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).