Live4ever Media LLC (NYC / Leeds) are purveyors of new music, daily news, exclusive features and photo galleries on the world’s best Indie bands.
Live4ever also produces and promotes high quality live music events, and is enjoying a growing industry-wide reputation for both discovering and showcasing new bands.
Among the network of websites published are the acclaimed Live4ever and The Oasis Newsroom, the web’s most popular site reporting on the brothers Gallagher.
Live4ever was founded by 3-time Emmy Award winning cameraman and concert photographer, Paul Bachmann. Senior editor Dave Smith is based in Leeds, England and heads up Live4ever’s UK content, as well as overseeing all writing assignments for the site.
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Liam Gallagher's New Band Shoots Video for First Single It's Reported
Last week Live4ever and SCYHO received several emails from regular site contributors that stated Beady Eye were shooting a video in London on Wednesday (October 27th) for the yet as untitled debut single.
The video is reportably being directed by Richard Ayoade who has previously worked with Kasabian and The Arctic Monkeys.
Following that several tweets from dancer Georgia Amodu (photo), were spotted by a Beady Eyed L4E member who confirmed she was working on the video and that the song was amazing.
Jeff Wootton who will take over bass duties for the bands live performances tweeted 'flying to LA to rejoin @gorillazband after Beady Eye stuff.'
The rumoured title for the debut Beady Eye single is Bring In The Light.
The Chemical Brothers want to collaborate with Noel Gallagher on his solo album.
The dance duo have worked with the rock star on two tracks - 'Setting Sun' and 'Let Forever Be' - and have also remixed songs for Oasis and insist they are ready to help him now he has left the band.
Tom Rowlands said: "It's up to Noel, we won't force ourselves upon him. But, obviously, we'd be up for it if we got the call, he's a great musician. It would be churlish not to see what the man had to say and what his ideas were."
The 'Hey Boy Hey Girl' hitmakers have also moved away from their electro roots to work on a film score for Joe Wright's new movie.
Paul Weller has been at the vanguard of British music since the release of the generation-charging single, “In the City,” in 1977. Angry like a punk, stylish like a Mod and soulful like an R&B man, Weller has consistently followed his own muse, even when that meant breaking up the very successful Jam and dissolving his hit-making follow-up outfit, The Style Council. Worshipped ever since by songwriters (most notably, Noel Gallagher), the “Modfather” continues to make finger-popping, hard-charging, yet elegantly soulful records to this day. Gibson.com caught up with Weller recently to discuss his illustrious career, his famous disciple/drinking buddy and the possibility of a Jam reunion.
What are your earliest musical memories? What were Mom and Dad listening to around the house?
I can always remember hearing music around our house. Records and the radio. The Beatles, Nat King Cole, The Kinks and Elvis!
What artist or artists made you first want to pick up a guitar?
The Beatles. They got me and the rest of the world into it.
How old were you when you got your first guitar? Was it a present? Did you save up for it?
My dad bought me a cheap, second-hand one when I was 12 and that was it for me.
Can you describe that first version of The Jam? You were, what, 14? How good were you guys?
We were dreadful! We just played cover versions of rock ‘n’ roll and R&B. Slaughtered them, really.
What do you remember about your first gig?
It was a Wednesday night in the local Social Club to seven or eight disinterested punters. Only two of us and our first taste. I was only 14 years old.
When did it start to really click for you – the songwriting, the playing? When did you start to look around and think, “Hang on, this could be something...”
Probably by the time I was 21, really – by The Jam’s third L.P. That’s when I realized what it really entails and took it seriously.
How comfortable were you with being lumped in with punk? From a songwriting perspective, especially, you guys were light years ahead of the punk scene.
Well, originally, punk was great – it was my generation’s wake-up call. I was really into it, man.
When did you start to think about incorporating more soulful, R&B elements? Was that a popular move within the band? Was everyone onboard with that creative shift?
Well, we’d always had that influence, right from the start, so it was very natural.
Ultimately, why did The Jam dissolve? You were on top of the world at the time.
I needed to move on. I’d been with the same band for 10 years. I wanted to go out and find the other parts of my life. I was still only 24.
How long was the idea of The Style Council in your head before you actually formed the band? Was it a musical itch you’d been wanting to scratch for a while?
Yeah, at least a year or so. I was listening to other types of music. I felt constrained by The Jam.
When The Style Council ended, it was the first time you’d been without a band since you were a teenager. Was that exciting or terrifying?
Both, I guess. Though mainly terrifying. I was lost. Didn’t know what I wanted to do.
When ’90s bands began lining up to pay homage to “The Modfather,” was it a bit disconcerting? You were still a pretty young guy.
No, I loved it! I felt “wanted” again. I’d been out in the cold for so long I felt glad to come in and be loved a bit.
How did you and Noel Gallagher first meet? Did it click right away? Was it an instantaneous friendship?
Pretty much, I think. We were both doing a lot of partying, too, and that helped/hindered!
Do you reckon this is it for Oasis or do you think eventually the brothers will work it out?
Who knows?
Speaking of which, you and Bruce Foxton recently played together onstage for the first time in 28 years at the Royal Albert Hall. How did that come about?
Well, Bruce came down and played on the new L.P. and it seemed natural to extend that to a couple of gigs. It was fun.
You know what question’s coming next…so I apologize–truly…but is there any chance that the three of you, as a group, will ever tour or record again?
NO!!!
Bruce appears on Wake Up the Nation. What does he bring as a bassist?
He has a very recognizable sound and style, and he was definitely the right man for those tracks.
The title track is a pretty rocking song. Can you tell me a bit about it? Were you thinking about any particular feel or artist or song when you wrote it?
Not really – it’s in the spirit of the album. We were trying to make music we weren’t hearing anywhere else.
“No Tears to Cry” has such a cool, late-’60s soul feel. What is it about that music still resonates with you?
It’s timeless, man. It rings true through the ages. It’s the heartbeat of the planet.
What still drives you to make music?
Because I absolutely adore it, believe in it and hold it up to be the truth amongst the bulls--t.
Growing up in Bedford, England, amongst like-minded music enthusiasts Andy Willsher was strongly influenced by David Bowie as well as pretty much all of the Goth bands of the late 80’s at the time. Luckily for Andy there was a small music venue in town where most of the bands played. 'The perfect scenario' I thought; "I’ll go along and take some pictures. So the likes of 'Ghostdance', 'Zodiac Mindwarp', 'Fields of 'The Nephilim' (and many more people dressed in black throwing flour everywhere) started my portfolio". Andy decided to ignore college and get a real job so he could afford the next Canon model he had been craving. Whilst working at Barclays Bank in the West End, Andy took a holiday to follow a band called 'The Hollow Men' around the far reaches of Scotland and Ireland. "I decided from that point that this was the life for me. One step further down the line I was working in my local camera shop to try and gain some knowledge. I think it was around this time I started printing up my own pictures and sending them to the music press in the vain hope they’d want to use one".
Finally that time did arrive and after a few shots had been published, Andy then got a phone call from NME Towers; 'Do you fancy shooting 'The Family Cat' at a school in Crewe?'. Andy continues to photograph for NME, his credits includes Jeff Buckley, Arthur Lee, U2, White Stripes and many more iconic bands/artists.
Andy's work has captured the music culture of our times and this exhibition celebrates his 20 years in music and in photography standing next to the other photographers who inspired him, such as Anton Corbijn, Ellen Von Unwerth, Pennie Smith and Mick Rock.
In Andy’s own words "It just felt like the right time to have an exhibition".
The exhibition features a limited edition shot of Liam Gallagher from Birmingham Institue back in 1993.
Private view Thursday 4th November 6pm - 2am at The Book Club, 100 Leonard Street, London. EC2A 4RH
The night will also feature a great line up of special guest DJs.
New Website Launched For ‘Upside Down: The Creation Records Story'
After the new film ‘Upside Down: The Creation Records Story‘ finally received it’s debut to rave reviews at the London Film Festival recently, a new website, upsidedownthemovie.com, has launched which promises to provide fans with all the latest news from the film, with some ’special up front announcements’ said to be due very soon.
Founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Creation quickly gained a reputation as a label which lived up to the rock n roll dream in both it’s quality and it’s lifestyle. It would go on to host the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream and The Jesus and Mary Chain in it’s time.
With the label on the brink of financial ruin in 1993, McGee’s on-the-spot offer to a young Manchester band named Oasis would not only save the label, but write the most celebrated chapter in an already fascinating story.
Now, over a quarter of a century since it began and a decade after it folded, ‘Upside Down: The Creation Records Story‘ pledges to be ‘the definitive film about Creation Records, one of the world’s most successful and colourful independent labels’.
Fans can sign up now at the official site (below) for some special announcements and to be the first to hear info coming very soon.
The former Oasis guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs has left his new band The Vortex.
The band were scheduled to play at Square One in Crewe this Saturday (October, 23), but have been forced to cancel following Bonehead’s announcement.
Bonehead played rhythm guitar on the first three Oasis albums – Definitely Maybe, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? and Be Here Now – before leaving the band in 1999 during the recording of their fourth album, Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants.
Excerpts From Tell All Oasis Book By Tony McCarroll
Former Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll is to release his Noel Gallagher-slating book The Truth on November 20.
Originally - and kind of hilariously - he was gonna call it Oasis: The Truth, The Noel Truth, Is Nothing Like The Truth, which should give you enough insight as to who the book is really levelled at.
Yep, this is Tony's riposte to years and years of Noel slagging him off in the press, of Noel supposedly treating him like shit in the band and of Noel forcing him out of Oasis. As he told me: "It's my little opinion, and I'm speaking for the little man."
Having had a sneak read, it's safe to say that the book will divide fans.
Probably most scarring for Noel are the accusations that he 'acquired' much of his early songwriting catalogue from other bands (and we're not just talking T-Rex and Lennon here). Tony suggests on numerous occasions that he took riffs, vocals and more from Liverpool cult heroes The Real People (aka Chris and Tony Griffiths).
Extract 1
"We spent over three months with The Real People and without them we would never have created 'Definitely Maybe'. The Griffiths boys were like a musical factory. After each session they would invariably sit us down and play us something new that they had composed. I clearly remember a fantastic ditty that Tony had knocked together on his keyboard.
"This melody would be later used by Noel as he constructed the single ‘Whatever’. On top of this there was also ‘Columbia’, ‘Rocking Chair’ and ‘Don’t Go Away’. All songs that were ‘inspired’ by The Real People."
[Extract ends]
But the book also features more light-hearted anecdotes, like the time Liam and Tony found themselves in the company of a notorious New York groupie.
Extract 2
"Liam asked if I wanted to come to some apartment. I looked over to see a girl we had met earlier that evening. We called her Mary Poppins, due to her high-class English accent. She was an ex-model, and an addict - and that night, she only had eyes for Liam,
"We duly headed to her loft apartment and Liam vanished into the bedroom for a few minutes, where he sewed his rock ’n’ roll seeds and then re-entered the main room, looking flustered and agitated. ‘Fuckin’ weirdo wanted me condom. She tried to stick a fuckin’ label on it.’
"Mary Poppins next slowly unlocked a steel cabinet in the corner, which looked like a small fridge. From inside, she removed a number of items and held them up in the light, waving a handful of used condoms with white labels attached. I suddenly realised Mary Poppins’ plan and started to roar with laughter.
‘What’s on the labels?’ I asked Mary.
‘Previous donors,’ came the reply.
Each rubber had been labelled with the date and time of donation, as well as the origin of the man fat. The small fridge was actually keeping the juice loose, so to speak, and I guessed Mary was planning to artificially create her own supergroup. The two labels I caught read ‘Kurt Cobain’ and ‘Nikki Sixx’."
[Extract ends]
How Noel and Liam react will probably be the most interesting thing here. There's no doubt it will be devoured by super-fans - it openly attacks Noel when no one else at present has got the balls to do that. But whether you choose to believe what you read or not is an entirely different matter.
Here's what Tony had to say about it…
What's the reason you're writing the book after all these years?
I'm doing this for me, at the end of the day. Additionally, I hope to get a good response. There's a lot of things I need to put right. For some reason, as I stated in the book, Noel seems to want to have a go, which I can't quite get my head around. I thought 'Right, here's my opinion mate'. Right back at ya.
Do you think people will be on your side?
Well, there is another side to the Oasis story which I think needs to be appreciated. It wasn't all about one person. Without the chemistry we initially had, it wouldn't have even lasted that long. As a wall of sound what we had was already established [before Noel joined]. But fair play, the songs that he brought to the table [were] fantastic. They got us off the ground as such. You can't knock that. But I credit the whole of the first era... without Bonehead, Guigs, myself, Liam, Oasis would be nothing.
How do you feel about what happened to the band after you left?
I count myself lucky for being a part of it. For me, the special thing was that it was five normal lads from Manchester. It was the worst and best years of my life, I suppose. Fair play for the success. But it all changed. It just turned into a commercial success. I mean, I'm going up against a bloody global brand at the end of the day.
Did you follow the band much after '95?
I was actually at the last concert they did - V2009 on the Saturday night. I was among the fans. I don't purposefully follow [Oasis] concerts. But I've been going to V for the last eight or nine years or so, and it just so happened that last year they were playing, and I went 'Right, I'll have a look at this'. You know, I can't knock it for what it's turned into.
Have you heard how the others feel about the book coming out?
I've heard that Noel is getting through it, but whether that's true of not I really don't know. As for the rest of them, I don't know. Have they ever read a book in their lives?
So, an apology from Noel doesn't seem like its gonna be on the cards then…
No. No way in the world, I can't see it. Noel is Noel at the end of the day. If you get any kind of apology out of that man... I mean, I don't even think his own brother can even manage that.
Did you try?
Believe me, I offered the olive branch many times. He wasn't forthcoming in any kind of way. That's how it panned out. I keep wondering why we never sat down in a pub where it all started, and said 'You know, this ain't working out. Pat on the back for each other or whatever'. Things could have been better, and the book for me is based around that.
New Weller Album Without Noel Gallagher Drum Tracks?
Paul Weller has said that his next album will contain some "avant-garde moments", although he's not certain if stand-in drummer Noel Gallagher will make the cut.
The singer-songwriter, who features in this year's NME Cool List, explained that he is pausing from recording to tour, but he should have a follow-up to this year's 'Wake Up The Nation' out early next year.
"I haven't finished the record, I've started it, done eight or nine tracks, maybe a few more than that. It's going the right way, but I don't know when I'll finish it because I'm on tour from now to December," he told NME.
"There's elements of 'Wake Up The Nation' in the sound, but it's moved on again I think. There's a few avant-garde moments, shall I say, some sort of soundscape tracks as well and some pop sounding things as well. It's a mix, really. Just good tunes."
He confirmed that Gallagher had drummed on some of the sessions, but Weller was not sure if he would be on the finished record yet.
"If you're referring to Phil Collins he came down and did a few tracks," he joked. "Nah, Noel just came down as a mate and jammed for a few hours as a mate. Whether he makes the album or not we'll see. He's a very good drummer, people don't realise he's a good all-round musician."
Tony McCarroll Will Never Reconcile Differences WIth Noel Gallagher
Ex-Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll: 'I'm going up against a global brand by releasing tell-all book'
Oasis' founder member and former drummer Tony McCarroll has said he feels he is going up against a "global brand" by releasing a book levelling criticism at Noel Gallagher.
McCarroll has written about his time in the band in new book 'Oasis: The Truth'. In it, he recounts countless arguments with Noel until the songwriter had him sacked in 1995. McCarroll told NME he thinks his version of events is likely to jar with the public perception of the band's early years, and of Noel's image.
"There's a lot of things I need to put right," McCarroll explained. "There is another side to the Oasis story which I think needs to be appreciated. Maybe even get other bandmembers recognised for once. It wasn't all about one person."
Noel has repeatedly referred to McCarroll in derogatory terms since he left the band, and McCarroll admitted that his book is likely to cause friction among the band's fans.
"I'm going up against a bloody global brand," he said. "I'm doing this for me, at the end of the day. It's my little opinion, and I'm speaking for the little man."
Asked if he thought he and the guitarist could ever reconcile their differences, McCarroll said: "No way in the world, I can't see it. Noel is Noel at the end of the day. If you get any kind of apology out of that man…"
He added: "Believe me, I offered the olive branch many times. You know, tried to appease things, whatever it was. Whatever these issues were. He wasn't forthcoming in any kind of way."
McCarroll joined The Rain in 1991. The band changed their name to Oasis when Liam Gallagher joined, with Noel subsequently joining the band. 'Oasis: The Truth' is released on November 20.
Clashmusic Reviews Epic Oasis Album (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
Of all the albums by all the British bands in the last three decades, it could be argued that none has had a bigger impact on the UK’s musical landscape than ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’.
First, the stats: it is an album that has shifted fourteen million copies worldwide; is the third biggest-selling LP in this country after Queen’s ‘Greatest Hits’ and ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’; it won Best British Album at the 1996 BRIT Awards; and it was named the BRITS’ album of the last thirty years in February this year.
The build up to the album’s release wasn’t without controversy. Drummer Tony McCarroll was sacked by the group after he’d laid down first single ‘Some Might Say’, with Noel claiming that he didn’t think McCarroll was up to the job. Enter Alan White stage right to pick up the sticks for this and the following three Oasis albums.
Recording took place in Rockfield Studios in South Wales, and sessions were fast and furious. The band were tearing through a song a day, but sadly Noel and Liam demonstrated their usual tempestuous relationship by tearing into each other over vocal duties.
With Noel having declared a desire to sing on ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Some Might Say’, relations between the brothers were fractious. The situation developed into fisticuffs after Liam brought a motley crew of support from the local pub back to the studio following Noel’s vocal take for the latter song.
Sessions were abandoned, with the group escaping back to London until Noel had cooled off. (Both songs eventually saw Liam on lead.)
With the tracks eventually laid down and a release date of October slated, everything was set for a smooth ride for the quintet. Until the release date of second single ‘Roll With It’ was announced, leading to one of the most well-documented rock disputes of all time in the Battle of Britpop as ‘Roll With It’ was pitted against the release of Blur’s ‘Country House’. The tabloids had a field day; sales for both singles went through the roof. And Blur pipped Oasis to the post to become Top Of The Pops.
Oasis have had the last laugh, however, with an album that has stood the test of time over ‘The Great Escape’ in polls across the board.
Opening with ‘Hello’, a squall of guitars that morphs into a stomping calling card utilising the familiar refrain from disgraced child botherer Gary Glitter’s ‘Hello, Hello I’m Back Again’, ‘Morning Glory’ is an album stuffed with anthems.
It epitomised the swagger and strut of Britain at the time - a country riding high on the culture of ‘Cool Britannia’. The sneer of debut ‘Definitely Maybe’ had been maintained, yet Noel’s songwriting had reached its zenith in the form of anthems like ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Morning Glory’.
The instrumentation was more mature, with the subtle implementation of strings and more obvious use of piano to add further depth to Noel’s more contemplative songs.
Oasis have often been accused of wearing their influences too heavily on their sleeves, and it’s true to say that some of the songs are shamelessly derivative - ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ is Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ re-imagined, while the lyrical stream of consciousness in ‘Champagne Supernova’ appears to give a hefty nod to some of the more fantastical Beatles lyrics.
However, these comparisons have faded into the ether as the album itself has stood the test of time, and the songs have become karaoke mainstays in their own right.
If only the brothers Gallagher could manage to take their own advice and not ‘Look Back in Anger’… Words by Laura Foster
Released: 2nd October 1995
Producers: Owen Morris and Noel Gallagher
Musicians:
Liam Gallagher - lead vocals
Noel Gallagher - lead guitar, vocals, piano
Paul Arthurs - rhythm guitar, piano
Paul McGuigan - bass
Alan White - drums, percussion
Tracklist
1. ‘Hello’
2. ‘Roll With It’
3. ‘Wonderwall’
4. ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’
5. ‘Hey Now!’
6. ‘Untitled (AKA ‘The Swamp Song - Excerpt 1’)’
7. ‘Some Might Say’
8. ‘Cast No Shadow’
9. ‘She’s Electric’
10. ‘Morning Glory’
11. ‘Untitled (AKA ‘The Swamp Song - Excerpt 2’)’
12. ‘Champagne Supernova’
1995 In The News
- Robbie Williams quits Take That.
- O.J. Simpson is acquitted for the murder of his girlfriend and her lover.
- John Major quits as leader of the Conservatives only to be re-elected again.
1995 Albums
Paul Weller - ‘Stanley Road’
Leftfield - ‘Leftism’
Massive Attack - ‘No Protection’
Supergrass - ‘I Should Coco’
Red Hot Chili Peppers - ‘One Hot Minute’
Alan McGee -The King of Indie Who'll Never Look Back in Anger
Is it a cautionary tale? Is it a celebration of one of the music industry's most unlikely entrepreneurs? Is it an exercise in Britpop nostalgia? Is it the story of a visionary or the case study of a business run along lunatic lines? All these questions are likely to cross viewers' minds when they see the fascinating new documentary Upside Down: the Creation Records Story (a world premiere at the London Film Festival next week.) The film is as much about Alan McGee as it is about the Creation Records label he co-founded. Creation survived against the odds and sometimes prospered from 1983 until the beginning of the new millennium and brought us (among others) The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, The Loft, My Bloody Valentine and, of course, Oasis.
British film-makers' obsession with the country's recent musical past shows no sign of abating. Julien Temple is developing a film about The Kinks, which will follow on from his documentaries about The Sex Pistols, The Clash and Dr Feelgood as part of his grand project to provide "a mini social history of British rebel culture" through its music. Alongside The Creation Records Story, this year's London Film Festival also boasts new documentaries about Mott the Hoople and Lemmy from Mötorhead. In recent years, film-makers have been as preoccupied by the svengalis behind the music as by the musicians themselves. We've had dramas and documentaries about managers and record producers like Joe Meek, Brian Epstein and Factory Records founder Tony Wilson. McGee is a natural choice to follow them. His story has drug addiction, megalomania and plenty of excess. What also shines through is his reckless commitment to talent – and his uncanny ability for identifying it. Once he signed a band, he was far more interested in enabling the musicians to do the best work possible than he was in lining his (or their) pocket. By the mid-1990s, the combustible, red-haired Glaswegian ex-British Rail clerk was the pivotal figure in British indie music. The major labels saw him as the man who "had the key". He despised them, even if he did sell up to them in the end.
Director Danny O'Connor insists that he hasn't made "a fan's film". His fascination was with "the human dynamic" behind the story. In particular, he hones in on the friendship between McGee and his former schoolmate, Bobby Gillespie (later of Primal Scream). Years ago, when they were teenagers, McGee accompanied the younger Gillespie to his first gig – to see Thin Lizzy.
"It was a story beyond music," O'Connor reflects of what led him to spend five years making the documentary, which was entirely self-financed. "It is about boys growing up, doing their thing, falling out and winning and losing. That was the attraction... this to me was a very dysfunctional duopoly."
He describes Upside Down as a very "male" tale – a film about "how we as men are a bit crap at relying on each other". McGee is the key voice in the documentary. "But he is not the key component. Without Bobby, he is nothing... the one couldn't exist without the other."
O'Connor has assembled a formidable star chamber to look over McGee's career. Starkly shot black-and-white interview footage shows figures including Gillespie, Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Noel Gallagher of Oasis and the novelist Irvine Welsh pondering McGee's story. McGee is also on hand too to look back at his younger self.
The director wasn't setting out to judge McGee or to pass his own opinions about the music he helped usher into existence. "The fighting, the egos, the complications, the vulnerability – all those things make a human tale," O'Connor suggests. "There's nothing worse than watching something when you're told what to feel."
At times, the film has an elegiac air. It's not just that the main protagonists of the story are growing so much older. In the documentary, Noel Gallagher argues that Creation Records represented a last stand for the independents. When the label disappeared, so did an old notion of indie rock. This is a thesis that O'Connor partially endorses. "In my mind, what started with Sun Records perhaps ended with Creation," he draws the connection with Elvis Presley's original label. Undercutting his own remark, he points out that he is 44. Older generations are always pronouncing the end of traditions they hold dear. "There is probably someone sitting around who is 18 who doesn't give a toss about Noel or McGee or my film – and why should they?"
There is plenty of comedy along the way. McGee has an air of the artful dodger about him. One of the stranger episodes comes when he belatedly discovers acid house and decamps to Manchester, moving into a £90 a week flat that Tony Wilson finds for him. He is shown being interviewed on Wilson's TV show. As films from 24 Hour Party People to Control have shown, Wilson was a wildly exotic figure but he seems almost straitlaced by comparison with McGee.
It is fitting that Upside Down is premiering at the same time that David Fincher's The Social Network is released in the UK. Nobody is going to mistake McGee for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg but there are obvious similarities between the two films. Like Zuckerberg, McGee was a spiky outsider at the helm of a business that grew and grew. His strategy wasn't taken from any business manual. In his early days of putting on gigs in London, he and his colleagues would drink away profits. He improvised as he went along and ran Creation as a benevolent dictatorship.
The film shows McGee at his most erratic as well as his most ingenious. The Creation boss gives a typically vivid and self-deprecating account of his drug and alcohol-induced breakdown in the mid 1990s. Whatever his foibles, he inspired huge affection and loyalty in his followers. O'Connor is generous in his praise of McGee. "He is very loyal," the director states of the subject of his film. "I adore the man. Not in a 'he taught me everything I know way' but I actually love his fusion of courage and absolute decency. The man would run to the end of the world for the people he values."
McGee left O'Connor to get on with the documentary and didn't try to mould the image the director was presenting of Creation Records. He has since seen the film and given it his blessing – even if he hasn't expressed huge confidence in its cinematic potential. (In one interview, he predicted it would last "two days in the cinema and then do 500,000 DVDs.") O'Connor, at least, is heartened by the speed with which tickets for the London Film Festival screenings have sold. It may be 27 years since Creation Records was founded but it seems the label is in no immediate danger of being forgotten.
'Upside Down: the Creation Records Story' screens at The London Film Festival on 23 and 24 October (www.bfi.org.uk/lff)
Noel Gallagher is Bored ...And That's Nice He Says
Chillaxed Lord Noel Gallagher is taking his time over new solo material.
Mr Big admits he hasn't played a guitar "in months" and is making the most of being bored.
He said: "It's good to be bored - for me, to be bored is nice.
"Just to stare out of the window or wonder if I should rearrange my CDs, wonder if I should count all the spare change in the whisky bottle.
"Should I go out and see what that new pear cider tastes like? There's plenty of stuff I could be getting on with."
The interview must have been done pre-baby Sonny arriving earlier this month.
Top of Noel's to-do list is getting a suite named after him in a top Manchester hotel. He said: "I stayed in the Radisson in town and they had a Peter Saville suite.
"I asked the woman why they had it and she told me that anybody who was Mancunian and stayed over 100 nights with them, they name a suite after.
"I thought to myself, 'Really? Right, you better watch this then'."
When Noel finally dusts down his Gibson and finds a band, he's up for collaborating with Carlos Tevez, who sang in a rock band in Argentina.
He said of the Manchester City captain: "I love that he doesn't care. He has no real desire to learn the language. He just goes on the television, thanks everybody and says that he loves City.
"If he ever wants to bust the guitar out and do a bit, I'm always available."
Pretty Green Announces Dedicated Club Night In London
PRETTY GREEN LAUNCHES FIRST DEDICATED CLUB NIGHT IN LONDON
Liam Gallagher clothing label to host event at HMV’s Relentless Garage.
Pretty Green, the British clothing label founded by Liam Gallagher, is holding its first-ever dedicated club night on 26th November at HMV’s Relentless Garage venue in Islington, London.
Pretty Green is a straight talking clothing label dedicated to sharp and stylish dressing, with all items designed by Liam Gallagher and established tailor Nick Holland.
Tickets for this event will be released to the Pretty Green fan base this Monday 11th October and to the general public on Wednesday 13th October through www.hmvtickets.com.
The man who signed Oasis rates Noel Gallagher almost as highly as he rates himself.
Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records, has had a listen to Mr Big's new solo material and thinks it will rank him alongside the likes of Lennon and McCartney.
No pressure, then.
Alan said: "I've heard the Noel demos. They're f***ing genius. For me, the guy's a McCartney, a Lennon, a Neil Young - he's one of the greats.
McGee even feels there are tracks worthy of mention alongside Oasis's biggest hits.
He said: "There's three songs on the demos - I won't go naming them cos I'm not his manager - but they're up there with Don't Look Back In Anger and Live Forever.
"He's f***ing done it again."
Meanwhile, Noel's nipper Sonny wasn't the only Oasis-related baby born last Friday.
James Cropley, who plays Noel in tribute band Noasis, had a boy too - Samuel Benjamin - on the same day. "It's a weird coincidence," he said.
I doubt Cropley's new material will place him alongside Lennon and McCartney though, just Cannon And Ball.
Published on October 8th, the guide is collated from the most requested songs on the station's 'X-list', suggestions by their DJs and celebrity guests. Each entry features an explanation of why that song is so important.
The twenty Oasis tracks that feature are:
Acquiesce
Cast No Shadow
Champagne Supernova
Cigarettes & Alcohol
Don't Look Back In Anger
Half The World Away
Little By Little
Live Forever
Morning Glory
Rock 'N' Roll Star
Roll With It
Shakermaker
She's Electric
Slide Away
Some Might Say
Supersonic
Talk Tonight
The Masterplan
Whatever
Wonderwall
Brandon Flowers (The Killers) has provided a foreword to the book and interviews with Manic Street Preachers, Kings Of Leon, Elbow and Kelly Jones of The Stereophonics are included. There is also an interview with the very much missed Stuart Cable.
We're fairly sure the book will start many an argument about what is and what isn't included, but we figure if you're going to argue, there is no better subject to argue about than music!
Noel Gallagher Snubs Bill Clinton ? - Definitely Not
Rumours of a surprise celebrity guest had showbiz correspondents scrambling ahead of Bill Clinton's keynote address in Londonderry last week.
The flurry came after one resourceful journalist who obtained a list of the great and good invited to hear the former president's speech spotted a familiar name - Noel Gallagher.
Was the ex-Oasis songwriter really en route to the University of Ulster to hear the 64-year-old statesman's musings on the troubled Northern Ireland economy?
The ripple of intrigue created within the press corps turned into a wave when it emerged the aforementioned Mr Gallagher had yet to arrive.
"Oasis snubs Clinton," declared one experienced hack, imagining the next day's headlines.
Fearing the story was about to gain legs, a US Consulate staffer moved to dampen the speculation.
"I can categorically state that the Noel Gallagher invited here is not the Oasis Noel Gallagher," he interrupted.
"He's a local businessman."
If the Mancunian rocker had popped in there certainly wouldn't have been any lack of cameras to capture the moment...
via L4e / source: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
ZANI don’t care how long or how short your hair is, this is music, this is what you dance to.
We have decided to take music back to the pubs, as a homage of bands like Dr Feelgood, The Blockheads, Madness, The Jam and many more. Good old fashion spit and sawdust in a colourful part and busy part of London, Waterloo (Upset)
Alan Mcgee doesn't recall too much about the year he discovered Oasis - at Glasgow's King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, in 1993.
"The drugs had moved on and were a lot harder by then," he said. "I recall signing Oasis but I barely remember anything else.
"In 1994, I recall being in LA during an earthquake. I remember flying to Japan and the Japanese media thinking I managed The Clash. I don't know if I ever really came back the same person after all that."
The Battle of Britpop also remains a blur. Alan said: "Ninety three was my lost year, I was already bad. Primal Scream were out of their minds then Noel and Liam arrived on my doorstep with Bonehead. It was like, turn the meter up full.
"Noel thinks I am a lightweight because I copped out after a year or two. What he doesn't know is that I had been hammering it on a nuclear level since 1988."
Oasis went on to sell 12 million copies of their debut album, 1994's Definitely Maybe, and over 20 million copies of the following year's (What's the Story) Morning Glory? - ensuring the label's success long-term.
Alan said: "I came out of rehab sober, put on Wonderwall and thought, 'We're going to sell 10 million'. I was wrong - we sold 21 million.
