Noel Gallagher is the special guest on It’s Electric! with Lars Ulrich on Beats 1 on Apple Music. Tune in to Part 1 of the interview on It’s Electric! with Lars Ulrich on Beats 1 this Sunday 8th April at 11pm. Part 2 will air on Sunday 15th April at 11pm via apple.co/lars. Tour tickets.
In the interview Noel talks about performing Oasis songs and what they mean to him, the launch of Liam’s songwriting, the Supersonic documentary, and what he has planned for his next albums. .
On performing Oasis songs vs his solo material… Tour tickets
I don’t really think about the technicalities of the song or anything like that, the main difference is all the guys [in the crowd] start doing this ‘oi oii’. With the new stuff it’s more for the ladies. I think in terms of singing my voice is getting stronger if anything…Funnily enough, if I’m doing a song that Liam has sang, like ‘Go Let It Out’ for instance, I have to step it up as opposed to step it down because I’ve got a different range, but I don’t really think about it that much.
On including Oasis songs in his set list…
When I first started, I used to do 20 songs and 12 of of them were Oasis songs, and that’s pure necessity. Now it’s down to five. The only conscious thing that I would do, because those songs are part of people’s lives particularly in England, I wouldn’t have Charlotte [Marionneau] play the scissors on an Oasis song…I’m aware of what those songs mean to people.
On what those songs mean to him…
I couldn’t do that rock thing now, but they mean the world to me, everything. Those songs got me to where I am now and I wouldn’t be that arrogant as to go out and not perform at least five or six [Oasis songs]. I wish I could do ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ and ‘Slide Away’ and maybe some of the earlier stuff but they just don’t suit my voice. But I’m aware of what they mean to people and I would perform them faithfully…You start to get older and the songs start to mean different things to you and you start to interpret them differently.
On allowing other members of Oasis to write songs on the later albums…
Looking back on it now, I think I’d fallen slightly out of love with songwriting and I encouraged everybody to contribute because we were a band after all. To keep writing every 18 months to two years 16-18 songs on your own, it burnt me out. Some good stuff came out of it, it gave Liam a launch as a songwriter and all that which is good for him…And it gave the band a longer shelf life.
On Supersonic (the film)…
It reignited my love for it. Which is why I think everybody assumed that there would be a [Oasis] tour lined up afterwards. I loved being pushed by the interviewer to remember things and I loved the researchers pulled out all this footage. I loved the camaraderie, the nonsense, being in your 20s and not giving a fuck, and in the midst of all that thinking, ‘God, we were really fucking good.’…I was happy with the film. It focused on the music and the fans…My overriding thought when I was seeing footage was, ‘I wonder where that fucking jacket went?!’
On leaving Oasis…
I remember, the day after I left Oasis I got a text from the drummer of Metallica [Lars laughing!] and he said to me, words to the effect of, ‘you’re either incredibly brave or incredibly fucking stupid!’ And I text him back and said, ‘I think it’s going to be alright.’ I’m really happy about what we did in the past but I’m really fucking happy where I am now.
On his next albums…
I’ve got a whole backlog of songs, I write all the time so I’ve got plenty of material. I’m going to make another record with David [Holmes, producer of ‘Who Built the Moon?’] in this way but the last one took four years so I’ll probably have to make another one alongside it in the more traditional sense.