DEFINITELY MAYBE

The first main event of August was the release of “Live Forever”, Oasis’ third single and the first “ace” Noel had used. The single went straight in at number 10, thus giving them their first Top 10 hit but Noel was somewhat surprised with this, believing a song of this quality would chart higher, It was also the first single that contained that crossover quality – unlike the first two singles, where they were probably only going to appeal to those who liked Oasis’ style of music, “Live Forever” would appeal to a broad range of music lovers, making the Number 10 ranking a little bewildering. Nonetheless, it served to enhance Oasis’ reputation as a band and also Noel’s as a songwriter further. Those critics who had bracketed Noel as a “cheap-shot writer” were no longer able to do so, the two words “live” and “forever” being substantially more than sufficient to shoot that down in flames. Noel was only too aware of this, sensing the danger that his band were going to be labelled as headline makers for causing trouble rather than making music, he said to Melody Maker at the time:

“There’s more to us than rumours, hearsay, gossip and sensationalism about drugs and fucking shagging in hotel rooms. This is what we’re all about – songs. We’re a real band with real songs and everything else is just incidental. That’s what we’ll be remembered for in 20 years time, not incidents on ferries or drug busts or whatever.”

Reviews for the single were very positive from both the NME and Melody Maker, with both publications featuring Oasis on the front cover, which was the first time in six years that had happened, U2 being the previous feature. NME waxed lyrical about the release, suggesting that Oasis had the world within their grasp and could effectively do whatever they wanted to and finished by calling it “a terrific song.”

Noel once again provided vocals for one of the b-sides, this time giving fans an insight into how the forthcoming “Definitely Maybe” tracks, “Up In The Sky” was born, performing it on acoustic guitar. The other two b-sides were the oft-forgotten psychedelic rock classic “Cloudburst”, which was included on the Japanese version of “Definitely Maybe” and a live version of “Supersonic”.

Beatles similarities and references had started to be made by the music press and this could be the reason for Brian Cannon/Noel’s choice of using John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi’s house for the front cover. The other theory was that, as Live Forever was a song for/about Peggy, this was being symbolised with the house in which one of Noel’s idols grew up in. Brian and Noel were certainly giving the art lovers amongst the Oasis fan-base something to think about, with three drastically different covers for three releases, all with contrasting meanings, styles and messages.

Although again disappointed with the chart position Noel was satisfied with the other purpose of its release, namely to demonstrate his talents as a songwriter and silence a few critics. Noel, as always was following his master plan.

Three days after the release, Oasis travelled to Newcastle to play a now infamous gig at the Riverside Centre, the first of eight gigs before the release of “Definitely Maybe”. Similar to the gig at Ilford in June, when the band walked off stage, the

mood of the crowd was menacing, something Oasis were now used to and 99 times out of 100 nothing would come of it. There is always that 1 time, though and Newcastle was it. The band was playing the fourth song of their set, “Bring It On Down”, when a fan jumped on-stage and punched Noel. In retaliation Noel hit the fan on his back with h is guitar and he fell back into the crowd. Blood poured down his face and the band left the stage quickly to head for their dressing room. Still in complete shock, they took stock of what had occurred and decided to go to the tour bus, returning to play never being an option. As they left the centre they found 300 angry fans had surrounded it and were smashing it up. Some of the band’s equipment was also damaged by the mob. Pushing their way past, the band managed to get on the bus and sped off to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Hospital to get Noel looked over. There was no real damage, only cuts and bruises which would remain for several weeks.

Radio 1 was there to record the show and Jo Whiley recalled it as: “The guy who punched Noel had a huge ring on his finger. Noel had loads of blood pouring down his face. It was awful and pretty scary. People were trying to get backstage and were throwing bottles at the crew.

No definite reason has ever been given for the attack, with theories surrounding football rivalries being the most popular ones, but it seems far more likely that the fan had too much to drink and decided to make a name for him.

The guitar Noel had used to hit him with was the Les Paul Johnny Marr had given him, which he had used on The Smiths most famous album and one of Noel’s favourites ever) “The Queen Is Dead” and had also been owned by Pete Townsend before that. Noel was devastated to discover that it had been damaged. He called Johnny Marr from Leeds the next day to explain and Johnny sent him another Les Paul immediately. Not the one he had played on one of Noel’s favourite albums, but a nice gesture and appreciated greatly by him. The people who support and help Noel receive that back and, once Oasis had become massive he would ask Johnny’s bands to play support to them.

One of the problems highlighted by this attach was that they had no security at all, so if anything did happen it was down to the roadies and band to face and resolve it. These people were chosen for their technical, rather than fighting abilities and did not necessarily offer the greatest protection in the world. This was a direct result of Oasis having become so popular so quickly, almost overnight playing from half-empty clubs to frantic, hyped-up sell-out crowds and Marcus was well aware of this. He had been speaking to a security expert called Ian Robertson and the popular myth is that “Robbo” was in place for the gig in Leeds the very next night, such was their desire to protect their prize assets. Good story, but not the truth.

Robbo had attended the New York Wetlands gig and effectively been interviewed by Marcus. Marcus was highly impressed with his credentials: ex-Para who had then moved into music security, looking after numerous bands including Duran Duran and Public Image Limited, Johnny Rottten’s band after The Sex Pistols broke up. After the Newcastle incident Marcus did indeed call Robbo, but this was to arrange to meet him again, this time at London Astoria, 6 days later and that is when he took over responsibility for security of the band.

Robbo proved to be more than adequate security for Oasis for the year he was with them. His problem was that his job was to protect the band from any risks or danger and he mistook this to mean that he was managing them! He overstepped the mark several times, in particular with Liam. Despite having worked with egos such as Simon Le Bon’s and John Lyndon’s, he seemed to forget that people working for rock stars do exactly what the rock star wants, not tell them what to do. He was sacked in September 1995 after an argument with Liam went too far and he then wrote a book about his experiences with the band.

After Newcastle Oasis played successful gigs, with no problems, in Leeds and Wolverhampton and then went across to Sweden to play the Hultsfred Festival. This hosted 20,000 people and Oasis had each and every one of them eating out of their hands. Always eager to celebrate such an event the band went back to the hotel bar, where they met the Verve and Primal Scream, two bands who were friends and needed no encouragement to have the odd drink or two! Drink followed drink and the barman decided that damage limitation was the best course of action, informing the bands of the bars imminent closure. This met with much disgust and protestations until Noel advised the barman this was fine, that he could leave as they were finishing their drinks and going to bed, anyway. When the barman left, the gang sprang into action, breaking the bar open forcibly and drinking it completely, totally dry! The next problem to be tackled was, now that his bar was empty, where should they go? Somebody remembered seeing a church in the town and so off they went, broke into the church and searched for the communion wine! The result of all of this was an £800 fine for smashing up the bar, they were deported from Sweden the next day and temporarily banned from the country!

The recovered to play Nottingham two nights later, a gig which went well and marked the first time the band used aliases when checking into their hotel! This followed the increased security focus and also because they now had a determined army of groupies and overly zealous fans following them around. Although they were not overly concerned with the groupie issue (Noel enjoying this to the full since becoming single again in June) they wished to control which ones were allowed access or not and so the aliases served to make them a little less easy to track down.

Oasis’ biggest gig to date followed, playing the 2000 capacity London Forum the next night. Paul Weller had gone along to take in the gig, always keen to keep up to date with up and coming bands and give them his support. After a successful gig he and Noel chatted backstage to a far greater extent than they had done in their drug/drink induced highs of Glastonbury! They hit it off well and this was to prove a real and lasting friendship between the pair, which continues to this day. Weller’s career was not exactly harmed by Noel’s constant citing of him as a major influence and would not be harmed in later years by Noel’s guest appearances on his recordings, but this was and remains a strong, true friendship, with respect, admiration and trust on both sides.

The next day Oasis was recorded for Top Of The Pops, miming to “Live Forever”. This time Noel decided to revert back to the standard stage set-up, but kept the swirling Oasis Union Jack logo behind them. Image is vital for any band, and Noel

wore shares and a blue Adidas track-suit top for the show, exactly the same outfit as he would wear for MTV the following afternoon, actually!

The second London date was at the Astoria and Noel and Liam went along in the afternoon to meet Ian Robertson, newly appointed Head Of Security for the first time. Noel is naturally wary of strangers, a not trusting person until they have earned it but he took to “Robbo” and was happy to have someone in place whose job it was to protect them. The Newcastle incident had most definitely shaken him and, although he did not show it at the gigs following it, he had no wish to worry whether some drugged-up idiot was about to jump on-stage and attack him or not. If Robbo was going to ensure he did not have to, then he was ok with Noel.

Robbo’s first task was to take them along to MTV studios, where Noel and Liam were being interviewed and they and Bonehead were going to perform two songs. While waiting to be called for recordings, Noel made a call to ensure there would be plenty of cocaine waiting for them afterwards. There was, after all, a gig to be played that night.

Noel and Liam were having one of their off days with each other and the interview is difficult, with both having sly digs at the other. The sole purpose of the interview was, of course, to sell copies of “Definitely Maybe”, which would have been released by the time this was broadcast and the “attitude” displayed by the two would not do sales any harm at all. Asked if he is the songwriter, Noel casually replied: “I do all the music, all the lyrics and, oh, I co-produced the album.” Although the attention and spotlight is invariably thrust on to Liam, Noel was making it crystal clear from the start who was The Chief. Noel chose to perform “Whatever” and “Live Forever”, the former rather surprising given that it was the album that they were promoting and this was not included on it. Noel’s reasoning was that the album was strong enough on its own and with the promotional work they had done it, and so was thinking ahead four weeks to the release of “Whatever”, which was going to be the second of his “aces” he had used, after Live Forever. After the recording the band headed back to the hospitality suite to watch themselves on Top Of The Pops. Noel’s supply had arrived and was enjoyed while proudly watching the previous day’s recording.

The gig at the Astoria went well (as they all did at that time) and was notable for the meeting between the band and Evan Dando, who was to become a “famous mate/hanger on” for a while. Dando was a member of The Lemonheads, who had had a hit in 1992 with Mrs Robinson and was relatively trendy and popular in those days. It was no barrier at all to success to have him reported in the press as being with the band and so Noel allowed him to become part of the circle for a while. In a similar manner to what would happen to Robbie Williams, though, Noel would become fed-up with him later and so drop him just as quickly as he had accepted him in.

The days were counting down to 30 August, with Noel in particular feeling eager and anxious to eventually find out how it would sell. Naturally he hoped for the coveted Number 1 position but equally knew that this would be difficult to achieve. Creation had done a sterling job in terms of marketing, the radio stations had taken to the band in a big way ad were playing the songs regularly, Oasis themselves had toured solidly to promote the release and Noel and Liam had done numerous interviews so the groundwork had been done. However, the biggest threat came from a £2 million

advertising campaign to support The Three Tenors release. Added to their massive appeal, anyway, and they were formidable opponents to take on. Noel had to trust the youth of the UK to go out and buy what was being promoted by the media as the most exciting album in decades in the first week and that they would not hold off gauging reaction.

Two days before the release Oasis played Lowlands Festival in Holland, Noel spending a lot of his time with Evan Dando and also extremely high on drugs. It was then that they wrote Purple Parallelogram together, which is covered in detail in a later chapter.

And so 30 August finally arrived. This was effectively the day Noel had been living his life for, all of those hours in his bedroom strumming and writing, the hours in Kennedys hut writing, singing and playing, the eighty seven gigs they had played up until then, the hours and hours spent in rehearsals, the years with the Inspirals, taking in every minute details of what was being done and why and the personal cost of it all to Noel was all done for this defining moment in his life.

Pre-order sales had been good, which was a promising sign and the hope was that the hype surrounding the album would follow that. Noel described the album as: “The young, eager wanting to get out there and fucking blow the world away album.” This is the message from Definitely Maybe, which was being conveyed to the entire nation, but would they rally round and buy it en masse?

The launch party took place that night at Virgin Megastore in Marble Arch. Over 1000 fans had queued to be part of this event, which was being filmed by Granada TV for a 25 minute documentary about Oasis, which they would broadcast two months later. Only the first 200 fans were allowed in to see the band perform, the remaining hundreds had to make do with getting their copes of the album signed by the band.

Noel, Liam and Bonehead played a seven song acoustic set, which consisted of: “Supersonic”, “Shakermaker”, “Live Forever”, “Sad Song” (Noel’s only vocal performance), “Slide Away” and a debut for “Whatever”, to an ecstatic crowd. Evan Dando had turned up again and cleverly got himself involved with the event, even playing tambourine on “Whatever”. After the gig the entire band (Guigsy and Tony had watched the show from the side) stayed for around three hours, signing every fans copy of the album. Had enough work been done?

Reviews of the album had been universally excellent and positive.

NME gave it 9 out of 10 and a glowing write up: “Here are 12 songs to hum beyond the grave, when it’s this brilliant, it’s enough” and describing Noel as “a pop craftsman in the classic tradition and a master of his trade.” Superb comments and the only error they made was that of stating that Noel sang “Married With Children”!Melody Maker gave it a “bloody essential rating”, writing “we surrender to the gloriously vivid immediacy of the moment.”

The Face questioned the quality of the production but countered this with describing it as “an LP of classic pop singles”, while Q called it “a riot: Manna from heaven.”

Dance magazine Mixmag also reviewed it, which was unusual, rating it as 10 out of 10 and saying “If you’re into music, be it techno, hip hop, jungle or classic hands-towards-the-ceiling pumping house, you could still get into this.” This demonstrated very well the crossover appeal that Noel’s music has, you do not have to like rock/pop to enjoy it.

The national press was keen to comment and become involved, as well, with The Independent calling Oasis “a classic world-beating guitar band” and The Mirror had a full-page feature on the band.Everything looked promising yet it was a slow week for Noel, despite travelling to Buckley, Stockholm, Dublin and Belfast and then back to Manchester, to find out how the album had fared.

It was fitting that Noel and the band had flown from Ireland, the land of his ancestors, the country he would describe as “my spiritual home” to Manchester, the city he grew up in to discover Definitely Maybe’s fate. As soon as he saw `Marcus’ beaming face he knew – Number 1! Oasis had beaten everybody to be the top selling artist. If that was not enough, it had also been entered into the Guinness Book Of Records as the fastest selling album of all-time. All of the effort, hard-work and personal cost had been worth it for Noel as he proudly reflected on the fact that his songs topped the charts. It was an incredible achievement, particularly given that the album had only cost £75,000 to make and they were up against The Three Tenors, with their millions of pounds available to spend on advertising. In the history of music never before nor since has £75,000 been better spent. Not only was it a victory for Noel and Oasis, but it was a victory for music and “the song”, as well, as that was what the strength of Definitely Maybe was. Just as Noel had said, it was not about the scandals or over the top antics, that was just reported to make people aware of the band, it was about the music and those 12 songs had triumphed.

“Definitely Maybe” had a huge impact on music, which will probably never be repeated again and it’s legacy continues to grow. As will be illustrated later, it had a massive impact on the youth of 1994 and influenced literally thousands of people to pick up a guitar, start a band and make it happen.

Oasis had flown to Manchester from Ireland where they had played their historic first Irish gig at The Tivoli. Noel considers himself to be Irish and still has countless of relatives there, so this been an important occasion for him, and the rest of the band, of course. A strong crowd of 1000 appeared to Noel to be made up almost entirely of family, such were the number of cousins, and second cousins etc he met after the show!

The gig itself had been a huge success and a celebration of Oasis, the Irish crowd accepting their own and revelling in the opportunity of seeing their favourite sons in the flesh. Every gig in Ireland since then has had the same type of reaction, the bond between crowd and band being so strong that it is not like watching someone perform for you, you are all part of the same event, simply with different roles to play: the band playing and the crowd cheering and singing. An Oasis gig in Ireland is certainly a special and unique event to experience.

After finding out they had reached Number 1 Oasis prepared to play the Hacienda, which Noel had been banned from previously! He had been on Manchester radio before Oasis had a record deal, doing a short interview and Peter Hook from the club was a guest in a different studio. The presenter introduced him to Noel to Peter, with Noel making a sarcastic remark about how interesting he was and asked if he was “still wearing your fucking leather trousers?” Peter Hook immediately replied, “don’t bother coming down the Hacienda, because you won’t get in.” to which Noel replied, “Good, it’s been shit for two years, anyway!” And so Noel Gallagher had been banned from the Hacienda live on radio!

The clamour for tickets was desperate, with fans calling anybody even remotely connected with Oasis and claiming to have been fans since 1992. This point annoyed Noel, for the band had played to half-full and half-hearted Manchester crowds many times in the past, yet now there were thousands of people who had apparently loved them since the start. He ensured his friends and the people who had helped him in the early days got tickets, but that was it. As Oasis were now trendy to like, some of Manchester’s stars came out to see them, or perhaps better put, be seen to be seeing them. Amongst them were Bez and Sean Ryder from the Happy Mondays, who had split up and Ryder in particular wanted to be seen as part of the band’s friends. He wanted to be positioned at the side of the stage, thereby giving the impression of being on the inside, which would help his next musical project, but Noel had given specific instructions to security that he was to be allowed nowhere near, so he was refused. This was not received particularly well and it appeared that a scene may occur, but Ryder was persuaded this was not the best course of action and eventually accepted it. Manchester’s gangsters were also out in force, wishing to be seen close to the band. All of these factors contributed into making the night a highly charged one, which, coupled with playing their first gig as Number 1 band stirred Oasis into action, as they produced what was possibly their best performance in Manchester at that point.

After gigs in Hamburg and Amsterdam, Oasis prepared for a week long, six gig stay in Japan. This is a country renowned for its love of Western rock bands and famed for the hysteric welcomes they give them. Noel had been before, when working with the Inspirals and had seen the normal, everyday welcome then, so warned the rest of the band not to expect too much, that this was a myth created and exaggerated by the media. How much more wrong could he have been??

The night before flying out, Noel and Liam prepared to go to the Primal Scream manager, Alex Nightingale’s house for a party. They were still up and drinking at 7:00 am with a flight to catch a few hours later. On the flight they were so noisy ad troublesome that they were moved up to first class, which was relatively empty and so fewer passengers to annoy! Incidentally, on this flight Guigsy got chatting to the girl sitting next to him, a girl called Ruth, and he would later move in with her. They are still together today.

When they arrived at the airport the scene was set for the week ahead – scored of screaming fans, sporting Oasis and Manchester City tops and laden with gifts for the band! Noel was astounded as the welcome given to the Inspirals had been subdued and Oasis members were being treated like Gods without even having released a record there! One girl gave Noel a different gift every night, with one of them being a

Jean-Paul Gaultier jacket worth £500! Other gifts included rare Beatles memorabilia and the band lapped up every last second of their God-like status. Although they had a Number 1 album and played to sell-out crowds everywhere, including Japan where every night had sold out easily, they were still completely broke, and so the gifts were even more graciously received. Daniela Soave of GQ had travelled with the band and wrote: “Oasis have provoked mass hysteria in the normally restrained Japanese fans, I could be witnessing the second coming.”

The only negative aspect of this trip was that of Tony McCarroll, who was seriously annoying every member of the band with his lack of ability but more so with his unwillingness to do anything about it. Noel had suggested drumming lessons in order to help him, but Tony did not want to go, feeling that, as he was already in a successful band, it would be lowering himself to do so. Noel, as a gifted drummer himself would try to give him advice and pointers but these fell on deaf ears. It appeared to the rest of the band that he was happy being in Oasis without contributing fully. Guigsy, in particular, would become extremely frustrated with him, as they formed the drum/bass section of Oasis and would regularly give him abuse. As tends to happen in such cases, other actions by the person you are annoyed with then annoy you as well, and so from an outsider’s viewpoint it may have appeared as if he was being picked on, the reality was that he was letting Oasis down badly and did not care enough to do anything about it. The other band members had worked too hard and put too much effort in to allow this to happen. Noel had already been planning the next album in his head and knew fully well that, unless Tony did something to improve (and improve drastically) then there was little hope of him being able to drum on the new songs. The two options facing Noel were: Noel would have to re-do Tony’s parts, this creating unnecessary work for himself and paying Tony for doing nothing, or he brought in a new drummer and sacked Tony. The best option was quite easy to work out.

The crowd’s reaction at the Tokyo gigs was even more hysteric than those at the bars, hotel etc. They were super enthusiastic and made it perfectly clear just how much they loved the band. Mental note for Noel – come back to Japan soon!

The first ever acoustic set by Noel came on 13 September at Quattro, Tokyo, when the rest of the band left the stage for him to play “Sad Song” and “D’Yer Wanna Be A Spaceman?” solo, and this continued for the week. This would become a regular and popular feature of Oasis’ live performances for years and were introduced for two reasons. Firstly, each Oasis release so far contained one Noel Gallagher acoustic solo song. These were of such quality that Noel wished to include them in the live gigs. Secondly, he had grown in confidence massively following the Creation Undrugged gig in June, when he took over vocals. This had given him a taste for being the centre of attention and he wanted more.

Oasis performed their first ever encore on September 18th in Tokyo. The gig had gone so well that the band wanted to continue but there was one small problem – Tony had thrown his drumsticks into the crowd and they could not find another pair! A short break ensued while the roadies frantically searched around, eventually finding one and so the encore went ahead!

On their last night in Tokyo the band discovered a bar called Cavern Club, which seemed a good enough name to merit trying it out. It transpired that the house band were a Japanese Beatles tribute band! Oasis was delighted with this and celebrated their tour success here. Noel went on-stage with them to play “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” and so The Parrots became only the second band Noel had invited on-stage with.

The week in Japan had been a hugely enjoyable and successful one for all, with the exception of Tony and the band flew directly from Tokyo to the United States, in great spirits and very positive.

After the week long high of Japan, if being treated like Gods, which had followed months of sell-out gigs, again being instantly respected, the US was always going to be tough. Oasis had only played there once and, in contrast to Japan, bands are made to work that bit harder to gain respect and achieve success. The plain fact of the matter was that in the US, Oasis was kind of unknown. Noel knew this and was well aware of the crowd and media reaction they would face and the work they would need to put in to win them over. Marcus was concerned that this would be a huge anti-climax for the band, now accustomed to being respected and loved by crowds automatically and he spoke to Noel about it. He was assured that they were all aware of what faced them and were prepared for it. Noel was aware of, but the rest of the band members were not.

It began well enough, gigs in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and California going very successfully, with Oasis still on a high from Japan and the success of Definitely Maybe. The only event during this time was a radio station they took part in, in San Francisco, where Blur of all bands were also part of! Liam jokingly called Daman “a wanker” but there were no problems.

The problems began when they arrived in Los Angeles, where a live radio show, an Epic meet-and-greet and a gig at Whiskey-A-Go-Go were on the schedule. Bonehead’s brother lived in LA and they met up with him here. Unfortunately, the band, with the exception of Noel, also met up with crystal meth, a very powerful form of speed and they decided to experiment with it.

Noel and Bonehead went to KROQ Radio in the afternoon to take part in a phone-in, hosted by Rodney Bingenheimer, the DJ who had been present at the Creation signing and who was an Oasis fan. The show became more and more weird with every call, Noel and Bonehead being asked their opinion on every issue under the sun, including penis extensions, to which Noel replied coldly: “We already have one, he’s our drummer.” Their answers became more extreme and they more abusive, irritated that they were being asked such ridiculous questions. A short time after, Bingenheimer had had enough and promptly walked out, the show was pulled from the air and records were played instead.

They then headed for the Epic meet-and-greet, the band having taken more meth and not in the mood for what they considered to be a charade. They became fed-up very quickly, a fact not missed by the record company executives and the left to go to Johnny Deep’s Viper Room. Johnny would later become a close friend of Noel’s but they met through Meg’s friendship with Kate Moss and so were not acquainted at that

point. Oasis were thrown out of the club for being too noisy and all decided to move on to Bonehead’s brother’s house, where a few hours later Bonehead was cautioned by the police for breach of the peace, as he had apparently played music too loudly. Noel got some sleep, aware of the fact that this was important as they had the Whiskey-A-Go-Go gig the next night. One of the side-effects of crystal meth is that it prevents sleep and so the rest of the band remained awake, which they had been for almost two days by that point.

The gig, with Ringo Starr watching for the first time, was a disaster from the start and did not improve one bit as it progressed. This was a combination of the rest of the band’s mood, dictated by the ridiculous amount of speed they had all taken, Noel’s mood, dictated because of the quantity of speed the rest of the band had taken, bad luck, with an amp blowing several times during the set and a less than worshipping crowd.

They opened with Rock N Roll Star and the amp then blew up, so it was re-started. To make Liam’s mood deteriorate further, a member of the crowd went on-stage to stage-dive and accidentally knocked over his microphone stand. When a second fan moved to go on-stage, Liam ventured towards him, making it quite clear that this was his space, not the fans, and he quickly changed his mind about the merits of stage-diving.

Liam messed up the lines to “Shakermaker”, drawing a long, hard stare from Noel. Liam reacted to this by shouting at him, which Noel ignored, so Liam approached him and confrontationally put his face centimetres away from Noel’s. Noel was the only member of Oasis that night that still cared about retrieving the gig from absolute disaster and so he ignored this provocative gesture and moved away. Irritated by this unwillingness to argue, Liam hit him on the back of the head with his tambourine, prompting the disbelieving crowd to start chanting “Fight! Fight!” Only one month earlier Noel had given his quote that Oasis were about the songs, the music and that the other rubbish was just that – rubbish. Tonight Liam was proving otherwise and the rest of the band did not help in their drugged-up state.

During “Live Forever”, Liam sang “Maybe, I don’t wanna know, why you pick your nose” as another provocation to Noel, who was furious. This was one of his most special songs, written for his mother, and Liam had the audacity to trivialise it. Knowing this had annoyed Noel; Liam sang the entire song staring at him, his singing being purposely bad.

At the end of a shortened version of “I Am The Walrus”, a furious Noel stormed off-stage, followed by Liam and went straight to the dressing room, where an equally livid Marcus met them. Marcus locked the door and shouting was heard for over an hour. Eventually the door opened, Noel came out, still furious, and found Maggie Mouzakitis. He demanded the tour float from her and was given $800. Noel went back to the Meridian Hotel and called a girl in San Francisco, who he had met after the Wetlands gig in New York. She was a budding songwriter and had given Noel a tape of her songs, together with her telephone number. Normally Noel would not listen to any tapes given to him, but they had gotten along so well that he had listened, liked it and so had called her afterwards. In addition, she was also basically the only person he knew in the US! She agreed that he could stay for a few days and so Noel

flew to San Francisco and stayed at the girl’s flat in Chinatown, from where he made two calls to England: one to Peggy, for reassurance and comfort, and one to Tim Abbot. He explained to Tim that he had “sacked the band”, Oasis were over and that he was going to go back to England shortly, so asked if Tim could call Marcus to arrange for his guitars to be sent back to London. Illustrating to Tim how final it was, Noel also said he would meet him for a drink when he got back, thus meaning that he would not see him in a professional capacity again.

Tim was rightfully concerned and caught the next flight out to meet up with Marcus and the rest of the distraught band, who were only too well aware of what their actions had caused. They explained what had happened and also that they had absolutely no idea where Noel could be. Panicking, he went to Noel’s hotel room to look for clues. As luck would have it, the telephone rang and it was the San Franciscan girl, who passed him on to Noel. Tim was relieved to hear Noel sound relatively normal and agreed to fly to San Francisco to see him. He went to the girl’s – who they christened Yo-Yo Gallagher – flat and met Noel. He had been concerned that the telephone call had been an act and half expected to see Noel huddled up in a corner, foaming at the mouth, so was happy to meet him relaxed, sitting on the sofa, guitar by his side, bottle of liquor and bad of coke on his other. After spending a couple of days there, Tim suggested that they move on to Las Vegas and there they went, checked into a hotel and spent a few days chatting over things. From the way Noel spoke, it was clear that Oasis were over.

Marcus called Tim to make sure Noel was alright, Marcus and the band were concerned primarily for his well-being rather than just the future of the band. Marcus also informed him that the group was flying to Austin, Texas, where they had a studio booked to record the b-sides for “Whatever”, just in case Noel wanted to join them. At that point it did not seem very likely that he would, but Tim decided to try to get him to at least go to the studios in Austin.

Noel and Tim went to a Vegas casino that night and met a couple called Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Fantyl. Mrs. Fantyl was immediately taken with Noel, explaining that she and her husband had an agreement whereby if she met George Harrison then she could freely sleep with him and that Noel was his spitting image! If there ever was a clear chat-up line, Noel did not take her up on the offer, instead chatting away about The Beatles, his songs, Oasis and music generally. Mrs. Fantyl listened and was supportive of Noel’s troubles, and he was genuinely touched by this stranger’s kindness and care about him. Later that night Tim Abbot suggested going to Austin to record the b-sides, so as to enable them to release “Whatever” as their farewell single. He used the argument that this was the course of action John Lennon would have taken, but Noel remained unconvinced and said that he would sleep on it. When he woke up the next day, Noel agreed that going to Austin would be a good idea – but only as a last, final recording session, in order to finish the band in a dignified manner and not let the fans down. Oasis was still over.

They went to the hotel in Austin, with Noel going straight up to his room to sleep and Tim going to the bar to meet the rest of the band. They were extremely worried about Noel but reassured when Tim explained he was fine, just tired. Noel joined them in the bar at around midnight and they all apologised profusely, had a few drinks, joked and relaxed. Oasis members were back together.

Between his time in San Francisco and Austin, Noel wrote three songs, which they then recorded at Congress House Studio: “Talk Tonight”, “Half The World Away” and (“It’s Good) To Be Free”.

The first to be recorded was (“It’s Good) To Be Free”. This is one of Oasis’ hidden treasures, a b-side only those who are actually into the band know about. The song is about Liam and the problems the experienced in LA. Perhaps the best illustration of this is the second verse:

So what would you do if I said to youIt’s not in what you say; it’s in what you doYou point the finger at meBut I don’t believe

It is to be hoped that Liam actually thought in the words when recording, rather than just singing them.

Noel explained the lines “just the little things that make me so happy, all I want to do is live by the sea” as: “I suppose I was thinking mentally I’d freed myself, me off my fucking tits on drugs, by the way.”

The accordion playing on the recording is Bonehead’s, which was added shortly after the main session and he did so on a Walkman!

Although the band was back together again, the old problem remained – Tony McCarroll. During this recording Noel became irate with Tony, due to his complete inability to get his parts right. Each time Noel had to stop him the more and more annoyed he became until, eventually, the drums were right and they all went back to the hotel for the night. Noel could not help but realise that recording would be so much slicker and easier if the drummer could actually drum…Due to the problems with Tony’s drumming, and the resultant arguments and atmosphere, Owen Morris described the session as: “horrible, it wasn’t funny at all.”The next morning Noel recorded Talk Tonight, in fact, when the others arrived he was still finishing the lyrics!

This is one of Noel’s most personal songs, indeed he said about it: “When I wrote Talk Tonight I realised I could write personal songs, but they’re always in the minority of what I do.”

Liam hated it, calling it “country and western acoustic shit” and vowed it would not be on any future Oasis release. This was probably because it reminded him of this worrying period (both for Oasis and for Noel personally) yet Noel maintained this dislike was “’cos it was so good” and claimed that Liam had begged him to be allowed to sing it, only for Noel to reply “no, you can fuck off, you drug addict.”

The lyrics are incredibly personal and meaningful to Noel, “sleeping on a plane, you know you can’t complain” refers to Noel realising that he is lucky, in that a couple of years earlier he was signing on, and there he was sitting on a plane going to the US. “You took your last chance, once again” is a comment on Liam’s behaviour and how

he had let Noel down again. He “hardly even knew her name”, refers to the Chinese girl, hence they called her Yo-Yo Gallagher and she used to continually drink Snapple – strawberry lemonade. The time they spent chatting with each other is immortalised throughout the song: “You take me walking, to where you played when you were young” and, of course, the chorus: “I wanna talk tonight, until the morning light, ‘bout how you saved my life”, because he was at the end of the road, feeling lost and deserted and she helped him through this.

The recording was raw, beautiful and remains one of Noel’s finest works.

“Half The World Away” was the final song of the recording session, one which is Paul Weller’s Oasis favourite, quite an accolade. Someone, strongly believed to be Mark Coyle, had shown Noel how to play “This Guys In Love With You” on acoustic guitar, which Noel loved to spend hours doing. He would play about with the chords and played them backwards once, which he liked the sound of and stored it away in his song writing memory for future use. When he was writing this song in San Francisco, he remembered this and is how the song was constructed. Noel spent hours chatting with Yo-Yo about many diverse subjects, including their pasts, which had taken him back to his days in Manchester, which, in turn inspired him to write the lyrics. At that point he had definitely left Oasis, there was no chance of him returning to the band and he had time to contemplate the immediate future: broke and having to start again to find a way out and up, which is what he faced all those years before in his home-town. Noel’s favourite lyrics from “Half The World Away” are: “Scratching around in the same old hole, my body feels young but my mind is very old.”

Following the earlier drumming problems, and the fact that this song was so special to Noel, he told Tony McCarroll to “fuck off right now” and so Noel himself drummed on the released version. This would later be used as the theme tune for the hit BBC comedy series The Royale Family.

The importance of this tie in Oasis’ history should not be underestimated. They were not in danger of splitting up, they had split up. Noel felt so let-down by the other members of the band that he had left, definitely and permanently, as he could not see a way forward for Oasis. This time is still spoken about now, with Noel and Liam discussing it in the Stop The Clocks “Lock The Box” DVD.

Several gigs had been cancelled by Marcus as a result of the problems, but the tour re-started in the Uptown Bar, Minneapolis on 14 October. Four days before this, Oasis’ fourth and last single from Definitely Maybe was released, Cigarettes and Alcohol.

This went straight into the charts at Number 7 and Noel would later say that this was the moment it started to dawn on him that Oasis were becoming very big. Each single had charted higher than its predecessor and they were now looking every inch a guaranteed Top 10 band. Reviews of the single were not as positive as they had been for the other releases, however, with Melody Maker questioning “the kerfuffle about such a blatantly retro sound.”

This was the first release to offer three brand new songs, namely: “I Am The Walrus” (the Gleneagles live recording), “Listen Up” and “Fade Away”, a nod to Noel’s punk

influences. “Fade Away” was a very early song from Noel and one the band used to rehearse regularly at the Boardwalk. It had always been one of his personal favourites and with hindsight would have liked to have put it both on “Definitely Maybe” and then on Stop The Clocks, the 2006 compilation album. The lyrics are about dreaming when you are young and then growing up to find out “that the world is a bag of fuckin’ shit, and the dreams you had as a child fade away.” From a more positive perspective, Noel also explained it as “growing up but not growing old” i.e. continuing to dream, and to chase those dreams.

The artwork for the single was very apt for the time and enhanced Oasis’ growing reputation as a party-hard and drinking band. Shot in London’s Halycon Hotel, Holland Park (the same hotel in which Creation would present him his Rolls Royce, incidentally) it shows Noel, Liam, Bonehead, Tim Abbot, Jane Fisher, the Creation accountant and Emma Morgan, a friend of the photographer, Mike Jones drinking, smoking playing guitar and clearly having a good time! The back sleeve depicts four more shots of various stages of the party.

The gig at Minneapolis began in a rather subdued manner, with the Whiskey-A-Go-Go debacle still fresh in their minds, but this improved after a couple of songs and ended positively, Noel then believing that perhaps the tour could be a success again. They played Chicago the next night, a performance which was recorded and released by Epic in 1995 as “Oasis Live”.

The band had been partying hard in order to regain their spirit and unity, which caught up with Noel after the next gig in Detroit, when he collapsed. He was taken to hospital and the doctor questioned him as to how long this particular drinking session had lasted for. When Noel replied “72 hours”, the doctor simply said “well, stop now” and left. Noel spent the night in hospital, was released and promptly picked up where he had left off! Noel’s attitude to heavy drinking and taking drugs has always been one of “If you can’t handle it, stop and don’t do it. If you want to do it and can handle it, fine, go for it.” Noel could handle it and certainly went for it in style.

Seven gigs followed, including their Canadian debut in Toronto, before the last gig of the tour, which was back to Wetlands in New York. Sony were obviously well aware of the problems, and subsequent knock-on effect of the gig in LA and there were several executives in the crowd that night, eager to see how the band would perform at their final show. If they arrived uncertain of Oasis, then they left entirely certain of why they had signed them, with the band trying to make up for LA by giving an exciting, energy-filled display, and even added one of their rare encores to the show for good measure.

The success of this one gig, albeit in front of the record company executives, did not make up for Whiskey-A-Go-Go, but did end the tour on a higher note than would have been expected one month ago. The band was in the mood to party and they did so with the Rock Chicks again, with Noel debuting Talk Tonight for the lucky private audience.

After the eventful US tour, Oasis headed for more familiar, safe territory, in the form of Europe and UK. Noel hoped that this tour, which would last until the end of the

year, would re-install all of the old self-confidence and togetherness the band had before the problems in the US.

The November edition of Vox contained an interview with Noel, which was to provide a good insight into his focuses at the time. Asked to give his hopes and ambitions for the coming decade, he listed:

- Oasis find a new drummer- Stone Roses second album- Man City to win something- Verve gig on the moon!

The first hope showed clearly where he saw Oasis’ future and he would not have long to wait for this to become reality.

The tour began with a four-date stint in France. This was successful except for a 10 hour spell when Noel went missing, unable to be traced by anybody. The band panicked but Robbo came to the rescue, luckily remembering the group he had been with most of the previous night and found him there. During this time Blur took a back-seat in Oasis’ rivalry stakes, with Shed Seven stepping into their shoes and becoming the object of abuse. Noel explained this: “we’ve been doing the same shows, the same interviews, only they’re a day ahead of us. And in every interview we’ve had interviewers going, ‘Oooh, we spoke to Shed Seven yesterday afternoon and they really took the piss out of you.’, and we’re like ‘Really? Whatever.” But then we bump into them a couple of days ago and they’re all matey, asking how its going. Slag us off, but don’t make small talk as well. Life’s too short, know what I mean? It’s not as if they’re any good.”

The Q Awards took place on 9 November at London’s Park Lane Hotel. Noel took his new girlfriend along, Rebecca De Ruvo, who happened to share a flat with a girl named Meg… Oasis won Best New Act, with Noel content with that for the time-being, supremely confident that the following year would be dominated by them. His acceptance speech, which Robbo claimed to have written for him in the taxi on the way to the awards ceremony, was short and to the point: “I’d just like to applaud your wisdom. Thanks.” Noel was pictured with Damon Alburn and the animosity between the bands had not begun in earnest, with them chatting and joking together. It was also then that Noel met Tony Blair for the first time. The popular story is that they met in the toilets, where they chatted and Blair told Noel he had bought “Definitely Maybe”. The reality is that they had a very brief meeting in the corridor, immediately after Noel had snorted a significant amount of coke, they shook hands and Noel wished him: “Lots of luck mate. Win it for the people.” Noel returned to the Landmark hotel that night, as he was drifting between there and Johnny Marr’s flat, as he was effectively homeless, with Creation financing the hotel stays.

Ten further gigs in Europe followed; Oasis had taken a step up in terms of venues and now played to sell-out crowds of around 2000. The band made front-page headlines in Sweden, again for the wrong reasons, Liam being caught stealing cheap, plastic razors. To cover up his embarrassment, he tried to switch the blame on to Noel, arguing that he should have known he wanted the razors and also that he had no

money, therefore it was Noel’s fault for not giving him any to buy them! Noel was rightly having none of this and warned Liam about his behaviour again.

The UK tour began on the last day of November in Southampton. Additional finances for the band had just come through and Marcus had used these to purchase far superior equipment, in order to enhance the band’s sound live. The gig at Southampton was the first time they used this and were ecstatic with it.

Granada broadcast the first ever television programme dedicated to Oasis in November, called “With Oasis”. This related primarily to the release of “Definitely Maybe” and included the performance at Virgin Megastore on the day of its release and also interviews with Noel and Liam, with Noel in reflective mood as he spoke about the number of friends he had lost through his complete dedication to Oasis and also his sadness at losing Louise Jones for the same reason.

On December 7th Oasis played Glasgow Barrowlands, a famous venue and well known for having “excitable” crowds. Although their special relationship with Scottish crowds has been mentioned before, this was to be the first of two occasions where the relationship was somewhat strained. Oasis had enjoyed the local bars in Glasgow the previous night, Liam in particular consuming a vast amount of alcohol. The next day he woke up with his voice hoarse, the strain of constant touring and drinking appeared to have taken its toll. He took Marcus’ advice and rested that day, in the hope that he could perform at the gig that night. Three songs into the set, during “Fade Away”, his voice started to shake and he left the stage to a chorus of boos and jeers. Noel announced he would try to get Liam to return and was met with further jeers from an increasingly irate crowd. He tried to persuade Liam to continue but his mind was made up, he could not perform and the gig was over for him. Noel returned to the stage, acoustic guitar in tow, apologised to the audience and played: “Digsy’s Dinner”, “Shakermaker”, “Live Forever”, “Up In The Sky”, “Slide Away”, “Married With Children” and then “Supersonic” and “I Am The Walrus” with the rest of the band, one of the very few times he has ever sung “I Am The Walrus”. A potentially disastrous situation had been turned around to being a triumph by Noel, with the crowd leaving ecstatic. It also served as a warning shot to Liam to sort out his lifestyle – Noel did not need him, as he could perform live, both electrically and acoustic.

Three days later Oasis performed a three song set on Later With Jools Holland. Unlike their previous TV appearances, this programme was aimed at an older audience and Noel chose the songs carefully, in order to appeal to them. Whatever was given its TV debut, backed by an 8-piece string section, followed by “I Am The Walrus” and then Noel performed “Sad Song”.

On December 16th there was another first, as Noel performed his first ever solo gig at Shepherds Bush. Supporting Primal Scream as a favour to his friend, Bobby Gillespie, Noel played “Shakermaker”, “D’yer Wanna Be A Spaceman?” Talk Tonight for the very first time live and “Live Forever”. He would then appear on-stage with the band and Paul Weller for “So Sad About Us”. Noel was growing in confidence with every solo performance he gave and was also acquiring a definite taste for singing live.

By this time Noel had ended his brief fling with Rebecca De Ruvo and was now together with meg Matthews, who he had got to know as she was a friend of Rebecca. Noel’s relationship with Meg is covered in detail in a later chapter.

After gigs at Wolverhampton, Cardiff, London’s Hammersmith Palais, Liverpool and yet another triumphant return to Manchester, this time playing the Academy, it was time for Noel to play his second ace, with “Whatever” being released on December 19th. For Noel, nothing less than a Top 5 placing was acceptable, this was the least he expected, based purely upon the strength of the song and not even taking into account the level of popularity of the band. NME and Melody Maker both made it their single of the week, with glowing reviews from both. NME called it “a song to die for” and Melody Maker “absolutely fucking stunning”, “magnificent arrogance.”

“Whatever” was, in the same mould as “Live Forever”, a song writing classic and again stuck two fingers up at the critics of his work. It was also another crossover song, set to appeal to a vast range of music lovers with its beautiful string accompaniment by the London Session Orchestra. As Noel could not write music, he had sung the string melody into a tape and then given it to an arranger to write out properly! The release contained two of the songs recently recorded in Austin: (“It’s Good) To Be Free” and “Half The World Away”, along with, rather lazily, the album version of Slide Away. It was suggested that this was included as Noel believed the single would be bought by people who would not necessarily have even thought about purchasing “Definitely Maybe”. By giving them a taster of the album, they would be more likely to purchase it.

Whatever sold 180,000 copies in Christmas week, placing it at Number 3 in the charts and was only a few thousand sales short of East 17, at Number 1 and less of Mariah Carey, who was at Number 2. Noel was delighted with this position, as were his mates who had placed bets on it being in the Top 5!

The accompanying video was directed by Mark Szaszy and featured the band in Maida Vale studio, together with the string section, relaxed, happy and playful, thus matching the feel-good message of the song itself. For the Top Of The Pops performance, Noel decided to have giant sunflowers positioned around the stage (again meant to reflect the happy mood) and Noel and Liam hid in these, making gestures to the camera as Damon Alburn, of all people, introduced them, saying, “they’re wonderful.” By the end of the following year this is not a phrase he would dream about using in the same breath as Oasis. Noel again included a string section, only this time with a special guest, Bonehead, who had swapped roles with one the members. Bonehead pretended to play cello, while she pretended to play rhythm guitar, neither being particularly convincing in their efforts!

The artwork chosen by Brian Cannon and Noel was a relaxing, tranquil photo of Derbyshire moors, Eastmoor. Soft clouds floated in the blue sky, above lush green fields, reflecting the mood of “I’m free to be whatever me, whatever I choose…”

The original version had included the line “All the young blues” but David Bowie believed it to be too similar to his “All the young dudes” and threatened legal action. Noel had no wish to go down this particular rout and so removed the line ahead of its release. He was to be stunned later when Marcus Russell informed him that Neil

Innes was threatening to sue, as “Whatever” apparently had similarities with his 1973 song “How Sweet To Be An Idiot”. This arose when the song was at Number 3 in the charts and Noel was left with no other option but to agree a settlement with Innes, which was agree at 10% of royalties. Noel had genuinely never heard this song and was astounded this had come about, but had no choice but to settle. This is the reason why “Whatever” was not even considered for inclusion on Stop The Clocks, and will never be on any Oasis compilation or Best Of album in the future, with Noel saying that he could live with the amount he was giving away from the single sales, but if it was an album track then the royalties would be significantly greater, and thus unacceptable.

Further bad news came when The New Seekers sought royalties from “Shakermaker”. Now that Oasis members were enjoying a degree of success, it appeared that every artist was looking to cash in on this. An out of court settlement was eventually agreed.

Gigs at Brighton and Middlesbrough preceded a return to Glasgow Barrowlands on 27 December, which had been arranged to enable Liam to sing as way of an apology for the earlier gig.

Noel spent New Years Eve in his hotel room at the Landmark with Meg and a bottle of Jack Daniels. He reflected on the year he had just had and all he had achieved: Number 1 album, Top 3 single, guaranteed sell-out gigs, respected songwriter. He was blissfully happy and then his mind switched to the forthcoming year: could he write an album worthy of following Definitely Album?