Post by grotesque on Jul 6, 2011 13:44:31 GMT
Following the acrimonious Oasis split in 2009, Noel Gallagher told his version of events on Wednesday as he announced his first debut album since the band broke up.
The 10-track LP, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, will be released on 17 October on his own label, Sour Mash Records. A second, more "out there" album will follow in 2012, Gallagher said.
During a funny and it times poignant press conference at the Electric Cinema in TCOTU's Notting Hill, Gallagher talked about the dramatic bust up with his brother Liam, just before the band were due
on stage in Paris for the Rock en Seine festival in August 2009.
Asked why he had had enough of Oasis, Gallagher answered. "I hadn't had enough of Oasis, I had had enough of Liam."
Gallagher described a fierce argument that saw Liam "wielding a guitar like an axe".
"He was quite violent. At that point there was no physical violence but there was a lot of World Wrestling Federation stuff, he was like Randy Savage or something. It was an unnecessarily violent act and he nearly took my face off […] I was like, you know what, I'm fucking out of here."
Gallagher said he regretted the manner in which he left Oasis. "We only had two gigs left." If he had stayed, the singer said, perhaps the band could have discussed their problems and avoiding splitting up. "But then Liam always said he would bring down Amageddon." He added: "Liam doesn't like me. I don't get on with him but he doesn't like me in a very violent way […] I did everyone a favour when I left."
Gallagher said his new album would appeal to Oasis fans, but it was not "stadium rock". "It's not very Guitar Hero," he joked. The album, recorded in TCOTU in 2010 and completed in Los Angeles was produced by Gallagher and David Sardy, who he has worked with before.
Commenting on his 18-track collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous, due in 2012, Gallagher said:
"It's really fucking far out man. It's the furthest out I've ever been. It's good though."
Gallagher said he would be touring soon after the first album, and promised fans he would also play Oasis classics. "They are my songs and I wrote them all by myself. I'm proud of them and of what they mean to people. I'll never do a gig without playing them, they're like drugs to me," he said.
Gallagher also discussed long-term tensions between the brothers during their time in Oasis. A feud had developed between the pair after Liam created his own label and wanted to advertise in Oasis gig programmes. "I didn't think it was right for him to be flogging his gear to our fans," said Gallagher.
The final blowout had its origins in Liam's no-show for the V festival in 2009, said Gallagher. "He didn't turn up because he had a hangover," said Gallagher. "He said he had laryngitis, but whatever."
Liam then blamed Noel for negative comments that emerged in the press, "because he thinks I'm some kind of puppet master and I control the British press", he said.
Asked about Liam's comments that he was "better off" without his brother, Gallagher said. "I'm sure he is. Am I better off? I don't know […] I never really saw myself as a frontman, I can see it being a major pain in the arse. He's better off without me because he's in charge now. Whether I am better off without him remains to be seen."
At today’s press conference in Notting Hill, Gallagher revealed that while …High Flying Birds contains “echoes of Oasis”, it only has two guitar solos. A low-key tour of the world’s “major cities” will begin in Dublin six days after the album’s release, during which Gallagher also plans to play “the Oasis songs you’d expect. They’re my songs, I wrote them myself, I’m proud of them. Otherwise, it’d be like Paul McCartney just playing Wings stuff.”
He also elaborated on his exit from Oasis – “I’d never had enough of Oasis, I’d had enough of him” – describing Liam’s “unnecessarily violent” behaviour, throwing a plum against a wall (“Plum throws plum”) and wielding a guitar “like an axe”. When inevitably questioned on Beady Eye, Gallagher’s reply was distinctly diplomatic – “Out of respect for the friends I’ve still got in that band…it’s all right, innit?”
He admitted that becoming a frontman will be a step out of his comfort zone, admitting he’d “perfected that role of standing on the right, singing backing vocals.” There was just time for a reliably waggish response when quizzed on the big issue of the day – “I hope my phone has been hacked, there’s some fucking colossal messages on there” – before he left for the Portobello Road to buy a new kettle.
He also elaborated on his exit from Oasis – “I’d never had enough of Oasis, I’d had enough of him” – describing Liam’s “unnecessarily violent” behaviour, throwing a plum against a wall (“Plum throws plum”) and wielding a guitar “like an axe”. When inevitably questioned on Beady Eye, Gallagher’s reply was distinctly diplomatic – “Out of respect for the friends I’ve still got in that band…it’s all right, innit?”
He admitted that becoming a frontman will be a step out of his comfort zone, admitting he’d “perfected that role of standing on the right, singing backing vocals.” There was just time for a reliably waggish response when quizzed on the big issue of the day – “I hope my phone has been hacked, there’s some fucking colossal messages on there” – before he left for the Portobello Road to buy a new kettle.
