbers with them.

"I used to listen to music all day every day in my formative years. That time goes out the window. Show me someone who listens to Pink Floyd, I'll show you someone who doesn't have kids."

Though hardly homebody teetotalers, the Gallaghers have calmed down since their feral '90s, when Noel wrote the band's early albums under the influence of cocaine.

"Our lives were very boring," Liam says. "Obviously, if you take drugs to make music, you're an idiot."

These days, the two make more headlines spewing toxins than ingesting them. Noel in particular infamously blasts peers, most recently James Blunt, Mark Ronson, Keane, Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs, whom he dubbed "fat idiots."

"I've said worse and lived to tell the tale," he says.

He has been especially vocal lately about troubled Rehab singer Amy Winehouse.

"She's probably dying as we speak," he says. "That girl is a mess, and the people around her are vampires. Solo artists are easy prey. When we were at the height of our drug problem, we had each other to say 'It's gone too far.' She has no one."

Before anyone can accuse him of sympathy, he cracks, "I was never a fan, to be honest."

Source: www.usatoday.com

Noel Gallagher Interview With Zane Lowe

Noel Gallagher was interviewed by Zane Lowe tonight show on BBC Radio 1.

Click here to listen to the interview, it starts a hour into the show.

Tune in tommorow between 7-9PM (UK) for a exclusive interview with Liam Gallagher.

Oasis' Liam Gallagher On New Album: 'It Could Be Our Best

It should come as no surprise to Oasis fans that the British band's latest album - out Oct. 7 - sounds a whole lot like their past albums.

Liam Gallagher's nasally whine is there, as are the band's signature rock 'n' roll melodies and their not-so-subtle nods to the Beatles. As a result, Dig Out Your Soul is sure to be a welcome addition to the collection of any die-hard Oasis fan - of which there are plenty here in Canada, as evidenced by the thousands who turned up for the band's recent Canadian dates.

We sat down with Liam Gallagher at the end of August, a few hours before the band's show at GM Place, to talk about the new album and Oasis's place in the rock world.

Here are some excerpts from that conversation:

Q. How did it feel last night to play your first North American concert in years?

A. The crowds were great. You know what the first gig is like. You're jet-lagged and all that nonsense and it was a'right. It wasn't our best but we'll get there. People seemed to like it. I'll say it, we were a bit nervous with the new songs and stuff, to be quite honest. I was anyway. But there were bits of genius in there.

Q. Such as?

A. I don't know. We've done some good versions of songs.

Q. And the new album?

A. It's a'right.

Q. How does it rank for you among other Oasis albums?

A. It's the freshest one to date. So there are some good songs on there. Oasis is a different band from what it was 10 years ago and people got to realize that and I've got to realize that, and we're writing a different kind of music, but we're still writing good songs, I think. . . . It's good, man. I think it's a great record. It could be our best.

Q. You say Oasis is a different band. How so?

A. We're different people in the band, you know what I mean? We're getting older, you know what I mean? Musically, we're different. I think we're better.

Q. How?

A. Better technically, better at everything. I think we're a better band, man. Personally, we're better. Everything. Yeah man.

Q. You had a reputation for being very hot-headed. Have you cooled off?

A. It depends on the situation. If there's someone taking the f**king piss then I can go off, man. But if people are being cool, then I'm one of the sweetest guys in the world. Like I say, it depends on the situation. But I've chilled out a bit. I don't stay out drinking and doing all that nonsense any more because you can't and I don't want to. I don't have the energy for it.

Q. The Verve has a new album out. Between you and them, do you foresee a bit of a Britpop revival?

A. I hope not. I hated it the first time. It was rubbish. I don't like Britpop. That was the press getting smart and labelling ya. But I don't think the Verve are Britpop. I think Blur were Britpop and Supergrass were Britpop and all them, Menswear and bands like that . . . I think we were writing more deeper and special music than 'Girls who dig boys who dig girls.' You know what I mean? That kind of thing. No. I don't think we were Britpop.

Q. The title of the new album is Dig Out Your Soul. Where does that come from?

A. It comes from a lyric on [guitarist] Gem [Archer]'s song. And Noel was messing with a couple of titles - you'll have to ask him about 'em - but nothing seemed to stick. This one is sort of, you know, psychedlic and all that, you know, and you got to try hard man, to dig out your soul. Come on man, let's get in there, see what's there.

Q. How's the state of your soul?

A. My soul is just, absolutely, words can't describe it, man. And I'd hate to say the wrong words, but my soul is always magical, beautiful, challenging.

Q. How do you fuel it?

A. How do I feel it? My soul?

Q. No. How do you fuel it? Keep it going?

A. By not being a dick, man. And being cool, man. And being nice to people around you that you love and stuff like that. And by being a good person. Trying to be a good person. I am a good person.

Q. What are you hoping from this new album?

A. It's a magical album in my head and nobody can take that away from me regardless of whether it sells two copies, or two million copies or 20 million copies. It's already got its own life in my head. I'm very proud of it. I'm proud to be in a band with these guys and I hope they feel the same way. I'ts amazing, as far as I'm concerned. It'd be nice if people like it. I like it. But if you don't like it you don't like it. You can't force people to like your music.

Q. Do you have a favourite song on the album?

A. I like it all, man. I really like it all. Like it all. I mean [the songs I wrote] are pretty special and that, it's a personal thing. But I like 'em all man."

Source: www.vancouversun.com