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| WE'RE NOT SPLITTING!
[25 May 2000 Music365] In an exclusive interview with 365, OASIS mainman Noel Gallagher insists that the current very public row with brother LIAM does not signify the end of the band. Interview: XAVIER SANCHO > Are you thinking about splitting up the band? "Well, I must admit I've thought of it a few more times than is known, but I always decide to carry on. I carry on, because I enjoy it and I enjoy my time off. I like to take time between records, because the longer you're in a band the more difficult it becomes. You're always repeating the same cycle. There is not a lot of interesting things to do once you've toured the world and sold so much. It's routine, it's boring." > Up until the Paris show that you blew out, was this tour running smoothly? "Yes, for us it had been really uneventful, but really good. Japan was great and America before it was fine. Everyone has been behaving. Well, as well as can be expected, I suppose. I am, though." > How do you feel about touring without drinking or taking drugs? "I don't remember how I used to feel anyway, because I was always out of my head. I suppose I feel normal, whatever that means." > Has the birth of your daughter changed your attitude to the band? "Not really. It doesn't make any difference to the band. It makes a difference to me as a person because you've got to be asleep when the baby is asleep and awake when she's awake." > Why did you leave London? "I didn't fancy living there anymore. I bought a place in Buckinghamshire and one in Spain. Both are fantastic." > You don't fancy coming back to Manchester? "Fuck, no. No, no, no." > Did the press and the stalkers force you to leave London? "That was part of the reason. Anyway, I still get weirdos in Buckinghamshire, but that's normal when you're famous. At least the amount has gone down. It is now one every six months when it used to be one every six weeks. You know, we've had a few worrying moments when there's been people breaking in. I got security guards and all that, but if someone wants to break into your house and kill you, there isn't much you can do about it. You will have to kill them before they kill you, but anyway, people like this tend to be fucking stupid. They just wanna be your fucking friend, but it can be fucking scary sometimes, especially now that I got a baby." > Have you thought about making another Oasis album yet? "We haven't written the next album yet. I've only got two songs and we've got about 18 to write. It might take six months or six years, but I'm not going to worry about which one it is. I'm not worried about having records out every two years." > Why are you writing such downbeat songs now? "It's just the way it's going at the moment. I have to say that the new songs I've got at the moment are pretty upbeat. But I'm more comfortable writing slow acoustic songs, which is not very good for Oasis." > Do you think that might be one of the reasons for this album not selling too well? "Well, if I knew why this album is not doing fantastically well, I'd be a manager and I wouldn't be in a fucking band. You can't make people buy records. I've got no idea why people bought 12 million copies of 'Morning Glory' and only five of 'Definitely Maybe', when 'Definitely Maybe' is five times better. But sales don't really matter anymore. I've sold enough for me. "I don't know how much the new album is selling and I don't care anymore. Once you get that big and that famous, there is no higher place you can go and now I've got a family. I'm not sure if I want to spend three years touring." > Are you going to make a solo album? "Yes, sooner or later. We'll first do another Oasis album and then I'll do the solo record. I just wanna write songs for me to sing. I've written lots but haven't sung many. I can't be writing songs for somebody else to sing for the rest of my life, that would be daft." > And Liam? "He can't keep writing songs for him to sing and have me writing songs for him to sing as well. That's not fair." > What do you think of Liam's song 'Little James'? "It's alright." > Just alright? "Yes, just alright." > How do you feel about the end of Creation Records? "It's not me to judge any decision. He (Alan McGee) wasn't happy and he didn't want to carry on. Fair enough, but it doesn't affect us at all." > Did you ever think you were going to be swallowed by Sony? "No fucking way. I wouldn't put my records out on Sony, and that's even in our contracts. Our only alternative was to start our own record label." > Are you going to sign any bands to Big Brother? "We haven't made any money out of it, and to sign bands you need money. Unless someone is ready to put in their own money. But people in groups are really unreliable and waste a lot of people's money on drugs. I don't want to be knocking on the studio door going, 'Finish the fucking album!'. I got my own shit. Maybe in the future. I'd like to believe I'll still have good taste when I'm fifty and be able to sign good bands." > Are you sent many demos? "Fucking hell, I get demos sent every fucking day of my life. And they're all shit." > How did you feel after having thousands of bands trying to sound like you after 'Definitely Maybe'? "It wasn't a lot of bands, it was a lot of songwriters. By the time of 'Definitely', I didn't sound like anyone else. I've only got one style of writing. I'd like to take it as a compliment, anyway." > What are you listening to at the moment? "Fleetwood Mac and Primal Scream, 'Xtrmntr' is a fantastic album." > What do you think of Primal Scream's political stance? "Well, I think that if they were 16 years old, that would be really interesting, but they're 40 years old. Suddenly becoming political when you're 40? I don't know. That's something you develop when you're 16. Actually, they're saying a lot of things that are relevant, but I'm not that extreme, I'm more of a hippy. They will have to kill me!" > Would you go to Number 10 if the Blairs invited you over again? "Well, I don't know. It depends how I feel that day. That's how it went before. I'll always support the Labour party, no matter what. What annoys me in England is that for 18 years we had a Conservative government and everybody was praying for the Labour party to get back. Finally they come back and within six months everybody's turned against them. What the fuck's going on? Working class people are never satisfied, they always find something to moan about." > What do you think of Ken Livingstone, London's new mayor? "He's a fucking joke. You can't get fucking fans of Blur to run the city of London." > Have you resolved your differences with Blur now? "Yes, I suppose. I don't like them, well I don't like the singer, let's put it that way, but some of their music is good and I never denied that in the past. Bands like them have been to college and they think too deeply about music. In this band we do what we do, we don't think of what the next fashion trend is gonna be, we don't think what's cool or who we'll get to remix our records. We are just a rock and roll band and at the end of the day music is about feeling, not about thinking. The next record we make it will be a rock'n'roll record... again." > Have you ever felt you had so much money you didn't know what to do with it? "Yes! A few times. I always know what to do with it: leave it at the bank. It looks after itself." |
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