Oasis: Supersonic Page #3

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I knew they weren't going to listen to me

about steady jobs.

They were up and down the country,

and I would say,

"Oh, you might be lucky tonight."

And I'd say to Noel, "Any luck, Noel?"

"No." Then they'd go off again

somewhere else.

I spend my life worrying about them.

We didn't have one single paragraph

written about us, ever.

No one even said we were sh*t.

Completely and utterly f***ing ignored.

I kind of had a feeling it'd happened, man.

I don't know what the consequences

would have been without it happening

because it was, like, if it didn't happen,

the world would be black,

do you know what I mean?

We were sharing a rehearsal room

with an all-girl band called Sister Lovers.

Unbeknown to us, one of the girls

in the band, Debbie Turner,

God bless Debbie,

was an ex-girlfriend of Alan McGee's,

the head of the coolest record label

in England.

We were asking her what they're up to

and they were saying,

"We're going up to do this gig."

I think I was probably

being quite cocky actually in saying,

"Oi, Noel, we're playing in Glasgow,"

which, then, for an unsigned band

to get a gig outside Manchester,

that was like playing Glastonbury.

And we were like, "Well, how the f***

have you got a gig and not us?"

She said, "Why don't you come with us?

"Be on the bill, kind of thing."

And we were like, "Yeah, Glasgow?

F*** it, let's do it."

For the pure love of it.

"If we all put in 25 each,

we can hire a splitter van

"and get up there, kip in the van,

do the gig, get back. Yay!"

So we hired a van out,

smoking weed, all that nonsense, drinking.

You know one of them days where you just go,

"It's f***ing going to be the day today."

Maybe it was the drugs or something.

We get there really early

and we say, "We're Oasis from Manchester.

"We've come here to play tonight."

And the guy says,

"There's no band down here."

I said, "Yeah, yeah, it's all right,

we're with Debbie."

And he's like,

"No, no, no, no, no f***ing way."

I think we said, "Well, if they're not

playing, we're not going to play.

"We'll do a really short set,"

which wasn't hard 'cause I think

we only had five songs anyway.

Then Oasis were allowed to play.

So we went on, we got to do four songs

and we didn't think anything of it.

Debbie didn't even know

that I was coming up to that gig.

I'd been an evil, twisted f***er.

I thought that I would show up

to put her on edge.

# What was that sound

ringing around your brain?

# Today was just a blur

# You've got a head like a ghost train

# You're the outcast

# You're the underclass

# But you don't care

# Because you're living fast #

At the end, there was just loads of feedback

and a smattering of applause.

I really do believe some things

are meant to f***ing be.

I was standing there

with my kid sister, Susan.

She immediately went,

"You should sign these,"

and I'm like, "Let's see the second song."

And it's like, "I'm signing these!"

And the third song,

"I'm definitely signing these!"

And I, sort of like,

went up to Noel and I said,

"I'm Alan McGee. Do you want a record deal?"

And I said, "Who with?"

And he went, "Creation Records,"

and I kind of recognised him.

And that was it!

I don't remember anybody

high-fiving in the back of the van

thinking, "Hurray, this is it!"

I remember going back to Manchester

and getting in to where

I was living, you know,

at, what, 6:
00 in the morning.

And my then missus, Louise,

was getting ready to go to work.

And I said,

"Creation Records

have offered us a record deal,"

and she started crying.

She knew then that, you know,

that was going to be the end of us.

I remember the day he came back

and told me he had the record deal.

And of course I thought, "Oh, this is great."

I never really thought

it would go the way it did though.

Liam says, "All I want, Mum,

is to earn a bit of money," he says,

"and get myself some new clothes."

And then it went haywire.

Mum was an angel, still is.

Not impressed by all this

rock 'n roll business, and rightly so.

You know, when I think of those times,

do you know what I mean,

she kind of brought us up on her own, really.

And three lads,

particularly one of them being Liam,

it was very tricky.

I mean, she gave it all up for us,

you know what I mean?

I wanted to make her proud.

I wanted to get her to stop from doing,

like, three f***ing jobs

and put her feet up, you know what I mean,

and have nice things.

I hated it when I came over here first.

It was a big shock, I'm telling you,

to come to a big city like Manchester.

Oh, I must have cried for about six months.

It was after the New Year,

I think it was 1963.

I went to the carousel and met him there.

Tommy Gallagher.

We got married

after about nine or ten months.

And that was it!

He was lovely when I met him, like.

Paul arrived ten months after I was married.

Then Noel arrived a year after that again.

We were dressed identical.

She used to knit our clothes.

So you can imagine, you've got no choice.

You couldn't say, "I don't like them, Mum,"

because she's just spent four years

knitting you a jumper.

Liam arrived five-and-a-half years after,

which was great.

Well, that was the best time with the kids.

I don't know, I think there was always

that bit of jealousy with Liam and Noel.

I idolised Paul and Noel

because there were only the two of them,

and Noel was absolutely beautiful

when he was a baby,

and then, of course, Liam comes along,

takes the limelight off you.

He probably thought, "Urgh!"

But you could tell the disagreements

that were there with them.

I was glad they were together in a band.

I would not have wanted Liam

in a band without Noel.

But it all happened too quick,

just too quick altogether.

Good evening, Great Britain!

Hello!

Oasis, are you down there?

- We certainly are.

- Do you fancy having a bit of a chat?

Go on then.

"Go on then." There's a story about

you lot getting signed to Creation.

Alan McGee saw you in a club in Glasgow.

Is that right?

Don't believe the hype.

No, he did, yeah.

There was like seven people there, I think,

and he was two of them.

Right.

And he signed us there and then, on the spot.

Was he drunk?

He actually thinks

we're the greatest band in the f***ing world.

He's phoned me up,

about f***ing 5:
00 in the morning,

going, "You know, man,

"we're going to annihilate

the f***ing world, man!"

McGee wanted

Bring It On Down to be the first single

and I was fine with that, I love that song.

They're just... It's punk.

"You're the outcast, you're the underclass.

"You don't care, but you're living fast."

I just loved it.

I can't say why Bring It On Down was chosen,

but it wasn't coming together.

I don't know what the f***

was wrong with it, like.

I mean, it would become apparent

why that session didn't work.

It's because our drummer at the time

wasn't the most consistent

from one f***ing bar to the next,

never mind one day to the next.

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