Noel Gallagher: We Are Often Accused Of Plagiarism

We spoke with singer, guitarist and author of lyrics of the British group Oasis, Noel Gallagher, about their new album, the relationship between the two brothers and other interesting subjects.

Noel – how is your relationship with Liam lately - do you enjoy watching him work in the studio and giving him pointers?

I’m not allowed to give him direction even though I write the songs. I have to say to Dave, ‘Why’s he not singing it that way?’ ‘Cos if I say it to him, what he hears, in his headphones, is just pure insults. You know, when I say, ‘Liam old bean. You could awfully, awfully use a bit of diction on that second verse.’ And he’ll just say, ‘What did you call me?’ And it’s like, ‘I didn’t say anything!’ ‘What did you say about my kids?’ So I have to pretend I’m at the chippy, and I kind of sneak back in and say to Dave, ‘He’s not doing it right. Tell him he’s doing it wrong.’ And when we did Let There Be Love off the last record, and Dave, obviously he’s an American producer, Liam started singing the song and Dave was going, ‘I think you can beat it man’. So the tune starts and Dave goes, ‘Pretend you’re telling a story.’ And the song starts, and Liam’s going, ‘There was an old woman who lived in a shoe...‘ And starts singing it like he’s telling some nursery rhyme. Dave didn’t’ get it for about twenty seconds. He was going, ‘What’s he doing?’

Do you bother much about tracks of yours leaking onto the internet before release?

If it’s out there, and you can get it, you know, go ahead, I don’t wanna get into Lars Ulrich mode about this. You know, it’s well documented, I don’t have a computer, I don’t get involved in any of that kind of gear. But if people are willing to have faceless CDs like that in their collection, good for them. You know, it would be ludicrous for a rock star to demand that people pay money for albums, ‘cos maybe kids ain’t got that much money to pay for an album, and if they can find it for free, go ahead. Don’t do it on Oasis records though, ‘cos that’s against the law. Pinch as many Kaiser Chiefs as you like, get The Pigeon Detectives. Don’t nick any Oasis. I need to keep the Evian water topped up in my swimming pool.

How would you describe the new album?

The reason that this album sounds the way it does is that we had a lot of songs left over from the last record. Which were written for Don’t Believe The Truth. And they were kind of in that same British sixties kinda vein. And we had seven, I think, done. To fill in the gaps I wrote three songs. Not really thinking about whether they would go on the album, they were just gonna fill in the gaps. They were in a certain tuning, dropped D if any nerds are listening. Grunge tuning. And I played drums on the demos, and I’m not really a Keith Moon kinda drummer, I’m a Neanderthal, I’m a basher. We sent them to Dave Sardy. And he was like, ‘Wow have you got any more songs like this? This is what, we should make a record like this.’ And then going back to all the stuff that we ditched in the past, was like, yeah, I suppose we could do something with that, or we could do something with this. And slowly but surely it all started to change from a traditional British rock album to whatever one would describe it as now.

You’re in the middle of a big tour at the moment – after so much success, it’s a surprise you’re not doing a sponsored tour.

People kind of cotton on to that pretty quickly, they know when you mean it and when you don’t, you know what I mean. They know when you’re tour is sponsored by Kleenex and when you know, you’re getting out and you’re doing it for yourself and the fans that buy the records. There’s the Staple Centre and there’s the you know, the Budweiser arena or some other thing. But we won’t be playing the 02, I can assure you of that. Went to see Led Zeppelin there and somebody kind of nudged past me to get to their seat, and they had like chicken in a basket and some nachos, as they were going in to Black Dog. And I was like, you know what, there a people that would have given their left arm to be here. And this big dude is like, “Hey mate I think you’re sat in me seat”. ‘Cos he wanted to sit down and eat his dinner. It’s like, Jimmy Page is up there man, and he’s gonna bleed it out for you, you know what I mean, and all you’re bothered about is your Doritos and your Fanta. Other drinks are available. A security guard digged Liam in the ribs and told him to stand behind the yellow line. And Liam was out, Liam said if I have to pour petrol over my children rather than play in this gaff. And it was like, that was it.

The new album is called Dig Out Your Soul – that’s a very typical Oasis sounding title.

I ran out of ideas for album titles. It was gonna be, originally it was gonna be called Bag It Up. And then it was gonna be called Shock Of The Lightening. And then it was gonna be called Standing On The Edge Of The Noise. We’re in bands to fire people’s imagination about stuff. Not to call your album, Untitled or Oasis or something ridiculous. But it’s like, so I couldn’t think of any ideas, and then somebody had written, just taken bits of the lyrics out. And Dig Out Your Soul. I was like, you know what, titles become themselves, you know. Definitely Maybe’s not a great title, but it’s kind of, if the album’s good enough it’ll become itself. So I was, Dig Out Your Soul’s not the best one, but it was the best one of that day where we had to choose one. And it’s done. But it’s actually, it’s a bit of lyrics in one of Gem’s songs, but it’s not as a Japanese interviewer asked me today, was it about the birth of mankind and how one tries to dig one’s soul from the earth, mother nature and I was like, it’s actually referring to djing when you’re putting on some Motown. It’s a DJ digging out his soul.

How do you feel when you look back at your first three albums?

I don’t know. The first one is just a moment in time that was, that record had to come along at some point by somebody. I’m just glad that it was me and it was our band and it still gets great reviews. But the thing about the third album is you know, we’d gone from playing the Water Rats to playing Knebworth in under two years, and nobody was saying no to anything. It’s like, you could phone anybody, from anywhere, phone your manger, it’s seven in the morning in Hong Kong and just say, ‘Marcus, it’s Noel.’ ‘What do you want?’ ‘I’ve got a whim… I’ve forgotten what it was though… Can you send me one red chocolate shoe and one green apple to this suite number in Hong Kong by this evening.’ You know it’s kinda like that. And you know, the first single off Be Here Now was eight and half minutes long. And everyone was going, so there’s gonna be an edit. And I was like, I’m not editing anything, everyone’s like great. Brilliant. Yeah. Great, that’ll sound great that on Capital that when they play eight and half minutes of feedback in the morning. And we were kinda being a little bit, I was being a little bit more difficult than I would be these days. ‘Cos we were living the dream. I had a fur coat man. I actually remember I was out once, watching Paul Weller in the BBC theatre downstairs here, and I had this fur coat on and some journalist from the Guardian said, ‘is that a real fur coat?’ And I went ‘yes it is a real fur coat.’ He said ‘what fur?’ I said ‘it’s rabbit fur.’ She said, you know, ‘rabbit fur. That’s a bit odd.’ I said, ‘this is skinned from one rabbit, it’s been in my back garden for the last eight months. I’ve grappled this beast in my own hands and I’ve made a coat of it and I’m proud to wear it.’ And she thought I was being serious.

Do music prizes such as the Mercury mean much to you?

Music is like beauty right, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. There’s nobody to say that the next Franz Ferdinand record means more than the next Klaxons record because it doesn’t matter what you think. If it speaks to you, then that’s the end of it. There is no such thing as… You can get awards for record sales, so I guess that’s a physical thing. You’ve sold the most records. Here. Like, you know a washing-up liquid bottle. Go away. That kind of thing right. But to say that, and anyway, who are this panel? Every time we see this panel they look like the biggest bunch of squares in England. I mean I’m sorry, it’s just like, I don’t want you sitting in judgement on my record, you’ve not had a boyfriend for twenty five years. Who’s to say that you know, the Klaxons are greater musical exponents just because someone from The Guardian says so. You know, the curse of the Mercury’s now isn’t it, if you win it you’re automatically disappear.

So, making the new album, did you have a great time partying throughout?

I mean we had a good time out there, do you know what I mean, but we don't mess about when we work. We never drink in the studio or anything like that. All those days are over, you know. We used to bring the party into the studio, but it doesn't really make for great records. We had such a fantastic time kinda making and touring that album… Be Here Now, we lost the plot in those two years. If you've never lost the plot, it's amazing. You know, you end up waking up with midgets and dogs in sun glasses and it's just like, I don't know how I got here but I really really like this! That lasted into kinda 1998, and then it was kind of, you know, doing, having Red Stripe for breakfast was like, can't go on any more. I think I'm gonna bow out gracefully before me teeth fall out or summat. But it was, they were great times, but when you listen back to the music, now it's kinda, it could've been better, you know what I mean?

What is so special about the north of England and music, because you've got so many great bands from Manchester and Liverpool as well.

Liverpool's an island, and I think it's something that's been passed down through generations of the boats coming back from America with all the early… like the Beatles said that they could get records off the sailors that you couldn't even get in London, so I guess that kind of thing is passed down. But, if you go round the bars and the pubs in Liverpool and see anybody playing a guitar or jut getting up and doing like acoustic stuff. They've just got it. They've just got… and not, and I've gotta say there's not, I mean I'm kinda biased towards, no I just get it. I don't know what it is, they've just got such passion for great music, and they're all into the same kind music, you know, and it's all kind of obscure '60s stuff that you've never heard of you know. And then there was Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

You're often accused of stealing ideas from other bands.

Yeah, you see people accuse of being, sitting there and listening to the Beatles all day and all that, but I mean we don't, you know, there's moments of our records and on b-sides where we kind of stretch it a little bit. But it's not a conscious thing where we're like, 'right we must write something avant-garde here.' You know what I mean? It's kind of if it happens naturally then we'll do it. If it doesn't then we won't, you know, we do like sitting around strumming acoustic guitars. The biggest criticism that the music press have against us is that we're not Radiohead. But, correct me if I'm wrong, they've been making the same record since Kid A, have they not? I like them. Every time I see them live they blow me away, but you know, it's kind of, we make very accessible rock and roll music, you know, and they constantly make difficult electronic records. It's not a criticism of them, and it shouldn't be a criticism of us.

You've written songs for the band for the last four albums – when you started, did you ever think you wouldn't write for Oasis?

No. I can do what I want in this band, do you know what I mean. It's just if they're good enough, you know what I mean. And they seem to be getting better. I'm easy man, whether a song of mine goes on the album or not. I don't put a gun to anyone's head. It's if they like it then it goes on. If it doesn't go on I'm equally buzzing off it, singing the songs, you know what I mean. I'm a happy chap after singing songs. I sit there. I've got a guitar in me house, once the ironings done, if there's nothing on TV I sort of have a little play around, got me Dictaphone, bosh, something happens it happens, if it doesn't it doesn't. Ain't got a clue what it's about though. That word went with that word. That's the way it is man. And that's the way it sort of, like me and Andy Bell was going, 'well that's like being honest and being right', and that's how it comes because you're not thinking about it. If I didn't write another song I really really wouldn't be that arsed, you know what I mean. It's like, as long as I'm singing songs, that's my main, that's where I get my kicks, that's where I'm at.

You're singing well lately. How are you coping on the road?

I mean the last couple of rehearsals that we've been doing I've been singing like a proper proper geezer. So at the moment it's sounding good, so I've just got stay in and keep the door locked and not go out.

Do you remember your first gig with Oasis?

I think it, I tell you what, the first gig I think was, I think the first gig was in London in some like college. Like Dartford, or wherever Mick Jagger was from, it's round that way. In like some like, I think it was like a toga party? With all the students. But the first serious gig I think was like the King Tut's I think or I remember playing the Boardwalk and all our mates were there, about twenty lads just going like that. And it was just like a proper weird moment. I tell you the gig that, I think it was the one that really, when I sort of sat back and went, 'wow, this is, this is more like it. This is proper' was the T in the Park gig. I remember that one in the tent. And I sort of went, 'this is good!'

Finally are you looking forward to touring?

Love touring. Love making music. Love talking about it. Playing it. Touring. I adore it man. I adore it. I adore Oasis man. I'm its biggest fan. I do. I love it.

The interview was taken from the show “Backstage” on Zagreb’s Plavi Radio.

Source: www.javno.com

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