Liam Gallagher On Ray Davies, Noel, Kasabian, Paul Weller And More

The interviewer from Q told Liam Gallagher that Ray Davies from 'The Kinks' walked out of them at the 'Cafe Rouge' in London were this part of the interview is taking place

Liam "I see Ray Davies around sometimes, sometimes he says hello, sometimes he blanks me, I don't mind being blanked by Ray Davies."

Liam Gallagher puts the warmth his comeback received down to two main things: being out of the limelight for four years and returning with a strong collection of songs.

On working with songwriters and quotes he's interpreted as digs from Paul Weller and Serge Pizzorno as digs. 

Liam: "I've been singing other people's lyrics my whole life and I own them. Once I get hold of them, I make them something else, like Elvis."

Liam thinks Noel, Weller and Kasabian are unnerved by him invading their space and taking money off their plate.

He said "There's been a smoke bomb gone off, and everyone's been blinded by what's gone down and the smoke's cleared and yours fucking truly is in the middle going, 'Come on, you cunts.'

At the day after the Q Interview when asked if Liam Gallagher's tweet about a truce with Noel was true.

His Girlfriend Debbie Gwyther is quoted by Q via email saying "It was Liam having too many Guinnesses, I'm holding you* responsible for the mayhem it caused".

*You as in the reporter for Q as they had been drinking for seven hours after Liam Gallagher had suggested a quick one.

The Kinks Ray Davies Urges Liam Gallagher To Patch Things Up With Noel

The Kinks star Ray Davies has urged Liam Gallagher to patch things up with his brother Noel.

The Come Dancing singer, who is a neighbour of the former Oasis frontman in North London, has famously feuded with his own sibling and ex-bandmate Dave for years, and he doesn't want the Gallaghers' rivalry to fester any longer.

Liam and Noel haven't been on speaking terms since the guitarist quit the group during a tour in 2009.

The Live Forever singer tells Q Magazine, "He (Davies) told me to patch it up with my brother. I said, 'I will if you do!'"

In the rare interview, Gallagher reveals he also lives close to George Michael, who once sent him flowers, and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, adding, "I got told off for throwing stones at his windows p**sed-up (drunk), asking him to chuck down some bacon rolls."

And Liam tells the publication he has embarked on a new fitness regime, running seven miles every day.

"(I'm) leaving about 5am unless I've been out on the sauce (drinking), then I'm getting in at 5am," he smiles.

The singer concludes the interview by insisting Oasis will reform one day.

"I believe Oasis will sail again and it'll be glorious," he says. "If it's really about the fans, Noel, let's do it - because they want it. One year. Tour for a year. We'd smash it. My bags are still packed from my last tour, so I'm ready."

Noel has previously refused any and all attempts to reform Oasis.

Source: www.tv3.ie

Noel Gallagher On The Art Of Songwriting

The following piece is an extract from the superb book Isle of Noises by Daniel Rachel, a series of in-depth interviews with British musicians about their approach to songwriting. This is just the first half of the interview with Noel and the rest of it is just as good. You can click through and buy the book at the end of the article. It also features interviews with John Lydon, Mick Jones, Madness, Paul Weller, Johnny Marr, Jarvis Cocker, Pet Shop Boys, Laura Marling, Ray Davies, Squeeze, Joan Armatrading and many more. – James Brown

You were once asked but refused to answer this question. Do you recognize the romantic writer in yourself?
I remember that question. Yes, I am romantic. My missus would sit and scoff at this. I can only be romantic when I’m writing songs. I’ve written lots of love songs. I’m fucking shit at remembering birthdays and all that malarkey, buying cards and flowers: absolutely rubbish.

You recognize beauty in simple things, like the weather.

Oh yeah, for five years I was obsessed with the rain. It was raining a lot.

Or shining.

Well, there was sunshine after the rain. Somebody pointed that out to me at the end of the Nineties and said, ‘It’s been raining a lot in your music for the last five years.’ It’s like, ‘I’m from Manchester. It rains. I’m from up north.’

Is it a default when you’re stuck for ideas: rain, shine?

I’m not one of the world’s great thinkers. Damon Albarn said this once in an interview: he can ‘see four black dudes playing cards in a pub in Notting Hill and write a symphony about it’. I could see the same four black dudes and to me it’s just four black dudes playing cards. It’s just how you perceive things in life. I’m not a great reader of books; I’m not a great art lover. What I know is street life and street talk and football and drugs. I was probably the only songwriter in the entire world that hasn’t written a song about 9/11.

It’s unusual for you to write very personally. Did having an abusive father contribute to your reluctance to reveal yourself in song?

All the songs that I like, they’re not written by songwriters pulling the scabs off themselves. All John Lennon’s shit about his mother; I’m not interested in it, doesn’t mean anything to me. All these songs about personal torment, how can it? How can ‘Mother’ mean anything to anybody apart from John Lennon? It can’t, because he’s singing it about his mother, not mine. That’s just my perception of it. It’s never come out in my music ’cause (a) it’s nobody’s fucking business; and (b) it doesn’t make for great music. For instance, ‘Waterloo Sunset’; the sun setting at Waterloo Station belongs to everybody. The abusive father I had belongs to me. I really wouldn’t want to share that or put it into a song. Why waste that three minutes when you could be writing about the sun coming up in the morning?

Read the rest at Sabotagetimes

Check out the current collection from Pretty Green's AW13 collection here.

Noel Gallagher Reveals How He Penned His Songs

You Really Got Me gave Ray Davies the flu and Jarvis Cocker would leave himself voicemails when he had ideas. Britain's finest musicians reveal how they penned the world's best hits.

Noel Gallagher

Biggest hit Don’t Look Back In Anger (Oasis), March 1996 – No 1; 24 weeks in chart

Biggest Album Definitely Maybe, September 1994 – No 1; 177 weeks in chart

I once said that I wrote songs ‘for the man who buys the Daily Mail and 20 Bensons every day’. And I meant that at the time. I’d consider myself to be just an average man in the street who’s been blessed with a talent to write songs. I don’t write songs for the Observer or The Guardian, or for the NME or Mojo. I’m not bothered about pushing the envelope. I wanted everyone to like Oasis, not just some people in Oxford, a few people in Hull and a couple of people in Glasgow.

I learned long ago not to go looking for songs. If it comes, it comes; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m not standing on the runway waiting for the aliens to appear going, ‘Come on.’ It just never happens, does it?

I only listen to music from, or derived from, the 1960s. I’m not interested in jazz or hip-hop or whatever’s going round at the minute; indie rubbish. I don’t listen to avant-garde landscapes and think, ‘I could do that.’ I’m not a fan of Brian Eno. It’s Ray Davies, John Lennon and Pete Townshend for me.

All that Definitely Maybe, Morning Glory, Be Here Now stuff was written while I was still on the dole. I had the chords, the arrangements, the melodies; just bits of lyrics to fill in. You start off writing songs, you’re not sure who’s going to hear them. Then when I tried to write the next batch, I was like, ‘We’ve 20 million fans.’ Then your records become eagerly anticipated and you start going, ‘Umm, I might go to the pub today.’
If you wrote Digsy’s Dinner (from Definitely Maybe) now, The Guardian or the music papers would destroy you. It’s a song about going to someone’s house for lasagne – you only write songs like that when you’re free of inhibitions.

It’s not natural for me to say to my missus, ‘I’m going to the country to write an album.’ That was Be Here Now. I had all the music but not the words. We were starting in two weeks, so I went to some Caribbean island and I thought I’d do it all in two weeks. I listen to those words now and I just cringe. I was heavily into drugs at that point and I just didn’t give a damn.

All the songs I like, they’re not written by songwriters pulling scabs off themselves. I’m not interested in all of John Lennon’s stuff about his mother, because it doesn’t mean anything to me. How can Mother mean anything to anybody apart from John Lennon? It can’t, because he’s singing it about his mother, not mine. The abusive father I had belongs to me. And I wouldn’t want to share any of that or to put it into a song.
‘Slowly walking down the hall’ (from Champagne Supernova) is from either Chigley or Trumpton. Which is the one with the train?

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Liam Gallagher On Brother Noel, Ray Davies, Roger Daltrey, Paul McCartney And More

Liam Gallagher interview excerpt from NME magazine

NME: One thing that doesn't make the papers so much now Is the rift with Noel - he doesn't seem to be fueling it any more. He told NME that he likes your new stuff…
 
Liam: "Good, It's good music. But he'll say anything to you. Deep down he probably hates it, but he's never gonna tell you the truth. He just walks around in wolf's clothes, man. I wear my heart on my sleeve. Or maybe he's mellow and it's just me."

 He won an Ivor last week.

 "Bet he's happy with that, isn't he?"

 And you?

"I don't give a fuck what awards he gets. Ivor Novello Award? What is it?"
 
Oasis won two of them. It's the industry award.

 "I Don't want anything to do with that shit"

He got it for his song collection. What would that mean to you, to be recognised as a songwriter?

"I've got a lot to learn about song writing, but I'm learning fucking fast man, believe you me. I just want people to dig my songs, I don't need an award for it."
 
Noel seems to have been welcomed into rock's elder statesmen club, that sort of Ray Davies, Roger Daltrey and Paul McCartney world, where you haven't.

"Yeah, poor bastard. He wears it well, all that gear. He's a civilised kind of chap. He doesn't want to know about that rock'n'roll stuff any more "

Source: NME Magazine

Noel Gallagher Would Never "Stoop" To Co-Write A Song With Another Artist

The former Oasis star and High Flying Birds frontman - who was awarded an Ivor Novello award recognising his outstanding song collection - admitted he didn't always find songwriting easy.

Noel said: "It can be frustrating. I start a lot of songs and finish just about enough to make an album every now and again. So it can be frustrating. The words for me are frustrating.

"But I don't think I'd ever stoop to being that much of a scoundrel to be a co-writer with anyone. I hate that. They should write their own songs."

Noel was given a standing ovation as he accepted his award and thanked "everyone who has ever played on one of my songs".

And dedicating the award award to his wife Sarah, he described a recent conversation they had in which he said he wanted to turn the garage of their new home into a "creative space" to write songs.

"And she said to me 'I've never seen you writing songs'."

Holding the trophy he said: "If any more proof were needed."

He accepted the award from Kinks star Ray Davies, who joked: "I don't know why I'm here. I haven't done anything to help this man's career at all."

Source: www.expressandstar.com

Noel Gallagher On Becoming A Frontman: 'People F**king Love Me'

After walking away from Oasis in 2009, Noel Gallagher, the band's chief songwriter, took a few years off before resurfacing in Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. The band's self-titled debut was a hit in the UK, going platinum and becoming one of the best-selling records of 2011. Though the record hasn't fared quite as well stateside, the band is currently on a co-headlining tour with fellow Brits Snow Patrol, which plays the WaMu Theater on Oct. 24th. For the latest edition of Tell Me About That Album, we caught up with Gallagher, who phoned us from Nottingham, England, "a place where Robin Hood is alleged to be from," he said. "And Shakespeare." We spoke about his solo debut, the perils of running your own label and why Bjork's music doesn't interest him.

The band's name is taken from a Jefferson Airplane song? Is there something about that particular song that speaks to you or was a just a cool-sounding name? It's not originally a song by Jefferson Airplane, it's a song by a lady called Judy Henske, and I believe she might be an American. It was recorded in 1964 and it's called "High Flying Birds." But there is a version of it on Jefferson Airplane's first album, which I was flipping through one night and I just thought it was a really cool name. When I got my management people to do a search on it I was flabbergasted that it had never been used in the history of all rock. And I patted myself on the back for being a genius and here we are.

So that was your first choice? I could have gone out under my name. One day I was loading the dishwasher and listening to the radio and it was either "Man of the World" or "Things Are Not So Bad" by Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and I remember thinking, "Wouldn't it be cool if I was called Noel Gallagher's something?" Then a few months later, the Jefferson Airplane thing, and I, like a genius, put them together. I looked it at and thought, "Fucking hell, that might be the coolest name in the history of rock."

Speaking of geniuses, you won this year's Godlike Genius award from NME. For us Yanks, what does that mean? You don't win it, you've got to have been going for about 20 years. It's like a lifetime achievement award in the eyes of the NME. For instance, other Godlike Genii happen to be Paul McCartney, U2, Paul Weller.

Do they do a tear-inducing montage or something when they present it to you? They do a film, which is quite nerve-racking, because you don't get to see it before they do it. And they do it in a theater full of people. Luckily for me, I was really blown away. The people talking about me were Ray Davies, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, they had quotes from Sir George Martin. I was like, "Fuck, that's like my life in music right there!"

I thought they reserved those honors for musicians in their twilight years. Me too. I might be the youngest person ever to receive it.

The songs on your debut feel well edited, in that they're short, catchy and nothing carries on for too long. What's the secret to that? Is being a good editor a skill you've always had or something you've had to learn? I don't think it's anything that I've learned. The more drugs I took, the longer the songs got. They reached their crescendo on Be Here Now, where every song is seven and a half minutes long. I'd lost the knack of editing. I'm always one for trying to make songs shorter anyway. I'll be the first to say, "We don't need to say that bit twice." Most of the best songs are under three and half minutes long. If you can get a song in under three and a half minutes, you're doing pretty well. It really depends on the song itself. Some songs benefit from a bit of length. Like the first track, "Everybody's on the Run" benefits from a bit in the middle where it all goes quiet. But a song like "What a Life" for instance, there's no fat on that song. I guess it's a skill and craft as well.

You've said that you felt musically stunted by Oasis at points. Are there things on the High Flying Birds album that you'd never have been able to get away with? For the record, I never felt stunted musically. We were always allowed to do whatever we wanted to but you fall into a trap of stadium rock.

The thing I'm referring to is a quote from you about a time that you suggested to your brother that you add and horn part to a song or something, which caused him to throw a tantrum. I was surmising a hypothetical situation about a brass section that he would have gone fucking ballistic. I remember him saying to me once about a song we were finishing up in the studio, "It's a bit quirky, isn't it?" And I went, "What's wrong with that?" And he went, "I fucking hate quirky."

Some bands seem to decide that they want to challenge their audience and push themselves forward each time out. Was there ever the thought of having your first solo record be drastically different-sounding from Oasis? I think maybe other bands are self-indulgent and scared of not having success. It's almost like the guy who can never pull a woman because he thinks they're too beautiful so he insults them and gets it out of the way straight up. I think people that make challenging music are given too much credibility. Write a fucking song that means something to someone, never mind leaving yourself chewing a carrot at 4 o'clock in the morning.

Is that to say that there aren't any bands that you enjoy that challenge themselves by pushing their sound forward? Do you know what the enemy of music is? Interesting. Elvis wasn't interesting. The Sex Pistols weren't interesting. The Beatles weren't interesting. They had something that was fucking real and dealt with emotion. Do you know who's interesting? Bjork. Interesting is fucking ridiculous. It annoys me.

I know it was a bit of an adjustment moving from guitar player to frontman but are you feeling more comfortable with it at this point? I'd rehearsed enough that when I did the first gig I knew I could be cool with it. I knew I could carry it, not in a Mick Jagger sense, but I knew I could sing all those songs in a row and it not freak me out. The only last question was what is the audience going to think of it?

Was it just your performance that made you nervous, not all the banter or having to keep the show moving? Yeah, yeah, of course, because they'd only ever seen me at these huge stadium gigs singing two songs here or three songs there. It was more like, what are they going to think when I'm up there for nearly two hours? "Oh right, well fucking hell, actually he's better off being a side man." It wasn't a chosen path for me. I left the band I was in and thought I didn't want to be in another band. I'd already been in a band, what do I want to be in another fucking band for? Lucky for me, people fucking love me.

I read that the album cover photo was snapped with a Polaroid at a Beverly Hills gas station and you liked it because you thought it looked like you were standing beneath some kind of high-flying bird. Was that just a happy accident? Were there other ideas for the cover? I toyed with not being on the cover and everyone was like, "Yeah, you might want to be on the cover." And I was like, "Really, why do I have to be on the cover? My name's on the fucking cover?" And they were like, "That's what you do when you're not a band, you be on the fucking cover." I'm kind of resigned to doing photo shoots like that now. I love the cover, I think it's fucking great.

Have you earned the ability to have the final say in what the product looks and sounds like? I don't have a record company. I front all this myself. I'm an independent artist so I license my records to the music industry now. When I left Oasis I was out of a record deal - and a publishing deal as a matter of fact - so I don't do any of that shit anymore. I'm just me. It was a bit of a gamble trying to fund it all because it cost me a few million to get it off the ground, but I'd been on a major label for 20 years and I thought, "Fuck it, I don't want people taking me to dinner in restaurants telling me what I should be fucking doing." Fuck that. What you see from this day forward, I'm in charge of everything. Every single thing is paid for by me and it stands and falls by all my decisions.

I was talking to a band recently who said they'd stopped putting out their own records because they were spending too much time deciding on the cardstock for the CD inserts, for example. Have you found a way to not get mired in the minutiae of it all? I don't think it works for bands because bands end up having band meetings that last for seven hours talking about the weight of cardboard. This is me so I know what I want. I'm very fucking decisive. I know how long I want to spend in the studio, I know who I want to do it with, I know who I want to play with. I'm not an idiot. I go in there and I don't fuck around. I don't worry about how round the CD is going to be.

Do you remember the first time you played Seattle? Yes, it was our very first U.S. gig I believe. I've always liked Seattle. They've got good guitar shops. It's where Jimi Hendrix is from, what's not to like? We went there when the grunge thing was quite big. You know, scruffy people with holes in their clothes.

What is the setlist like on this tour? Will you play solo stuff and the Oasis hits too? I play all of the new record but one track and I play like four of five B-sides and I play some Oasis songs.

You turn down a lot of opportunities, from the Olympics to X Factor judging, which has to be admired given most artists' penchant for publicity above all else. Do you simply go with your gut when making those kinds of decisions? It literally just depends on what I feel like at the time but it's a gut reaction. It's just one of those things. The Olympics was a great thing for our country. It was a truly special two weeks and it was fantastic but in the end, they wanted me to mime and I didn't want to mime. I thought, "Fuck that, I'm not miming." And then X Factor, I don't want to be a television personality. I don't want that. I don't need that in my life. I'd rather have Saturday nights off to be honest.

Source: www.seattleweekly.com

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds release International Magic Live At The O2 DVD through Sour Mash Records on October 15.

They will embark on a number European dates before they tour the US and Canada alongside Snow Patrol and Jake Bugg.

 For details on the above and more click here.

Noel Gallagher Earns Godlike Status At NME Awards

Former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher was declared a godlike genius at the NME Awards on Wednesday night.

The magazine's editor, Krissi Murison, hailed him as "a man who has written more anthems in the last two decades than anyone else".

Taking to the stage at Brixton Academy in south London to collect his honour, the rock star behind a string of hits including Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger paid tribute to his fans.

He said: "To all the people up there who bothered to buy a ticket, a CD or a T-shirt – because that's what fucking counts, the merchandise – thank you."

Singer Paul Weller, Kinks frontman Ray Davies and comic Russell Brand paid homage to the Mancunian songwriter, with Brand calling him "a hero to a generation".

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Kinks Legend 'Ray Davies' Is Excited By Beady Eye

Taken from an interview from rollingstone.com with Ray Davies, click here to read the full interview.

What new band are you most excited about?Well, I like Beady Eye — Liam Gallagher's new band. He knows how to make records that sound exciting.

Backstage Interview With Noel Gallagher And Ray Davies

Noel Gallagher and GQ's Outstanding Achievement winner Ray Davies give us a flavour of the awards do.

Noel Gallagher Shock: 'Damon Award Deserved

It's not often you hear a compliment for Damon Albarn from Noel Gallagher.

Time has moved on from the Britpop nonsense of the late Nineties but the rival songwriters are still as different as bitter and beaujolais.

But both the lyrics giants of the UK music scene were under the same glass roof last night for the GQ Men Of The Year Awards at The Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden.

And Noel was full of praise for Gorillaz' victory in the Best Band category. Sort of.

Noel said: "Gorillaz definitely deserve some kind of award - if only for having 104 people on stage at Glastonbury. What a f***** rider that must've been to organise - more complicated than a Big Brother shopping list!"

But it wasn't just the Oasis lord's old Blur rival brightening up his night. The die-hard Man City fan had the pleasure of watching Man United hero Ryan Giggs pick up the Sportsman Of The Year Award.

And in true Gallagher fashion, he had a view on that decision too.

He added: "Giggsy-wiggsy? Sportsman Of The Year? When you consider the gymnastics Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole and little Peter Crouch have been getting up to lately, that award was a bit of a sham."

Noel was at the bash to present Kinks legend Ray Davies with the Outstanding Achievement gong.

He should be down for an outstanding contribution to awards ceremonies...

Damon and Jamie Hewlett accepted their Best Band gong and Damon made a grovelling apology for misbehaving when he last saw guest Giorgio Armani.

Damon said: "I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise to Mr Armani for my appalling behaviour the last time I saw him. I am truly sorry."

Jamie added: "I would just like to add a genuine apology for Damon's shocking behaviour."

Blimey, what happened there?

Source: www.thesun.co.uk

Ray Davies Thinks It'll Be Sad If Oasis Don't Get Back Together

Ray Davies has confirmed to Sky News that he has set the wheels in motion to get back with the group he split from 13 years ago.

"I've done some demos with the original rhythm line up," says Davies, "and it's good."

Ray's brother Dave suffered a stroke five years ago, but now he has recovered sufficiently to play some solo gigs next year.

Ray says the success of them will decide the fate of the reunion shows.

"The important thing for me is whether or not my brother comes on board," Ray says, "but if it does happen it's got to have new material. I don't just want to do the oldies because that would not be interesting to me.

"You've got to feel you can make new product and new music."

Davies has filmed two episodes of the Sky Arts music show Songbook, where he explains the genesis of his classic songs, and performs them acoustically.

He's also backed by the choir that appears on his latest album, Kinks Choral Collection.

"With this record I've moved forward and backwards at the same time," laughs Davies.

"What's surprised me is the impact the choir has made on a lot of these songs. I didn't want it to be just simply a remake of the records so I had to re-examine them."

Davies also has some advice for the more recent set of famous bickering rock brothers, the Gallaghers from Oasis.

"It's inevitable that sibling rivalry emerges and people fall out," says Ray. "I've been falling out with Dave for years, and since we haven't been playing together we haven't fallen out at all, which is a good sign."

"Records like 'All Day and All Of The Night' couldn't have been made without an element of tension.

"I think it'll be sad if Oasis don't get back together, I only know the guys roughly, but we've met, and I get the feeling they will realise it'll be worth doing some more stuff together."

Source: Sky News