Liam Gallagher ripped Damon Albarn in a Blur photo posted by a fan. The fan tweeted, “What do you think Damon’s doing here?” Liam responded, “Trying to be avant- good.”
The former Oasis member Noel Gallagher recently recalled how his journey with Oasis began. He has also revealed how he has been dealing with the band’s immense legacy throughout his solo career, and what he thinks of his own songwriting abilities now.
Noel Gallagher speaks candidly
Oasis band had major influence on had both on Britpop and the music world at large and it can’t be understated. Similarly, the magic of Oasis probably would never have happened if just one Gallagher sibling was involved, regardless of what Liam and Noel think or say of the other party nowadays.
And while Noel’s knack for catchy songwriting eventually resulted in hits like “Supersonic”, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, and, of course, “Wonderwall”, he wasn’t originally invited to join his brother’s fledgling band, and Liam offered him a managing role instead.
Speaking to BBC Radio 2’s Cerys Matthews during a recent appearance on “First and Last“, the older Gallagher sibling recalled how he found out about his brother’s new band while teching for Inspiral Carpets on a tour:
“I was on tour with Inspiral Carpets and called home [and asked], ‘How’s the other fella?’ Mom said, ‘Oh, he’s in a band!’ And I was like, ‘He’s in a band!?’ And she’s like ‘He’s in a band with… Bonehead [Oasis guitarist Paul Arthurs]’.
Trying to be avant- good
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) November 23, 2022
“So, I got back off some European tour, and they’ve got this band, it’s called Oasis. And I went to see ’em and was like, ‘Yeah, all right,’ you know, they were good. And then, first they asked me to be their manager…. and then they asked me to join.
“And I remembered they call for me one Sunday, I went down. I was just sitting, playing guitar and their songs… The first gig we ever did was with theirs; there [were] none of my songs in it. And then, at one rehearsal, I remember our kid [Liam Gallagher] saying, ‘Well, let’s do one of yours, what have you got?’ You’ve got tunes anyway.’ So I was like, ‘Okay, well, if I play that, you play this, you do that beat.’
“And then, at that moment, an explosion went off, because when you hear your own songs for the first time being played by other people, it’s like, ‘Oh, wow.’ And I remember that being a hair on the back of the neck moment where it’s like, ‘This sounds amazing!’ From that moment onward, I was obsessed with it, and still to this day.”
Following Oasis’s historic breakup, Noel went on to enjoy a successful solo career. The older Gallagher sibling’s perspectives on his own songwriting changed as he kept growing as a musician, and he now tends to think of his own talent in a more humble manner:
“I’ve learned, as a songwriter, not to overthink it, not to chase it. I’ve accepted that I’ve got a knack for melody. I’m not as good as people think I am. I think that’s healthy.
“I can write a tune. But there’s people who write better tunes than me and who’ve written better tunes than me. Even though I don’t chase it, I never stopped digging. I mean, there’s always something.”
It has been noted recently that a lot of people might continue to compare his solo works to the Oasis material. However, Noel doesn’t do the same himself. Asked whether he still feels the weight of Oasis’ success when writing new songs, he replied:
“I felt more of that weight when I was in Oasis. So, if I’m writing a song now, I don’t think about ‘Live Forever’, or ‘Supersonic’ or ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star’, or ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’. I don’t think about it. If you were to worry about that you’d never finish anything. It’s just, you’re here, in the now, there’s a record coming out. People will enjoy it next year. Hopefully, people will have nice things to say about it. Because, as thick-skinned as I am, it is nice to read nice things about what you do. But if the record bombs, there’s another one on the way already.”
