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Andy Bell On Beady Eye, Oasis And More













Taken from an interview with Andy Bell from Drowned In Sound, read the full interview here.

DiS: What are you up to at present and how are the new songs shaping up? 

Andy Bell: We're still at the writing stage and then recording a few demos from what we have. We've been making demos for pretty much the whole of this year. It's always good to have far too much music before going into the studio and beginning the actual recording process .

DiS: Are you heavily involved in the writing process with Beady Eye?

Andy Bell: Me, Liam (Gallagher) and Gem (Archer) are all equal partners when we're writing, which means we all get to make sure none of us has a song that sounds too much like "me" - in the collective sense of the word. It's a good way of working because it means none of us have our individual stamp on anything we do. It's all about what's best for Beady Eye.

DiS: You've recently started incorporating Oasis songs into your live set with Beady Eye. Is this something you intend to do on a regular basis for the foreseeable future?

Andy Bell: I'd say it's something we'll definitely do again, yes. The reason we didn't play Oasis material from the outset was because we wanted Beady Eye to create its own identity. So when we started touring around the world we wanted to get everyone that came to our shows used to the idea that we are a new band, and not just a continuation of the old one, even though when you come and see Beady Eye we look pretty much like Oasis on stage. Except Noel's (Gallagher) not there.

DiS: Are you pleased with how everything's turned out for Beady Eye so far?

Andy Bell: Yeah, it's been cool.

DiS: Was there ever a time when you were in Oasis where you approached Liam or Noel with the intention of making a record in a similar vein to what you did with Ride?

Andy Bell: Well, no not really, not in so many words, but I think Noel definitely appreciates all that music. He likes a lot of the bands from that era. I know back in '93/'94 when Oasis first broke he was quoted in the press as saying his band were going to blow away all this shoegazing crap or whatever - not those exact words but that was the implication - yet that was never their ethos themselves. Noel definitely had a lot of time for me. He was a bigger shoegazer than me! He was always staring down at a pedal with Oasis, and he got a really good guitar sound from his pedals. It was right in that category with Nick McCabe or John Squire or myself, in that world of sound where we're all heavy on delays and distortion. In a lot of ways, those first Oasis demos that I heard from Alan McGee reminded me of The Jesus & Mary Chain. Some of the songs off the first album like 'Bring It On Down', they weren't singles but formed an integral part of the live set, to me anyway sounded like the Mary Chain. I mean, I don't even know if they'd heard of The Jesus & Mary Chain at that point. They were just doing their own thing, but to me they had a lot of that element to them.

DiS: How did working with Noel and Liam compare with what you'd been used to in the past? Did it seem strange going from being the main songwriter and focal point with both Ride and Hurricane #1 to being the bass player in what was essentially their band?

Andy Bell: Working with the Gallaghers was brilliant. They're both very different yet in some ways quite similar, and also very appreciative for what I was bringing to their band. I wasn't bringing much other than playing bass on their songs to start with, but they knew and liked what I'd done before.

DiS: Your arrival seemed to coincide with the band releasing possibly their best two records since Definitely Maybe and (What's The Story) Morning Glory in Heathen Chemistry and Don't Believe The Truth.

Andy Bell: I'm a big fan of Don't Believe The Truth. It was definitely the best record Oasis made during the time I was with them.

DiS: Do you ever see Noel and Liam burying their differences, reforming Oasis and working together again?

Andy Bell: I'd love it to happen. I think that life's too short for it not to happen. But, in reality, do I see it happening? At this point, no I don't. The matter rests entirely with the two brothers. It probably should happen at some point but if they can't make it happen, no one should force them to.

DiS: Obviously when Oasis split up, Noel went his own way and the rest of you formed Beady Eye. What made you choose to work with Liam rather than Noel? Was it something that just fell into place?

Andy Bell: It just fell into place like that really. When Mark decided to leave Ride we initially thought about carrying on. But because it had been the original four, and then it would have been three, we just felt it would have been impossible to carry it on. But then who knows what would have happened in a parallel universe? We could have just carried on with what we were doing and wait to see if Mark came back but that never happens. You tend to make snap decisions in the moment of crisis I guess, and then you have to live with them. Your life is then laid out in a certain way as a result. That's what happens; in certain times of your life you have to go with one big choice or the other.

DiS: I guess it's better to look forwards rather than keep wondering what might have been.

Andy Bell: The brave choice is always go forward.

Source: drownedinsound.com

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