Beady Eye On The Beastie Boys And More

He’s one of the most iconic figures in modern British rock music and this weekend fans in Abu Dhabi will be able to see Mr Liam Gallagher in action when he takes to the stage with his band Beady Eye.

Having been around just two years, the band is mid-way through an international tour which will see them play four sell-out concerts in Japan before landing in the UAE. And if you’re planning on heading down on Friday it could be a good idea to get up to speed with your Beady Eye tracks beforehand.

The band may be made up of Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer, Andy Bell, Chris Sharrock, and Jeff Wootton - all former members of one of the best-selling British rock bands ever, Oasis - some gig-goers have apparently seemed a bit surprised when they walk out on stage.

Liam explains: “Some gigs have been good but some, the crowd has been a bit like: ‘Who the heck are these lot?’ There seems to be a lot of confused people. Maybe it’s just me but there have been some very peculiar gigs. Some people have their head in the sand, being stubborn but they’ll get with it at some point.”

A quick browse on You Tube or the music sharing website Soundcloud and it’s clear the music fans who may be baffled by Liam in his new guise are in the minority.

Type Beady Eye in the search box and you’ll find thousands of home videos of budding musicians trying their skills with the songs and Gem says it’s something he and the band encourage.

“It’s amazing to see that really, that’s what its all about in music - handing it on. If somebody wants to learn how to play one of your songs so that they can then get a little bit better on whatever their instrument is, then that’s top isn’t it.

“You get plenty of good dance tunes and whatever, but it’s not really easy for people to try and play them. I was listening to the Beastie Boys new album last night and it’s mega, but you wouldn’t really sit down with an acoustic guitar and a camcorder like other people do if you know what I mean, it’s part of learning the craft, it’s how everybody does it.”

Paying homage to songs they love is something Beady Eye don’t mind doing themselves. They may not play Oasis songs just yet but by releasing a cover of World of Twist’s song ‘Sons of Stage’, they’re introducing a new generation to a lesser known Manchester band.

Liam adds: “That tune is amazing. We’ve always liked World of Twist so we all agreed to have a pop at that song.

Gem was messing about with it on his own and said ‘Look guys I’ve done this little version’, we heard it and went ‘Wow that’s mega’, so we stuck a vocal on it and it sort of chose us. It’s a highlight of the set - we love playing it.”

Tickets for Friday’s gig start at Dhs295. For more details visit www.thinkflash.ae

Source: www.7days.ae