#noel interview

"Me, Liam... and a fucking load of fit birds."

Pictures unrelated to the excerpt below but it is interesting that Noel brings up the topic of Liam's self-esteem for another publication in the same year, 2006

From birth, says Noel, the relationship was built on "relentless piss-taking". Anyway, his brother is "an idiot". Liam, insists Noel, still has "something to prove", and his colossal front hides a canyon-sized self-esteem issue. "Liam can't get his head round the fact Oasis wouldn't be Oasis without him," insists Noel, "he doesn't see it. He constantly needs to reassure himself. Ultimately, deep down, he wants to be a great songwriter. But I can't be him either. He's a force of nature. He's stunningly beautiful. And I am not sitting round a table telling him, You're the man', I'm still trying to convince myself that I'm the f***ing man, I can't be f***ing helping you, I'm trying to help myself here! Liam's glass is always half-empty, mine is always half-full. And that's it." But then he adds: "Only I'm allowed to slag him off, though. He's my idiot, I guess."

The HeraldScotland 2006

I find the Gallagher psychology endlessly fascinating, especially the idea that Liam was a pessimist and Noel an optimist. Both brothers are propelled by their massive creative egos, yet both struggle with deep-down self-doubt. Both hugely admired each other, yet could not support each other when it really mattered.

It didn't help not knowing how to communicate effectively. Noel's admission that he couldn't reassure Liam because he was struggling to reassure himself sums up the extent of their communication block. And whilst Liam took pride in their 'telepathy' saying that they never needed to compliment one another out loud, the reality is that years of endless piss taking, belittling and undermining one another only served to feed their self-doubt, not to mention Liam's paranoia.

They needed a trusted middle person to act as translator, the role that Brian Epstein successfully played for John Lennon and Paul McCartney, to keep the lines of communication open, and smooth over the harsh northern-men-don't-have-feelings ethos. Epstein's death left John and Paul with no way to deal with each other.

Noel, just a simple and traditional guy.

Recorded during his promo tour for Council Skies in Italy. Radiofreccia, April 2023

Questions are:

Which food or drink do you need with you on tour?

Do you listen to an album or artist in particular when you're on tour?

While on tour, do you bring with you books or something else to read?

What do you need to have fun while on tour?

What's the strangest thing you have asked for in the dressing room rider?

Noel Gallagher has discussed his shock split from wife Sara MacDonald after 12-years of marriage.

The former Oasis, 55, frontman revealed that the couple 'grew tired of each other' which he says is not unusual for couples in their 50s.

Speaking with Ireland's Hot Press magazine, the publication reported that Sarah, 51, with whom he shares, Donovan, 15, and Sonny, 12, was left furious by her husband's partying.

In the candid interview Noel said: 'It's not uncommon for people to get to their fifties and go, well, you know…'

He also appeared to imply his tough touring schedule and 'four years on the road' also contributed to the seperation.

oel confirmed the relationship collapsed during lockdown – with his misery heightened by catching Covid TWICE as it crumbled.

He told for the first time how he caught the virus in the same six-month stretch last year, after declaring he was refusing to wear facemasks to protect himself at the peak of the pandemic.

He said: 'I didn't get Covid until it was gone – and then I got it twice! I was thinking, 'I've great f*g antibodies coursing through my veins,' went to Glastonbury last summer where there was a wave of it, caught it and got it again just before Christmas.

'Felt fairly s***e both times, but thankfully no complications.'

He declared in 2020 he thought the Covid pandemic was a load of 'fg bks' and said he is refusing to wear masks on public transport and in shops – calling it part of an affront to 'civil liberties'.

And in 2021 he said he only got his first Covid jab after his doctor told him he would be 'a fool' not to have the vaccine.

Noel's new High Flying Birds album Council Skies – which is headed for the No1 spot in the UK album charts – was created as his marriage crumbled and contains lovelorn lyrics.

But the singer said once upside of being locked inside as his relationship collapsed around him was that he could finish the songs on the record.

He added in a new interview with Ireland's Hot Press magazine: 'Although I f*g hated lockdown, I got to finish off all these songs that I'd half-written and write a load of new ones.

'The silver lining to a very dark cloud being that I actually had some f*g time off during Covid.'

Noel also admitted the Dead To The World ballad from Council Skies was about him trying to salvage his relationship with Sara.

It contains the poignant refrain, 'And if you say so, I'll bend over backwards for love', and Noel said when asked if it was about Sara: 'Yeah, that was written in the middle of a relationship breakdown'.

The rocker also said he may end up producing a full-on break-up record like Bob Dylan's searingly bitter Blood On The Tracks if it poured out of him accidentally.

He said when asked if it was in him to use a whole record to cathartically expel his feelings about the split from Sara: 'I don't know. If I did, it'd be accidental. It's like (Dead To The World) – when I hit the chorus it suggested a mood and out it came.

And Noel said he had been enjoying time with his sons , who he had with Sara, as well as his daughter Anaïs, 23, with his ex-wife Meg Matthews, 57, by taking them to gigs including one of Bono's.