Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds performed for Radio 2’s Piano Room on The Vernon Kay Show performing classic track AKA... What A Life, new single Council Skies, a cover is New Order’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Talking about working with Peter Blake for 2001’s Stop the Clocks (Oasis 2006) album
Noel: Working with Peter Blake was a privilege and an honour, you know he’s like one of THE greats and we spent a day with him at a studio constructing that collage. It was great. ‘Cause initially we wanted to work with him for the ‘Best of’, bit of gravitas and all that and he’d just started doing things digitally, right, and he sent over this thing and we all went ‘Oh no’.
Vernon: How do you say ‘oh no’ to Sir Peter Blake?
Noel: So what happened was, everyone was like, ‘Well, you’re going to have to go and see him’... so I went to see him and I did what any self-respecting rock star would do... I said, ‘Look Peter, it’s not me, I love it, I think it’s great. It’s the tambourine player, the tambourine player is not having it at all. And he was like, ‘Oh!’. And, [I] said ‘We’re going to have to do something else.’ And then there we go, and there it is, yeah.
On Vernon’s daughter listening to Definitely Maybe which is 30 next year
Noel: It’s a real privilege when these anniversaries come round and kids are still into it, for something that we kind of, we created that sound. You know, it wasn’t thought out, we were the real deal, we were just a bunch of guys who created this noise and the songs are great and it’s still going. I can’t believe it, it’s still going. It’s unbelievable... a lot of it is to do with kids that are, teenagers now don’t really have anything like that anymore and, I guess suppose like we did looking back to The Beatles and Stones and stuff like that so it’s a bit of a shame – not a shame, ‘cause it’s great for me obviously – that no one really came along to take our place if you like.
On success
Vernon: Success now, do you take it for granted?
Noel: No, no, no, no, no I don’t take any of it for granted. I don’t even, I don’t take the songwriting or, no, none of it. You know, we’re going out on tour. We still put everything into rehearsing and everything into making the records as good as they can be. That’s all you can do, try and make it the best that it can be.
Vernon: Its seems like you have a really good, strong work ethic.
Noel: Yeah, well, I don’t have any other interests outside of music and football, not really.... other than that I don’t collect anything, can’t drive, I’m not interested in it, so this is what I do.
Listener question from Colin - What’s your favourite Manchester gig venue, past or present, both as a performer and a punter?
Noel: Main road was great for Oasis so was the ETIHAD. I think though, to see a gig the Apollo is pretty good, is pretty iconic. It’s the photograph on still on the inner sleeve of my album, it’s where I seen my first ever gig in 1980, The Damned. And I’ve seen everyone there. Yeah, it’s a pretty special place. The Beatles played there so I’d say the Apollo, yeah.... I loved going to gigs, I still do. I still go from time to time.
Joe Elliott from Def Leppard – who performed the previous Piano Room – asked what was the first song Noel ever heard on the radio and what was the first song or album that you ever owned?
Noel: Well I’m not sure what the first song I ever heard on the radio was, but I know the first song that I demanded or I asked to be bought and it was by Leo Sayer and it was I Won’t Let The Show Go On. And if I remember correctly, he was dressed as a clown on Top of the Pops when he did it and that’s why I wanted it and actually, I haven’t got the 7”, but the tune is amazing. Yeah, have you heard that tune?... Honestly, it is a tune. I even had great taste, even then when I was like a toddler. But the first album was Never Mind... by the Sex Pistols. I’m afraid I am that cool.
