[新聞] 閒不下來的頭子
Far from Idle
Oasis cashes in on their classics.
By Tom Lanham
On the surface, all might seem quiet on the usually blustery Oasis
front. The multi-platinum English outfit hasn’t recorded any new
material since last year’s Don’t Believe The Truth, and has no
plans to re-enter the studio any time soon. Dig deeper, however,
and you’ll find their hive is actually buzzing with activity. Band
Svengali Noel Gallagher just left London for rustic Buckinghamshire;
joined his pals Kasabian onstage for a couple of numbers at an
NME-sponsored bash; tracked two Beatles covers for an upcoming John
Lennon tribute program (one with the Stereophonics, another with
Johnny Marr and Cornershop); and just viewed the final cut of Lord
Don’t Slow Me Down, an Oasis tour documentary hitting overseas
theaters this fall. Somehow, he and his frontman/kid brother, Liam,
also found the time to hand-pick 18 Oasis classics for upcoming Stop
The Clocks anthology for Columbia, which kicks off with the long
overdue release of early B-side single “Acquiesce,” one of the
band’s best-loved standards. It also includes the recent Noel-sung
smash, “The Importance of Being Idle,” although its composer is
anything but these days.
Sipping afternoon tea in his new countryside mansion, Gallagher
paused long enough to chat.
The Wave: So what’s the film’s story?
Noel Gallagher: I don’t know whether there is a story. I think that
the guy who was making the film, Baillie Walsh, thought that his story
would unfold across the nine months he filmed us. But I don’t think
one ever did. The bulk of it is the American tour with us, Kasabian,
and Jet, and then there are bits in England, bits in Japan, so it’s
kinda broadly based all around the world. We weren’t in any hurry to
let the cameras in to see what actually goes on backstage, and I think
a bit of mystery in a band’s life is pretty much a good thing. But
everybody was kinda on their best behavior. I think Baillie was
expecting the drinking-champagne-out-of-cowboy-boots-at-seven-o’clock-
in-the-morning-while-swinging-from-a-chandelier kinda thing. But he
got onboard 10 years too late for that. So it’s the story of a band
who are... errr... just kinda comfortable with where they are. I’ve
seen the film once, and I thought it was great, beautifully shot. But,
as for what it all means? Who the f--k knows? I don’t.
TW: Oddly enough, “All Around The World” is not on the collection.
And thanks to those endless AT&T commercials, it’s probably now your
most famous song – at least, in the States, where you hear it every
five minutes.
NG: The reason it’s not on the anthology is that it’s just too f--king
long – we couldn’t really find a place for it anywhere. But the reason
that that came about for the advert was, we got an offer, and blah, blah,
blah, my manager’s going on about it, and it was something that I’ve
never kinda considered before, and there was a lot of cash involved. But
I was like, “Nah, it’s not really my bag.” But Liam, bless him, said,
“Look – that song’s 10 years old, right? We never f--king play it.
It’s not one of the big famous songs, so why don’t you just f--king
cash in on it?” And I was like, “Well, fine. Fair enough.”
And I said, “How much is it again?” [when] the figure came back, it
wasn’t a very difficult decision after that. And, of course, living
here, we don’t get to see the advert ’cause it wasn’t shown in
England. But I was in Mexico and I’ve been in New York quite recently,
and I hear it twice a day, every day, when I’m in the States.
TW: It’s great that “Acquiesce” is finally getting a shot at the
charts. It never really got a fair shake.
NG: It was the same as “The Masterplan.” I was kinda sent into the
studio to write a B-side, and that’s what I wrote. And when I wrote ’em,
people were going, “Oooh – they’re a bit too good for B-sides!”
And I was like, “Look – you f--king put me in the studio; that’s
what I’ve written. And if you don’t f--king like it, don’t put me
in the studio.” There was a two- or three-year period where everything
I wrote was just fantastic. And, of course, if all the B-sides for the
singles off Morning Glory would’ve been what became the Be Here Now
album, I think we would’ve gone on to be possibly one of the biggest
bands of all time. Not that we’re not anyway. But I think we would’ve
been as big as U2, because I had an idea in my head for Be Here Now –
it was to be the most bombastic, f--king hugest-sounding record of all
time. And I didn’t worry too much about the words or the arrangements.
But the really interesting stuff from around that period is the B-sides
– there’s a lot more inspired music on the B-sides than there is on
Be Here Now itself, I think.
TW: You and your ex, Meg Matthews, were just in the news, denying
custody-battle rumors about your daughter, Anais. How is Anais holding
up under all this press scrutiny?
NG: Ah, she’s alright. She’s like any normal six-year-old – she’s
a little too cheeky for her own good, but she’s alright. I see her on
a regular basis. And she’s only six, but unfortunately she already
likes Kylie Minogue, which is something that I’m not too pleased
about. And actually, my girlfriend took her to see Kylie Minogue
last year, before Kylie got ill. But Anais is into animals now –
she’s obsessed with dogs, cats, sheep, horses, spiders, and all sorts.
TW: It seems like you got into being a dad much more than you ever
imagined you would.
NG: Well, I never had any dreams to be. I mean, I love kids, but I
don’t really dig being a parent, so I’m kinda learning as I go along
about parenthood. Especially for a guy. It’s different for women,
because they carry the child for nine months and all that. So they
have nine months to prepare for a child being born, whereas guys get
about 10 minutes. For the eight months, 20-some days, you’re thinking,
“This is all gonna be some horrible mistake, and I’m gonna wake up in
a minute, and I’m still gonna be a single guy, and there’s gonna be
no kids involved!” So you get about 10 minutes to prepare for it. But
I think it’s a challenge to be a cool parent. But I don’t know – my
parents split when I was young and all that, so Anais is following in
my footsteps in that respect. But I have good days and bad days, being
a dad. But it’s one of those things – you’ve just gotta get on with
it and take it day by day, week by week. And I do my best.
The Wave Magazine
http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?pagename=article&articleid=26083
--
Noel 談到小女兒及當爸爸的心境
很感人…
~^^~
另外又有新的藍濃致敬專輯，Noel 又和好友們翻玩了兩首─ 期待！
'Lord don't slow me down'....等 DVD 吧，唉。
--
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