It’s
7.15pm, and we’re late. We’d arranged to interview Noel
Gallagher of Oasis in Brighton and we had this crazy mod romantic
idea of hiring scooters for the trip. It was Mad Dog’s idea.
A great idea in itself: except that Snotty Dog, and third member
of the PEOM entourage.
So we tear through swing-doors of the Dudley Hotel in Brighton in
our crash helmets. (“Remember the doors of the gaff we smashed?”
– the Quadrophenia reference in this piece and not the last.)
The guests and hotel staff in reception stare at us perplexed, among
them is Noel. I walk up to him.
“Sorry we’re late, Noel, but Snotty Dog kept falling
off his scooter”
Noel is unconcerned.
“It’s alright mate, we’ve only just come back
from the sound check”
“So where do you want to do it?” I asked.
“Do what?”
“The interview”
“I think me room will be best , don’t you?”
“Yeah, of course”
My 1st question was about the history of Oasis.
Noel – Oasis
started when our kid and the other three decided they were going
to form a band. I was away in Europe or somewhere and I came back
and me mam said “Oh Liam’s just formed a band”
I said “ Do what”, “Singing”. So I went
down to the gig that night at The Boardwalk and they were called
OASIS and they had four songs. They were pretty awful and afterwards
they said to me “Do you want to be our manager?” I said,
“Fuck that, I am joining the fucking band. Take those trainers
off and get a new bass in. We’re off to the top!” I
liked barged me way in and started writing the songs and never looked
back since.
We used to practice religiously three times a week, just writing
songs. It was weird because once we got a record deal nothing changed;
we were acting the same way as we were before. We always thought
we were the greatest fucking band in England. We used to rehearse
Saturday nights when everyone would go out. We’d be down the
rehearsal room like all hours of the night and morning and our mates
would be going. “What are doing? It’s Saturday night,
everyone’s going out” But it paid off in the end.
Oasis make it look all very simple, but they’ve
worked extremely hard. (Young bands start taking notes, they may
come in useful)
PEOM – So where
exactly in Manchester do you come from?
Noel – Right
on the South Burnage, it’s the last part of Manchester before
you get to Greater Manchester it’s just like a little shitty
suburb where fuck all happens it’s one pub and a chippie and
a bookie and that’s it.
Oasis are in the position now that every young
band wants to be in. Since October 1993, it’s been all go
for Oasis; sell out shows, front covers of nearly all the music
magazines and the ultimate teenage dream – Top of the Pops.
Of course they couldn’t have got there without that all –
important record contract. Bands can spend so much time trying to
convince record companies of their potential. So, I asked how did
you get yours?
Noel – Well
it’s quite legendary story this now, but it was at this gig
at King Tut’s in Glasgow. We hired a van, at the time we were
on the dole and we didn’t have any money, we charged our mates
fifteen quid each and there were about 20 of us. When we got to
the gig, the promoter said
“Who are you?”
“We’re Oasis”
“You’re not playing here tonight”
“ Yes we are, we’re playing with Boyfriend.”
“No, you’re not, you’re not down here.”
“Oh it’s alright coz they’ve asked us to play!”
“I’ve only got a licence for 2 bands. I can’t
put 3 bands on so you’re not playing”
So after six hours of arguing and shouting and threatening he let
us play for twenty minutes just when the doors were opening. So
we went on, there was like nobody in the club. 15 of our mates and
that were it. But as luck would have it, Alan MaGee of Creation
Records had just missed his train from Glasgow back to London, he
realised that Boyfriend were playing round the corner and he had
an hour to kill. So he was just going to come in and have a word
with that lot and then get off, and as he walked in we had just
walked on-stage so he was walking past the stage , this is what
he said anyway, he took one look at us and thought THEY LOOK A BIT
FUN.
One of the guys from Boyfriend came round to him and said “Ah
these guys are from Manchester they kicked us out of our dressing
room and drank all our cider and threatened to smash the club “up”
and all it did was get Alan more interested in us.
We just did four songs and after we came off stage he came straight
up to us and said “Have you got a record deal?”
“No”
“Do you want one?”
“Who with?”
“Creation” and he offered us a six-album deal and about
a week later he phoned us and said, “What was your band called
again?”
We were freaked out by it all.
All them years in the practice room, we always knew that we were
really good. Even though we didn’t know about approaching
record companies. I could never see meself walking into the offices
of a record company going “This is my demo tape.”
But Noel Hated the role he had taken on as
player-manager, it got in the way of the creative process, and whilst
out of all the members of Oasis he was willing to take the role
as “the responsible one” someone was needed to deal
with the business side of things fulltime, especially now they’d
been offered a record deal.
PEOM – So how
did you begin your relationship with Marcus Russell, your manager?
Noel – That
in itself is another interesting story. About 3 years previous I
used to go to the Hacienda on a Saturday night and always used to
bump into this little guy with a skinhead and chat to him as you
do when you’re E ‘ed . I told him I was in a band and
he said “Give us a tape, I’ll give it to our kid.”
And every time I saw him, he’d say “Give us a tape for
our kid.” And then I saw him just after we had the offer from
Creation. I was just walking through town. And he says, “How’s
the band going?” “Oh we’ve just been offered a
record deal from Creation.” And I had this HMV bag with The
The’s new album in it and when he saw it he goes “Fuckin
hell, you’ll definitely have to get a tape to our kid.”
I said “Well, hang on a minute, I don’t mean to be rude
or nothing, but who the fuck is your kid” “Well it’s
our Johnny innit?” and then it clicked Johnny Marr.
So I gets a him a tape, two hours later I had Johnny Marr on the
phone. I fuckin freaked out. He said, “I’ve just heard
your tape and think it’s amazing,” So we went out for
a drink that night and he came along and brought his manger with
him, Marcus Russell.
PEOM - Were you a
fan of The Smiths?
Noel – Definitely!
Johnny Marr was the man who taught me to play guitar.
PEOM – What
bands made you want to be in a band?
Noel – The Jam,
Stone Roses, The Smiths and The Beatles. I always used to bash about
on this guitar, playing stuff like Hey Jude. Then in 193 I saw The
Smiths and I said, “That’s it! That’s the way
I want to play guitar.” Then after that I saw John Squire
from The Stone Roses cross them two with Paul Weller and John Lennon
and that’s how I wanted to sound.
PEOM – Did you
ever get into dance music?
Noel – Up until
about ’91 I was blown away by it. ’88 and ’89
were fuckin’ unbelievable years. I gave up playing the guitar
and starting messing about with a keyboard and a drum machine because
I was so into it. Now it’s gone full circle, there’s
no more mew sounds any more. All the chord progressions have been
used, all the samples have been used. It’s as boring as fuck
now.
PEOM – Oasis have grown in a very short space
of time – from playing The Old Trout in Windsor in may’94
to headlining The Forum four months later. Is it all happening fast
enough for you?
Noel – I don’t
want get too big. I’d love to do Wembley Stadium but where
do you go after that? I didn’t think we’d get to this
stage here for another two years and in a way it’s fuckin
pissed me off. We had all these ideas we were going to be this maverick
outcast band from Manchester, being from Manchester everyone fucking
hates you anyway. We were going to shove it up them for two years
and then we’d spilt up.
Like we know Shakermaker is going to go Top 20 and it’s shit
knowing that before it comes out. I’m not going to get excited
by that now.
It’s sad in a way, once all I wanted was a piece of plastic
with some of my songs on it and my name on it. I got that and I
thought I don’t feel that special. And I thought I want to
get into the charts – and then I got into the charts without
really trying and then I thought right Tops of The Pops. It’s
really sad , we’ve only had a few records out and I’m
bored shitless.
PEOM – Are you
happy with the image of Oasis and the way the press have portrayed
you?
Noel – Because
we’re not part of any scene, the press have to got to offset
you against something, that’s the way British journalism works.
That can’t just say this is Oasis , take it or leave it. It’s
got to be they’re like a cross between the Happy Mondays and
The Stone Roses.
When we started the NME hated us, so the MM decided that they were
going to love us, so when the NME started loving us, the MM said
“Oh, we hate this shit.”
A guy from the NME was with us for three days, I’m not slagging
him off, he was dead cool, he got into it and all that but in this
interview, he’s got this quote from me saying “Glastonbury’s
the only place where you can paint your face like a panda and get
away with it because if you did it in a pub round our way someone’d
stab you in the throat. He said that to me. I just sat there and
said I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.
When I saw it in print two weeks later and I was supposed to have
said it I thought “Why don’t you just interview yourself.”
But it’s the game, there’ s nothing you can do about
it.
At the moment the NME in particular are looking for something that
isn’t there. It’s like gossip columns. I was supposed
to have beaten up twelve crusties single- handedly in the Camden
Underworld one night. But I’m sorry but I wasn’t there.
I was in Ireland. But our kid just plays up to it all the time.
PEOM – What
about the image Liam has in the press?
Noel – Liam
is all mouth and no trousers. He gets all upset about what the press
say but I say to him “Look, you’re the one who says
you’re going to bottle some journalists, you’re the
one who says you like fighting.”
I couldn’t give a flying fuck mate. I don’t care if
people throw a bottle at him, as long as it hits him and not me.
I’m only interested in music. I’ve got the band to worry
about. I do all the meetings and all the interviews. I write all
the songs and all the lyrics and when they do a soundcheck, they
just sit there and they’re like four guys from Manchester.
What are they going to do themselves? Except get pissed and get
into trouble.
PEOM – Do you
feel responsible for them?
Noel – I feel
responsible for them, but anything else it’s just their tough
shit. What I worry about at the moment is that it’s over riding
the music, but you’ve got to wait for the press to get bored
with it an go a bit deeper.
We decided to close the interview as time was pressing. We left
Noel in his hotel room to do another interview, this time with Spiral,
a Spanish music magazine.
Brighton’s a great city with a number
of cool venues to see a band in – The Zap , The Pavilion.
But the venue Oasis were playing tonight was definitely not one
of them. Just a square concrete room with a stage at one side of
the room and a bar at the other – WHICH SHUT AT 11!
Oasis came onstage at 11. This is why we were here, this why we
wanted to do a piece on Oasis. Because put simply they are a Fucking
great band. Even with the poor quality PA they sounded good. Oasis
are not the most original band around at the moment. But who cares?
It’s entertainment that matters.
The crowd was healthily young – obviously too young to be
part of the experience of the bands that influence the sound of
Oasis. But this is the best sort of crowd – energetic and
enthusiastic because they are going out and getting into music for
the 1st time.
Oasis end their set with a heavy version of
I AM THE WALRUS (John would be proud) and Liam is belting out the
GOOO GOOOO G’JOOOObs. Liam, for the record is wearing dark
glasses and a rather far-out colourful cagool. Noel walks off before
the song ends.
PEOM – Why do
you walk off first when you do your last song. I AM THE WALRUS?
Noel – It’s
just that the first couple of times we done it we couldn’t
work out an ending, So I’d stand there nodding at them to
end it and they’d be looking all dazed, so I just put down
me guitar and said see you later Bye. Let them sort out an ending
themselves. When we first started doing that song at the end when
we’d do small gigs with no dressing room. I’d put my
guitar down and walk off and go to the bar and then it was like
“HEY THIS GUY’S REALLY COOL MAN. HE PUTS HIS GUITAR
DOWN AND GOES TO THE BAR AND WATCHES THE BAND FROM THE FRONT. IT’S
LIKE SAYING WATCHING IS ACTUALLY BETTER THAN BEING IN THE BAND!”
Nah, not at all, there’s no dressing room mate.
Matteo Sedazzari
|
