He's had both of the Gallagher brothers in his taxi, the London cab driver tells me. The nice one and the naughty one.

He dropped off the nice one at his (nice one's) house at the height of the band's fame. Crowds were waiting outside.

"Then another time I picked up the naughty one, when he was still with his missus, Patsy Kensit," the cabbie says. "She was pregnant. I didn't really want him in my cab in case he started something, but he was with her, so it was all right."

Ten minutes later I find myself alone in a room with the naughty one, though this time Liam Gallagher, 36, is being exceptionally nice.


We're at the Roundhouse, the north London venue where Oasis is to take the stage as the closing act of the week-long BBC Electric Proms series. The gig sold out in 42 seconds.

Liam, wearing a black leather jacket and scarf, is in a chilled out mood.

He will be doing a special show with a 50-piece choir, but it's all in a day's work for the younger Gallagher. He would be at home, which is just around the corner, but his missus, All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, and her mates are "getting dolled up".

In 15 years in Oasis, Liam has earned a reputation as an enfant terrible, with antics including allegedly head-butting an Australian fan and being banned from airline Cathay Pacific.

Now, though, he's settled down with Nicole -- whom he married this year after eight years together -- and spends time with his three children. He gets up at 6am, goes for a run, likes to eat out early and is likely to be in bed by 10 or 11. He couldn't be happier.

He admits he's mellowed.

"Not too much, though," he says quickly.

"You have to be when you get older and you have kids; it's your duty, innit? You can't go out every night drinking. I can't handle it any more -- the hangovers."

Noel and Liam Gallagher were the unlikely princes of British pop culture. Growing up in a rough area of Manchester with a devoted mother and unkind father, they had a fearless ambition.

They sang about living forever, not dying young and their music -- along with that of arch rivals, educated southerners Blur -- is associated with Britain's optimistic renaissance. They were the anti-grunge.

Staying true to rock 'n' roll, Oasis's latest album, Dig Out Your Soul, its seventh British No.1 recorded in the famous Abbey Rodd studios, recreates the magic.

In the foyer at the Roundhouse, where fans mill outside, photographs of Oasis's greatest moments line the walls, including two giant headshots, where the Gallagher brothers appear like Roman caesars, untouchable, godly.

A fan sums it up for me: "Their songs were about being from a working class background and being downtrodden and rising above that. And when you're a teenager you're always feeling downtrodden."

To Liam, music is as important as ever: "Yeah man, if not more important. This is my life. This is what I do. This is it. This is where I get my kicks from. This is what makes me feel untouchable."

On stage, Oasis is whipping up an electric mayhem as the crowd almost drowns out the 50-piece choir.

In the dress circle, the band's partners and celebrity friends move enthusiastically.

Suddenly, a spotlight singles out a certain celebrity and the band stops.

The crowd erupts into a frenzied football chant: "Who are ya? Who are ya?"

It's actor Daniel Craig, or as Noel points out: "Bond, James Bond."

Dig Out Your Soul contains three Liam-penned numbers, including the current single, I'm Outta Time.

A WISTFUL, romantic tune, it could have been written by the ghost of John Lennon and at the end of the song Lennon's voice can be heard in a quote recorded just before his death.

"I've always thought it would be nice to have someone speak on it and obviously John Lennon's the man. So we went through these tapes and that was the first one that pops out. Sometimes you get lucky. That was the magic in that. It just fitted straight away," Liam says.

Liam's love of Lennon is no secret. He even named his son after him.

"He's just the best. He's a f------ dude, isn't he? He's got a great voice. A funny personality. He didn't give a s---. He didn't take no s---. I'm not obsessed with him. I like his music and I like his voice."

At Abbey Road studios, Liam says he definitely felt the vibe.

"It's the best studio in the world. That's where we should make our music all the time. That's why our record sounds good. Obviously our producer's good and that, but you can hear Abbey Road in it. If you don't make a decent record at Abbey Road, you shouldn't be making music."

Liam doesn't think much of the current crop of enfant terribles dominating the tabloids. Instead of mixing a little drugs with their sex and rock 'n' roll, they have let drugs take over their lives.

"Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse? They're f------ scumbags, aren't they? They need to have a wash. Apparently they're really talented. They're talented at being scruffy I know that. I don't care for them. They're grubby little bastards."

Liam's relationship with Noel has weathered many storms. More like colleagues than family, the brothers don't hang out socially. Liam prefers to be in bed by 10pm, while Noel's out with his celebrity mates.

"We were never that touchy-feely, cuddly brothers kind of thing anyway, so it's still the same sort of. We don't really speak that much," Liam says.

"We only speak when things need to be said. The thing is about our relationship, there's no bulls--- involved."

R ECENTLY in Toronto, Noel was attacked on stage by a fan. Liam was ready to get into the ring to protect his brother.

"Without a doubt. I think he'd do the same thing. I'd do it for any of them. Without a doubt. You have to look after your brothers, haven't you?" he says.

Liam now has two sons, close in age. What legacy would he like to pass on to his children?

"Just to be themselves, man. Nobody's perfect. You wouldn't want to be. Be yourself. It don't matter what people think of you. That's the only thing."

Those words sound familiar. The words are echoed in the first line of Supersonic, Oasis's first single released in 1994: "I need to be myself, I can't be no one else."

"It's not about everyone liking you. As long as you like yourself, then you'll be all right," Liam says.

via L4e / source: Herald Sun

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