Our friends at SCYHO caught up with Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs, founder member and former guitarist with Oasis, who has is about to start a UK and European tour with Manchester’s most talked-about new band, The Vortex. The band and are currently recording their debut album with Bonehead on production duties. He chatted at length about his past, present and future.

Interview excerpt:

What is your favourite Oasis song since you left the band?



Since I left, mmmmm that's a hard one ain't it, cause if I say a Noel song Liam will get the hump, and if I say a Liam one Noel will get the hump. so none of them, they’re all a bag of shit. I tell you what, I really love 'Mucky Fingers', I really love that one and that fucking Liam one 'I'm Outta Time', I absolutely love that one. I just love everything they do, I'm still the world’s number one Oasis fan, it's hard when people say, I don't like that, I say fuck off, I love it but I do.

I do love 'Mucky Fingers' and I don't know why. It's something about it, it has a real 'Velvet Underground' feel to it. There’s something about that song that I love. But 'I'm Outta Time' I really love.



I like hearing Liam and always look forward to listening to Liam's new stuff , I feel proud for him as he's come from 'Little James' to 'Im Outta Time' and you can just see Liam writing songs that he never did. I just sort of feel really proud for him when I hear 'Im Outta Time', for the first time it was a real proud moment for me and for Liam. It's a really, really nice song, I love it.


What was the real reason of you walking out of the recording for "Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants"? There are so many rumours......


There’s millions of rumours, loads of rumours... Legally you don't leave Oasis overnight, you don't wake up one morning and think “I'm walking, I'm going”, it just doesn't happen. There were lots of reasons but the main reason was, for me personally was there was a definite spark to that band. When we first came out in 1994 to sign that deal we were just five lads of the street, there was a real sort of energy in that band. A lot happened very fast and we reached a great height very fast, by the time we came to record 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants' we were all living and rented this big chateau in the south of France that belonged to Christian Dior.


And we set up a studio in there on our own, and we started recording an album there. It had a swimming pool, we were driving big sports cars, you know, we had the world at our feet. To reach that stage then you should be having so much fun, and that should have been so much fun and for me personally there was no fun there and that spark has gone. The original spark didn't feel like it was there, it really didn't. I don't know it had just gone.


I'm not saying I didn't enjoy being there, but it was just a feeling that had gone on over time with me. And I did a lot of serious thinking, and that sort of nailed it for me. And I just thought, that's it for me, the old gang thing had gone for me and it does not feel right. And if I had carried on and finished that session and then gone on and done a two year world tour to promote it I would not have been giving 100% to the band and the fans. And I have said it before you can't be in a band like 'Oasis' or you can’t be in 'Oasis' full stop if you're not giving 100%.


Now, I could have finished the album, I could have gone out on tour but I would have been giving 90% and that's not good enough, you got to be giving your all. So I would have been lying to the band, lying to the fans. I'd have been lying to myself and that's what really made me make my decision. I just thought I can’t go on with this, to sort of kid people I'm giving my all when I won't be so I just made my decision, that was the main reason.


It's not an easy decision, believe me, but I had to do it. But once I made it there was no going back. I was set... I certainly don't regret one minute of what I did in Oasis, absolutely not. I look back and think proudest/best moments of my life ever. But I could not carry on by not giving 100%, I just couldn't do it. I mean the truth be told, I think when we did Knebworth that was such a massive thing to reach in such a short space of time. And I have said it before and I will say it again, I think we should have done Knebworth and on that second night we should have all taken a bow and said, thank you and good night, we were Oasis.


We should have bowed out but we didn't, we carried on, it was a bit of a struggle after Knebworth, fucking hell. To go over to America and play to a few thousand people, when you just played to a quarter of a million. I think we reached that point and more that we ever dreamed we could have reached. I think we should have bowed out after Knebworth, but then again, I think the band did pick up after I left.


After I left I think they got better, got better, got better, then, unfortunately they split. But I do think they were progressing back to their roots as it were.

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