Liam and Weller: the complete saga
From 1994 to 2024. Liam's important comments about Weller are highlighted with red and Weller's with blue
Liam and Paul Weller met in 1994 (allegedly, in Glastonbury) and used to see eachother from time to time, mostly due to Noel's admiration for The Jam and Weller himself. Liam however had a different experience:
Inside, I see Liam Gallagher leaning against the doorway of the main party room. He's on typically cryptic form.
"I love Paul Weller,' he tells me. 'But I was too young to be really into The Jam. I preferred The Beatles.'"
— The Observer magazine, October 1999
In 1998, Steve Craddock invited Liam to record a cover of Carnation, his favourite song by The Jam. In the end, the rest of Oasis also collaborated on the song, along with Weller who played keyboard.
In 1999 Liam and Steve Craddock performed (mimed) the cover in Top of the Pops. In November it was released as part of the album "Fire and skill", a record in homage to The Jam.
Q: I never thought of you as a massive Jam fan.
Liam: No, I'm not. But I like some of the tracks, and I like Weller now. So we were speakin' about The Jam and mods and all this nonsense, so I went, 'oh, "Carnation" is the fucking best tune,' and Steve goes, 'Oh, that's my favourite tune. I'd love to do a cover of it one day.'
— Liam for UNCUT Magazine, April 2000
During the recordings of Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, Liam showed "Little James" to several people, including Paul Weller, who was the one to tell Noel it was a good song and convinced him to put it on the album. Noel has also said he believes Weller played on the song.
— Liam on The Big Breakfast, 2000
Noel: Apparently [Liam'd] already… I don’t know if this is true or not, but apparently he’d already demoed it before. And he never played it to me. So I was probably the last person ever to hear it (...) And I think Paul Weller played on it or something like that.
During the early 2000s, both Gallaghers and Weller hang out fairly regularly, assisting to each others' gigs (pic by Jill Furmanovsky, 2001)
However, according to Noel, Paul and Liam would somtimes get into arguments if they both had something to drink:
— Noel on The Big Issue, 2019
In 2008, Oasis attended a Paul Weller gig in New York. On "That's Entertainment", Liam walked on stage and kissed (?) Weller:
According to the people at the gig, Oasis were present but only Gem (in another song earlier in the gig) and Liam got on stage.
In 2009, Liam founded Pretty Green, his own clothing label, which takes its name from a The Jam song (written by Weller, ofc) of the same title.
In 2010, Weller was asked for his opinion on the Oasis split:
"I don't want to talk out of turn because I love Noel and Liam, but I thought there was a bit of going through the motions by the end. You can see when someone's not happy. But I guess when you get to that sort of level and there's big business involved, it's harder to stop. I think ultimately it'll be better for music and for their own creativity."
— Paul Weller for The Independent, 24 April 2010
Despite the split, they maintained a good relationship during the Beady Eye years:
Who are the legends you’ve met and not been disappointed by?
Liam: Paul Weller. He’ll never let you down, man. Lee Mavers, he’s a fucking dude. Johnny Marr. Ian Brown – he’s absolute fucking dynamite.
— Beady Eye for Hot Press, 22 February 2011
On April 2011, both Beady Eye Paul Weller played at the Japan Disaster Benefit, Liam was invited by Weller. (x)
On June of that same year, Pretty Green announced a autumn/winter collection designed by Paul Weller (x) and he actually modeled for it!
In 2013, there were rumours of another charity gig spearheaded by Weller, in which Beady Eye would be invited, but Liam and Gem denied it. Although he jokingly said he would be down for it if Weller got all "freshman with his big strong arms" and roped him into doing the gig.
In 2015, amidst Oasis reunion rumours, Noel mentioned that Weller told him that he would break his legs/put his windows in if he got Oasis back together. Later, Weller confirmed this:
““I know it went around that I said I’d break Noel Gallagher’s legs or whatever if he even considered reforming Oasis, but it’s true. It’s unseemly. I have no interest in it and I honestly have no idea why anyone would. For me it’s always about moving forward. I couldn’t give a fuck if Oasis got back together again because I like what [Noel] does now,” Weller told NME, just weeks after Gallagher said the former Jam man would put his “fucking windows in” if that happened.
— The Daily Beast, 26 May 2015
In 2017 is when things get a bit complicated:
In September of 2017, Liam said the Oasis break up was planned and that Weller and Johnny Marr had chats with Noel about leaving Oasis, giving him advice on how to leave the band:
Asked if he feels like he ‘walked into’ Noel’s plan, Liam replied: “Without a fucking doubt, mate. They knew what they were doing. Our Kid having little meetings with Paul Weller. ‘How did you get out of The Jam?’ And with Johnny Marr. ‘How did you get out of one of the biggest bands in the country?’ It was all marked out and dickhead here walked right into it, which is fine. There’s no time limit on the truth coming out. People are clocking it now anyway.”
However, a month later Weller denied ever advising Noel to leave the band:
Q: Liam Gallagher said recently that you and Noel met to discuss breaking up Oasis. What do you make of their thing, where they snipe at each other in the press?
PW: [Laughs.] I don’t know man. It’s like a sort of comedy duo, isn’t it? It’s like a comedy duo, but with no straight man.
Q: Did Noel talk to you about that?
PW: Obviously not, man, of course not. Absolutely not. I mean, he’s not the sort of person that would ever do that. And I wouldn’t fucking want to be the person to have to give him advice anyway. But, they’re both, how should I put this…sort of liberal with the truth at times, bless them.
— Gothamist, 3 October 2017
On the 23rd of that same month, an interview with Weller was released in which he talked about Liam's "As You Were":
PW: I'm glad for [Liam], I’m glad he’s got his own thing together and he’s out there doing it. I’m really pleased on that level. Musically, it just sounds like Beady Eye – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn’t a massive surprise or anything. But I think I’m more pleased that he’s out there doing that. The lyrics are pretty pony I thought, a little bit sub-standard.
— Weller for Northern Transmissions, 23 October 2017
Three days later Liam tweeted this in retaliation:
In November of 2017 however, Liam spoke highly of Weller to NME:
Liam: I really like The Jam as well, but I remember when [Weller] came out with his solo stuff, that was what I really got into, when he was doing 'Into Tomorrow' and things like that. After that I was into a lot of his stuff. I remember I went to see him at the Apollo with Steve Cradock around 'Wild Wood' and it was amazing. Amazing voice, amazing songs. He ooked like an honorary Manc at the time. I thought he looked really cool. I liked him then, I still like him now. All his new stuff is great: that thing he did for that boxing film recently (Jawbone), mega. We hung around him a lot, obviously, when Oasis kicked off.
— NME Gold, November 2017
Then in 2018, Liam went after Weller again (and Johnny Marr)
On February, after going on a rant he stated that Weller and Noel had been slagging him off behind his back for years:
In 2019, with the release of NGHFB'S Black Star Dancing, Liam criticized (slagged off, more accurately) the song and wondered what 'Noel's bit on the side' — referring to Weller— would think of it:
“It’d be interesting to hear what [Noel's] fucking bit on the side thinks about it. You know who his bit on the side is, don’t you? Weller. It'd be interesting what he fucking thinks about it, 'cos he's put out some questionable shit over the fucking years, but I don't think he's ever gone down the Leo Sayer route, so it'll be interesting to see what marks out of 10 he gives it.”
— Q Magazine presents "The Making of..." May 2019
In a 2020 interview, however, Weller denied again that he had given advice to Noel and decided to stay out of Liam and Noel's "spat":
Asked what he thinks of the latest controversy between the Gallagher brothers, Weller said: “I’ve got better things to think about. I love both of them, anyway… I think they’re both brilliant characters.”
— Weller for NME, 23rd June 2020
Finally in August of 2024, Weller was asked about his opinion on the Oasis reunion:
PW: I’ve not been to see them, no (...) I’m not a big fan of big gigs, I said to Noel, a few weeks or months ago: ‘Are you going to do any warm-ups?’ which he wasn’t, but, I’d go and see something like that in a smaller venue, but I just don’t like big gigs*.
Q: When did you know the gigs were happening?
PW: uh, when I read about it in the Daily Trumpet or whatever.
Q: Did you not know upfront? Noel hadn't told you?
PW: No, but I wouldn't expect him to, y'know? It's not of my interest to be honest, but I bet everyone else knew about it.
*Weller did go to Blur's Wembley gigs and even played support for one of the shows.
And that's about it. There's obviously more mentions and news about them being at each others' gigs, events, etc, but these are the important events/aspects of their relationship. Mostly I just wanted to show that, while it is true that part of their current animosity is because of jealousy over Noel, Liam and Weller also had a friendship of their own that got bitter over the last few years. Also Weller's Pretty Green collection is appaling.
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