How Oasis said they'd never split up in classic Sun interview… and why iconic rock singer refused to speak to Liam
'I DIDN'T join Oasis to split up,' said Liam Gallagher.
'I joined the band because I like being in a band and I like to make music.
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'If the tunes are f***ing good and we all look half-decent, then people will want to buy the records.
"I still love everything about it.'
These were the forthright frontman's words when he spoke to me for a 2006 SFTW Oasis special where readers got to quiz the boys.
His love for the band was unmistakable, and every time I've interviewed him since that same passion for keeping the group alive has come through loud and clear.
'This is what I like doing and it never gets boring,' he said back then.
'So, who knows, man?
"All those bands that split up after a couple of records, well, they can suck my d**k!
'I love singing our kid's songs and I love doing the gigs. I like the way our band's perceived and we've got the best fans in the world.
"So why would you not like it?'
Now, with just two weeks to go until the band's reunion — with the Oasis Live '25 Tour opening at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on July 4 — SFTW returns to look at our exclusive interviews with the Gallagher brothers.
'As bad as things get in Oasis, there's always this sibling thing that draws us back together — or my mam gets involved,' Noel added in the same 2006 interview, three years before that fateful brawl in Paris in 2009 that led to the band's split.
Asked by a reader how close they had ever come to breaking up, Liam stated: 'Never.
"We just needed a couple of days off instead of going into another country.
"I don't think it's ever come close really.
'We've had some serious arguments but as you get older you think, nah, f***. Ask Noel.'
While Liam downplayed any threat of a split, Noel recalled things differently: 'The real low point was Barcelona for the Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants tour.
"In that period, we were all drinking a lot and taking drugs.
'With Oasis we started off right at the very top at a place that took U2 a decade to get to. So, it was bound to drop.
'We were party people. We weren't the most professional and we didn't give a f***.
'And Liam sees things very differently from the rest of us.
"He needs to go to anger management classes and get some manners.'
'GET SOME MANNERS'
Always a brilliant storyteller, Noel's interviews never failed to entertain.
'I remember when we shot our first Rolling Stone cover in America and the photographer was an ahole,' he said.
'After 40 minutes Liam and I said, 'We are done now, see ya'. And he said solemnly, 'I have you for eight more hours'.
'There was no way we were staying for eight hours. We were off to buy drugs.
'It was f***ing brilliant but I've also had a couple of nights out with John Lydon.
'He and Liam are similar and those two do not get on at all.
'So, I'm in LA and I've got John on one side and Liam on the other.
"John wouldn't refer to Liam in person either.
"He'd say, 'Ask your singer if he wears make-up?'.
'And I'd turn to Liam and go, 'Liam, do you wear make-up?'. He'd then go, 'F*** off, you prick'.
'And so I'd turn back to John and say, 'He told you to f*** off'.
"To which John would say, 'Go on northerner, ask your singer, is he a f***ing hard man?'.
It's a top day out at an Oasis gig, whether you're on the stage or in the crowd, so why would you want to cut that stuff short?
Liam Gallagher
'I'm like, 'Liam are you a hard man?'.
"And it would carry on back and forth. It was probably one of the best nights out I've ever had!'.
Another time, at Noel's Lone Star studio — an Aladdin's cave of football and music memorabilia, including an old neon pink Top Of The Pops sign — the songwriter said: 'You would have never earmarked a load of fing guys from a council estate.
"One of them bald, and two f***ing brothers always arguing. You'd never say they were going to change the world.
'And that's what I mean. You can't focus group that — it just explodes out of nowhere.'
Solo careers had always been on the cards for the Gallaghers.
In the quiz special, one reader asked: 'Is it true Noel wants to make a solo album but never seems to have time? Would Liam let him?'
Noel replied: 'I'll do one eventually, as life's too short and none of us is getting any younger.
"I'd like to make one while I still look good and before I look like Phil Collins, which, eventually, I will. It's nothing to do with Liam.'
Meanwhile, Liam answered: 'I've got the songs, I could do four solo albums.'
'QUALITY CONTROL'
He was right about that.
By 2024, Liam had released four records, all chart toppers, including his collaboration with Stone Roses guitarist John Squire.
And his solo career saw him establish himself as one of Britain's last true rock'n'roll frontmen.
But the singer has always insisted that his focus was on entertaining and playing live.
He told me: 'People like the f***ing s**t that comes out of my mouth.
"And I've not changed much, have I?
'I'm the same person as I was when I was 20.
"I dress the same, my haircut is pretty much the same.
"I'm still pretty cool.
"And I enjoy being on the stage more because that is where it is at.
'Sitting in the studio all day is great but I've got to see people's reactions.
"It's a top day out at an Oasis gig, whether you're on the stage or in the crowd, so why would you want to cut that stuff short?'
Noel, meanwhile, saw things differently, focusing more on control and clarity.
When I interviewed him for his second High Flying Birds solo album, Chasing Yesterday, in 2015, he said: 'Everyone told me they couldn't improve what I'd already done.
"There is more quality control with what I do now I'm solo.
'I want to enjoy this because it's a moment in my life that I will never get back.
Now I'm older and not f***ing high all the time, I've made a conscious decision to enjoy and remember it
Noel Gallagher
"With Definitely Maybe, I didn't know what the f*** was going on.
'Now I'm older and not f***ing high all the time, I've made a conscious decision to enjoy and remember it.
"But it's different now.
'I work better when I am in charge. I think my records prove that.
'I wasted a lot of time with Oasis splitting up, so I just want to put my voice on as many records as I can before I die.'
Still, moving on was something Liam also proved he could handle and success was never taken for granted.
In a 2022 chat for third album C'Mon You Know, he told me: 'I'm definitely still pinching myself.
"I thought I'd gone down the s**tter man.'
Humbler than in his Oasis days, Liam was also strikingly down to earth.
I'll never forget how welcoming he was backstage at Alexandra Palace after the premiere of his film, As It Was, in 2019.
And how he joked about football with my then-teenage son at an after-party following his Union Chapel gig for Shelter in 2018.
More mellow, yes.
But in our 2017 chat, Liam wanted to make it clear to his critics that he had not grown up.
'F*** growing up, mate, I'm growing down.'
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Liam has always said it like it is and his Twitter humour showed there was no one quite like him.
He said: 'I f***ing love Twitter. I f***ing love it. I know people go, 'Oh, you need to grow up'.
'Well, you go and put your f***ing pipe on with your slippers and your hot cocoa and get to bed.
'I am going the other way. F that growing-up business.'
Yet away from the chaos and comedy, it is his children that Liam credits for calming him down as he got older.
On the eve of his 2022 solo gigs at Knebworth, he said: 'When you're young you've got a bag of chips on your shoulder.
"As you get older you cool it down a bit.
'My kids are great.
" Gene pops around a lot and Lennon is out doing his band stuff (he fronts the band Automation).
"Molly was living with us for a bit and now she's moved in with her fella.
'NOSTALGIA TRIP'
'Gene and Lennon are both talented musicians. They love music and they're into it.'
The demand for Oasis's long-awaited reunion — and the fact that the shows won't be televised — makes it a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many.
And it's far from just a nostalgia trip.
In our pre-Knebworth chat, Liam spoke about the new generation of fans who had got into Oasis through his solo work.
He added: 'I've been lucky and there's people who were there the first time for Oasis.
'People who are my age and have kids now who they've brought up on the music and want to hear the tunes.
'I could have Sylvester Stallone on stage and Esther Rantzen playing bass and it wouldn't matter.
"It's about ME and the fans.
"The reason I'm doing Knebworth again is because of the fans. That's what the people want and I'm respecting them.
'I'm absolutely buzzing for Knebworth, it's going to be Biblical.
"Hopefully we can deliver a good gig and have a good weekend.'
But selecting a setlist for the forthcoming shows might see the brothers back to arguing over which songs to play — just as they did when they clashed over the track listing Noel chose for Oasis's 2006 greatest hits album Stop The Clocks.
Back then, Liam said: 'I think he's missed a few. I'd have put on Rockin' Chair, D'You Know What I Mean?.
'I would have put some stuff off Be Here Now.
'If he didn't like the record that much, he shouldn't have put the fing record out in the first place.
'I don't know what's up with him but it's a top record, man, and I'm proud of it — it's just a little bit long.'
Noel retorted: 'D'You Know What I Mean?' was on it right up to the day before it was mastered.
'But it's just too long. It upset the flow of the album.
'When we recorded Be Here Now I thought it was the greatest thing ever, but the novelty of that record wore off pretty soon.
'It was a great period. The money had just come in from Morning Glory, so we had become very, very wealthy overnight.
"Sony had given us a private jet, I was given a Rolls-Royce — but unfortunately, the music suffered.
'I don't know why Liam is saying that, because when it comes to playing them live, he won't sing them!'
And then there was Acquiesce — a song that was a mystery to Liam.
He said: 'The title did confuse me. It still confuses me — I haven't got a clue what it means.
"I've never asked Noel what it means either.
"The less I have to talk to him, the better.'
Noel, typically unfiltered, replied: 'Liam still doesn't know what it means.
"People have this misconception that the song is about me and Liam, which annoys me to f***.
'The lyrics in the second verse are, 'To sing my soul to sleep, and take me back to bed'. It's absolutely not about me and our kid.
'We've never shared a bed — and if I was looking for someone to take me to bed, it wouldn't be Liam!'
It's the kind of blunt humour fans have come to expect from Noel — and it doesn't stop there.
Asked what's not allowed on his tour rider these days?
'Nothing. Thunderbirds are go when I am on tour.'
He pauses for a second.
'Hang on. Actually, there is one thing I've banned.'
'What?' I ask.
'Liam,' he grinned before breaking into another laugh.
Some things never change. And for Oasis fans, that's exactly the point.
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