La Repubblica, 6 August 2019, print edition
Noel Gallagher, 'Never with Oasis again. I don't want to live in nostalgia'
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Transcript and translation by frjdoasis
"There are two key moments in my life, the first was founding Oasis, the second splitting Oasis up. Now I selfishly say: I did the right thing. Our popularity has increased tenfold since we split. If we had stayed together we would be a melancholic band that nobody would care about anymore."
"Have I been offered money for an Oasis reunion? Just once. In a London jazz club a promoter asked me how much would a single Oasis concert cost? I threw it out there ... 25 million pounds just for me. He didn't reply. Thank God I don't need money, I've worked my ass off, even when I used to get high we still made great music. Now I have no economic problems. So there is no number that could lead me to a reunion."
"Brothers-knives (fratelli coltelli, an Italian expression for two brothers arguing every time) even then? Obviously. It was even worst. But we were trying to take advantage from it creatively. Over time, dealing with Liam had become exhausting. At that point I said that's enough. And I left."
"Who is more hostile to the idea of a reunion? He goes on saying that he would be willing to do it; I have been repeating it for ten years, not in my life! I understand people who do it, groups with no money left looking for a last chance, but that's not my case. So I'd say the most hostile is me. If we got back together it would be a fucking disaster. We leave the grudges under the ashes, what has been has been”.
"Has the Internet turned the situation upside down? It has ruined the world. Were we really that bad before the advent of the Net? Did we need it? Did we need to know in real time what the hell every fucking citizen of the world was thinking? To be informed about what this or that guy eats for breakfast? The internet has destroyed magic, destroyed the mystery, ignored privacy. But above all it killed the recording industry; people have stopped buying records."
"What do I do with the Internet? I hate it! What good has it done? It gave terrorists the opportunity to communicate through the dark web, to the violent the chance of bullying the weakest, to the dishonest the possibility of swindling in an area where there are no laws or controls. Where is the light that illuminated the human mind?."
"How do I get along with my children? The eldest is 19 and she is now out of control. The two little ones use the tablet only for video games."
"How do I keep myself musically updated? I do it when I'm on tour, because I don't have time for anything at home with my wife, children, dogs and cats. The best things, I find them with word of mouth. I don't turn on the radio, I don't read music magazines. Now I'm replaying old Cure records. I'm an longtime fan of the band, but I'd never seen them live before this year, at the Roskilde festival, an amazing concert. I don't like heavy metal, nor modern pop. I prefer jazz. Rap is not within my reach. I am fifty-two years old, a former fucking young proletarian from Manchester, I don't give a shit about the street culture of the Baltimore youth."
"So there are seventy-year-old rockers in good shape, including Dylan? Thanks to the Stones, the Who and Paul McCartney, who have never stopped, we too have a guaranteed old age. Without them, I'd be a pre-retired person. When I started with Oasis, I was sure that at some point they would kick our ass and send us home. As for me, I will continue until the songs I write seem credible to me; when I realize I drown in nostalgia, I'll give it a cut. Why continue? It would be like remarrying the wife you divorced from, it would be like reforming Oasis. Rock works if you always have a new wife, young and beautiful wife, hahahaha. Take Bruce Springsteen, he is an eternal young man because he is a fan of rock, he has never betrayed his principles, an integral artist. Two years ago I met him for the first time in Formentera. I'm not a fan of his music, but we sat and talked for hours, he's an extraordinary man. He filled me with questions about Manchester and the Stone Roses. Who has remained in the saddle is because he still has something to say and nothing to prove. I saw the Bob Dylan documentary by Martin Scorsese on Netflix ('Rolling Thunder Revue'), wow! I was there galvanized and every five minutes I shouted, 'Fuck you, you're too good!'.
"Have I ever been asked to be a judge in a talent show? Twice, I refused. Talents are the realm of laziness, everyone wants to sing and nobody wants to learn to play an instrument, a sea of covers and no original song that deserves attention. They can't write them. In the end, those who take advantage from it are the ones who give songs to these poor kids who are blinded by the desire for visibility. I don't know any fucking bands coming out of a fucking talent show that left their mark."
"If I agreed with the Brexit after having deserted the ballot box for the Brexit referendum? No. I didn't go because I couldn't believe that someone would be so stupid to vote for Europe. The result seemed so obvious to everyone that I didn't bother leaving the recording studio to go to the polling station. Apparently it was not so. And now? Should we vote again? No, it would create a dangerous democratic vacuum. But I am sure that, after the Brexit, things will get very bad, in three years' time the whole thing will have to be reconsidered. I find it ridiculous and useless to foment a division, which has also become resentful, between the two parties. Economically nobody will profit from it. Hate and divisions, something far from the global village."
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