Noel Gallagher recently spoke, in his trademark opinionated and open style, with Brian Boyd of The Irish Times. I have never been a big Oasis fan, even in the early days when the world was going mad about Definitely Maybe and What's The Story..., I was just never that interested by them. Nor did I harbour much love for the Gallagher brothers themselves. However, after reading this interview, I have to say that my respect for him grew.Extracts from the interview published in The Irish Times on the 3rd of October follow:
ON BEING ATTACKED ONSTAGE: "I WAS ABSOLUTELY SHITTING MYSELF"
"The guy had been backstage where it had been raining. He than hit me from behind and I fell onto the monitor. I immediately felt a really sharp pain in my back, where the ribs had cracked. Then I looked down at my leg and he had left wet footprints on me. I though it was blood. I was absolutely shitting myself.
"Up until that point, everything had been going great. Paul Weller had just been on before us, and we had a monumental piss-up planned with him for later that night. Next thing I know, I'm in hospital. Where were security? The two of them were sidestage playing air guitar, that's where security were! This was a festival show, so we didn't have our own security. Obviously, now we have to rethink our security situation, but we don't want to get like Madonna and travel around with 400 people.
"And guess what I found out later? The guy who attacked me is Irish! He's 47 and I think he had just got Canadian citizenship. I haven't said this to anyone before because I don't want to be dragging the name of the Irish nation down all around the world."
ON EXCESS: "WE HAD ALL THE COCAINE IN THE WORLD"
"When you have all the time in the world and all the money in the world - which we did when we went to record our third album after two phenomenally successful albums - it's probably not a good thing. I should mention, of course, that we also had all the cocaine in the world. I still tell people that the Be Here Now album is the best advertisement against taking cocaine. It goes on too long, it's smothered by its self of self-importance - the same as coke users are. When I was writing these 11-minute epics, I kept waiting for someone in the studio to turn to me and say 'I think that's a bit long,' but no one ever did. We were the biggest band in the world at the time and no one would speak up."
"I've only sung lead vocals when Liam hasn't bothered to turn up for a tour - and I still blame him for the fact that we've never cracked the US. When we had one of the biggest selling albums in the world, and were about to begin a crucial US tour, he arrived at the airport, gave some ludicrous excuse when he couldn't get on the plane, and left us completely stranded."
ON OTHER MUSICIANS: "I LIKE RADIOHEAD . . . UNTIL THOM YORKE STARTS SINGING"
"I've never ever felt the need to do anything outside Oasis. The band is enough for me. This is not meant as an insult, but you look at Damon Albarn and if he's not writing an opera, he's doing this or that. I don't need all that. I have a life. I'm not a careerist. I really hate these bands who always seem to be saying, 'now, on the new album we've worked really hard to get out of our comfort zone'. Fuck that. I spent 18 years building my comfort zone and I'm not going to leave it. And then bands such as Radiohead and their 'artistic progression' . . . Christ. I like Radiohead - until Thom Yorke starts singing.
ON CLASS: "I COULD NEVER BE LIKE PETE DOHERTY AND GO OUT WITH DIRT UNDER MY FINGERNAILS"
"The happiest time of my life will always be when I was eating at a Brunch bar - do you remember those? - in Charlestown in Co Mayo. Brunch bars and Silvermints will always have a special place in my heart because you could only get them in Ireland. We used to spend six weeks every year in Charlestown. It was magnificent. We were coming from a council estate in Manchester - and we lived at the end of cul-de-sac - to these 360-degree panoramic views. We loved it as kids. We could go fishing in the river or help with bringing in the hay.
"One of my earliest-ever memories is of going to the well by the house in Charlestown to get the water, because we had no running water there when I was a child. I still go back at least once a year, and even just the smell of the place immediately brings me back to those happy, happy childhood days.
"I still have a very strong sense of identity, a sense of being a working-class son of Irish parents. That's why I could never be like Pete Doherty and go out with dirt under my fingernails, a top hat on and my shirt hanging out. Working-class people take pride in their appearance. They'd never go out looking like that.
"One of the worst things that ever happened to me was when I said that thing about Blur [in an interview in 1995, Gallagher said he hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James would "get Aids", which he later retracted and apologised for]. My mam rang me up when she saw that and she was really angry and she said to me 'I didn't bring you up to talk like that,' and that stung me so much.
"Despite all that has happened - those massive selling albums, those huge gigs at Knebworth, being called 'the saviours of British music' - I've retained my identity. Even at the very height of our success, I never thought I was any better than the next person.
"In fact, the opposite is probably the case. I'm still sitting here waiting for my luck to run out."
Dig Out Your Soul was released on the 3rd of October.
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