From the NME, November 1, 1997:
In the News section:
OASIS: FM AND BLINDING
OASIS have revealed that they won't record another album this decade.
Speaking on Radio 1's Evening Session last Thursday (October 23), Noel Gallagher also said they were going to release The Rolling Stones' 'Street Fighting Man' as one of the B-sides on their next single, despite Liam's offer during the show to fight Keith Richards and any other veteran rockers on London's Primrose Hill.
Oasis are expected to release 'All Around The World' as a Christmas single. The band's spokesman confirmed that they'd recorded the song "but are also looking at a number of other B-sides for possible inclusion".
Originally only Noel was scheduled to appear on Steve Lamacq's show. Oasis had been doing promotional interviews all day and Liam decided to turn up at the last minute.
Noel and Liam swore constantly during the show, for which Radio 1 was criticised. A spokesman for the station said they were only expecting Noel and thought that a delay system (which allows time for expletives to be deleted) would not be necessary.
"Noel on his own would have been a different kettle of fish," the spokesman said. "Noel rang Steve on Tuesday to say he wanted to be on the show. We> didn't ask why, he just said he wanted to come on. Then the pair of them turned up together. It sounded like they were pissed.
"Liam left at about five past eight. He went off in a strop. He was pissed off by Noel and the production crew who were trying to calm things down and stop the swearing."
The spokesman said that Radio 1 would conduct an enquiry but that Lamacq would not be in any trouble because of the outbursts.
The following morning, Liam chased two Press Association journalists down the street outside his north London home after they asked him questions about the radio appearance.
"I've no regrets at all. I'm sick to death of you all, just get out of here before I hit you, " the PA quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, Oasis have clamped down on up-and-coming big beat band The Freestylers' request to use a lyric from 'Wonderwall' on their forthcoming single 'B Boy Stance'. Advance copies are already circulating and the track has been picked up by Pete Tong's Essential Selection, and playlisted by Kiss FM. Reggae MC Tenor Fly, doing an old reggae-style toast over the track, quoted some lines from 'Wonderwall'. A letter from Sony's legal department, however, withheld permission for the quote to be used.
"It's something that reggae DJs do, take a well-known line and twist it," said Matt Cantor of The Freestylers. "We thought Noel might go for it because it's credible and not some cheesy f---up of one of his songs."
When Noel and Liam Gallagher turned up on Radio 1's Evening Session last Thursday (October 23), their drunken conversation with DJ Steve Lamacq prompted a new spate of tabloid outrage. '4-Letter Oasis In Radio 1 Outrage', screamed The Sun while The Mirror's front page ran: 'Rage at Liam's 4-Letter Rant on Radio 1'.
What follows are the edited highlights of that already infamous interview.
Steve Lamacq: What have you been doing? Are you still working on new songs?
Liam: Yeah, we're working on changing the face of rock'n'roll.
Noel: People have got to understand that 'Be Here Now' is the last Oasis album of the '90s. The thing is, that's not even the best songs Oasis have ever written.
Liam: We've just done a cover of the Stones' Street Fighting Man' just to piss them off... I'm gonna shoot me mouth off here - all these snakes coming out of the closets, all these old farts, I'll offer 'em out right here on radio. If they want to fight, be at Primrose Hill, Saturday morning at 12 o'clock. I will beat the f---ing living daylight shit out of them, that goes for George, Jagger, Richards and any other c---s that give me shit.> If any of them old farts have got a problem with me then leave yer Zimmer frames at home and I'll hold you up with a good right hook. They're jealous and senile and not getting enough f---ing meat pies. If they want to fight, I'll beat them up. They'll have a run-in with me when I meet them down Sainsbury's. We play for the people who f---ing bother to listen.
Lamacq: Have these comments from Keith (Richards) and George (Harrison) hurt you?
Noel: No, because at the end of the day, I still really like their music.
Lamacq: What other music do you like at the moment?
Noel: The Verve, Travis. That's it.
Liam: Ocean Color Scene, Paul Weller.
Lamacq: What was your reaction when you first heard The Verve album?
Noel: Well, I thought it was about time that those guys done it. When he got on stage and played a few songs before we played this gig in New York a long time ago, he played 'The Drugs Don't Work' and 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' and they're actually songs that do touch you. But I will say that drugs do work.
Liam: It's the truth, though. Either that or he's got a shit drug dealer. I know what he's saying, but drugs do bloody work, Richard. He knows the score. The last time I bloody met him I chopped him out one...Ha! Ha!
Noel: For anybody who's listening from the American Embassy, coffee is really good.
There follows a discussion about how brilliant The Verve are and how Noel and Richard Aschcroft push each other to greater heights of songwriting.
Noel: People are gonna build up this thing of Verve and Oasis but we go back so far from Manchester, Wigan, that they will never be able to touch the bond and the friendship that we have with that band.
Liam: We're about bonbons. We're not about sugar and biscuits and that...
Noel: (Frustrated) Yeah, yeah...whatever...
Lamacq: Do you still inspire each other?
Liam: Well, Noel inspires me, I don't know if I inspire him.
Noel: Yes he does. He knows he does.
Liam: Oh cheers. Gee, thanks. Does that mean I can hit you on the shoulder for a couple of quid?
Noel: No, it doesn't ever mean that. No.
Lamacq: Has your relationship changed over the last year?
Noel: Yeah, of course it has. He's got more paranoid. He thinks the world's against him.
Liam: Yeah, yeah...and he's full of shit cos I don't think that at all. Take that back. He knows he's a genius but he won't admit it.
Noel: I will admit it. I'm a f---ing genius...
Liam: No, you're not. Ha ha! He inspires me more than I inspire him. Me wife inspires me, me mam inspires me, me little stepson inspires me. Bottles of lager inspires (sic) me.
Noel: That goes without saying, doesn't it?
They discuss Jill Furmanovski's (sic) photo exhibition, Was There Then, and Lamacq brings up Noel going to Number 10 on the invitation of Tony Blair.
Noel: Well, I've taken a lot of flak for going to 10 Downing Street...I never considered myself a rebel, anyway. I'm like 30 years of age. I come from Burnage. I wasn't going there representing a load of shitkickers who sit in bedsits in Dagenham. I was going there for me. You have to understand, right, that from when I went to school and from when I was born, all that we ever knew was Conservative, Tory, right-wing government. But see, what people say is, 'He went to meet Tony Blair'. No, I went to meet the Labour Prime Minister.
Liam: You went to have a shit in the bog, man...
Lamacq: Shhh...
Noel: The thing is, for 18 years, people in this country moaned about wanting to get a Labour government into this country and, as soon as they got it, they're all moaning about it. I wasn't going representing anyone. I got a letter through the post saying, 'Would you like to come...?'
Lamacq: And what did you think when it came through?
Noel: I thought, 'I'm going to meet the Labour Prime Minister.' And I don't care what anyone listening to this radio programme thinks about anything...I believe fundamentally in...I'm losing it here, aren't I?
Lamacq: Very close.
Liam: Someone who's not got grey hair running the country. Someone who's got a face like a f---ing brick.
Noel: Our parents always drummed into us that the Labour Party was for the people and the Tory Party was not. And I went to meet the Labour Prime Minister. Period. I wasn't going to represent the indie community. Who are they? Who are they?
Lamacq: Do you think...
Noel: No, Steve, I don't think anything. I don't think anything. I don't think anything. I just went there and that's the end of it...
Liam: Exactly. For the crack.
Noel: To anybody else listening to this...have you been to 10 Downing Street? No! Well I have, so shut it! Anyway, I'll be Lord Mayor of London by the next six months.
Lamacq: And what will you do?
Liam: Fart in people's mouths...
Noel: Legalise drugs.
Liam: Listen, the vibe is, when I heard all that stuff, I thought it was bullshit. I didn't get invited. Him and Marcus (Russell, Oasis' manager) are f---ing shitbags, right, I couldn't go in and do anything.
Noel: Yeah, 'cos you didn't get invited. Ha ha ha!
Liam: Can I say something, right? There's nothing wrong with the people in Oasis putting their heads together, finding a bit of common ground with each other...that's it at the end of the day...
Noel: It's a Labour Government...(Starts singing John Lennon's 'Power To The People').
Steve Lamacq plays a song by the La's and there follows a discussion about Lee Mavers. Noel says Mavers is a genius, the only contemporary songwriter he fears, and claims the La's album was the first Britpop album.
Listener: Are you enjoying married life? Are you planning families?
Noel: No, I'm gonna divorce him as soon as we leave the studio.
Lamacq: No, I think you're gonna be together forever, I'm afraid.
Liam: I believe in marriage and I believe in the family and I'm gonna buy a dog next week and I'm sorry if that pisses people off but I'm a f---ing old fart.
Lamacq: Are you going to have kids?
Liam: Yeah, next year I reckon. I dunno. I'm gonna have a bang at it! I'm gonna have a go.
Lamacq: Would you be a good father?
Liam: I'll be wicked. I'll be the best father in the world. I'll be shit at paying the bills but...
Lamacq: Has it made you less protective of Liam? Knowing that he's got someone there for him?
Noel: What? I'll tell you what, man. He can look after himself. He's my younger brother right, but...How old are yer?
Liam: (Sullenly) Twenty-five. You didn't get me a present you c---. Oh yer did (laughs)!
Noel: Yes, I did. He's 25, I'm 34(sic). I don't need to look after him.
Liam: Nobody needs to look after me. I look after me f---ing self. Don't f---ing speak for me.
Noel: That man is a bigger man than I am.
Lamacq: Why?
Noel: Because he has to deal with his life and he has to deal with me on top of everything that goes on and he's a bigger man than I am but he's still a knob!
Lamacq: You're going to take some time off. Do you need it?
Noel: I don't think we need it but I think that people need a break from Oasis.
Liam: There's people out there who are Oasised up. It's rife. It's f---ing rife. There's people out there who are somewhere else, y'know...
Noel: I'm having Thursday afternoon off. Once we've toured this album, which will take us to the back end of next year, when we go all around the world, we have to sit down and think where we're going.
Lamacq: Will you personally need time to escape from the limelight?
Noel: He loves the limelight. He courts it, man.
Liam: That's bullshit. I don't love dickheads man...or people with cameras
round my house. I'm not into that stuff. And they've stopped...I want to
get back into some serious work.
Noel: Well, I don't, because work's become boring.
Lamacq: You seem a bit down about it Noel.
Noel: Yeah. Everything that led up to Knebworth was really special and was really exciting and now it's just become another band.
Liam: No it hasn't. I don't know what band you're in but I...
Noel: Well, I'm in your band. Y'know, the band you asked me to write the song...
Liam: Oh, I thought I was in yours.
Noel: We're going to take time off and regroup...
Liam: We're going to team off, right, team off, to like sit down and change
the face of like, art, music...
Noel: Blah blah blah blah blah...
Liam: Alright, (hurt) see you later then, man (leaves).
Lamacq: Radio 1 Session for Thursday night. If you're offended by any of the language on tonight's show, turn off. That's our advice...
Have you felt that the responsibility of being at the head of the band has got you down?
Noel: Yeah, it does. I mean, I always said that the first three albums were part of a big rock'n'roll album. And I don't particularly want to go and do another rock'n'roll album again. Because, to me, that's just boring. And it's not that the band's become boring or anything like that... It's just not exciting any more. He would disagree. I don't know what I'm going to write next time and, if I can't write anything that excites me then I could possibly never do another album. It has to excite me because, if it doesn't excite me, then it's not gonna excite you. I love working. I really do.
Lamacq: Are you going to miss this if you take a break?
Noel: Well, no, because you have to sort of discipline yourself and say, 'Hang on a minute. I need, mentally, time off.' I could go and start to write another album next Tuesday afternoon but it wouldn't mean anything to me. I'd be in the same mode as I'm in now, rock'n'roll band. I don't wanna do that.
Lamacq: And you'll enjoy confounding people, won't you?
Noel: I wanna confound me. I wanna confound him. When I play him the demos of the next album I want him to tell me that he ain't gonna sing it because it's naff and I'll think, 'Well, we're getting somewhere now'.
Lamacq: Are you mellowing? You're giving Liam more credit than you've ever given him before. Why's that?
Noel: I know. He's got a really good lawyer... > The interview ends and The Verve's 'Lucky Man' plays them out.
