- By Fred Spanner
If anyone’s going to crack the beautiful, bonkers minds of the Gallagher brothers, it’s John Robb. The bloke’s been there since day one; backstage, front row, in the thick of it. So, who better to spill the inside scoop on the wild ride of Oasis? His new book, Live Forever: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Oasis, isn’t your usual rock ‘n’ roll story. It’s the real deal: the brawls, the blow-ups, the anthems, the chaos. If you want to know what really went down on planet Oasis, this is as close as you’ll get. Strap in.
You interviewed Noel Gallagher just before the reunion was announced. Did you come away thinking that there was a reunion on the way?
“I’ve always thought they’d probably do it in the end, and I know people who try to put that tour together every year. They’re always trying to reform all the classic bands, all the time. Every year or two years, they pencil in all the stadiums, just in case.
“When I interviewed Noel, it was three months before it went online. When it went live, it was three days before they reformed, so it seemed like I should have known they’d reformed. Most people didn’t understand there was a time gap.
“They asked me where I wanted to do the interview, and I suggested The Boardwalk rehearsal room, but the idea of Noel Gallagher standing there with a big film crew would have undoubtedly led to hundreds of fans arriving in a few minutes. Mr Sifters sounded like the best option. I used to go there myself as a kid. The shop never changes. It has all the original band posters on the wall from back in the day. The only new poster on the wall is an old one of Oasis. If you’re in a classic band, you’re on the wall of Sifters.
“They weren’t going to give anything away, and I have a feeling that at that time, they hadn’t really decided yet. In January, they’d booked out a lot of the tour, just waiting to see if the band was up for it. When I say ‘band’, I mean ‘Noel’ because Liam’s always wanted to do it. He didn’t want to stop the band in the first place.
“I didn’t want to hear the bitchy stuff. I wanted him to say something nice about Liam and the band for a change. And he did. He talked about what a great vocalist and frontman Liam is, and there was a lot of other nice stuff that didn’t make the edit. I mean, they’re funny, aren’t they, the Gallaghers? But it’s nice when they say good things about each other, too. It gives you a kind of warm feeling inside.”
Noel was quoted in your book as saying that he only got into doing the vocals a bit more because Liam had developed a habit of walking off the stage when he couldn’t be arsed.
“Yeah, he needed more live songs. He needed a big song to sing live for when Liam stormed off. It’s typical of Noel that there’s probably some truth in it, but it’s also quite funny to say it. It’s always a mixture of truth and a cool story.
“Rock N Roll should never be about facts. No one ever got into a band to give out facts to anyone. Mythology is important, and you don’t want to puncture that too much. I know most bands are just a bunch of dudes trying to make music, but part of it has to also be “Hey, wait! There's a bit more than this. They’re cooler and madder than the rest.” And that’s what’s great about Oasis. They’re totally mad, and that’s what we want from a Rock N Roll band.”
It must have been difficult to uncover any new stories about the band for your book. Oasis has always been a “What you see is what you get” kind of band. But there are so many interesting stories in there. For example, I didn’t know that Liam had little interest in music until he was eighteen.
“He was mostly interested in breakdancing at the local supermarket, but only because it looked cool. He was always about looking good. What I love about Liam is that he’s never learnt to be a Rock N Roll star, he’s just always been one. In his younger days, he didn’t even know what one was. He just knew he was a star. Liam was the most punk rock guy I’ve ever met who didn’t even know what punk rock was.
“It turned out that he was also a really talented songwriter, too. His ballads are great and really sentimental, too. In the north, we don’t really do emotions. Rock N Roll is how we talk to each other. I mean, Liam would never say, “I’m really depressed cos my girlfriend’s just left me,” but he could write a song about it.
“That’s why so many great bands came out of the north, and one of the reasons why Oasis is so great. Yeah, there’s the ‘Fuck you’s and the drugs, but there’s also another really arty side to them, which is quite sensitive. But it’s not what they want everyone to think, of course.
“Noel was a singer/songwriter before Oasis, and a lot of his songs ended up on the B-sides. An Oasis B-side collection is pretty much his solo career.
“That’s the other thing I wanted to put in the book. The first three albums were all classics, and everyone was saying that they didn’t need any more. But all of the others were really great records, too. The trouble is, Noel is his own worst critic. He’ll say there are some good songs on there, but most of them aren’t any good. I’ll tell him that they are good, but there’s not much point in arguing about it.
“I genuinely think that their last album was one of their best. It was like a psychedelic, art-rock record that got to number one. Very few people could pull that off. They get remembered for the rowdiness, but fewer people notice the art.
“Nearly all the great British bands are not just a four-piece. Joy Division was created by about ten people, including the likes of Tony Wilson, Martin Hannett, Peter Saville, and Rob Gretton. There were a lot of people involved in the process. But with Oasis, it was Noel Gallagher dreaming up songs in his bedroom, and the fact that he happened to have the next generation of singers sitting on the bed next to him helped a lot.
“The most remarkable thing in the 60s was Lennon and McCartney being in the same band. They met at a church fete, and it was one of the most mature decisions ever made, despite the fact that they were just sixteen years old. Noel could have gone on to create something himself, but he was smart enough to realise that Liam was fucking amazing.
“What people forget is that they kept Oasis going for eighteen years. Yes, it was volatile. Yes, it was always on the verge of collapse. But they actually had a longer career than most other bands have.”
In your book, it’s clear there were a number of key moments that helped to propel Oasis forward. Matthew Bannister’s shake-up of Radio One was one. The trip to Holland where they got arrested (which Alan McGee thought was “Fucking brilliant” publicity) was another. And of course, there was their meeting with The Real People.
“Yes, The Real People was Oasis’s “Hamburg.” They educated the band and gave them the confidence to develop. At the time they met, The Real People were a much bigger band, so for them to give Oasis advice was great. There was the odd change here. Making the ending a bit shorter, there. They helped and encouraged them.
“I bumped into Noel the day after their King Tuts gig, and he said, “Alan McGee wants to sign us. What do you think?” I said, “That’s perfect. He’ll allow you to be as mad as you want to be, but somehow it’ll work.” McGee built playgrounds and allowed bands to play in them. He encouraged the chaos.”
Do you think Factory Records might have signed Oasis if it hadn’t gone the way it did?
“I don’t think Tony Wilson would have gone for it. In the book, I mentioned Phil Saxe got Happy Mondays in the end. There was more for Tony to understand about them. Having said that, he was always full of contradictions. He’d say he hated Rock N Roll, but his favourite artist was Bruce Springsteen. But, Oasis might have been too Rock N Roll.”
There was some discussion in your book about their sometimes nonsensical lyrics. One of my favourite Noel quotes from your book was him saying, ”Are you telling me those 60,000 people singing the lyrics in unison aren't connecting with them?”
“You know, pop doesn’t have to be a list of instructions. T Rex had some bizarre lyrics, but I get it. Sometimes it’s got to be a bit “Lewis Carroll,” doesn’t it? Live Forever is brilliant. It’s about that time in your life that you wish could last forever. You’re a mad little kid, you’re out all night, you stay up for three days, and you think it’s going to be like that forever. Before real life kicks in.
“It’s not deep, it’s not intellectual, but it’s perfect, and it connects.”
Let’s talk about the Blur rivalry. How serious was it? It seemed to sink quite low with Noel’s ‘aids’ comment.
“Noel made that comment off tape, but he did apologise for it later. In fact, he was heartbroken, cos he’s actually really nice is Noel. He’s cynical, but he’s not a twat. He was being interviewed, then the tape got switched off, and he made an off-the-cuff comment that should never have been printed. It’s kind of northern, you kind of say things you don’t mean. It was wrong, and he knew it was wrong.”
It was just a Britpop thing, then?
“Okay, let’s get this out of the way, I did actually make up the word ‘Britpop.’ I was using it as far back as the 80s to describe bands like The La’s. Then Stuart Maconie did that amazing Select cover with Suede, The Auteurs, Pulp, and Saint Etienne and called it Britpop. It’s a jovial thing, Stuart and I have had going for a number of years as to who said it first.
“Oasis were under the radar at that point, but Blur were about to bring their second album out, and everyone thought they were just an arty London band. Neither was Britpop at that point. Damon Albarn is a master of moving around cultures and reinventing himself. He probably saw Britpop and thought, “Yeah, we could do that.”
“There was that great quote from Noel: “The London music business set the scene for Blur and Britpop, and then we turned up and they never forgave us,” is classic. But, they just turned up as a great Rock N Roll band. They just wanted to occupy the space left by The Smiths and The Stone Roses, they didn’t see themselves as Britpop.
“So, in the end, they were both fighting about a thing that neither of them really believed in at all. It was a great piece of music theatre, directed by Blur’s manager, the late, great Andy Ross. He saw an opportunity to create a story, and what a great story it was. It got on the news, which was something pop culture rarely did. It was brilliant! And however much you say that Oasis didn’t want anything to do with it, they ran with it anyway. It would have been stupid not to.
“Doesn’t that define the 90s, though? Working class v middle class. North v South. The two different kinds of pop culture are in some kind of mad competition.”
We see a lot of “polished” acts these days in all genres. Do you think Oasis was the last band of its kind, coming up from the grassroots to stardom?
“I think so, yeah. You have to add a couple of caveats to that. They were the last band to come from nothing to get that big. We still see bands from the north- just a group of lads- topping the album charts. It’s the Oasis “ripple effect.” These bands are still big, it’s just that Oasis was the next level. I mean, 23 million albums. That’s Michael Jackson country.”
There were some lovely quotes from Noel in your book about Knebworth.
“They could have done twenty of them! They could have done twenty ‘Wembleys’ this time. When Noel went to look at the Knebworth field, he was told to look at the tree at the far end. Then look at the one behind that. “Well, your stage is about a hundred yards past that!” And Noel’s like, “How are they going to hear us from over there?” But Noel is just so unaffected by it all.”
How do you think the tour will go this time around?
“I think they can’t bust up this time. You can’t break up a tour this big. They did an Adidas shoot recently and seemed to be having a laugh with it. So long as they understand what their roles are. This is important with any band. It’s important that they're appreciated for their role too. Noel knows that Liam is the number one frontman of his generation, and Liam has always said that Noel is a great songwriter“They’ve spent an awful lot of time together. From the day Liam was born to the day Oasis split up, Noel and he have been virtually stuck in the same room together. When you tour, you drive yourself mad, never mind the rest of the band.
“I think, because they’re older, they’ll know ways to make it work.”
If you think you know everything about the band, think again. John Robb’s fantastic book Live Forever: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Oasis is out now. It’s a rollercoaster ride through the Gallagher brothers' turbulent lives and the music that defined a generation. And Loaded even gets a few mentions in it, too!