Paul Gallagher
April 2010ZANI – Natter to the Chap
Sibling rivalry is one of the most competitive and emotional rivalries that there is. Whether it is attention seeking, jealousy or simply teasing, the arguments can be vicious and vindictive. However in the same breath the unity of siblings is immensely powerful. An unbreakable bond can be formed, that in some cases is an honour that would mean protecting the family name to the death. The world of sport, music, film and even crime, has seen many siblings whose concord is a force to be reckoned with. The England 1966 World Cup winning squad, consisting of Bobby and Jackie Charlton, the world of film has given us the Baldwin brothers (Alec, Stephen, William and Daniel); in music we have seen The Davies brothers (Ray and Dave) from The Kinks. The Sixties underworld gave the world two sets of siblings to fear, The Krays and The Richardson’s.Moreover one of the most documented brotherly relationships which captured the Medias attention on numerous occasions is that of Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis. Such opposition seems to have eventually led to the demise of their band in Paris in August 2009, a feud that had been brewing for well over a decade. To the world it seemed inevitable.
But what of those lesser known brothers who stand in the shadows? With the Krays, It was Ronnie and Reggie who took centre stage whilst their brother Charlie always seemed to be in the background. Perhaps the Baldwin’s brother maybe envious of Alec’s breathing taking ‘balls of steel’ speech in Glengarry Glen Ross. While Phil Neville might be a tad annoyed that Gary Neville has more England caps than him.
But what of Liam and Noel Gallagher’s brother-Paul Gallagher? The older brother who witnessed the rise to success of his kid brothers to Cult status-what has he been thinking all these years? How does a man deal with that? How has his path to success been mapped out?
Paul first came to prominence when he published his own account of the Oasis story, from Childhood to Oasis with Terry ‘The Word’ Christian. For sure, you could say, an easy subject matter for him to write, yet who better else to tell their story, than from the man who was with Liam and Noel from their birth. From such a debut Paul Gallagher has become first a Journalist, but been also involved in the music business,band management and now more recently earned his name as a highly sought after DJ. Certainly a man's idea of a dream job and a further complement to the Gallagher Heritage.
ZANI decided to catch up with Paul at a café in Hampstead, where we chatted about music, Oasis, Man City and much more.
ZANI - Alan McGee says he has never seen you happier and he said you seemed content and fulfilled.
Paul Gallagher – Yea, I am happy. Oasis took up a lot of my time, nineteen years in fact. Even though I wasn’t directly involved with them, I was drawn into to them. However, I don’t have to prove anything to anyone any more, not that I ever did.
ZANI – Life does seem to be good for you at the moment, as you are DJing all over the world
Paul Gallagher – Well mainly all over Europe, because in the US, they are expecting me to pay for it, they want you to get your flights sorted, and all that, well to me, that is their department. Predominately I have been playing in Belgium for the last two years. It’s a country of ten million people, who are well into their music.
ZANI – Didn’t you take a break from DJ-ing, and how did you get back into to it?
Paul Gallagher - I met this kid in London two years ago, he said to me, “You used to DJ?” I said “yeah, that was years ago, and I can’t be bothered anymore”. But he said “If I find you a club, will you come and DJ?”, so I said “why not?” So we started " Hindu Nights" at the Make Up Club in Ghent, Belgium every two months, and that is kind of cool. From that I have done festivals all over Europe with The Sex Pistols, Oasis, The Buzzcocks, and even a dance one, I don’t know why I was there with Soulwax, but it was a good paid gig. I have been all over in Europe, its cool. I initially started in the late 80's in Manchester but packed it up when Acid House reared its head.
ZANI – Seeing Europe, and DJing, to paraphrase to lyrics from the title song of Auf Wiedersehen Pet, “That’s living all right”
Paul Gallagher - Yeah and you remind of the chirpy cockney Wayne.
ZANI – From what you are saying, Belgium seems to be your thing.
Paul Gallagher - I love Belgium, people think it’s boring but it’s not, far from it, just the press ain’t picked up on it.
ZANI – Yeah, like all mainstream media, they are waiting for someone else to write about it.
Paul Gallagher – Don’t get me started on the media, parasites the lot of them. Apart from the odd one and that includes ZANI.
ZANI – Thank you. Going back to Belgium I have never been. But one of my favourite characters comes out of Belgium, Tintin, been a big fan since my childhood
Paul Gallagher – I thought for a second, you were going to say Plastic Bertrand.
ZANI – That old punk comic
Paul Gallagher - Ça Plane Pour Moi, hardly a record that set the world on fire. People think that Belgians are dead quiet, but they have got it sorted. Their clubs open at 22.00, all you see is one bouncer on the door, and that’s it, none of this heavy handed doorman shit, they just let the people get on with it.
ZANI – Not like you get in the UK, where there seems to be a bouncer on every corner.
Paul Gallagher – No, there is none of that bullshit. Everyone just drinks and has a good time, and you can smoke in there, which is handy. It’s full of kids having it.
ZANI – The smoking ban, the most righteous bullshit endorsed by any government, yet they still tax tobacco high.
Paul Gallagher – People have been smoking for years, and people should have the choice.
ZANI –Anyway going back to the club, sounds a good vibe.
Paul Gallagher - The kids come from all over Belgium to the club. The trains start at half five in the morning, and they can go straight home after the club. simple.
ZANI – What sort of clothes are the kids into it, the Mod thing?
Paul Gallagher – Yeah, they are into the Mod and London thing.
ZANI –I will try and break ZANI into Belgium.
Paul Gallagher – You should they will like it. Lille, Northern France, that is a good place for music and cool bands. Done a few nights there, one stop on the Eurostar, ninety minutes and you are there. Its more having it than Paris, and then you have got Belgium to the left , I have a new night in Leuven, home of Stella.
ZANI – Gave up Stella, the wife beater, a long time ago. Belgium is definitely your spiritual DJ home.
Paul Gallagher – It is, it is a cool place.
ZANI – My spiritual home is Italy especially Florence, for obvious reasons.
Paul Gallagher – Went to Rome once with Phil Smith, who was the Oasis tour DJ. We were playing at this brewery with these Willie Wonka type vats with two Oasis tribute bands playing. A thousand kids there going mental. I have since found out there are thirty Oasis tribute bands in Rome alone.
ZANI – That is a lot of tribute bands, and Rome unlike London is a small capital city. I saw an Oasis tribute band in Florence, in a small bar full of students and young Americans. It’s sad that some of these tribute bands aren’t using their talent to write their own songs. Use the Oasis sound, and take it to the next level.
Paul Gallagher – But they are not interested in that, they are just fans, they are not interested in being original. They just want to be Liam or Noel, the girls love Noel and the boys love Liam. There look and think they are Liam. They are a lot of sound alikes and look alikes, but they are Italian.
ZANI –I thought a band that would look cool, would be a band of Ultras from Italy, playing heavy funk or soul.
Paul Gallagher – I agree with you about the Ultras look, but I don’t know about hard funk and soul. But that would be a cool look for a band.
ZANI – The Ultras is a stylish look, I look a lot at these new bands on MySpace, and you can the sense that Albert Steptoe is their stylist. A band has to look like a gang, The Beatles, The Jam, Oasis, The Happy Mondays, had it.
Paul Gallagher – That’s the Mod in you coming out, but the Ultra look is cool. The Italians wear the coolest clothes, but they are not known for making original music, I don’t think they are, it’s more hero worship to them.
ZANI – I suppose winning the World Cup four times, makes up for the lack of originality in their music.
Paul Gallagher – You had to drop that in, you robbed Ireland of it’s place in the World Cup. Belgium has got some cool little bands, but they all sound like the Libertines.
ZANI – Good to see the UK influence of bands is still strong in Europe, just maybe something exciting and new will come out of Belgium, France, Italy or whereever
Paul Gallagher – Maybe, who knows, but I do see a lot of young bands, so I will keep you posted or even write about them.
ZANI – Talking about your DJ-ing, it wouldn’t fair to say that it is unconventional, but you play the great rock and roll heroes like Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, Gene Vincent. I remember going to this small party in Richmond in the nineties, and the people were trying to get down to drum ‘n’ bass. Not because they liked it, but because they thought they had to like it. Anyway I was bored with their music, so I did my Jimmy from Quadrophenia moment, took the record off the player with an almighty scratch, put on by Buddy Holly’s Rave on, which I had found in their collection, and started dancing.
The party, which was about fifteen people, looked at me in shock and horror, I had a little tussle with someone by their record player has they tried to put the drum ‘n’ bass record back on. (Laughing), I was asked to leave the party, ‘cos I had put on Buddy Holly, can you fucking believe it? I mean it wasn’t like I pissed in their mother’s bed, or something.
Paul Gallagher – What a bunch of uneducated wankers. I love playing those classics. I was playing alongside Alan McGee, one night, and he was playing Barrington Levy. And I said “Alan, come on its Friday night, and there are a hundred and fifty kids outside smoking because you are depressing them”. Alan replied by saying “Fuck off. I can play what I want”. Yeah, but you have got to give them something so he played Jay Z.
ZANI – What do you like about the old fifties rock and roll?
Paul Gallagher – It is just there, it is up. I don’t just stick to rock and roll; I play sixties, seventies, Motown, SKA, anything that is cool. But you can’t go too obscure, because you will do the crowd’s head in. I always get the kids requesting (Puts on whining voice) “Got any Mondays? Got any Charlatans? Got any Roses?” Just to save the hassle, I always have some of those records with me.
ZANI – To get you out of jail so to speak.
Paul Gallagher – Not to get me out of jail, I don’t give a shit because if they don’t want to dance, they can go home. Then I get asked, if I have got any house music, what do you say; do I look like I have got any house music?
ZANI – Just leave the DJ to control the music
Paul Gallagher - Exactly. I might invest in some headphones, so when the impatient kids are asking “Have you got this, have you got that?” I can pretend I don’t hear them.
ZANI – Good idea. You were a journalist for a while, do you still write?
Paul Gallagher – I still do little blogs that attack the world that we live / are controlled in,and things that piss me off. I have a little blog called rants and raves. http://misterappointment.blogspot.com/
ZANI – What football players do you attack?
Paul Gallagher – Not football players, but football teams and moaning people. People who moan about snow and shit like that, general life. I don’t like the whole concept of FIFA especially Sepp Blatter.
ZANI – Yeah, not a big fan either. Going back to the World Cup qualifiers, I-and I think all supporters of Italy-wanted Ireland to beat France in the play offs, That goal involving Thierry Henry’s hand ball was out of order, and the game should have been replayed.
Paul Gallagher – If that had been any other country in the world, like England or France, that game would have been replayed. Yet FIFA say every game can’t be replayed, but this isn’t every game this is a World Cup Qualifier, there is a big difference.
But when it looked that France weren’t going to top the group, FIFA changed the play off rules, so France could meet a lesser opposition. But If FIFA aren’t to going to recognize or listen to the Irish FA, then the Irish FA should quit. Pull out of the European Championship; otherwise, these things will keep on happening. State your case and fight your corner.
ZANI – I agree, there so many things that spring to mind about certain football decisions. Speaking about your favourite DJ country, Belgium, they had a perfectly good goal disallowed against Brazil in 2002 World Cup. However Brazil went on to win the match and of course play England in the next round. So what gets the higher ratings and makes more money, Brazil and England, and come on South Korea didn’t get to the semi final because they found form and played some of the best football in the tournament.
Paul Gallagher – It shouldn’t be called the World Cup, it should be called closed shop. FIFA are too powerful, and they can dedicate who wins and gets through.
ZANI –I am telling you this for nothing, South Africa will get to the quarter finals for the World Cup with ease, and anyone who draws them in the 2nd round, knows they will be going out. Why? Because it’s important for FIFA for the home country to do well and South Korea proved that.
Paul Gallagher – Yes, the biggest league in the world is the Premiership, and the English FA are so inept to them. So FIFA and UEFA can do what they want, Michel Platini can say there will be transfer embargos if big investors of Man City and Chelsea start spending. You think hang on for a minute, how did Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal get big in the first place? They have had all the money for the last thirty years. They are like the EMI of the football world, so when a new kid comes on the block, they don’t like it, fuck them.
ZANI – Do you like Mancini as Man City’s new Manager?
Paul Gallagher – I like him if he plays our best player Stephen Ireland, who is a friend of mine, in his best position. Mancini has picked a team that isn’t about flair, he is going to play who he wants to play, ones he thinks will get the job done and play the fan’s their favourites. Therefore Stephen Ireland does not play, or he is played out of position, Shaun Wright Phillips doesn’t play and Craig Bellamy is injured. It is not pretty to watch sometimes. He has been told to get Man City in the top four or you are fired.
ZANI – To me that is harsh, as Mancini needs to learn more about the premiership players and bring more creative players, if they keep sacking people, the job will become a poisoned chalice. Didn’t Oasis offer to sponsor Man City?
Paul Gallagher – Hmm, who in their right mind is going to offer to sponsor any football club? They never offered to sponsor Man City.
ZANI – Talking about Oasis, you wrote a best seller on Oasis with Terry Christian. From my research, I understand that you wrote this book, because you had enough of press intrusions and the ex tour managers accounts of Oasis.
Paul Gallagher – Every one was writing a book, but no body was getting it right. None of them were accurate; I was there from day dot. I sold 60,000 books in less than a year.
ZANI – Do you still speak to your co-author Terry Christian?
Paul Gallagher – Nay, he’s an Utd fan, what do I want to speak to him for? He was there at the right time, that’s all.
ZANI – Got any more plans to do any more books?
Paul Gallagher –I have a concept for a novel or a screenplay about the Irish coming to England in late forties and early fifties set in a fictional northern town with a mad love affair, all based on real people’s experiences. But if I am going to do it, I better do it now, because most of the people are in their eighties, and they might be dead when I get round to it.
ZANI – I like the concept a lot .You also wrote for Sky Sports?
Paul Gallagher – Yeah I did, everyone wanted to write about football, but I wrote about the sports that no one wanted to write about.
ZANI – What did you write about?
Paul Gallagher – I used to write about boxing, I am mates with Colin Dunne, the boxer from Liverpool. I used to interview boxers; I interviewed Paul Ingle, before he got injured, Barry McGuigan, all of them. I used to do big write ups, no one would cover boxing at Sky. Sky Sports would have “such a fight”, but they would never do an in-depth interview, but I would.
ZANI – I admire your innovativeness.
Paul Gallagher – Boxing is the hardest sport in the world, one man against one man, life or death. Hats off to any boxer that gets in the ring, you have got to be crazy. Gotta to be up for it.
ZANI - I agree, with a football team, you’ve got your team mates to help you out.
Paul Gallagher – Even at a gig, you can get away with it, without going full pelt. But you can’t with boxing.
ZANI – Who’s your favourite boxer of all time?
Paul Gallagher – I used to like Barry McGuigan, because he brought Ireland together at the time, Sugar Ray Leonard. I also wrote about Athletics when I was at Sky, because no one else wrote about it.
ZANI – Are you into Athletics?
Paul Gallagher – No, I fucking hate it. Just because no one else would touch it
ZANI – So that was your approach, be different and not go with the flow.
Paul Gallagher – Yeah, no one will nick your stories either. I also wrote for Teletext, which was equally as boring. So I quit, went back into band management for a bit.
ZANI – Would you carry on with band management?
Paul Gallagher – No, I can’t be arsed with managing bands, I manage myself these days, it’s much easier.
ZANI – I understand you have an idea for a bus film in development.
Paul Gallagher – I thought it would a good idea, to take a huge van around Europe with TV Crew and a small generator, and do a Guerilla Festival. We will call it the smallest Festival in the world, so I did some research and found thirty-two foot mobile home with three beds, and seats on the top part of the mobile home. You could take the seats out and put your decks up there. Get a tidy stage set up outside, and get your guest performers, like your Doherty, Gary from Snow Patrol doing acoustic sets. We will pay for their flights, plot up at a European beach, and do our Guerilla Festival. Start off in France, end up in Russia, the smallest Festival in the world.
The film would be brilliant, ‘cos it would have loads of guests on it, you can blog it, and you can webcam it.
ZANI – I like it, a cross between Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters and Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday.
Paul Gallagher – Exactly.
ZANI – Going back to your DJ-ing, and Oasis, you were DJ-ing the night they split. Was it a JFK moment for the Brit Pop generation?
Paul Gallagher - JFK moment, like it.
ZANI – We were one of the first sites to break the news, Alan McGee called me at midnight to give an official statement, and I was crashed out on my bed after a few Peroni’s.
Paul Gallagher – Yeah, I read it. There was something going down, because I don’t usually go on tour as such with Oasis. But for the last week of that tour, I was with them. I joined them at Bridlington Spa in Yorkshire, and then I went to Birmingham with them, then a day off. The others went to the cinema, Liam and I went to the pub, went to City v Wolves game at home. The V festival in Staffordshire, then the Chelmsford leg was pulled, and then I met up again with Oasis for the Paris gig. But it did feel a bit strange. Liam turned up, him and Noel started having World War four, everyone seemed confused.
ZANI – Yeah, Madness had to do two sets to cover for them,
Paul Gallagher – I know, I was there, and it gave me the chance to give Suggs a big slap on the head when he was being interviewed.
ZANI – Why?
Paul Gallagher – ‘Cos he stitched me up many moons ago, but it was strange for Oasis to spilt up in Paris.
ZANI – Well it’s where Jim Morrison died and was buried.
Paul Gallagher – They should have held on a little while longer, because the tour ended in Milan, and Milan would have been perfect, because that is the biggest Oasis stronghold in Italy. But it wasn’t to be. A few music journalists were saying to me at the after show party “This is a fucking disgrace” and I said “Shut up, *****, you didn’t pay to get in”.
Even though the rest of Oasis had spilt, I played right to the end of the aftershow party, but the promoters held onto my payment up until to the very end, because they thought I would do a runner. Fuck off I am a professional
ZANI – What are Liam and Noel doing now?
Paul Gallagher – As we know Noel is doing acoustic stuff, and Liam is rehearsing with a new band,
ZANI – Will Liam’s new band be called Oasis?
Paul Gallagher- I don’t know, I don’t think so.
ZANI – Let’s talk about Liam's clothing company, Pretty Green. I heard that Paolo Maldini is a business partner with Liam.
Paul Gallagher – Yea, well.. I assumed Paolo Maldini had invested half a million Euros in Pretty Green, but this is no longer the case.
ZANI - Is it true that Pretty Green turned down an investment from Alessandro Del Piero?
Paul Gallagher – I think they met Del Piero but he didn’t come up with the money.
ZANI – But Del Piero is a massive Oasis fan.
Paul Gallagher - Yes, Del Piero is a massive Oasis fan, and he gave his world winning football boots to Liam and Noel. Liam got the right, and Noel got the left. Liam went to his favourite Italian restaurant in Henley , and gave the owner Del Piero’s boot, who happens to be a massive Juventus fan, but the owner was gutted ‘cos he only got one boot. Liam said you will have to see Noel for the other.
ZANI – That’s a bit ungrateful, that’s one more boot than all the other Italian restaurants in England.
Paul Gallagher – I know, there are a lot of footballers that love Oasis, but they can’t go because of the politics. Half of the Man Utd are into Oasis. Gary Neville, massive fan, you probably know this story as it was in the press, where he asked Noel to sign his thirty grand Gibson. Noel defaced it, wrote ‘Cunt’ all over it, and said “You are the worst ever player to play for England.”
Wayne Rooney’s girlfriend, Coleen Rooney got Wayne a guitar for his birthday, so she sent to Ignition, Noel’s management company and asked them to get Noel to sign. Noel got his mate to paint it in sky blue emulsion , wrote abuse all over it, and sent back to Rooney. So Rooney sent Noel a signed and framed photo of him scoring against Man City, Noel smashed it up and sent it back to him. It’s an ongoing saga, the Man City and Man Utd banter.
ZANI – Ha, that’s what you call banter.
Paul Gallagher – You got it.
ZANI – We spoke about new bands, are there any new bands that excite you?
Paul Gallagher – No, there aren’t any good bands out there, they all look good, they have got the attitude, but they haven’t got the songs. In saying that I do like Exit Calm from Barnsley,and also The Drums from the US of A, they have got quite a Beach Boys sound. There are loads of bands out that are rehearsing, but what the fuck are they writing.
ZANI – I don’t know, there are some good bands coming through
Paul Gallagher – But not a gang of Italian Ultras playing funk, and let’s hope not.
ZANI – You really don’t like that concept. So what motivates you?
Paul Gallagher – I listen to music twenty-four hours a day, so I am always looking for a song that I haven’t heard before. But I won’t find it with the new music that is coming out, ‘cos it’s all shit. So I go back to the the fifties, and sixties to find it.
ZANI – Rediscovering music so to speak.
Paul Gallagher – I wasn’t born in the fifties, I was born in the mid sixties. So there are at last fifteen years of missed music, and when you are growing up you are into a certain type of music, you dismiss other forms of music. So that is what I am going back to, and finding new treasures.
It certainly seems that Paul Gallagher is finding new treasures all the time. To say he has used the name Gallagher for his own success would be an insult to Paul. He has certainly utilized it to build his own name and widen his own prospects, which is no mean feat if your brothers are Liam and Noel. In fact, Paul is a highly strong minded individual, and like his brothers, he has acute understanding of the life in general.
From speaking to Paul Gallagher, you are enlightened as he bulldozes through subjects with great knowledge and charm. He is witty, smart, sharp and highly observant of the world around him. He certainly does not suffer fools gladly, and his zest for new projects is breathtaking and inspiring.
His career as a DJ, has taken him across Europe, but in a true sense of an adventurer, he is using the experience to learn more about the world, music and more importantly himself.
Whether Liam or Noel will ever speak again, that remains to be seen. But at this moment in time this Gallagher brother is a Gallagher in this own right; and with several new ventures in the pipeline perhaps the best is yet to come?
Words - © Matteo Sedazzari/ ZANI Ltd
Additional material – Tracey Wilmot
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