Episode 45: Oasis part 2

Noel joins the band and they change the name from Rain to Oasis. The band becomes quite popular in Manchester and in October of 1993 they sign with Creation Records but will their wild antics knock them off the track? Listen and find out!

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Transcript

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Hello, welcome back, rock and roll. I got a record out in the background. I bet you no idea what it is. Um welcome back to Jay's Rock and Roll Stories. I'm your host, Jay. We are on episode two of Oasis. Um well in. So Oasis begins, right? So what happened is that Noel sat in with the band, and it sounded great. And um it sounded great, and the band liked it, right? And but Noel didn't commit, so he kind of went his way. So it took him like three times for like Liam to go over, like, hey, could you want to be in our band? He's like, I don't know. You know, I don't think about it. Like three times, like, dude, just fucking join our band. Alright, I'll do it. Just fucking with him. He joins the band. Um, there is uh so okay, let me explain something. So I've been doing some supplemental stuff because um the book, the Paolo Hewitt book, Getting High, Oasis Getting High. Uh it's uh okay, let me explain something about this book. It was written in 1996, and 1996 was when Oasis was at their freaking peak. So I am going to come to a conclusion where Paolo Hewitt is not going to air dirty laundry or laundry that uh smells foul to the members of Oasis. You know, they're gonna they probably told them you can write about this, but do not fucking touch this. Even on the back of the book, it says a quote from um Noel, Noel Reading, uh Reading, Noel Gallagher says, Paulo is the only person to speak about what it was like on the road with us because he's been there. He's been there, he's seen it, he's done it. So they like the book, but I just feel like okay, well, number one, number one, he was there, right? It's not like you or I doing research and writing a book on Oasis. Oh, he was there, he could feel it, but he's just he's not gonna say anything bad. So I just supplementing with other things. I'm watching the documentary Supersonic Oasis, which actually won like a gram. I think it won a Grammy, um, which is pretty good. The the DVD, the the documentary is pr is is pretty interesting. It talks about how they had a drummer, Tom Tommy, Tommy McShit. I'm gonna have to get it later. Tommy McSome or other. They had a drummer who was kind of like fuck you, and they kicked him out. And it's isn't it's it's kind of like he he didn't he he just wasn't there. He in the book he talks about Tommy would never uh talk about rock bands, you know. You you know, you get together, geek out about like your favorite bands and stuff. He wouldn't even do that. Um he wasn't committed, he would talk, he would, you know, he confronted Liam like fuck you, I don't I don't give a fuck. They kicked him out, and there's a there's interesting in this documentary, supersonic, there's footage of them burying him like in a grave, and he's holding the drumsticks and they rip it out of his hand, like he was on on board. Yeah, kick me out, I don't care. Anyway, they get a different drummer. Anyway, so a lot of a lot of the band, a lot of the a lot of Liam is that uh confidence the guy had. And the book talks about how they w uh Liam would show up at this club. Like they uh the band would play at this certain club, but Liam would go there on off days, right, and he'd be smoking like a joint. And the bouncers would be like, dude, you can't do that here, and he would be like, Fuck you. And they would basically have to like throw him out, or sometimes throw him down the down the damn stairs, you know. And this happened all the fucking time, and it was kind of like I know our band is gonna be the best thing ever, so I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I want. Like this confidence that Liam had just really, really sold it. So it talks about how when they like on their first tour, very first tour, um, you know, you know, when a band plays, they have a set list. Like the drummer will tape the set list to like his bass drum. The guitar player will tape the set list to the ground so he can see, like, next to his pedals, whatever. So the guy who is in charge is Roy, who's in charge of making the set list, would fuck it up and basically give us a different set list to each member. So at certain points, the band are like all playing a different song at the same fucking time. It sounds like fucking complete garbage. And Noel, Noel Gallagher, guitar player, he's like, I I think this is I think I'm done. I think this is it. This is like on a tour. And he says to the manager, he's like, Can I um can I have some money? Like, uh, I'm just gonna go home. I'm just I think they were like in LA. Yeah, they were in LA during this, like the the set list debacle and sounding like crap. He's like, Can I just have a little bit of money? I'm just gonna go home and then I'll come back. And the manager, her name is like Maggie Mastucas or something like that, like a Greek name. She's like, fuck, this guy's not gonna come back. Alright, here, here's some money. So she gave the guy some money and he goes back home. Oh no, no, he sorry. Here gave some money, he leaves, right? They're thinking he's gonna go home. And uh when they're when when they wanna like want him to come back, yeah, they they he's not they call they call the house, you know, back in England. He's not there. Where the fuck is this guy? So Maggie does some research. She like, okay, let me go, let me pull up his phone numbers from the hotel. Like, who did he call? And most of it is back, most of it's local or back home, but there's also a 415 uh area code. That's San Francisco. Hmm, interesting. So Maggie calls that number, that's a manager. Maggie calls that number, some some girl picks up and asks him, is uh Noel Gallagher there? Yeah, he's right here. It turns out that Noel met some girl on a tour and just kind of fell in love with her and uh went back to stay with her and just spent a nice time with her, and then you know, Maggie convinced him to come on back, you know. So he comes back to the band and he and he talks about in the documentary how I I don't even remember her name. I don't I I've never contacted her ever again. It was just like a just like a romantic flash of light, do you know what I mean? I think I thought I thought that was nice. I liked I like that part of the story a lot. So anyway, he goes back to the bandit and they continue their tour. But before uh we talk about that, I want to point out a couple a couple little little tidbits. Because I mean this book goes all over the place, so this episode's gonna go all over the place. I as we said before in the first episode, Noel Gallagher was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets. And while this is how it happened. He's with the Inspiral Carpets 1991. Uh the Inspiral Carpets are doing a tour in the States. He calls back home to his mom, and his mom tells him, Yeah, your brother's about to go on stage with Oasis. So he he flies back home, and and uh he's like the next day he sees them play live. And he's like, eh, they're okay and everything, but uh he's like, I I think I I I I I can add to something like this, you know. But anyway, so he's thinking, well, how do I get out of the in spiral carpets? I can't just dish these guys. So he invites the in spiral carpets over to the the the the practice space. Like, hey, hey, hey, uh, hey guys, uh, thanks for coming. Like uh I uh I'm in I joined this band, and what what do you think? It's like shit, what are they gonna say? Oh yeah, it's cool, it's cool, yeah, good job. Like, so okay, thanks. Um so there's a commitment. Like this is what I really like about Oasis is that the the attitude of uh this is the best thing you've ever heard, you know? When you have that kind of uh uh I don't know what you would call it, let's say a very solidified concrete confidence, right? So, and then there's a commitment too. Like the whole band decides, listen, if we are gonna do this, we're gonna fucking do this. Uh you show up at rehearsals. If you don't show up, you're kicked out. And then they're like, Well, we should also talk about like like drug and alcohol use. Maybe we should not do that. And they're like, Well, how about this? How about you do what you like to do? They had a couple dry runs. Like, don't you know no one can do anything like how about this? Do what your own intake is. Okay, keep it, keep it right there. So they play the they're playing around. This is Manchester, right? They're a Manchester band. Who else was a Manchester band? The Smiths, with um uh Morrissey and Johnny Maher. Johnny Moore uh saw Oasis a couple times, and he now he's talking about Oasis. Like, yeah, you gotta you gotta check this band out, you know. Um, I wanna I wanna tell you about a quote. This is a quote from the Paolo Hewitt book, and in regards to their uh, let's say stage presence, right? All right, it says, their attitude was, this music is great, and to be honest, we really don't think you deserve it. But here we are, here it is. And if you like it, then that's how it should be. And if you don't, then that just proves our point, dickheads. And it it it talks about how they would just kind of get up on stage, play, and then get off stage. But but but they have an attitude of like, we're the best fucking thing you've ever seen. Bitch. And it's just you know, attitude means a lot. Yeah, attitude means a lot. Confidence and attitude, man. Like if you go into a like an art gallery, that artist walks in with attitude and confidence, like you're gonna buy that piece, you know. I like how in the in the the documentary Supersonic, like if you know Liam Gallagher talking to the press, he has a shit, he he has like a fuck you attitude. I don't I don't care what I don't give a fuck about you. So there's footage, never before seen footage in the documentary where he is just hanging out. They're like, they look like VHS home video stuff with him hanging out with you know Gigsy and his brother and um Bonehead, like like in a house, like in between like takes and stuff, like in between session work, just having a good good time, like goofing off, drinking beers, like playing pranks on each other. It's it's it's really nice, man. It's it's it's it's nice that there's like this, you know, you got this element of like peer confidence, but there's also this element of of of this family, you know, um togetherness. And that's that's that's was that was what the the strength of Oasis, you know. This uh it wasn't I mean on on uh you could say uh on paper or on on on media, it's just the egos, but they're they they're buddies. They're they're they're the lads at the pub. They're beer drinking buddies, like this band. So then why don't we skip ahead and talk about uh fame, right? I mean the band's gotta get famous at some point, right? So uh fast forwarding a little bit, let's say Friday, October 22nd, 1993, they sign a contract with Creation Records. They get a $4,000 uh sorry, $4,000,000 pound advance, and they're obligated to make uh six studio albums, but the live or compilation albums don't count. They need six studio albums. How did how did they get to that point? Okay, so they're playing in Manchester, they're playing in all these clubs, they're opening for other bands, and they're kind of the talk of the town. And at the at this time, uh early 90s, so look at the bands from Manchester. You have um, like well, going way back, you had the Hollies, right? But at this point in time, you had uh the Smiths, you know, with Morrissey, Johnny Maher. Johnny Marr is is kind of putting the word like, man, this is the this is the new band from uh from Manchester. You also have the um the uh Stone Roses and Ian Ian Brown is kind of talking them up too. There is a tape, like uh they're not signed, right? They're not signed it to any label, but they do have a tape like getting kicked around, traded around, and it's kind of popular. Everyone like likes this tape. It's just kind of a word of mouth thing, and then uh they get on the like a in the Manchester News newspaper, there's like a musical section, and they're like the like the first man. I don't know if it's the only, but it was like the first band that got the big story of like an like an unsigned band. Like all the other stories are about a signed band. An unsigned band uh Oasis. So it gets kind of popular, and that's how they got their uh their their label signed with um Creation Records. Uming forward, the it's just it's just going up and up. There's um his name is Steve Lamick, he's a Radio One DJ uh on radio, and he booked the band for a session uh for like, you know, I think it was like six or seven songs to be recorded, and it's going to be released December 22, um, and it's going to be broadcasted to millions. So it's like great exposure, right? They didn't they did a song called Columbia. Um Columbia referring to the studio that they worked at, not the country, but it's kind of a really um kind of a groovy kind of song. Uh there's like a nice, a nice, a nice groove to it, cool guitars, like kind of a kind of a catchy, like stony kind of like a vocal, and that's the radio only single that they put out. So there's tons of radio interviews, there's gigs, there's there's um lots of exposure. Let me give you a little sweet revenge story. Everyone likes a nice revenge story. So before they got signed by Creation, they had an interview with Factory Records. Factory Records were the label, famous label in the you know, the 70s, 80s, that put forward New Order, the Happy Mondays. They they kind of gave a little interview with um Oasis, but they said, nah, we're gonna pass. They're like, why? Like you guys, it sound too Manchester for us. They're from Manchester. And but Liam's like, that's where the that's where we're fucking from, man. We're not from like, you know, like Egypt or something. We're from we're from Manchester. They passed. Here's a little revenge story because they got kind of upset. Like, what why did you waste our time? So, anyway, so the success is going um at this time, before all this happened, Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher were on the dole, were on the welfare. They were signed on, meaning they were on the receiving like welfare checks, you know, or um the the dole, whatever you want to call it. So Noel goes to the welfare office to sign off because like it's kind of like you report when you have a job, we sign you off. Good luck. See you later. So as he's going there, this guy named Steve Sachs of the now defunct Factory Records is there signing on. So they kind of see each other, like, oh hey, how you doing? Uh signing in. Oh, I'm signing off. See you later. I like that story. Uh, December 4th, 1993, Oasis opens for the band The Verve at the Warwick University. Uh, it's a big show, it's like an eight-day tour. The Verve is uh Richard Ashcroft, he's a lead singer, who will become friends with the band. He will work with them in the future. Even today, even today, like on Twitter or whatever, uh, Instagram, Liam Gallagher or Noel will post things with him and Richard. Like they became, they became really good friends. So look that if you've never heard of the Verve, check it out. It's a good band. Alright, I'm gonna end the episode. Well, almost, almost. I'm gonna give you a dog story. We had a revenge story, I'm gonna give you a dog story. Okay. At the end of 1993, they're in the studio working on their first album. Uh this this is uh late December 93. There's a dog in the studio running around. Her name is Stella. It's a big dog, right? Someone had spilled cocaine all over the fucking floor, right? And Stella is licking it all up. And after that, Stella will spend the next few days just sitting and staring at the fucking wall. Oh my god, poor dog. Okay, no dog died in this story. It's just a dog story. Some coke up the up the up the nose and staring at the wall. Okay, not up the nose. The dog looked it up. Alright, that's a dog story. We're gonna end it here by saying I like the importance of the craft of the music of this band. Let me explain. So, so in the book, during this time, they talk about at that at these gigs, at concerts, gigs, big shows, little shows, people come backstage and they say, Oh my god, you guys are so good, you're so important. And they're like, Yeah, yeah, we know, we know. But the flip side of that coin is I like this attitude where, like, let's say you're in a band, um, like you're you're gonna play Madison Square Garden tomorrow, but in a couple days you're playing a little uh a little pub around the corner, right? And you and you say, Ah, that's not a big deal. No, they're saying all gigs are equal, all gigs are important. I like that. I like that. We're gonna stop right there. They are peaking, they are number one. That's oasis. Okay, come back next time. We got a lot to cover. That isn't that enough that you enjoyed your lunch break, okay? That's fine, that's enough. So come back next time, and we will continue with our saga of Oasis. So if you enjoyed that story, if you enjoy this podcast, uh give me five stars, whatever you listen to it on Spotify or iHeartRadio, whatever. Uh, if you want to email the show, we get all your emails. The office reads them and translates them back to me at uh Jay's Rock and Roll Stories at Plugcom.me. Uh stay tuned. We will keep rocking. You come back, we'll keep rocking with you. Rock and roll, baby. See you later.