The fact that you have a younger brother doesn’t mean you have to get along with him. Just ask Noel Gallagher — chief songwriter and guitarist of the Manchester, England, band Oasis — about his brother Liam.
“The reason we don’t get on is that we know each other too well,” Noel says. “We’ve known each other so long that when one of us starts acting like a pop star, he’ll get a cut-down from the other one. And usually it’s Liam getting one from me.”
The British music weeklies New Musical Express and Melody Maker are filled with stories of the Gallagher brothers’ tumultuous relationship as well as their indulgence in the rock & roll lifestyle. Tales of trashed hotel rooms, drunken brawls in pubs and nights of debauchery fill pages of each issue. The papers also have anointed Oasis “the band ready to take over the world.” “This year has kind of skyrocketed in a big, straight line,” Noel says coyly. “We’re just enjoying it as much as we can — probably more than we should. But aside from that, I don’t for one minute believe or hope that we’re the saviors of rock & roll, as we’ve been made out to be by the British press.”
Oasis may not be the saviors of rock & roll, but they’re definitely a breath of fresh air. Lacking the self-absorption that characterized former “next big things” like Suede and the Manic Street Preachers, Oasis combine the Undertones’ punk-pop sensibilities with the glam of T. Rex. The result is the band’s debut album, Definitely Maybe, 11 three and a half minute bursts of trashy guitar tiffs, slinky vocals and a whole lotta carefree attitude.
“Bands like Suede totally, utterly and absolutely took themselves too seriously, which is why they didn’t go over in America,” Noel says. “We’re singing about being young and wanting to escape from where you’re from. We’re not singing about how crap life is — we’re singing about how great it could be.”
Oasis were formed in 1992 in a working-class Manchester neighborhood when Liam Gallagher and three friends — guitarist Paul Arthurs, bassist Paul McGuigan and drummer Tony McCarroll — started a band to relieve boredom. Noel, who was on tour in America as a guitar technician with Inspiral Carpets, returned in time to see Oasis’ first gig. Afterward he gave Liam and his band mates two options: Let me write the songs, and we’ll be stars, or don’t and stay stuck in Manchester.
Oasis chose the former, spent several months rehearsing and honing their sound and were subsequently signed to Creation Records after only one gig outside of Manchester.
British hopefuls have had a difficult time breaking into America, but Oasis may have the goods and the right attitude to do it — provided the Gallagher brothers can peacefully coexist. ‘We’ve got the songs,” says Noel Gallagher. “We’re not going to go to America and want everyone to love us. By the same token, if everyone hates us, we won’t say, ‘Piss off,’ and not come back again.”
