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Oasis – The Split
August 2009Alan McGee speaks exclusively to ZANI
ZANI – It’s just half past midnight and news is slowly slipping through about the Oasis split Alan McGee - It’s like the stones or something, it is probably because they have been through so much, they just thought they were never going to call it a day. But I think that the times we are living in, there seems to be a change in consciousness whether they feel it or not, whether it seems to be happening
To the individual is immaterial nobody does anything they don’t want to do anymore. And if they are doing it, they must feel pretty bad because the majority of people would rather do something out of love than for the money. That seems to be from everybody from a electrician to a rock 'n' roll star. There is a change of consciousness in the world, and things are falling away.
We are in a different era then in the nineties and eighties, with things that would have Oasis together, and this era that we are approaching that is a reawakening of the consciousness. At the end of the day, if no one is enjoying it, then you break the band up, and I don’t see that Oasis are any different from anybody else , if they are not getting on then they are going to pull the plug.
ZANI – Do you think Oasis went on longer then they should of done, or do you think they had a little bit more longevity?
Alan McGee – To be honest, I thought that Oasis should have been in the Mercury top ten records. I think Glasvegas should win it, I think their last album was their best since Morning Glory. I like "Be Here Now"
ZANI – I loved "You Know What I Mean" and in fact "Don’t Go Away" is in my opinion one of the greatest love songs ever written, up there with Fly by The Jam
Alan McGee - Amazing song, but it won’t surprise me if they don’t get together in five years time and another stadium tour, but there is going to be a big break now. When you see Noel doing the acoustic stuff a couple of years ago in Manchester, and 17,000 Mancs singing along to "Don’t Look Back In Anger", you can see what it is all about and Noel can personally see that he has that power. Liam has also has that power, and they can both do it on their own. It’s of the moment, you’ve got Oasis splitting up and Michael Jackson dying, you can see they are not connected, but they are part of these changing of the times.
ZANI – What do think Liam will do?
Alan McGee – I think they will both be massive stars, I really do, Liam will be Liam and Noel will be Noel. What you do think?
ZANI – I think Noel will work on collaborations, like he did with Goldie and The Chemical Brothers, and I think Liam will be reflective and perhaps travel , and just chill out for a while.
Alan McGee – Liam is really switched on , My friend was at the Rock-en- Seine festival near Paris tonight, and she called up and said that they had split up, and I said are you sure? Now it’s official because I have looked at their website. Personally I am gutted, because one of my favourite ever bands has gone. Is there an upside? Yes, it knocks the ball into the park for Glasvegas to go and become the biggest band in the world, because they are the true inheritors of the Oasis ' spirit, they are the only soulful band that have come out with soul and a spark since Oasis, the same way The Jam, The Smiths and Oasis had.
ZANI – Do you feel it was like a JFK moment when the news had been announced?
Alan McGee – Of course, we wouldn’t be doing an interview at 00.30 if I didn’t. It’s huge, like Michael Jackson dying. But I am glad I am doing this interview with ZANI.
ZANI – Thank you. Do you feel they were your baby because you nurtured them?
Alan McGee – You know I am not nostalgic, but their body of work is so good.
ZANI – Do you feel like you have lost a son?
Alan McGee – I am sad of course, but I am very understanding of it, because changes happen whether it is jobs or relationships, things happen. Things that are meant to come to an end, do.
ZANI - Do you think Liam and Noel will talk again?
Alan McGee – Not for a while, but they will , they love each other
ZANI – What song do you think sums up Oasis’ career as a whole?
Alan McGee – "You Know What I Mean"
ZANI – Thank you
© Words Matteo Sedazzari/ZANI Ltd
Additional material – trACEy Wilmot
