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Liam Gallagher Talks Beady Eye, Oasis, And More













Liam Gallagher is in a chipper mood. He jokes that he is speeding in the fast lane while being chased by the police when we ring him up in London to discuss his new, post-Oasis group Beady Eye, which plays WFNX’s “Miracle on Lansdowne Street’’ show tomorrow night at the House of Blues. The quartet - which features Oasis holdovers Gem Archer and Andy Bell on guitars and drummer Chris Sharrock - collaborated on its debut, “Different Gear, Still Speeding,’’ which was released earlier this year. Gallagher says that approach, resulting in an unsurprisingly Beatlesy-Stonesy-Faces-esque batch of tunes, was quite a change from the MO of Oasis (which split in 2009 after a band-demolishing row between Liam and his older brother Noel).

Q. Did you approach things differently in the studio for Beady Eye?

A. We sort of rehearsed the whole album and played it like a live gig, because we knew this was going to be our set. So when we got in the studio we let it rip.

Q. So, I’m guessing that was a faster process than it was with Oasis?

A. Without a doubt. Oh, yeah, if we were doing an Oasis record, we’d still be doing it now. It’d be two years later. There’d be lots of hair pulling, loads of broken nails.

Q. Was this a more enjoyable experience?

A. Yeah, without a doubt. We just banged it out in six or seven weeks. I mean, I’m not a muso, but I think it’s got an attitude and a certain kind of flair to it. Always going through with a fine tooth just gets boring and up your own [expletive]. We’re not writing a [expletive] symphony, we’re not writing an opera, it’s just rock ’n’ roll music. And if it makes you want to smash things or jump up and [expletive] go mental, then it’s a hit with me.

Q. It sounds like the songwriting and recording process was more democratic than in Oasis.

A. Yeah, man. It was a band thing. No one was in charge. The way I see it, it’s like we all got a go at taking the car around the block for a spin - you know what I mean?

Q. Even though the songs are credited to Gallager-Archer-Bell, you each wrote individually. It’s funny that Andy wrote “Four Letter Word,’’ because that’s one that some listeners probably suspect is about Noel.

A. Well, it could be. Noel [annoyed] a lot of people, it wasn’t just me. I think Andy sort of wrote it with me in mind, which is the sign of a good [expletive] songwriter. If he can keep writing songs with me in mind, I think we’ll go far.

Q. Why have you chosen not to play Oasis songs on this tour?

A. Oasis split up, so the last thing I wanted to do was go play them songs. We believe in Beady Eye, this is what we want to do, so we wanted to let people know that we don’t need to play these Oasis songs. Now we didn’t say we wouldn’t. We’ll definitely be playing some on the next tour. We wanted to get this year out of the way and letting people know we can wipe our own [expletive] without big Noel Gallagher and I think we’ve done that. He hasn’t done it. He hasn’t gone out on tour and played his successful album without dipping into the past, and that’s his prerogative. We’ll definitely play some next year.

Q. Do you have a response prepared for when people shout out Oasis requests at shows?

A. They paid their money, they can shout what they [expletive] want.

Q. When I interviewed Noel a few weeks back, he said he thought the Beady Eye record was good.

A. I’m sure he did think it was good because it is good. At least he’s honest.

Q. What did you think of his High Flying Birds?

A. I’ve only heard what I’ve heard on the radio and I’ve heard it all before, to be quite honest. It’s very civilized rock ’n’ roll for couples.

Q. He also said he worried that some listeners wouldn’t think his new music was as good as yours or as Oasis. Did you ever worry about that?

A. Nah, I’m not interested in the competition. Noel’s a [expletive] great songwriter, he’s one of the best songwriters to come out of this country, and he will remain that, no one’s disputing that. It’s just that he’s a bit of a [expletive].

Q. But what about holidays? Is there anyone in the extended family sad that you won’t see each other for Christmas?

A. We were never like that as a family anyway. My mum would come to me and then she’d go to Noel and that’s the way it’s always been. Noel has the heat on in his house too much to go around there. You go in there, it’s like a [expletive] sauna.

Q. Are you already thinking second album?

A. Oh, yeah, without a doubt it’s coming next year. We start in February. We’re not doing any concerts next year. We’re going to concentrate on this next album. We think we definitely need a big, big [expletive] album with big songs on it.

Q. You have your own clothing line, Pretty Green. What was the inspiration for that?

A. The inspiration for that is just making clothes. I like my clothes [from] the Rolling Stones era ’67 to ’69, the Beatles, the Small Faces. It’s not curing cancer, it’s just something I like to do.

Q. So you like your clothes like you like your music?

A. Oh, yeah, you can write the best song in the world but if you look like a [expletive] it doesn’t work for me.

Source: bostonglobe.com

4 comments

Anonymous said...

They won't be doing any concerts next year, but they will definitely play some Oasis songs next year....? I don't get it.

Anonymous said...

he said next tour not next year .

Anonymous said...

Nah, man, he said next year in both answers... Anyway, we understand him

Anonymous said...

Their next album will be definitely amazing!

The interviewer misquoted Noel's words, I tink.