Sat in the Library Room of the Union Club on Greek Street, Liam Gallagher โ a lunchtime double espresso down, in a black cagoule, black jeans and purple suede shoes โ is showing me the alarm screen on his iPhone.
โLook at that bad boy,โ he says, holding it in front of my eyes. It reads โ05:00โ, and underneath, โALARM, WAKE UP.โ
โIโm up at five every day,โ he says. โAnd I love it. Leave the house at six. Run โtil seven. I get Gene (his son, 15, with ex-wife Nicole Appleton) up, โcos heโs living with us at the moment. Get him off to school. Come back. Potter about. Try some jackets on. Try some shoes on. Play the guitar, have lunch. Then do whatever needs doing.โ
Today, yesterday and most days for the foreseeable future, โwhatever needs doingโ is a lot. Downstairs, his girlfriend-slash-manager Debbie Gwyther is waiting for us to finish so they can go to another meeting concerning the launching-any-minute-now solo career he said he would never embark on (โSolo record are you f***ing tripping d***head? Iโm not a c***,โ he tweeted in January 2016; following it up in August with, โItโs official: Iโm a c***โ). Why was he so resistant to the idea?
โI just donโt want to be tarred with that brush,โ he says. โThereโs people that are in great bands that have always got their eye on going solo โ who we wonโt mention, because heโll get enough f***ing mentions โ and they break up great bands becauseโฆ well, they use little things like, โOh, we werenโt getting onโ. F*** off mate, you had your head turned big-style. This isnโt that. If Oasis started again tomorrow… well, obviously I wouldnโt get back with it because Iโm busy with this and I like this and weโll see where we end up. But I werenโt one of them people that broke a band up to go solo.โ
Whatever might have led him to this point, he is now โraring to go. Raaaring to go!โ Gallagher is right to be excited because his new music is great. And it ought to be, given that as well as his iconic voice (which sounds as good as ever), it has, aside from a handful of songs he wrote himself (โGreedy Soulโ, โBOLDโ), been written by serious, professional songwriters. Most notable among these is Greg Kurstin, who co-wrote and produced Adeleโs โHelloโ and is currently helping some guy called Paul McCartney to finally realise his potential. Gallagher is upfront about the fact that he had nothing to do with these songs โ the electric โWall of Glassโ; the Elton John-esque โPaper Crownโ; โDonโt Look Back in Angerโ-sized ballad โFor What itโs Worthโ โ save for singing them and โchanging a few words and melodies and phrases and stuffโ.
Does he worry about how people will perceive him working with professional writers? โIt is what it is, mate. I didnโt write โLive Foreverโ but as soon as I sang it, I made it my own. I class myself as a rock โnโ roll singer who writes the odd tune every now and again. And that is it. Iโm not going out saying Iโm Bob Dylan. Ideally, you want to do it yourself. But I canโt write those f***ing big songs. Iโm limited. My verses are up there, but I just canโt do that next bit. There will be people that go, โOh, well, you didnโt write half of itโ, but the main thing is getting a record done, getting back touring and doing what I do: singing and moving people, rather than sitting at home doing nothing, spouting off on Twitter.โ
While Gallagher now has plenty to be getting on with in the hours between midday and bedtime (โabout 9 or 10 oโclockโ), a few years ago this was not the case. For a start, his band Beady Eye (which he formed with the other Oasis members the day after Noel walked out following one final fight in Paris in August 2009) went their separate ways in 2014, after two albums (โIt was like a safety blanket, Beady Eye, so I could kind of ignore the [Oasis] break-upโ).
โIt was a bitter realisation,โ he says. โRight. No band. Donโt want to be in a band. Donโt want to meet loads of new people. And then all the divorce and all the other s*** โ it was just grim.โ Gallagher had not one but two long-running, concurrent court cases to contend with. One involving his divorce from Nicole Appleton and the other over maintenance for Gemma, the child he fathered with New York journalist Liza Ghorbani, in 2013. โI know it was all my own doing and that,โ he says. โBut I was just living in ghoul world with f***ing lawyers. Every day. If it wasnโt the divorce lawyer, it was the other lawyer. It was f***ing grim. They just make it worse. Theyโre not there to make it better. They f***ing strung it out, mate. They definitely know how long a piece of string is.โ
While dealing with this he was living in his house in Hampstead, the front door of which opened straight onto the high street. โIโd open the door and get mithered to death straight away,โ he says. โPeople going, โOasis, Oasis, Oasisโ in your face, and itโs like youโre in a bad trip. Youโre this guy in Oasis, but youโre not doing anything any more. You start going, โAm I a f***ing has-been? Is this it?โ And youโre sitting there going, โWell, maybe it is.โโ He was, he says, โdrinking too muchโ, and began planning to disappear forever. โI was waiting for the divorce to kick in, to see what f***ing pennies theyโd throw back at me, and I was out of here. I was gonna go and live in Spain and just chill out, get fit, eat nice, bit of sun on me bones and just f***ing live.โ
His saviour, he says, was Gwyther, who used to work for Beady Eyeโs management team, and with whom he began a relationship during this time. They moved to a more secluded flat in Highgate: โThis penthouse where itโs like 360-degree views over Ally Pally, so it was just pure light. And that helped my head a bit.โ He had a long period of โjust doing nothing: ruining Debbieโs vibe, going, โCome on, letโs go to the pub. F*** work, come and be a f***ing dosser like me!โ And then sheโd go to work and Iโd be sitting at home being Billy No Mates.โ Eventually, though, having written a couple of new songs, she convinced him to start meeting record companies. She suggested songwriters he might use. She introduced him to the producer he would go on to work with, helped him put a new band together and got him to the point he is at now.
Coincidentally, just as all of this was coming together at the end of last year, the Oasis documentary Supersonic came out: a moving account of the band, which traced their story back to the Manchester council house that Liam, Noel and their elder brother Paul shared with their mother Peggy (having escaped from their violent father), through getting a record deal and right up to Oasisโ glory years โ culminating in their record-breaking concerts in front of 250,000 people at Knebworth Park in 1996. It did a good job of reminding people what Liam Gallagher was โ and is โ all about. โI guess so,โ he says. โBut I didnโt need reminding. I met Ricky Gervais the other day on the Heath, and he went, โOh, I saw Supersonic. I thought you come across really well,โ and I went, โAs opposed to what, you f***ing little c***? I am the f***ing bollocks, get with it!โ And then he walked off.โ He laughs. โThe only person that come out of it bad was Noel because I think his true colours were shown. But everyone knows that heโs a bit of a c*** and Iโm a bit of a c***, but that at the same time weโre both cool.โ Liam did a fair few interviews to promote the documentary. โI started caning it around about then. I was going out doing them interviews, walloping it every night, getting carried into lifts and s***.โ
Does he regret anything he said? โNo. Like what?โ Like any of the stuff about Noel? โNo. Not at f***ng all. I donโt regret anything Iโve ever said about Noel. I think heโs had it easy off me. Itโs only sticks and stones, they wonโt break his bones. Wait till I bump into the c***. Everything I say is the f***ing truth. Iโve not even dug that deep yet.โ
Indeed, a couple of days before we meet, he is back on Twitter, laying into his brotherโs collaboration with now-very-much-ex-rival Damon Albarn. A few days after, he is hitting out at Noelโs 50th birthday and its cocaine-themed invites (โWho the f*** in there rite mind broadcasts there having a cocaine themed party thatโs asking for a tug anyways as you were LG x,โ Gallagher wrote on Twitter). โThereโs loads of people going, โYou need to chill outโ, or โYou need to grow upโ, he continues. โF*** you, mate. Itโs just a wind-up anyway, with Noel, itโs just a bit of fun. He sets himself up for it, doesnโt he? Doing backing vocals for f***ing Gorillaz! Someone needs to come and put me in a f***ing straitjacket! You know thatโs getting it.โ Of Twitter in general, he says he loves it, โand if no one bothered f***ing re-tweeting it or writing about it, then Iโd shut up shop. I only really pipe up if someoneโs having a pop. The rest of it is peace and love. I thoroughly chuckle. I want an award for that s***. Itโs a sport to me and I want medals for it!โ
The one thing about his former band that still bugs him, he says, is that he feels like he has โbeen lumbered with the โYou f***ed Oasisโ thing. Which I refuse โ re-f***ing-fuse! โ to have. You ask any of my band members at that time and theyโll tell you different.โ
โIt was positioned like that,โ he continues. โThe good guy and the bad guy. But slowly, the truth will prevail. And without going on about the other fella too much, heโs on another level, him, heโs over there somewhere. I donโt know what world he lives in, and I wouldnโt want to live in it, believe you me, because it seems very bland, and naff, and contrived and just… โWhat?โ Heโs like the new Robbie Williams or something. Itโs f***ing weird.โ
We move on. We talk about the fact that he will be playing a number of Noel-written Oasis classics in his live show (โDo I go on and play a load of new songs and everyoneโs just standing there scratching their heads? No. When the lights go down, itโs party timeโ). We talk about the (kind of) Oasis-y sounding Harry Styles single. โI wouldnโt buy it, but itโs interesting. Imagine what itโs like for him. Heโs got a big f***ing weight on his shoulders, and heโs only f***ing young. Heโs probably thinking this One Direction thing ainโt for me. People change, so if he wants to do a bit of that, good luck to him.โ
We talk about his eldest son Lennonโs move into modelling which, most recently, featured him on the cover of Buffalo Zine wearing a Blur T-shirt. โI mean, thereโs some s*** that heโs been f***ing wearingโฆโ he smiles. โBut listen, heโs earning corn, man. So Iโm like that [he slaps hands together]: โWhereโs my cut? Them two eyebrows, theyโre mine, right? So I want a cut of this f***ing wonga. And the f***ing name Gallagher, I want a cut of that as well!โ Heโs like, โWhat dโyou mean?โ Iโm like, โSee how much f***ing work you get if you change your name to Lennon Kensit? Zilch! So whereโs my cut?โ But heโs buzzing. Heโs been out in New York the last couple of days just living the life, man.โ
And of course we talk about the purpose of Liam Gallagher, 44-year-old rockโnโroll star, in 2017. โAs far as Iโm concerned, whether this albumโs a success or not, some c*** has to counteract the bulls***,โ he says. โAnd Iโm that f***ing man. Whether itโs Adele or Ed Sheeran โ Iโm not arsed about them โ but half of these bands that call themselves guitar bands, theyโre in that mob too. Theyโre just running amok. These c***s are just getting away with murder: you canโt tell a guitar band from a pop band these days. No oneโs cranking it up and having a bit of aggro. Theyโre all going to the same parties, theyโre all f***ing hanging out, theyโre all drinking from the same cup, theyโre all eating at the same f***ing restaurants, and, dare I say it, they all look the same, and dress the same.
โSomeone needs to counteract that,โ he says. โAnd Iโm here to do that.โ
Source: Standard.co.uk