#grant fleming

[via oa515.com]

The last time I had a half decent chat with Noel Gallagher, in Ibiza last summer, Sasha was ripping it up to high heaven, dropping Primal Scream's 'Kill All Hippies' in the process , which had me and Mr and Mrs Gallagher flying and saw Jay Kay deservedly getting his hat nicked for giving it large. It seemed highly improbable then that we'd ever see the brothers on a stage together again. Sharing the canvas on the card of a Frank Warren promotion at the Manchester Nynex maybe, but on guitar and vocals, not bloody likely.

Noel just didn't seem bothered any more. Quite obviously enjoying his semi-exile on the magic isle, the only long term plans he spoke about were his desire to sling on a backpack and get out and actually see some of the world, away from the tour-bus/hotel/gig routine. China was apparently first on the list.

Fast-forward to summer 2001 (at least the one the southern hemisphere is currently enjoying). It's 90 degrees in the shade and we find ourselves in the bar of the Sheraton Hotel, Buenos Aires. They've just flown in from Brazil where they've played the biggest gig of their lives (quarter of a million people at 'Rock in Rio').

So what happened? "I personally wasn't gonna tour outside of England again," says Noel, "but then Marcus [Russell, Oasis's manager] called in to say there's three gigs offered. I said we're not interested, really, but then he says one of them's Rock in Rio, one's opening up for Neil Young and one's in Venezuela. It was like, 'Fucking hell, ummm, when is it?' and he said January and it was like, 'Aah, fucking cold and wet... January in South America? That'll do me."'

And guess what? Liam and Noel are getting on famously. In fact, the overall vibe in the camp is as upbeat as I've seen for ages.

"The last time we passed through Buenos Aires in '98," recalls Noel, "we were pretty much all out of control, man, but everyone seems to have grown up a little bit and it's a bit more... I don't know, everybody still likes a drink and that, but we don't do so much of the other stuff." Liam reminisces about their previous stay in the hotel, though not surprisingly details remain a little blurry. Word had come over- "I want to meet the brothers Gallagher" -and they were duly summoned to an upstairs suite, where they not only met, but became guests of honour at the court of the King of Argentina, Diego Maradona himself. Daylight was not admitted. Other more enlightening influences may have been. Maybe it's the heat, but everything seems so much more relaxed here than last time I met Oasis. More importantly, the band are looking and sounding top dollar right now. Much is made of the brothers and the creative tension at the heart of Oasis, but the addition of the likes of Gem and Andy Bell is going to show on the next album, reckons Noel.

"This time the album's gonna be on Big Brother, our label, and it's like, we're calling the shots and we can actually do like a fucking quadruple album if we want now. It's really good to be going in there and just thinking, 'We could put out two albums in a year if we wanted to'."

"How's Mark Gardner doing, Andy?" I happen to ask of Mr Bell's former Ride mucker. "He's great," says Andy. "He's got well into Tai Chi now."

Liam walks in. "What's that, cookery?"

He's just returned from a quick game of footie ("Them Brazilians, they ain't up to much, y'know?"), only to spot himself in the mirror, "Oh no. I've gone and fucking done me gig hair in!" But, as Oasis crises go, it's small bananas. "It's good now, man," claims Noel. "Liam's calmed down a lot, you know, he's happy with Nic, got a kid on the way-everyone's grown up a bit. Trouble is, shit happens when you've got three days off in somewhere like Albuquerque. You're in a bar on a Wednesday afternoon and someone'll say, 'I don't like that jacket' and you're like, 'What, are you calling my jacket a poof?' And you've got nothing better to do, so you start picking arguments with people. When he ain't drinking and he's not being a cunt it just makes it easier for everyone else to just do their shit and just get on with it and have a good time and just come home, as opposed to, like, having 500 photographers at the airport, going, 'What's happened this time?"' What happened last time was that tabloid story about Liam pinching an air stewardess's bum on a plane, and her claim to be 'traumatised' and her threatening legal action.

"Well I was on the plane first," explains Noel, "so I don't know what's fucking gone on. He's stayed out in Miami with Nic, and I can't speak for him but, Liam being Liam, he's always pinching my arse on stage, and I hear words like 'traumatised' and all that and I think, 'Fucking hell, you want to try playing rhythm guitar for the cunt!' Fucking hell, that's traumatised!"

[continued] -http://www.oa515.com/inter057.htm