Getting High (58 page)

Sitting right behind Noel as he flew home was none other than the head of Apple and the man they sometimes referred to as the fifth Beatle, Neil Aspinall.

He told Noel, ‘Listen mate, don't worry about splitting Oasis up. At least you're not the man who split The Beatles up.'

Thanks a lot, Noel thought, as he pondered on his and the band's future.

The rest of the band arrived home the next morning.

Liam said nothing as he marched through the airport, only pausing to shout out, ‘Whitey!' at his drummer before getting into a cab.

The cancellation of the tour made front-pages everywhere. While America readied itself to bomb Iraq, the Oasis story superseded even this conflict to become the lead item on most news stories.

It had taken just three years of their recording career to do so.

There was only one definite plan now. On 7 October, Oasis were booked to enter studio two in Abbey Road Studios to start recording their new album. This is the studio that The Beatles wrote and recorded a series of songs that would later embed themselves in the minds of Noel and Liam Gallagher, and inspire them to go out and shake the world.

The last song The Beatles recorded there before they split up was called ‘I Me Mine'.

Always at it. Always the pair of them. Noel and Liam, Liam and Noel. The Gallagher brothers. Will it ever stop, this struggle for control? Probably not. Probably never. Tonight, of course, is no exception.

It is 27 April 1996, and Oasis are on-stage at Maine Road. They have just started playing ‘Whatever'.

Liam is at the mike, hands, as usual, firmly clasped behind his back. He starts singing but the 40,000-strong crowd roar out the first lines so loudly that he backs away from the mike to allow them to continue.

But the crowd aren't too sure of the next lines. Their singing quickly fades out and Liam is caught unawares. He quickly leans forward to sing but the music is in front of him now. So he simply walks off-stage, kicking a tambourine in frustration. The band grind to a halt. Noel says, ‘Thanks bruv,' and then he starts the song up again and sings it himself. Oasis finish to great applause, and as it splashes all over them in great sheets of sound, Noel looks around at the place he finds himself in.

To the right of him is the Kippax Stand where he stood all those years ago with his dad, watching Manchester City. Noel has cut all ties with his father now and in doing so has sworn himself to surpass Thomas Gallagher in everything.

Tonight it is he, Noel, who stands on the hallowed turf, the crowd roaring out his name. It took years to achieve, but as a friend once told him, revenge is a dish best served cold.

Now his gaze goes up to the box above the stand where his mother Peggy and Meg stand watching him, pure love in their eyes, the two women in the world that he has allowed beyond the barriers in his heart.

Present in that box also is Alan McGee, the man who stumbled across him and recognised instantly the talent raging before him.

Watching too is Marcus, the man who has helped him so carefully to plot the amazing path that Oasis have travelled.

Surrounding the stage are the road crew he has journeyed the world with. Maggie, Jason, Jacko, Pie, and in front of him the lighting and sound men, Hugh, Frank, and somewhere too, he can't see where, stand his close friends Coyley, who helped to start it all, and Phil Smith.

Close by are the band, Alan White, Guigsy and Bonehead, loyal to the last, waiting now for him to play another song that they are yet to tire of playing.

And there, lurking in the wings, stands his brother, the man he will be tied to forever. If Oasis was just Liam, they would never have been signed, they would have threatened to self destruct. If Oasis was just Noel, they would never have reached the heights they have. That is the truth they have arrived at, that is the truth that keeps them battling for the soul of this thing called, Oasis.

Bound by love and hate, trust and admiration, they will see this through together. Let no one stand in their way.

‘This is called “Masterplan”,' Noel announces, and he strums a chord that then rises high above the crowd and floats across Manchester, the town that helped shape him, the town he had to leave.

As Noel sings, ‘Take some time to make some sense of what you want to say / And cast your words', the chord continues its journey, over Liverpool where they first recorded, and then high above the Irish sea, floating softly over the waves until Ireland is beneath.

It travels South, heading towards a little girl who sits by a river in County Mayo gazing into the water, searching for signs of her future. The chord reaches her and momentarily hangs above her head before descending and enveloping her body. The little girl gives a slight shiver and then looks up to the sky, knowing she has been touched.

Then she stands and walks away, whistling her song into the cool evening air, heading towards a future that nobody ever knows.

 

First and foremost my eternal thanks and praise go to Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Paul McGuigan, Paul Arthurs and Alan White. These are the members of Oasis who kindly invited me into their homes to talk about their past and present. They proved to be exactly the kind of people that their records said they would be. And then more.

I'd just like to add that many years ago I demonstrated to Noel a Roberto Baggio free kick using the last beer can in his house. The can swerved round a post, smashed against a wall and then spilt itself all over his carpet. Many thanks then for passing this ball back to me a year ago.

Special thanks also to Peggy Gallagher for taking the time to talk so candidly with me, a stranger in her house. This book would have been so much more poorer without her contribution. Major thanks also to Meg Matthews and the Oasis manager, Marcus Russell. Their contributions proved invaluable.

To all the other people connected to this amazing story and who graciously took time out to talk, I owe a real debt. They are Alan McGee, Owen Morris, Tim and Chris Abbot, Tony Griffiths, Graham Lambert and Johnny Hopkins.

Information also came from a series of informal chats that I found myself having with, Bobby Gillespie, Jeff Barrett, Bob Stanley, Johnny Marr, Martin and Paul Kelly, Andres Lokko, Tony Meehan, Miranda Sawyer, Tony Hedley, Marc Riley and the incorrigible Gareth Crowley. Again, a big yo and many thanks for your comments and insights. 

In terms of research, I couldn't have asked for a more professional approach than that given to me by Beatrice Venturini. Her approach and dedication was, in the parlance of the group, double top. Similarly, Debbie Hicks at Go! Discs Records transcribed my interview tapes with a thoroughness that helped ease much of the weight from my shoulders. I am indebted to both women for their encouragement and hard work. My thanks also to Professor Mervyn Busteed for his more than helpful contribution to the history of Manchester section, and to Andy Spinoza for his help in detailing Manchester's club scene.

In terms of the band's radio and TV appearances I was greatly helped by Simon Kelly, who supplied me with three tapes filled with every Oasis TV appearance from start to early 1996. Many thanks. Also, seconds out and big thanks to Dean Powell whose procurement of certain CDs was just as valuable.

Thanks also to the eternal Mod, Eugene Manzi at London Records, daddy Nick White at Island, Iona at EMI's Premier label, and Matteo Sedazzi for supplying me with music that was absent from my collection but helped me no end in understanding Noel's writing and the subsequent Oasis sound.

Big thanks also to two guys and two gals at Anglo Plugging.  They are head honcho Garry Blackburn, head of radio Dylan White, head of T.V. Karen Williams, and Ms. Bally Cheena.

Thanks also to the work put in by the band's photographer, Jill Furmanovsky, and her assistant Merle. Great gals, happy snappers. Another shout across town to Alec and Chris at Ignition Management for their patience in taking all my calls and answering all my questions.

I would also like to thank the following people for their help down the line. They are Stephanie Fertardo, Mark McNulty, Dean Marsh, Johnny Chandler, Mark Coyle, Phil Smith, David Irving, Andrew Whitelegg, Johnny and Kate, Fran and Charlotte Cutler, Digsy and all in Smaller, Pete Johnson, Len Brown, Brian Cannon, Irvine Welsh and Anne, all those connected to the Primal Scream, Real People and Ocean Colour Scene brigades, Andy MacDonald, Mike Heneghan, Michelle Potts, Fergus and Pete, Pippa Hall, Tony Crean, Naomi for the Bobby pie, Pete and Claire Barrett, George and Jenny, John and Anne Weller, Kenny Wheeler, Pete Garland and his beautiful family, the Woking boys and gals, Jim Le Hat, Mark Lewisohn, BBC2 for re-running
The Phil Silvers Show
, my two sisters Frankie and Nina, plus their husbands Pete and Alan, my three nieces Katy, Tanya Susannah, and the ever supportive Ms. Jess of Fulham's Cars and Bars, and Dean Kavanagh.

Top marks as ever to my daughter, Sarah Jane Bacchuss, plus the three geezers who go by the names of Paul Weller, Sir Simon Halfon and Marco Nelson. They are
HEAVYWEIGHTS
! Thanks also to Travis and Tash, who live in the nearest faraway place, to Dr. Eyal Lederman for sorting the movement on my shoulder so quickly, (‘It's okay, I'll fix that'), and a special yo to my NHS physician, Dr. Le Roi Griffiths for his indispensable dispensary of medications. Last but never least, many big thanks to Ruth, Patsy, Kate and her daughter Lucy.

All the tour reports to be found in this book were helped no end by the Oasis road crew who went out of their way to make my ‘holidays' with the band so enjoyable. For their care and general piss-taking, big thanks to Maggie, Jason, Scotty, Hugh, PK, Bear, Frank, Roger (Bradford football in the shops) and Trigger.

My thanks also to Jake Lingwood at Boxtree for his editorial input, general encouragement, impossible demands and for steering this book through the rocky waters to its graceful conclusion. Thanks to Jenny Parrott for her immense copyediting skills.

 

Paolo Hewitt has been for over thirty years one of the U.K.'s foremost writers on popular music. Cutting his teeth at the
NME
for seven years in the eighties, he also moonlighted as the ‘Cappuccino Kid', whose musings and manifesti adorned the covers of Style Council albums.

Paolo has written over twenty books, including
Getting High: The Adventures of Oasis
,
Steve Marriott: All Too Beautiful
and the novel
Heaven's Promise
(all available as ebooks from the Dean Street Press). Other than music, recurrent themes in his writing include mod culture, football and fashion.

Steve Marriott: All Too Beautiful

Heaven's Promise (
a novel)

The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology
(editor)

www.jillfurmanovsky.com