Noel
Gallagher Interview by Arno Frank
originally posted on the-oasis.de in german
translated into english by André Knoche from alt.music.oasis
taz:
The current single is called "Hindu Times", just like the Indian
newspaper...
Noel Gallagher: A newspaper only for Hindus, exactly. Originally, the album was
supposed to be named after it. "Hindu Times" is a great name. When you
say it... wow! I hate bands who name their albums after one of the songs. That's
lazy. Pink Floyd for example have a song called "Set The Controls For The
Heart Of The Sun", and I'm like: Fuck, what's that supposed to mean? And
then you hear the song and none of the words is in it. Some people try to make a
connection between the words. Others don't. But at least it gets people thinking
again. Not a bad thing, the thinking I mean.
taz: With Oasis that was never really important.
"Definitely Maybe" had great, young, honest lyrics. Very simple (anyone
know how the hell to translate "unprätentiös" into English? I don't
even know what the hell it means in German): I wanna get out of here, wanna go
to the city, wanna be where the sun is shining, I want drugs, I want some bloody
alcohol, want some bloody women (I think this sounds odd, but still better than
fuckin women?!) and I want all of that now!
taz: Tonight I'm gonna be a Rock 'n' Roll Star, I wanna
live forever - and I want "Cigarettes & Alcohol"?
Exactly. To me, "Rock n Roll Star", "Live Forever" und
"Cigarettes & Alcohol" define the 90ies. With all the other albums
from WTSMG to SOTSOG I didn't care about the lyrics, they just had to go with
the feel of the song. Now that's different.
taz: Why?
Because I don't do drugs anymore.
taz: No cocaine?
No cocaine. I think altogether I spent 600.000 Pound on that
taz: Less than Elton John.
... but still. Look, I am 35 years old, I have kids, I'm about to be divorced,
I've been trough so much crap. Now I'm looking forward to the future. I used to
write all the songs by myself, whereas nowadays I just need to write six songs
for a new album,because other people are contributing as well - Liam for example.
So I'm like only the best lyrics should be on the album. Besides, I'm feeling
more secure as a writer. All of a sudden, I'm able to express what moves me.
That's something that was really hard for me over the last six years, but it's
really easy now.
taz: Is aging a subject for you?
I'm meeting a lot of young people who are complaining: "Fucking shit, I'll
be 30 soon, I am not 24 anymore." And I say: "It's a privilege to be
that old!"
taz: This "youthful" spirit has always been
very important for Oasis. Don't you sometimes wish you could turn back the time
and be 10 years younger again?
No, fuck, never! It's fuckin awful to be 24: you don't have the slightest clue,
not the slightest idea what to expect from life. Now that I'm 35, I think I'm
living better than I did with 25.
taz: Because of all the money in the bank.
As well. But when you're young, all you do is ... (at this point Noel mimes
someone drinking beer, doing pot and doing cocaine)... and that's all right. But
when I'm 45, I want to remember what it was like to be 35. What was it like
being 25? I don't know, I bloody forgot, everything's rather foggy, just a huge
booze fest.
taz: If you were to meet the 25 year old Noel Gallagher,
what advise would you give him?
Everything's gonna be fine. Stay optimistic. If there's dark clouds
coming up, they'll leave again. They always do. The world is round. Everything's
round. The biggest invention of all times, the wheel is round. Things pass.
Nothing will stay the same forever. No matter in how big a pile of shite you've
gotten yourself - be it drugs, financial problems, fucked up relations: you'll
get over it. It'll go away just like the weather. The sun is round, so is the
planet we live on, marriage rings and our eyes through which we see the world
taz: Records are round...
Exactly! They aren't angular, now are they? It's like George Harrison once said:
"All things must pass." One day life will be over. When people are
feeling down I think: It'll be better tomorrow, it won't always be this bad,
nothing stays forever, it doesn't work like this, it just doesn't, that's not
how the world functions. That's it pal - that's the advice I'd give to myself (does
Noel sound like a hippie or what?)
taz: Your last album sold ridiculously poor! Oasis once
sold 12 million records in nine months...
So what? Leave me alone with all these fuckin numbers and statistics.
We're playing in fron of more people than ever! We're still selling 150.000
tickets for a London Gig in an afternoon, just like this ("snips" with
his fingers - does the word snip exist? sounds like it does anyway). It's about
the music. If you don't like it, don't buy it
taz: It's as easy as that?
As easy as that. We sold 50 times more records than The Velvet Underground, but
does that make us better than them? More influential? Record sales? I don't
think so. We sold 50 million more fuckin albums than the Stooges, but does that
make us more influential than the Stooges? Not in 50 million years! Stay away
from me with the sales numbers. Phil Collins sold five times as many records as
I did. Does that make him nearly as influenatial as I am? Nope.
taz: When Oasis had their breakthrough, they were seen
as the saviours of Rock 'n' Roll. There are new saviours out there
these days, bands like The Strokes, the White Stripes, Black Rebel Motorcycle
Club...
I've listened to the White Stripes and it sounded like crap. Absolute crap. My
opinion: "Get out and get a bass player..."
taz: Is the music too simple/plain?
I'm not being ironic: "Get a bass player!"
taz: But...
"Get. A. Bassplayer." It's not that complicated. But Black Rebel
Motorcycle Club, excuse me, that's gotta be the best band name of all times,
better than Rolling Stones. When I heard them for the first time I got goose
bumps and I thought: "There's somebody on the right track."
taz: You seem to be singing a lot more recently. Are
you competing with your brother?
I'm only singing the songs Liam can't do. "Force Of Nature"
sounds better when I sing it. I like to sing in the studio. When I've been
singing for whole day, I feel a lot better than how I felt when I did cocaine
all day. That's why I can't understand why some singers are so negative. I'm
like: "What are you being so negative for? You could sing all day long you
fucking cunt!"
taz: There are hardly any electronic influences in the
sound of Oasis. Should we expect any?
One day I will record a great electronic Rock'n' Roll album, no doubt
about it. He (nodding towards a picture of Liam) won't be singing it. He doesn't
like electronic music, he doesn't want to have anything to do with it, just like
the rest of the band. But I was in Manchester during the 80ies, when the whole
Acid thing started. I like Dance Music, I just have to do it. I could evoke the
same emotions with electronic music than I can with a guitar, that'd be dead
easy for me, because I understand dance music. Liam doesn't like Dance, because
he doesn't understand it.
taz: but there are no ideological barriers?
Many guitarists are afraid of dance music and that's why they look
down upon it and call it "dance music". It's the same the other way
around, many "electronic" musicians are scared of guitars - and then
refer to it as guitar music or whatever. But everything's Rock 'n' Roll if you
do it right. "I Feel Love" from Donna Summer is Rock n Roll. You can't
get more Rock 'n' Roll than that. Kraftwerk? Rock n Roll, 'cause they broke the
fuckin rules.
taz: How about the eternal brotherly feud? Has that
calmed down or just become more private?
A lot of things don't reach the public anymore. But Liam has calmed
down as well. He's got more responsibilty within the band. He cannot just be
Liam the drunk guy anymore...
taz: who tries to avoid interviews...
The reason why he didn't do any interviews for a long time, was that
he can't talk about my songs. Now it's like I tell him: "You go and do that
interview!" And he's like: "Why you cunt?" And I go: "Because
I don't wanna talk about your bloody songs, that's why."
taz: Does he enjoy it?
He used to just hang around, a bottle of Whiskey in each hand and
doing this... (mimes Liam) It was the only reason why I put "Little James"
on the last album. I never liked it, it's shite. But: If I had turned down the
first song he'd ever written, then he would have never ever written something
again. So I was like, give me more!
taz: So, you're encouraging him?
Yeah, because I prefer it when my brother is making music instead of
wasting the rest of his life as bloddy alcoholic.
taz: How British is the music of Oasis?
Rock never is too rocky. American bands can be pretty heavy, but over
here we just can't pull off Heavy Metal - luckily. A song like "Cigarettes
& Alcohol" can only be written by an English man. If an American were
to try to write a song about drinking and smoking - the result would be horrible.
taz: Are you proud of being English?
(very long pause) That's a very complicated question. I am proud of
my working class roots. Not of the royal family or crap like that. I am proud to
have the same cultural background as the Beatles, the Stones or Shakespeare -
although I don't want to compare myself to them. In the end, I'm proud of being
a British artist. Actually I'm more of a European.
Taz: Really?
There's no way around England joining the "currency union"
(Euro). But British politicians and media are trying everything to not
make that happen. Fuck that! Arrogant wank! An affront against other European
countries. Britain wants to tell Europe how it's gotta work - without accepting
the currency. What's that all about?
taz: what would have to happen?
We Europeans should get together, politically, economically, and
currency wise. Could be, that we won'r do all that well in the first ten years.
But how are we supposed to change something in this world? When the European
Union is completed, then our opinion will be more important than the USA's - it
won't work without Britain. If Britain joined the Union without any restrictions,
we could solve the conflict in the Middle East in one afternoon.
taz: How?
We Europeans have fought each other for the last 10.000 years. We
speak different languages, pay with different money, have our own histories. But
we respect our borders and don't fight each other anymore. That in itself is a
lesson for the people in the Middle East. I mean: 50 years ago we hated each
other. People don't care anymore. Germans, English, French or Dutch learned to
live together - on very small room. That's a lesson for the rest of the world.
And if England were to get involved within this Union, this world would be a
better place. It's a shame not all people think like this.
taz: Some people say Britain is the biggest air plane
carrier of the USA
Exactly! And let me tell you why: It's all about the money. We're
producing more weapons, planes, submarines, bombs than anyone else in the world.
If England were to join the Currency Union, the European Union would say: That's
not how it works, you can't keep producing more and more weapons, stop it!
Britain doesn't want that, there's too much money to be made and that's why the
British don't care about Europe.