oasisblues

Beady Eye @ Ritz iz rite

2013-06-19T23:11:00.002+02:00

MANCHESTER - Not really like Noel's sad covers... THIS is Oasis. Gem said: “I’m sure a lot of fans would want to hear them. Hung In A Bad Place would be a good one live, as would The Meaning Of Soul. There’s even stuff like Liam’s Boy With The Blues that Oasis never played live which I think would work.” (yeah top tune!)
First official gig of the new tour, more to add soon.
setlist: Flick of the finger, Face the crowd, Millionaire, Four letter word, Soul love, Second bite of the apple, Iz rite, Shine a light, Rock'n'roll star, Don't brother me, I'm just saying, Morning glory, Soon come tomorrow, The roller, Start anew, Wigwam, Bring the light.

football song :). Meanwhile @ Confederations Cup, Japan-Italy 3-4: absurd penalty given against Italy, as the 2 penalties not given vs Mexico. Classic anti-Italian referees. Another goal by Balotelli and after Hernandez another Manchester United player, Kagawa

Beady Eye authors

2013-06-18T12:53:00.006+02:00

LONDON - Liam has become a good songwriter too... (he's a singer, Noel isn't... and a frontman, Noel isn't).

album BE:
Flick of the Finger (written by Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer, Andy Bell)
Soul Love (Gallagher)
Face the Crowd (Bell)
Second Bite of the Apple (Archer)
Soon Come Tomorrow (Bell)
Iz Rite (Archer)
I'm Just Saying (Bell)
Don't Brother Me Gallagher)
Shine a Light (Gallagher)
Ballroom Figured (Archer)
Start Anew (Gallagher)

Dreaming of Some Space (Gallagher, it's Start Anew reversed)
The World's Not Set in Stone (Gallagher)
Back After the Break (Archer)
Off at the Next Exit (Archer)
Girls in Uniform (Bell)
Evil Eye (Gallagher)

Different gear still speeding:

Four Letter Word (Bell)
Millionaire (Bell)
The Roller (Archer)
Beatles and Stones (Gallagher)
Wind Up Dream (Archer)
Bring the Light (Gallagher)
For Anyone (Gallagher)
Kill for a Dream (Bell)
Standing on the Edge of the Noise (Archer)
Wigwam (Gallagher)
Three Ring Circus (Archer)
The Beat Goes On (Bell)
The Morning Son (Gallagher)

Man of Misery (Gallagher)
World Outside My Room (Bell)

+ the great In the Bubble with a Bullet

and Two of a Kind

a classic from Noel's fans / haters: "Liam copied the Roller from Istant Karma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you're not John Lennon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

...stay calm, it's by Gem. And it's written "Instant". And your Noel said it's a "fucking number 1"... he loves copied songs...
His fans are really butthurt but I understand them, if I was a Noely fan I would die of jealousy looking at Beady Eye, a proper band.

Beady Eye number 1

2013-06-17T22:52:00.000+02:00

LONDON - (n.1 album also in Scotland). BE, the new album from Liam Gallagher’s post-Oasis outfit Beady Eye, has gone straight in at Number One on the Official Record Store Chart, click here.
BE was the most purchased album in the UK’s independent record stores last week.
Scottish electronic duo Boards Of Canada are new in at Number 2 with their fourth album, Tomorrow's Harvest, while heavy metal legends Black Sabbath (Ozzy Osbourne) enter at Number 3 with their 19th studio album, 13.
Last week’s chart toppers, Queens Of The Stone Age, fall three places to Number 4 with Like Clockwork, while Daft Punk complete this week’s Top 5 with Random Access Memories (Number 5).

In the Top 40: 11th Miles Kane, 15th Rod Stewart, David Bowie now 20th, Primal Scream 30th, Mumford & Sons 32nd, Stereophonics now 38th.

Beady Eye supercompilation

2013-06-17T22:51:00.000+02:00

superalbum

1. Off At The Next Exit 2. Evil Eye 3. Start Anew 4. Iz Rite 5. Soon Come Tomorrow 6. I’m Just Saying 7. Flick Of The Finger 8. In The Bubble With A Bullet 9. Morning Son 10. The Roller 11. The Beat Goes On 12. Kill For A Dream 13. Two Of A Kind 14. Four Letter Word 15. Bring The Light 16. The World’s Not Set In Stone (live)

Mariocanà, Mexico-Italy 1-2

2013-06-16T23:45:00.000+02:00

RIO DE JANEIRO - Goal by Mario Balotelli, always him, despite he was injured the days before the match vs the Olympic winners, nice game to watch.
Plus a great free kick by Pirlo, the Brazilian fans were supporting Italy and shouting his name just before he scored, in his 100th game for the national team.
Standing ovation for Mario @ legendary Maracana stadium.
Mexican goal on penalty by Chicharito Hernandez from Manchester United (there were also 2 clear penalties for Italy, not given).
Next one for the Confederations Cup: Italy vs Japan who lost 3-0 vs Brazil yesterday.

Liam's class @ The Voice

2013-06-15T23:05:00.000+02:00

great Liam's performance with Beady Eye @ The Voice. This is a breakthru for the band. Also, cool as fuck and a stage presence Noel will never have. The acoustics @ Jools Holland were not good, too low microphone (all the haters are referring to that show) so he had to shout like @ Noel's times, when the bastard was always keeping a too low volume compared to the instruments.
Still non-fans disliked their decision to perform there, when even Oasis were @ Top of the Pops, etc. it was about playing to millions of people

Noel would never do it

2013-06-15T02:37:00.000+02:00

LONDON - ahaha not only the video by Noel talking about the "5 year break" after the final Oasis gig in Milan, months before the split. Clicking here is one of proofs Noel Gallagher was planning the Oasis split.
“By the time we make another record we’ll be five years older.”

day: 21 APRIL 2009... 4 MONTHS BEFORE THE SPLIT

And Liam, click here, didn't want that. The new Noel fankids don't know these things.
You know well how it ended, Noel running away 2 days before that last gig (@ Milano Expo 2015 place), then blaming everyone (else), not himself of course, Pretty Green and all the people working behind Oasis, telling a thousand lies, etc. And now, "no Oasis reunion not even for starving children" and similar bullshit, when Oasis fans want the reunion.

"Funny" to see how the articles about Oasis (media darling Noel included) on tabloids didn't have so many insults from haters underneath them, or even no comments at all, and since they split, there's no article without loads of insults for Liam. He talked about it the other day, too much hate. Would love to see all those people insulting him, Beady Eye and the fans (even in an album ridiculous review), say the same things in front of us, not hidden behind a computer of their daily wank.
To the email readers: we have to do justice with this situation, not acceptable anymore.

Noisey Film

ahaha nice video...free gigs and (hours of) autographs, Noel would never do that...
Also, insulting his own fans because they want an autograph or they're fat, moaning about everything.

comments:

"Not a fan of Beady Eye at all but looking forward to this. I always find that a look into a bands world can change your view on them. One love"

"I´m up for this! so finally some idiots could realise how liam gallagher really is. He is the person that -against absolutely any opinion- is building a carreer by himself, preserves rock´s genre and the ONLY one who cares about his fans."

"Liam is a ledge. Noel is a lazy tight wad who just writes "Dad Rock" music that just makes me yawn. lol."

football news: after Mario Balotelli, another Noel's idol, Tevez, is finally joining AC Milan from Manchester City

Beady Eye @ HMV Glasgow

2013-06-13T23:59:00.000+02:00

GLASGOW - acoustic live, more to add soon.

Beatles cover

another interview with Andy

2013-06-13T14:09:00.000+02:00

SYDNEY - As anticipated. Beady Eye have returned with their new album, BE. The record sees Liam Gallagher and his ex-Oasis cohorts Gem Archer, Chris Sharrock and Andy Bell pursuing different sonic terrain to the swaggering rockers of their first outing. With the aid of TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek on production duties, their second outing is a spacier, more adventurous affair.
When I reach guitarist Andy Bell he is a laid back mood and in his softly-spoken Oxford accent talks passionately about how Dave Sitek helped Beady Eye find their new sound, learning the sitar and those ever-present Oasis reunion rumours.

On a scale of one to 10, how surreal was it to play the Olympic closing ceremony last year?

Oh, it was brilliant. It was a 10, without a doubt. It’s just something that, when you get the chance to do it, you’d be insane to turn it down. The experience of it was brilliant and it was a really, really funny day out as well. There was one bit where we were walking from our dressing room to the stage and the acts and crowds of extras that we were passing as we were going by was just like being inside some, I don’t know, Liberace’s acid trip or something. There were troops of Indian Maharajas riding elephants, then you’d have break-dancers and the Spice Girls would be passing. Basically all the bits and pieces from all the other acts were all milling around through these backstage areas as we walked through. It was a really insane but very enjoyable moment; even more so because I was miming so I didn’t have to do anything really. I just stood there and pretend to play guitar. Liam had to sing live though.

What was the recording process like for BE; how long did you spend in the studio?

We only had five weeks booked with Dave Sitek but we worked fast and we finished 18 songs. We did that in four weeks. In the last week we basically left Dave and his assistant to get on with what they were doing and we kind of chilled.
We recorded it in a studio in Richmond, about an hour from London, which is called State Of The Ark. It’s a private studio owned by a successful songwriter who wrote a lot of hits for Tina Turner and Cliff Richard. His name’s Terry Britten. [Ed: Britton was a member of Australian band The Twilights with Glenn Shorrock in the 1960s].He’s an interesting guy. Obviously he doesn’t have to work anymore, he’s got this studio and he just kind of potters around. He used to always bring in weird pedals for me to try out. Little prototypes of things. He’s working on a really cool idea for a stereo guitar where half the strings go through to half the amplifier and half go through to the other side. I’ve ordered one.

That must have appealed to the shoegazer in you?

Totally man. Anything that makes guitars sound weirder.

How does Beady Eye work in terms of song writing? So you, Gem and Liam work on the songs then bring them to one another or is it more collaborative?

It’s slowly changing but basically we bring them in. I’ll explain how it works and this has been the same for both albums. After the Oasis break-up, we were back in a room working on new music weeks after we’d split because that’s all we really knew how to do. We went straight into demoing mode because I think we were a bit unsure how to deal with it all. We hit on this formula where Liam would bring a song and we’d work on that for a week or so; this was in Gem’s home studio. We’d work on Liam’s song, finish everything that needs finishing with it, record a demo and then the next week we’d move on to mine or Gem’s and we’d go round in that same order. So you’re more or less bringing something in to polish up, that you’re ready to work on with the band.
That’s the formula we used on both albums but then we kind of changed it with this new one, slightly towards the end. We were just finishing up and we knew we had a set number of days with Dave left and Liam had a great burst of inspiration where he came out with three songs at once, which were Soul Love, Evil Eye and one more. We also hadn’t finished Flick Of The Finger, which was an instrumental demo that we had knocking about years before called Velvet Building, which had no words, no actual song or anything. It was just the riff with Liam singing over it. We really liked it and Liam suggested that me and Gem finish it off for him. So working on Flick Of The Finger was the first time that we’ve taken a song from that little start until completion. It was a true collaboration between the three of us.

The tracks on BE tend to have a bit more space to them as opposed to the full-on rock ‘n’ roll of the first album. Was it a case of using the studio more or messing with arrangements?

I’d credit that as probably the biggest contribution Dave Sitek [brought] to what we do. I think in the past, we’ve kind of seen records as places to just fill every corner with dense sound and it’s taken Dave to make us question that by saying , “How about having a section where almost nothing happens, almost nothing changes and you just have some time to think or just enjoy the moment?” When you take that thought and run with it then you get some of the moments on this album, which are really the best bits. The end of Don’t Brother Me, the end of Soul Love, some of the middle sections of songs kind of seem to open out. It’s quite freeing to realise you can do that. It was really good and I credit Dave for that, without a doubt. He brought that in.

Would you it be fair to say that, musically and lyrically, BE is a far more introverted record than Different Gear Still Speeding?

Yeah, definitely. Again, the production brings that out because it does feature the voice front and centre and some of those tunes that have the more introspective subject matter are now sonically way more interesting than they could have been. They’re the ones you’re drawn to. Like Don’t Brother Me, which was an acoustic tune originally and that became this cosmic epic. Conversely, as song like Ballroom Figured we had a band arrangement for that and it was brought down to guitar and voice which gave it that intimacy.

Is that you playing sitar at the end of Don’t Brother Me?

Yeah, it is. I bought one for the first album because we used it on Millionaire. In true Brian Jones fashion, I bought the thing in the morning and put the overdub on it about an hour later. I tuned it all to the right notes and then put it away for the next two years and then brought it out for this outro. One day I want to do the whole George Harrison thing and go to India and learn how to play it properly. It’s fairly hard with the sitar to tune it to the song you’re doing and pick out some notes that sound good but I’d like to be decent at it someday.

It seems like something people dedicate their lives to learning.

It’s amazing. I’ve seen films of Ravi [Shankar] teaching George to play it. I think the timing’s really important in Indian music. It’s always really odd counts per bar. There’s a formula that they have to learn so it’s kind of like remember a bank statement or something. It’s counting to five, then it’s counting to three, then it’s counting to seven. You’re basically playing music to a formula, a very complicated formula. When you do it right, it sounds great. If everyone’s doing the same thing; when you have a tabla layer playing at the same time, it’s really good.

Given that it’s only been four years since Oasis split, do you find the continuing press about a possible reunion detracts and distracts from what you’re doing now?

It doesn’t really bother me. All it really says to me is that people still care about Oasis in the same way that I do occasionally get asked about Ride as well; about whether we’ll reunite. To me, I kind of put it in the same category as things I would like to happen. I’ve got no problem doing it at all. If the Oasis thing came up, I’d be there like a shot but it’s something that relies on Noel and Liam. I don’t know if it’s likely to happen in this millennium really.

What about Ride then?

Similar deal really. Ride is more like something that’s on the backburner where all of us have said “Yeah, that’d be really nice to do one day”, but we’re all really busy. We’ve all got lots of things going on – music and other things. It’s something that I don’t wanna leave forever. I think right now I’ve got unfinished business to work out with Beady Eye and we have to get to a certain point before I’d consider taking a bit of time off from it. I just think it’s not that time right now. We’ve got a lot going on and we’re fully committed to it.

Is part of that unfinished business coming to Australia this time after not touring here on the first Beady Eye album?

We’re definitely going to Australia this time. I keep hearing conversations about it. We wanted to last time as well but we didn’t. This time we definitely are.

POST SCRIPTUM to the email readers:
no Tropical Pizza in Milan, postponed. I knew they were busy in Glasgow.
Videos of Beady Eye @ Pretty Green added.
Also, photos for previous posts

Beady Eye @ HMV & Pretty Green +videoS added

2013-06-12T23:29:00.000+02:00

MANCHESTER - HMV, where we bought the first Oasis cds in 1994 :)

High-fiving under-tens, posing for selfies with fans and giggling with bandmates... Sounds like a day in the life of The Wanted but nope, we're talking Liam Gallagher here, who showed his softer side at a meet and greet event at Manchester's HMV. The British rock icon is on a promotional tour for new album BE, which kicked off earlier this week with an intimate performance at London's Rough Trade East. Back on home soil last night, Gallagher seemed delighted as he met fans and appeared to be having more fun than he has in years, as he is seen laughing and joking with bandmates during the fan event.

Homecoming rock star Liam Gallagher hailed Manchester as the 'centre of the universe' as he and band Beady Eye launched their new album BE in the city.
The group headed to Manchester for a packed album signing event at HMV on Market Street to huge cheers from the crowd.

And the band’s biggest fans were rewarded for their loyalty – after queuing to meet their idols, a select group of 100 were then invited to party into the night with Liam and the band.
Liam threw open the doors of his designer clothes store Pretty Green on King Street for the exclusive bash and The Diary was there too.
As he headed to the gig he posted on his twitter: “On my way to Manchester centre of the universe.”
And as he entered Pretty Green there were chants of ‘Liam, Liam’ from the adoring masses.
He and band mates then delighted fans with an acoustic gig of tracks off the new album, which has been gaining rave reviews in the music world.
Rumours have been mounting that the band may comeback though, reuniting the warring Burnage brothers.
Needless to say Liam’s new track, Don’t Brother Me, said to be about Noel, was one of the more emotional of the exclusive gig.
There was also a cover of Beatles track Cry Baby Cry, while new track I’m Just Saying, was dedicated to Manc music icon Clint Boon who DJed at the album launch bash.
Liam finished the gig with a heartfelt thanks to the fans, saying: “Thank you for coming, if you bought the album thanks a lot, man, we really appreciate it.”
Fans won’t have to wait too long for Beady Eye’s return – they play an eagerly-anticipated gig at the Ritz.

ahaha nice video. Free gigs and (hours of) autographs, Noel Gallagher would never do that

more to add soon

Beady Eye funny interview

2013-06-12T23:28:00.000+02:00

LONDON - It would be exhausting to be the combative caricature that is "Liam Gallagher" 24 hours a day, so thankfully the frontman of Beady Eye doesn't even try. The more mellow figure GQ meets with his bandmates in John Henry studios in North London is in a cheery mood, whether discussing Shane Meadows' Made In Stone documentary ("It looks absolutely fucking biblical - especially my bit") or debating the merits of the new Daft Punk album (drummer Chris Sharrock says it sounds like "Steely Dan with the Smash potato men singing over the top of it"). Gallagher is particularly keen to share his admiration for Miles Kane, not only musically but also for choosing to make his own decisions on how much leopard skin is too much. "You can't be having stylists mate," says Gallagher with feeling "You can't look good all the time but when you do you want to take all the credit, not some knobhead called Giles." Inevitably, Gallagher's own sunglasses remain on throughout.

We are here to discuss BE, Beady Eye's new record that marks a quantum leap forward from the meat-and-potatoes rock of their 2011 debut Different Gear Still Speeding. Some credit will certainly go to Dave Sitek, the cosmic producer behind TV On The Radio, but some must also go to a band finally deciding to step out of the enormous shadow of Oasis. To mark the release this month, GQ sat down with the band - Gallagher and Sharrock joined by guitarists Gem Archer and Andy Bell - to discuss tour bus survival tactics, drinking with Jimmy Carr and why Gallagher doesn't believe in Yeezus.

What lyric are you most proud of writing on the new album?
Liam: "Ten years later /We'll still remember / Throwaway songs we learn today." We like all the lyrics, all the songs, man. If you'd pulled out one, you'd be a cunt.

Working titles for the album included Lay Off My Avocado Baby and Universal Gleam. Any others?
Gem: Flick Of the Finger was called Velvet Building for ages because Liam wanted the drumbeat to be like the Velvet Underground. I went "How?" He said "just building [up]... for four minutes." Now in our heads we think of it as this great big purple townhouse.

What did you argue with Be producer Dave Sitek about?
LG: We only had five weeks so I guess he wanted to make a list of songs and get out of there. But we were adamant that we wanted to record every demo that we had. You don't know until you've tried: a song could take a fucking mad turn. That was pretty much it - other than stop burning sage because we can't see anything!
G: Apparently there is a certain type of burnable sage but Andy reckons [Sitek] was basically burning condiments...

What's your karaoke song?
L: I've never done it man. If I did and I did it with the missus and it would be that tune, that Dolly Parton one with Kenny Rogers. Islands In the Stream? That's a fucking tune. I'd do that honest to God.
Andy: I'd do something like My Way. That would suit me. I'm thinking dignified, that's where I'm going with it. I'm not doing Agadoo.

What have you bought on tour you've regretted?
L: Cockin' hell. Drugs? I find it's more what you bring on tour that you regret. When you think, What have I brought that fucking stupid jacket for? You got to carry it about all year.
Chris: I bought a bit of the Berlin wall that was in a minibar for about £8.
G: You buy stuff, you put it in the cases and then about four months after the tour has finished, they give you some voodoo stick you've bought in Mexico.

What do you read in every interview that annoys you?
L: I guess it's the Oasis thing really - but you've got to answer it, haven't you, or else people think you're up your own arse? They keep asking about Oasis when we're trying to talk about this. But the minute you go, "We're not talking about Oasis", people just go "you knob."
G: I pointed it out gently on the phone to a guy recently. "You know that's five questions in a row about Oasis?" There was a real big long pause, he came up with something else and then he had his last question, "OK what would you say is the main difference between Liam and Noel?"

What's a Beady Eye Groupie like?
L: Hairy.
A: Lairy.
C: Scary.
G: And they make you wary.

What's your tour bus survival tip?
L: Keep an eye on the driver and talking to him as much as you can. Keep nudging 'em. We've had a couple of alcoholics and the odd crackhead. Some of the drivers go: "Hey, you guys are so nice man. You guys are always talking to me." Listen mate, I think you're a dick- I'm only talking to you to keep you awake.
G: We've ended up on the hard shoulder a few times haven't we? There are certain times when you're in Germany where you just hear "brrrRRRRRRRRRRrrr." You don't get back to sleep after that. And in America, they're allowed to drive for 20 hours. They have a cup they piss in.
A: So never accept a cup of coffee off the driver either…

What's been your worst experience at a festival?
A: Mine is Sweden. I took my daughter who is 14 to a gig as she lives there. She came on the tour bus to a really nice festival to see loads of really big bands like Primal Scream, Suede and the Prodigy. It was pouring with rain and there's basically no one there. There were only 30 people with umbrellas watching us. Wasn't impressive at all.
L: Next time she'll say "I'm alright Dad - I'm doing my homework."

Which band would you like to see reform?
A: The Kinks, as they were one of the few that haven't.
L: I'd like to see The Smiths. I never seen 'em - I weren't a big fan - but I know all the fucking songs because my brother was into them. I remember when they split up, man. People were proper running around like headless chickens in Manchester. They got a lot of tunes, man.

At GQ Men Of The Year, Jimmy Carr described Liam as "if John Lennon had been reincarnated with Tourettes". Liam then said something to him on stage that ruffled him. What was it?
L: Some kind of cryptic shit, I can't tell you mate. I like Jimmy Carr - I'm in touch with him actually. He's a dude. We were in this mad hotel in New York, The Bowery. It was 3am in the morning and he walks in with his suitcase. He was going to bed but we got him on the piss. We were well gone and then this mad blondie girl from New York has spotted us and walks in. She turns around and says to Jimmy, "What's with the Eighties flick man?" And he turns round to her and says, "What's with the fat arse?" [laughs]

Have you ever had sex to one of your own records?
L: Fuck that! Especially if I'm singing! Or our kid!
G: One has come on in the middle of an ipod and it's not a good feeling. You think, "Do I mention this or do I try and stop it?" Keeping going is not the right answer….
L: "One second… can you turn it up a bit? Can you rewind that?"

Have you ever cheated death?
A: I had a pretty severe allergic reaction on a jet plane. It was pretty heavy. That flight was very eventful: I got on the flight to Miami with the guys as we were off to South America on tour. The first little bite of my food something felt weird. I started swelling up, feeling very itchy, very weird, overheating, finding it hard to breathe. As it was getting to the stage where I thought I won't be able to breathe, I walked up to the toilets and started throwing up really heavily. Managed to get one of our security guys, Steve, to get my adrenalin out and stick it in my leg. Then I had the best three days of my life! The adrenalin is great, if you ever have to use it. It's good - it lasts for ages and when it wears off you think, "Oh, it's just the Epipen. I thought I'd reached a new level in fitness and health and life."

Describe your worst haircut.
L: Mine's probably the Jesus centre parting thing I had a few years ago. I look at it now and just think: "You dick." Felt good at the time though.
A: I had a quiff when I was about 16. I went for the Morrissey - that's bad news that. I always wanted really long hair - the full Neil From The Young Ones. And a beard. But I'm cursed with hair that only ever gets medium.
G: I went for the full Taxi Driver once: the full Travis Bickle. My mam made me eat upstairs until it grew back. Seriously, she thought I was a right troublemaker.
L: "Are you talking to me, Mam?"

Liam, is your jacket Pretty Green?
L: I'm not telling you who it is - I'm not giving them any fucking publicity!
G: I'm not telling you who this jacket is from as I bloody had to pay for it.
A: It's written on the buttons…
G: Anyway, it all works out man because some of my favourite sunglasses cost £7.
C: You know that ZZ Top record "Cheap Sunglasses" - it's about a hangover so bad you've got to go and get some.
G: I was speaking to someone the other day - the geezer who he works with wears £900 jeans. That's wrong isn't it? Jeans should be £60, maximum.
L: That is wrong. Levi's all the way man.

What do you make of Kanye West calling his album Yeezus?
L: I couldn't give a fuck what that fuckin clown gets up to. Have you seen when he bumped his head? He's coming out of the gym with that bird and there are geezers taking pictures. You have to put your head up and carry on walking. He's gone [mimes putting his head down] and walked straight into a fucking pole. You hear it go "dink" and him tell people to stop taking pictures. Put your head up so you know what you're doing! Smashed his head up: he's a fucking idiot. You'll never see Jesus banging his head.

Have you ever stolen anything?
G: Who hasn't? You know my picture of John Lennon that's by my piano in the basement…
L: Are you sure you want to say this? "Gem Archer: tea leaf." Could ruin your whole career…
G: I was in my old band and they were showing the Stones' rock and roll movie at the Astoria on the same night they were launching something to do with the Beatles on Savile row. That was the night I got up on the roof. We were in John Lennon's office in Apple. There were all these photos around. I knew the [PR] girl as she did something with the Boo Radleys, I pointed to one and said "That's great can I buy that? and said "Gem, just take it - no one will notice." I felt like one of the Rutles walking out. My Eric Idle moment!

What should no man have in his wardrobe?
L: Another naked man.
A: Clothing wise, definitely no silk socks, dungarees and waistcoats - I'm not a big fan of waistcoats.
G: Fuck I was going to bust one out! I heard a story that the Who's John Entwistle used to keep a proper skeleton in every wardrobe in his house.

What's the strangest place you've heard Beady Eye?
A: Hollyoaks. I'm a fan of Hollyoaks - normally just by day as the night one is a bit hardcore isn't it? Brings me out in a hot flush.

What's the strangest gift you've ever got from a fan?
G: I got a wreath once. It was in Spain. That was really dark.
L: The usual: crabs. [laughs] You know that's got to have been said a million times. Like Lemmy: get in there! I met him once on a plane. I thought, "I'm not going to drink on this flight, I'm going to wind my neck in. Can I get a water please?" Next minute a pair of cowboy boots get put down beside me. He looked at me and said "What the fuck are you doing drinking water?"
G:I was on that flight. All Lemmy got off the plane with was duty free and his cowboy boots.

Who do you see as your competition?
L: No-one. Us. Ourselves. We're not part of a scene. We're just doing our own thing. We want to be left alone so we can get on with it. It's not Noel, it's not Kasabian, it's no-one really.
A: Noel's carrying on the Oasis brand himself and hopefully we're ploughing our own path a bit more.
G: Me and Chris were saying we think we've earned our place over here to be left alone to do our thing.
A: But still come and see us and buy the record.

When were you last starstruck?
L: When I went in the toilet a minute ago and looked in the mirror.
A: I met Debbie Harry, that was pretty amazing. Had a photo with her.I got a peck on the cheek.

Can you recommend a good book?
G: Wonderland Avenue. I read it years ago. It's about LA when it was all kicking off with The Stooges and Jim Morrison. It's this young kid Danny Sugerman and he's seen as a good eye and a good ear. There are some funny bits in it man: Jim Morrison's dad chasing him around the pool trying to give him a crew cut.
A: If you like conspiracy theories Voodoo Histories by David Aaronovitch is a top book.
C: The Arthur Lowe biography: A Life That Led To Mainwaring.

What's the best thing you can cook?
L: I really can't cook man.
G: I'm getting into it. Apparently all the teenagers that my kids drag in reckon that my mash is the bollocks. The key is that you can't rush the mash. I shouldn't be giving you all my secrets but it depends on the potatoes: if you put cold milk in it makes it lumpy. Cut the potatoes small enough but not so small that they get watery when they're done.

What's the best advice you've ever received?
A: He didn't give it to me personally but Phil Spector's motto was, "Be good to rock'n'roll and rock'n'roll will be good to you."
L: I've got one like that. John Lennon: "Everything will be OK in the end. And if it ain't ok, then it ain't the end."

What do you fear you'll be remembered for?
L: Not cooking. Any regrets? Not really no. It was all meant to be no matter what you do.
A: Nothing. I don't think made much of an impression on the world yet. Not that I really wanted to be remembered anyway but in the end…
G and C: [croons] I did it MMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYY WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

another recent Q & A

Beady Eye 3rd album

2013-06-12T23:27:00.000+02:00

LONDON - In an interview with Faster Louder, former Oasis bassist Andy Bell revealed that Australian dates are on the cards after skipping us on their 2011 tour. "We’re definitely going to Australia this time, I keep hearing conversations about it," he said "We wanted to last time as well but we didn’t. This time we definitely are.”
Noel would say: "Australians only hope is cricket. Fuck off, cricket players!"

There will be a Beady Eye 3rd album, all the haters (some Noel's fans too) just accept it and fuck off, assholes.
In our rap era, rock'n'roll is fresh air.

from Clash:
will the bands next album be even bigger, better and stranger then the current one?

Liam: Yeah, I guess so. Who fuckin' knows, man? The door is definitely open. With this album we've definitely gone to a new dimension - whether it's the right one, time will tell and that, but I like it. The gloves are off now - we can definitely do some weird shit, man.

what about the initial ideas for BE?

We demoed all the songs that are on this album, and they were good; we could have gone in and made it like that and it would have been stuck in that '60s kinda rut - but I like that kind of thing. So it would have still been good, but I guess it would have been Different Gear Still Speeding Part Two, you know what I mean? We're always up for a bit of change - we're always up for doing something different - but until it's in front of your face and your ears, it's hard to tell what you want to do. So with [previous producer] Dave Sardy, Scott, our new manager, he said, Look, you don't want to go in with the normal producer, you've got to go with someone who's a little bit out of your comfort zone. I went, Cool. Let's fuckin' check it out.
The first day I met Dave Sitek was in the studio. I liked abit of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs - I've never really heard much about his band [Tv on the Radio] - and then he just started fuckin' playing us what he'd done to [the demo of] 'lick Of The Finger. I thought, Fuckin' yes - it had a dark and menacing edge to it that we didn't have. And then when he got Soul Love out, he'd started putting all these atmospherics on it and cosmic fuckin' shit - ambient stuff that we wouldn't normally do. So that's when we thought, Yeah, this is it, man.

How do you think your own song writing has progressed since your initial forays with Oasis?

Yeah, it's getting better, man. I mean, it's like anything: if you keep practicing... You'll never master the art of song writing, and I don't want to. I'd say I'm a part-time songwriter -I can sing anyone's songs, you know what I mean? But yeah, I'm obviously getting a little bit better. I'm not much of a wordsmith. I tend to go with the first thing that comes down; I just write it and hopefully it has a bit of a root to it. Sometimes it means absolute jack shit and then you listen back to it... Like with Don't Brother Me; you go, Oh, right - I didn't intentionally go out and write a song about our kid, you know what I mean? It just happened.

It's a cleverly passive/ aggressive song.

Yeah. It's not that malicious, you know what I mean? There are a couple of little [digs] in there. Like, he's going on about if he had a gun and all this shit, and it's like, Did you shoot your gun? But there's nothing! malicious, man. It could be a lot worse.

But you've got to be prepared for people asking you about it?

Yeah man, without a doubt. I wouldn't have put it out unless... If| people ask me a question, they're always gonna get a fuckin' honest answer. But I don't care anyway; he's been writing songs about me all his fuckin' life.

Do you prefer to air your feelings in your music rather than keep them private?

Yeah, but he knows my feelings. Everyone knows my feelings, I'm not shy with that. I love our kid - as in the Noel that's not in a band and not in the music business and not all that bullshit that people see he is. But the band Noel? The fuckin' geezer that's in the band? I fuckin' absolutely fuckin' despise [him]. And I guess he feels the same way. But if you speak to him, he'll probably go: Yeah, I know; I hate both the cunts.

But yeah, I love our kid when he's not surrounded by the bullshit.

How do you define what a Beady Eye song is?

A Beady Eye song has got to have attitude, it's got to have a great melody, great chords - you've got to be able to play it on acoustic, you know what I mean? That's how I measure a good song: if vou can fuckin' sit there and strum it on the acoustic guitar in your house to your dogs and it still sounds good, then that's the sound of a good song. Then once you put all the other shit on it, then obviously it gets better, I guess.

Andy: At the beginning of the demo session we were like, Let's direct ourselves at a cross between [George Harrison's] Wonderwall Music soundtrack and All Things Must Pass. We had a sort of orchestral Simon And Garfunkel epicness.

Gem: Yeah, Liam was banging on about Simon and Garfunkel a lot, but what we actually wanted from the lyrics and the melodies was just real strong songs, man. Emotion, directness, vulnerability, hope, broken hearts, paranoia; the usual kind of adult emotions that you pick up.

A: With the first album we would have been saying, Right, we need rock 'n' roll. It needs to be lairy, lean and mean. We don't want to have any indulgent bits on it - not too many guitar solos - we just want it to be arranged to play the fuck out of live. So that was the message there. The message now was more like a bit of headspace. Dave saw that in the tunes and he brought a whole lot of ambience to it as well that we wouldn't have got near without him. Dave added the ambience, the chaos, the invention, the questioning - we questioned every tune on the day. We came out with an amazing record that at times is space rock, other times is ambient, at times it is like Hawkwind, and at other times it's like Oasis or Beady Eye's first album; it kind of runs through the whole spectrum.

About the mindset between going into the new album from their debut:
G: With [the debut] we wanted to play some rock 'n' roll and it was just about getting moving after the band had split - if we'd have left it too long we would have probably got the fear. Now this one sounds like our considered opinion.

A: We were just frantic coming out of Oasis and we just wanted to get moving, and we had a bunch of tunes that we were already ready to do and wanted to build a live set, because we didn't want to do Oasis tunes straight away - we wanted to be Beady Eye and start off and make that an entity of its own. So making the album, you hear it: you can feel that franticness in it, you can feel the fact we are almost reeling a little bit. But these are not necessarily bad things, you know?

were you restricted with what you could do musically in Oasis? since you've been Beady Eye, is there more room to experiment?

A: Yeah. I guess it's all in our hands; it's a smaller concern and it's not so important what we do in the big picture of life and the universe, so we're allowed to just do what we want and are just getting on with having fun with it in our little corner of the world. It doesn't really feel like the world of music is waiting to hear it so we're just kind of getting on with it, and then maybe it will catch fire".

There were a lot of songs demoed. How many did you originally have, and what happened to them all?

A: Well, at the end of our demos we had twenty-one things but they weren't all songs. One of them was just sort of noises...

G: That was the thing that kind of hooked [Dave]. We sent him five songs and he went, 'These are really strong, have you got any more?' So we thought we should send him the lot, because you should be open. And in amongst that there was a thereemin solo and he went, 'Right, you guys' songs are really strong - do you want to go there?' We went, 'Absolutely', and he went, 'Perfect!' Because he didn't know if we were going to be precious and uptight or 'this is how it is', you know? That was it. And then we attempted to record them all in five weeks.

A: That was the only battle, really, being up against it with the time in the studio. Dave was trying to get the number of songs down to cut his workload down but we just wouldn't let him do it. Towards the end of every week he just kind of said, 'You know guys, over the weekend can you have a little think about the priorities?' And we would be like, 'Yup'.

G: Until the fourth week in and he was like, 'Can you guys make a fucking list?!' And we thought, We've only got one more weekend to put him off and we will have done the lot!'

A: We came out with eighteen.

G: Second Bite Of The Apple was the last song to be recorded. Initially it was Liam going, 'Fuck it, we're doing the lot, man, because you never know.' And that's the point of working with a producer: the possibilities are there, everything is up for grabs, and you just don't know until you get your hands dirty.

L: It was a good song, but if we hadn't have kept at doing it, it wouldn't have turned out like that. You've got to give every song a chance, because shit can happen. You can bring it in dressed like summat, and it can come out dressed like summat else.

So it surprises you as much as it does anyone else?

L: Yeah. The first idea might not be the best idea - it might be your third or your fourth. And we're up for that, man, we've always been up for that. In Oasis it wasn't so much - it was pretty much: 'This is if, boom, 'That's it', and that's what we do. But with Beady Eye, the world is our oyster, man. We can do what the fuck we want, because we're all for going with the flow, you know what I mean?

(Clash Magazine, their review rating for the album: 8/10)

jobs: exorcist needed

2013-06-12T21:35:00.002+02:00

MANCHESTER - Yesterday in Manchester, "top nipple" ahaha

Will you Noel blinded fans finally come out of his old ass or should we call an exorcist?!?!?! (needed for all the haters too)
Label: jobs ahaha "esci da questo culo...!" ahahaha
"Noel Gallagher is a genious" (be precise: godlike genius award WITHOUT people voting). I can't understand that word 'cause I'm a foreign person so I looked for it on the dictionary:
"It is often the case that idiots describe someone as 'genious' but are ironically ignorant to the fact that the word is spelt 'genius' - much to the amusement of us intelligent people."
"Like, woah, yeah man, he's like, such a genious, dude!"
"Well, he's retarded..."

Here's one of my anticipatiiiions: Beady Eye will tour, and that's normal, then Noel will not publish a new album, and that's nothing new (nothing new even if he's publishing an album... he just has to find some other old stuff from old sessions), then in 2015 BE will not publish another album, as they never really had a break since 2009, between tours and studio (and there is still the Longest Cocktail Party film thing to do, with Pretty Green clothes and maybe Beady Eye music), so there could be that famous Oasis reunion for some shows, as Noel planned it in a video some months before the split (the fans memory sucks), the "5 year break after the Milan gig"... you cheeky bastard.

3 other (very) positive reviews, and they're 12 now (at least those we've found)

recensioni

Niente nudo, siamo inglesi. La copertina di Be, il nuovo album dei Beady Eye, il gruppo dell'ex voce degli Oasis, Liam Gallagher, uscito ieri in tutto il mondo e arriva nei negozi britannici in versione censurata. La donna seminuda in copertina, una foto davvero casta, scattata dal famoso fotografo Harry Peccinotti, famoso per i suoi calendari Pirelli degli anni Sessanta, è stata ritenuta troppo scandalosa ed è stata coperta con un adesivo. «Ma non è una cosa porno», si è difeso Liam, e ha ragione. Di fronte a questo disco dei Beady Eye non si scandalizzeranno nemmeno i fan degli Oasis, quelli che boicottano il gruppo di Liam nella speranza che torni insieme al fratello maggiore Noel e riformi la band di Don't look back in anger. Difficile una reunion dei due fratelli-coltelli di fronte a un disco così bello, addirittura migliore delle ultime prove degli Oasis. Il piccolo Gallagher, infatti, insieme a Gem Archer, Andy Bell e Chris Sharrock nel corso degli ultimi due anni hanno lavorato a questo robusto album rock, dopo l'uscita del loro esordio nel 2011 e lo scioglimento degli Oasis nel 2009. Quest'anno, a completare i Beady Eye, si è aggiunto Jay Mehler, ex membro dei Kasabian, come bassista. Ma il vero asso nella manica è il produttore Dave Sitek, già negli strepitosi TV On The Radio e responsabile del suono indie-rock-blues degli Yeah Yeah Yeahs. «Lavorare con Sitek ha mosso qualcosa in noi», ha detto Liam, mai così a fuoco, come cantante. «È senza dubbio il miglior produttore con cui abbia mai lavorato. Abbiamo trovato nuova concentrazione, mentre scrivevamo l'album. Ci siamo immersi nel lavoro con lucidità, a differenza degli anni '90 (una frecciata agli Oasis, ndr)». Gli fa eco Sitek: «Questo è un disco davvero cool. La forza dei pezzi è così potente che abbiamo davvero potuto sperimentare a 360°. Le capacità vocali di Liam sono incredibili: tutto quello che devi fare è accendere il microfono e suona già come sul disco; non c'è bisogno di nient'altro». Per una volta le dichiarazioni entusiaste dei musicisti coinvolti sono sincere: BE è una vera bomba, con l'iniziale Flick of the finger, pesante come un brano dei Velvet Underground arrangiato con i fiati della Stax; seguito da una canzone insinuante come Soul love, tra i Beatles di Sgt. Pepper e un gruppo indie-rock, con suoni ammalianti e un groove eccellente. Con Face the crowd si torna ai Faces e agli Who, ma è con Second bite of the apple (scelto come primo singolo) che si torna all'avanguardia pop-rock con un brano che davvero mostra l'evoluzione della band di Liam. E sono così tante le canzoni riuscite di Be che bisognerebbe citare l'intera scaletta.

Liam Gallagher torna in sella con i suoi Beady Eye, e stavolta la sensazione è quella dell’ultima chance. Dopo l’esordio positivo ma troppo monotono di Different Gear Still Speeding i nostri affidano tutte le loro speranze a questo secondo disco in uscita, prodotto da Dave Sitek, la mente dietro band contemporanee di successo come i TV on the Radio e Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Il produttore americano ha sposato la causa del gruppo del minore dei fratelli Gallagher con estrema serietà e ha plasmato la maggior parte dei pezzi, rendendoli più atmosferici (la band ama sottolineare il concetto di “spaziali”) e caldi, salvandoli da una produzione di nuovo povera di idee originali.
BE suona come un disco acustico passato attraverso una sonda N.A.S.A., con pezzi dalle melodie basilari e semplici ma condite di latenze spazio-temporali. Flick Of The Finger è un pugno in pieno stomaco, un pezzo degno di un action-movie targato Bruce Lee degli anni ’70, con fiati pomposi e gong a tutto spiano, mentre la voce di Liam sembra più decisa che mai (per tutto l’album si noterà la quasi totale assenza di riverberi e delays alla sua voce, quasi come prova di forza contro i suoi detrattori). Soul Love è un western acusticizzato, dove la batteria ipnotica e acustiche ridondanti la fanno da padrone, un pezzo melanconico con una scìa malinconica e…spaziale (è il caso di dirlo, ascoltare per credere).
Face The Crowd è un pezzo tirato che mischia Kinks e Doors del primo periodo, con piani elettrici e chitarre dai toni altissimi e aspri, un pezzo di respiro di “casa” per i nostri. Il primo singolo è Second Bite of the Apple, un brano modificato in modo massiccio da Sitek, con una intro a la Zombies (Time Of the Season), per poi aprirsi in distorsioni e fiati accompagnati da una chitarra Wah dal sapore Hendrixiano. Soon Come Tomorrow ripercorre le atmosfere di Soul Love, con echi pinkfloydiani e con chitarre riverberate che fanno da tappeto.
Iz Rite è il pezzo più “oasisiano” del disco, riporta alla mente All In The Mind, presente nel quinto album da studio degli Oasis, Heathen Chemistry.I’m Just Saying è un’altro pezzo movimentato (un po' pochini all’interno del disco), spensierato e chitarroso (i coretti “numerati” finali potevano essere risparmiati…) [ma che cazzo dici...]. Don’t Brother Me era il pezzo più atteso dai fan dei fratelli Gallagher, un testo chiaramente scritto per il fratello maggiore dei Gallagher, quel Noel che ha scalato la classifica con il suo esordio discografico da solista con gli High Flyin’ Birds appena un anno fa [ha scalato la classifica britannica, dove è un media darling... disco totalmente americano con chiaro obiettivo gli USA, che è arrivato 28°]. Frasi come “in the morning I’ll be calling/ come on now, give peace a chance/take my hand, be a man” lasciano intendere da parte Liam una voglia di riappacificarsi. Per il resto l’outro finale del brano è tutta da gustare, ovviamente super-spaziale (sic!).
Shine a Light è un esperimento poco riuscito di ritmica e non lascia il segno, così come Ballroom Figured, ennesimo pezzo acustico stile Travis, che questo lavoro lo sanno fare bene e meglio. Start Anew è una giusta chiusura del disco, una ballata beatlesiana di stampo lennoniano che non sfigurerebbe come prossimo singolone spacca-radio, c’è da scommetterci.
In definitiva il matrimonio Beady Eye-Sitek ha funzionato più che bene, un maggiore spazio al produttore avrebbe reso questo disco da buono a ottimo, ora non resta che aspettare il prossimo album di Noel [seeeeee campa cavallo... deve trovare qualche pezzo vecchio di 10 anni da altre sessioni, scritto con Gem...], in attesa della reunion Oasis prevista per il ventennale di (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, fra due anni.

SEGNI PARTICOLARI: secondo prova sulla lunga distanza per i 4/5 dei componenti degli Oasis che hanno scelto di vivere una carriera artistica propria, indipendentemente dagli umori di Noel Gallagher.
INGREDIENTI: il Sitek from Tv On The Radio, una presenza forse più spirituale che tangibile nei solchi del disco, non è un nome buttato a caso. I Beady Eye grazie ad alcuni, saggi, consigli del produttore fanno dei modesti ma precisi passi avanti verso un sound meno improvvisato e/o imperniato sulla reiterazione di accordi e ritornelli privi di soluzione di continuità tipici del precedente Different Gear Still Speeding. Il disco, per quanto non sconvolgente, alla fine è un semplice brit-rock come forse non se ne fa più (sarà questo un decisivo punto a favore?), spruzzato di qualche acidità atta a rendere accattivante il riascolto. La forma canzone è eterogenea, si spazia dalla cavalcata condita di ottoni, fino alle fulminanti scariche rock da arena, passando per il caro vecchio asso nella manica di casa Gallagher: l’acustico.
DENSITÀ DI QUALITÀ: fondamentalmente, la differenza con il primo disco dei Beady Eye e con quello di Noel G. è che questo ha un numero maggiori di buoni pezzi rapportati sul totale. E’ paradossale, ma verosimile, che facendo ascoltare questo disco ed il primo di Noel in versione strumentale ad ignari ascoltatori, almeno 3 su 5 direbbero che quello più accostabile alla produzione Oasis sia questo [sarà mica perchè i veri Oasis sono i Beady Eye eh... 4/5]. Forse non tanto psichedelico e a tratti rabbioso come Dig Out Your Soul (2008), ma senza dubbio in grado di giocarsela quanto meno ad armi pari con tutto ciò che gli Oasis hanno fatto dal 2000 in poi. Perché? Beh, perché liberi dal trauma della separazione e dall'urgenza di scrivere al più presto dei pezzi per un disco (il primo), il talento compositivo del trio Gallagher-Bell-Archer mostra buona parte di quello che è un potenziale senza dubbio destinato a crescere. Emblema di questo assunto è il pezzo di apertura e quello finale: Flick Of The Finger, scritto a tre mani, è forse il brano più avvincente e originale dell’intero repertorio e il semi-acustico Start Anew (che segue un altro acustico di categoria superiore, Ballroom Figured) riporta alla mente, grazie ad un lavoro insolitamente sobrio di Liam alla voce, le magie di piccole gemme quali Married With Children. Il pregio maggiore del disco è nella limpidezza delle idee (Iz Rite colpisce subito e Soul Love dona quella sensazione di sospensione agro-dolce che non tutti si sarebbero aspettati dalla penna di Liam) e nel non crollare quando arrivano gli inevitabili passaggi a vuoto: Don’t Brother Me non è male ma il canto è fuori luogo, Shine A Light ha un bell'incedere, quasi alla Primal Scream, ma un chorus che appesantisce troppo il risultato finale, I'm Just Saying ha dei backing vocals grossolani e un testo ancora peggio. Di certo non si può diventare John Lennon a 40 anni, ma è ovvio che l’applicazione, la passione e la voglia di non licenziare un disco solo come movente per un tour fanno la loro parte nella riuscita di un LP più che dignitoso. Un consiglio: recuperate i pezzi extra delle varie versioni del disco che girano.
VELOCITÀ: si vola e si plana.
IL TESTO: "Shovin' our lovin' away, Leaving our light on the side Never once looking to say,"We got the ride of our lives", da Ballroom Figured.

BE 9th positive review

2013-06-12T04:14:00.000+02:00

LONDON - Between the Beatles and the Beach Boys (hated by jealous Noel...too many hits), no more the fucking Osmonds ahaha (they censored the nipple in Italy too, with the sticker).

Another positive review:

Liam has put the middle finger up at his many critics, Gallagher is back to his best.
Liam Gallagher and his Beady Eye boys are back with the follow up to their debut album Different Gear Still Speeding with new album BE, and its certainly proved Liam has still got it.

Teaming up with producer Dave Sitek seemed a little bit of a gamble at first, but with his input adding some punch and shaking Beady Eye’s sound up, its certainly been a gamble worth taking.
The album is certainly no Oasis album as everyone secretly hopes, although Gallagher said it never would be, album opener Flick Of The Finger opens your ears as you get that thought after the opening 30 seconds that you are ready to hear a top album. Moving into the next single Soul Love see’s Gallagher firmly in his comfort zone, acoustic Brit-pop at its finest and Gallagher’s songwriting improving from a mediocre first album, lyrics such as “life is short, don’t be shy, spread your wings and learn to fly” from Soul Love prove that.
The album is something that might even make you want to sit back and get your feet tickled by the NME… maybe that’s just Gallagher, apart from that awful lyric on Second Bite Of The Apple [song by Gem, responsible for co-writing Noel Gallagher's solo album], the album provides a mostly acoustic Brit-pop record with obvious Oasis feelings, but also an album that punches in places with the more in your face tracks such as Face The Crowd.
Don’t Brother Me is a 7 and a half minute song seemingly a tribute to his long lost estranged brother with the repeated lyric ‘give peace a chance’. Moving to I’m Just Saying, the track is one of the best on the album, the band really excelling themselves, seemingly finding exactly how they want Beady Eye to sound.
Gallagher will probably never have the lyrical talent of his brother, nor will Beady Eye ever be Oasis, but this is him getting back to his best; with Dave Sitek on board with the production, its certainly an album that won’t be written off like their debut.

rating: 4 stars out of 5

BE is about change

2013-06-11T22:42:00.000+02:00

LONDON - Summer's here and the time is right...
The band's new record BE came out (thanks for the birthday gift) and producer Dave Sitek is excited to see the reaction it gets.
In a voice over on a video teaser, he says: ''This will go out into the world, and our work is done, and that's our primary responsibility. And the gift that we get from doing something like this is the present. Like, when we press play.
''That's the highest gift anyone can have, it's like ''woah, fuck'', we made something happen. I mean, life is about growth, it's about change.''

It's a studio footage, demonstrating some of the process behind, featuring Beady Eye hard at work.

Singer Liam Gallagher has been particularly vocal in championing Dave - who has previously produced albums for Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Jane's Addiction - for helping push the band in a new direction.

He previously said: "He's the best producer I've ever worked with, ever. His eyes are wide open, he's got no fear. We feel like a fucking new band. He's out there, man. To me, he's a fucking outlaw. He's got no fear, man, and he's right up for ripping everything into pieces and experimenting."

The new album features a rejuvenated group, one who have benefited from an outfit voice. Renowned producer Sitek stood over proceedings, helping to allow the band to find their feet.

Taking chances, BE - as Clash editor Simon Harper puts it - "finds them listening to instincts, indulging creative impulses, and elevating ambitions beyond the restrictions of blue-collar rock ‘n’ roll."

(their review rating for the album: 8/10)

bootleg @ Abbey Road

2013-06-11T15:11:00.001+02:00

LONDON - Click here to download this Beady Eye acoustic live

Beady Eye @ Rough Trade East

2013-06-10T23:59:00.000+02:00

LONDON - acoustic live. When the acoustic performance was backed with pre-recorded instruments (courtesy of Dave Sitek) fans given a tantalising glimpse of how big some of the new tracks will sound when performed in a stadium setting - instead of a small record store.

more to add soon

"mistakes" on Beady interviews

2013-06-10T23:58:00.000+02:00

LONDON - 4 "MISTAKES" (let's call them mistakes) in this interview... other results of Noel being a media darling...

"Cheeky bastard." Liam Gallagher is glowering – I think so, anyway – behind his stay-put Ray-Bans. But who is the subject of his ire this time? Is it traitorous brother Noel? Is it Mumford & Sons, this mouth-almighty's current favourite whipping boys ("Looks like they've got fucking nits and eat lentil soup")? It it, perhaps, Sir Alex Ferguson, who, on the day of our meeting in a north London rehearsal facility, has announced his triumphant retirement as manager of Manchester United, enemies of Liam's cherished City? Or is Liam addressing me?
The answer: none of the above. Right now, Liam's goat is got by a sweet.

"It was a fucking blue M&M," tuts Beady Eye's frontman, and readers should presume from hereon that every other utterance out of the Gallagher gob contains a "fuck", "fucking" or "fucker". Or, rather, via a Manc accent undimmed by 20 years 'avin' it in London, a "fook", "fooking" or "fooker".

"I was out," continues this stoutly, proudly unreconstructed rock star, "had a peanut M&M, the next thing I know, me mouth went weird. Felt like I'd been stung. Go to the toilet to have some hot water – and my mouth had swelled up, breathing got all weird, head went… Went to the doctor and they gave me a blood test and they said, 'Peanut allergy.' Never had that, mate," Liam grumps in his staccato, blunt-weapon speaking style. "Got to go back this week [to see] if there's anything else, but it's proper pickled my head for over a week. So I've got a prescription for the needles. Not good, man."

Head-pickling upset aside, Liam Gallagher is today in great and fighting form. He should be 'n' all. The 40-year-old is in the happy thick of rehearsals for the first shows in support of the second album by Beady Eye, the band formed by the rump of Oasis left after Noel exited stage-right-angry in August 2009. (The reasons proffered by the elder Gallagher, in a peanutshell: one argument too many with his brother.)
Titled with quasi-cosmic simplicity BE (see what they did there?), it's a cracker. No, really. Following the meat'n'potatoes stodge of their hastily recorded debut Different Gear Still Speeding, Beady Eyes's follow-up is an entirely tastier proposition.
Gallagher and his bandmates Andy Bell and Gem Archer have together written an album of songs that fly with sky-scraping electronic adventurism, rootle around with poppy psychedelia, and generally have a right old ding-dong with the four-square trad-rock that bogged down the past decade or so of the principals' musical day jobs.

Liam's voice vibrates with close-mic intimacy and bristles with ragged glory. In particular Flick of the Finger and Second Bite of the Apple, the first songs released from the album, explode with a vigour not heard round these parts since… well, since (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. And that came out 18 years ago.

"I've always dreamed of using the studio in a free way," states Bell, the guitarist who joined Oasis on bass in 1999, "and this was freedom. And the key to that was Dave," he adds of the London recording sessions produced by Dave Sitek, the out-there American who plays guitar in the band TV on the Radio and who has previously worked his wayward studio magic for Scarlett Johansson and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
"He came in and just put the key in that door and opened it wide," adds Bell. "But what he brought to it worked because we came in like a crack commando team with 21 songs that we'd rehearsed like bastards for ages."
To the thumpingly pragmatic Liam, Sitek could be a little too out-there, however. "We'd have to sort of go, 'Earth to Dave, get back to making some noise'."
"There's a lot of people out there who maybe we could have or should have worked with," adds Archer, the guitarist who joined Oasis shortly before Bell. "But this is where we're at. And the idea of throwing Dave into the situation may have been a disaster – or glorious."
There are, then, ebullience and forward-looking good vibes in the room when I talk, first to Liam, and then to Archer and Bell together. But there is, of course, a ghost at the table. Someone who will always haunt Liam Gallagher…

Liam, what if Dave Sitek had produced Be Here Now (Oasis's huge-selling but cocaine-clouded and much-maligned third album). Would that have worked?

Yeah. It would have, definitely. Why not?

Was adventurousness lacking in Oasis?

Without a doubt.

Why? Did size take over?

Maybe. I don't know, mate. There was always a bit of stiffness about Oasis that pissed me right off. It was a bit like, 'No, we're not doing it that way. We're doing it this way.' It's like, come on man, we're better than that. That's not having a pop at Noel, that's the way it was.

You describe BE song Don't Brother Me ('Sick of all your lying, your scheming and your crying…') as containing 'a diss… but it's not a hatred song'. Has Noel heard it?

Don't speak to him, so I don't know. Sure, he's been fishing about for it… but I don't think he cares. But who knows? I don't know where Our Kid's head is at the moment. You see him and he looks like he's had a make-over, doesn't he?

Did The Death of You and Me (as featured on Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' self-titled debut) bother you?

Not one bit. The title's good, though – when I first heard it I thought, 'You cheeky…' But that's life, innit? Don't Brother Me is not a dig – it's not slagging. There's a lot of love in there.

It's not a character assassination?

No, I'll leave that to this [points to tape recorder]. I don't need to do it through music. Once I've got everything off my chest and people get it, then I'll be quiet. There are still a few things that, with Our Kid, people have just got blinkers on about…

Like what?

He wanted the band split up. End of. And he was planning it for years. Cos I heard it, him and his manager [Marcus Russell, Oasis's manager, who quit as Beady Eye's manager during their last tour; he still manages Noel], I heard them planning it backstage at Bridlington Spa [the week before Noel left the band]. There was just bullshit going around. He'd been trying to get his little solo thing for ages.

[once again, I remember a video months before the split, where Noel said after the final gig in Milan there would have been a "5 year break", he was clearly planning it]

Did he have some of the tunes already written?

Without a doubt. Loads of 'em. We recorded loads for the last [Oasis] album and he whipped 'em off – he went, 'Oh no, we're gonna keep that back.' I can't remember which ones but there was a few [on High Flying Birds]. He's just a sneaky little… I was hard work to work with, cos, whatever… But you don't just wake up in the morning and go, 'Oh, this is all a bit too rock'n'roll for me now.' That's what we built our career on, what you on about? So, yeah, once I've got everything off me chest – which I'm coming to a point [of doing] – I'll crack on and shut me mouth. But he is a conniving little bastard. He's always wanted to be a solo star. It was always in his head. He loved his little moment in the spotlight when he did his little thing [in the middle of Oasis sets]

Why didn't he come out and split the band earlier?

Cos he's a shitbag. He sacked Bonehead [Paul Arthurs, original Oasis bass player, pushed out in 1999], he sacked Guigsy [bass player Paul McGuigan, also out the door in 1999], he sacked Whitey [drummer Alan White, out on his ear as of 2004]. Next thing is, 'Oh, I'm gonna get rid of the fucking singer… Well, I'm not gonna get rid of him cos he's gonna knock me clean out. So what do I do? I just… conjure shit up.' That's in my head anyway.

Gem Archer was out socially with Noel Gallagher the other week [first time in 4 years]. They went to see a band, Temples. They've maintained a friendship [not really] in the teeth of the brothers' mutual hostility. Bell, too, retains "enormous love and respect" [a bit ironic ahaha] for the man who led Oasis from their formation in 1991 [another MISTAKE... Noel didn't lead Oasis from their formation, he joined later]. Both guitarists miss Noel, and would love to see a fraternal reunion. What about an Oasis reunion? "I'm not hanging on for it," says Bell. "If it happened, I'd damn well enjoy it," nods Archer. "But if it didn't, I wouldn't be gutted." Liam, meanwhile, insists he doesn't miss Noel – not as a musical foil, not even as a brother. "I don't miss all the bullshit."

[Gem even accused Noel to use the songs they co-wrote at Oasis times during the 2001 and 2004 sessions, for his solo album.
Noel often said to the press he maintained friendships with the Oasis members to focus the problem on Liam, but they never saw him... just one of his thousand lies.]

Do your kids miss him as an uncle, Liam?

Never really knew him, mate. I don't know his kids either.

Would you recommend life in a band to your sons (Lennon, aged 13, and Gene, 11)?

Without a doubt. I'd recommend it to anyone. It's the best gig in the world, man. Gene is up in his room drumming every day. Oh, mate, he loves it. Lennon does guitar lessons in school, and fancies himself as a bit of a singer.

Does he have your vocal skills?

I don't know, mate. His life's a bit easier than mine – he's got to wait for something to piss him off. I've still got the arse. And that's what comes out in the voice.

Where did your teenage anger come from?

Fuck knows, man. But I can do both – I can sing beautiful at home, but when it comes to guitars and live, when you're in a rock'n'roll band, you've got to be belting it out. I just sing every song like it's the last time I'm ever gonna sing it.

What music do your boys like?

Lennon's a massive Who fan. It's got nothing to do with me, he's just obsessed with Quadrophenia.

No Justin Bieber?

No. They have their moments, though – a lot of their mates are into Rizzle Kicks, shit like that.

What if Gene comes in and says, 'Dad, I love Mumford & Sons'?

Right, well, you've got to let kids do what they gotta do. Obviously I'd have a laugh and go, 'Fuck that!' But Mumford & Sons write some good songs, man. They just look like gyppos.

Are they a good choice for a Glastonbury headline slot?

Is that where they're playing? Headlining? About time. They've done well, man.

What about the Rolling Stones?

Never seen them, ever. Am I interested? Not at £500 a pop. Tried to get on the guest list [for the O2], couldn't. I was not having it. Fuck that, mate, it's not rock'n'roll paying all that money for a ticket. I wouldn't pay £500 to see anyone.

Right now, Beady Eye are in training for a tour that all concerned hope will be a long one. Liam Gallagher is even up for having another crack at America – "Yep, but with the right stab," he qualifies, "without getting caught up in licking arse" – even though his antics (missing planes, spitting on stage) helped sabotage Oasis's attempts at "breaking" the US.

[other MISTAKE... 4 albums were top 5 in the Usa, sold out gigs in record times for a British band, etc. it was Noel saying they didn't break the Usa, one of his strategies to promote his album...The one failing to break the US was Noel, with his totally American album, 28th in their chart]

At the studio, Bell and Archer have been putting new bass player Jay Mehler, formerly of Kasabian, through his paces (Oasis's final drummer Chris Sharrock completes the line-up), and working out how to translate the imaginative textures of BE into a live show. The core trio ring with the raring-to-go enthusiasm of a band who have, rather against the odds, proved themselves.

Liam has been working on his match fitness by maintaining his near-daily running routine: one hour, 6am to 7am, Hampstead Heath, before heading home to make breakfast and do the school run. Interspersed, it must be noted, with the occasional appearance of the traditional Liam dust-up: some argy-bargy with actor Idris Elba after February's NME Awards and, the following month, being ejected from Crouch End pub The Queens for drunkenness – twice in one week. [4th MISTAKE - the people working at the pub denied].

He is, in vintage Liam Gallagher style, living it large in every corner of his life. But now, at last, he's once again punting music that's equally entertaining.

Given Beady Eye's dietary requirements (Bell is also allergic to nuts), have you been giving your rider the once over?

It's just the usual: vodka, tequila. I like tequila – there's no hangover. After a gig I can drink a whole bottle on me jack. Then at 12 o'clock the next day, I'm on it again. It's red wine and Guinness that make you feel crap the next day.

Do you still do drugs?

Every now and again, mate. Don't want to be going on about it. Not as much as I used to. It's shit, isn't it – there's no good stuff out there. I will when a new batch comes in. But it takes me three days to recover. I try not to anyway. A good night for me is going out and coming home pissed, and knowing I haven't touched the gear.
(seems more like journalists still do drugs)

Will Beady Eye still be touring this time next year?

It's [down to] whether people dig BE. I've got a feeling that a lot of people are just like, 'Fuck off, whatever.' They're just not into it. They just want Oasis back together.

Do you want Oasis back together?

No.

Never?

No. Not yet. But I don't think about it, man. I want Beady Eye to be successful so we don't have to go down that road ever again. But if… you know… we'll see how it goes.

difference between Oasis & Beady Eye : 20%

2013-06-10T23:57:00.000+02:00

LONDON - They keep ASKING him about the Oasis reunion...

The last great rock‘n’roll star in Britain is in the room. And he is – to borrow a phrase – ’aving it.
Bounding up the stairs of a rehearsal studio opposite HMP Pentonville in north London, Liam Gallagher is all barely suppressed energy – pulling at a cigarette, his finger jabbing, jaw jutting and piercing blue eyes unwavering.
Now 40, Liam is at once exactly as you’d expect, yet also not what you’d expect at all. Yes, he’s every inch the mad-for-it Mancunian force of nature, whose face – that belligerent jaw, those menacing eyes, that much-copied (never bettered) hair – came to dominate the culture of a whole generation. The swagger is still untouchable, the aggression still perfectly channelled. He owns the space around him. Nineteen years after Oasis’ debut album Definitely Maybe definitively changed Britain’s musical landscape forever, Liam remains a complete one-off.
Watching his post-Oasis band Beady Eye rehearsing songs from their new album, BE, is to see a group fully immersed in their own power, with a singer at least as committed as he ever was. Though they’re effectively playing to an audience of one, the intensity doesn’t drop for a second. Liam still approaches the microphone like he’s going to physically assault it, still spits out every syllable of every lyric like his life depends upon it.
And yet – he’s also polite, funny and smarter than he gets credit for. Charming, even. Later, at the MF photo shoot, he’s all handshakes and backslaps and “fuckin’ nice one”s to everyone from the editor to the boy who delivered the bacon butties.
While the rest of the band – guitarists Andy Bell and Gem Archer and new bassist Jay Mehler, freshly joined from Kasabian (drummer Chris Sharrock is absent today) – are reserved, chatting among themselves, content to fade into the background, Liam works the room.
“Oi, Mr Fabulous!” he shouts. “You smoke, or what? You want a cigarette?”
Mr MF, Liam. Technically this is MF magazine. Fabulous is for the ladies.
“Yeah, but ‘Mr MF’ sounds shit. Mr Fabulous – that’s a fuckin’ name, man. Mr Fuckin’ Fabulous. That’s who you are.”
We’re not quite sure if he means it or he’s taking the mickey. Which is Liam all over.
Gem and Andy are well-used to this, of course. Before Beady Eye, they were both members of Oasis, along with drummer Chris (“What’s the difference between Oasis and Beady Eye?” asks Andy. “About 20 per cent, I’d say.”). But it’s telling that after the spectacular implosion of that band in 2009, it was Liam they followed, and not his older brother, Noel, 46.
Beady Eye were born from the ashes of Oasis and if their first album, 2011’s Different Gear Still Speeding, sounded like it, this time around there’s a different feeling in the air. The band are more relaxed: in the post-Noel era, songwriting duties are shared between Liam, Andy and Gem, and they’re happy to admit they prefer it that way.
“When something works,” says Gem, “it works because we all make it work. And when it doesn’t work, we keep at it until it does.”
There’s another advantage to having a personality like Liam in the band, of course.
“We get the best of both worlds,” says Andy. “One night, we could be playing an arena in front of thousands, then the next day I’ll walk into HMV and nobody will recognise me...”
“Unless it was an HMV next to the arena, maybe,” chips in Gem.
“Or I was hanging out by the ‘O’ section. Which of course I do. A lot,” Andy replies.
Nevertheless, the spectre of Noel hangs over everything Beady Eye do. You can’t help thinking, no matter what they say, Big Brother is watching.

So, Liam, how are things different for you now?

All our songs are our songs. There’s no one telling me what to do. And nothing on the album that I don’t like.

Does that mean there were Oasis songs you didn’t like?

Well, I was just sort of given those Oasis songs and told to sing them, and mostly I’d go: “Yeah, all right, it’s a good song.” There might be some bits where you’re not sure and you say: “You know what, I don’t know about that bit there...” But all that happens then is you just get the fucking Hitler tut. You’re like: “That bit there, what about taking that out?” and it’s just: “You, fuck off and sing it.” But then, that’s life. We did all right with that formula so, I can’t complain, right? I guess after Oasis there was a part of us that thought: “Right, fuck that, he’s left, they all think we’re gonna go work in fucking Sainsbury’s.” But the truth is, we just wanted to keep rocking.

And what did you think of the Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds album?

I haven’t listened to it. I’ve heard what’s been on the radio and some of it’s all right. I didn’t like that What A Life! tune, that’s just ridiculous. I don’t know what the fuck he was on. I’m glad that he wrote that on his solo album. I don’t think I could have borne that at a fucking Oasis gig, fucking hell. Would it sound better if I was singing it? That song would sound shit, full stop. I wouldn’t go near it. Some of the others would have sounded great though. The Death of You And Me, Everybody’s On The Run – I’d have nailed them all, man.

Has there been any reconciliation?

I see Noel at Manchester City matches every now and then, but that’s it. We’re not speaking. I don’t really see his kids [Anais, 13, Donovan, 5, Sonny, 2], he doesn’t see mine [Molly, 15, Lennon, 13, Gene, 11] that much, either. My mum’s not happy, but that’s life, know what I mean? We don’t get on, we’re two different people. It is what it is. It’s not the fucking Brady Bunch.

But if there were to be an Oasis reunion, you’d have to start talking again at some point, right? And there’s no doubting the public appetite for it...

Yeah, I can go with that. We shouldn’t have split up in the first place. We should have weathered the storm, know what I mean? And that’s why I think Noel just wanted out. We’d had bigger arguments about bigger things and carried on, but I think Noel had done his time. I think he’d stumbled on a batch of songs that he thought were amazing and he wanted to do it all himself. That’s basically it in a nutshell. He’ll sit there and say: “Oh, this was thrust upon me and we’re all in it together, I didn’t want to be a frontman...” Bollocks. You always did, mate. He wanted to be a frontman for a long time. He auditioned to be a frontman for the Inspiral Carpets [in 1989]. So if you’ve got that bug, it doesn’t go away, know what I mean? He just didn’t have the balls to sack me.

“I would reform Oasis,” he says, speaking, as he does about everything, with absolute, unshakeable conviction. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not desperate to. But if it was right, I’d do it. I’d do it for nothing, I’d do it for the music.”
Pause. Eye contact. Drag on the cigarette. Matter-of-fact finger point.
“I don’t think we’d get another album out. I don’t think I could work with Our Kid again – I don’t think he’d work with me again.
But to do a tour for an anniversary thing, I’m up for that. I’d do a tour, I’d be up for the tour. Why fucking not, man? But afterwards, I’d definitely go back to Beady Eye cos I’m all about chilling and harmony right now.”
And breathe.

So if not the High Flying Birds, what have you been listening to? Daft Punk?

Fuck that. Nothing. I don’t listen to any music at the moment. I don’t need music to inspire me. I’m inspired by life, know what I mean? If you’re living life, you’re inspired. Anyway, there’s nothing good out there, man. Oh, I’ll tell you what I like – that Bruno Mars song. The ballad-y one [When I Was Your Man]. That’s a fucking good song, that.

Really? You’ll be confessing to a secret love of One Direction next!

Well at least Harry Styles is having a good time, right? And that’s part and parcel of it. You want your rock ‘n’ roll stars to have a good time. When I see Harry out and about having it I think: “Go on, lad.” The music’s shit, but at least he’s living it. It’s equally important as writing a good song. If you write a good song and you’re just a stiff and a square then you can just fuck off in my book.

Excuse us for saying so, but that doesn’t sound like a grown-up, responsible 40-year-old father of three speaking...

Listen, 40 is the new 13 as far as I’m concerned. What is a grown-up anyway? If it means becoming a fucking square, then not a chance. Rock ’n’ roll stars never grow up and if they do they’ve been fucking faking it, man. You’ve got to have some fun. You’ve got to live your life to make the music interesting. You’ve got to get up to some mad fucking scrapes. You gotta experience things.

The latest “mad scrape” reportedly involved being ejected from a London pub for drunkenly attempting to, ahem, ride a dog.

Fuck man, I dunno where they got that from. I was at a pub and we’re having a drink and I don’t remember much about a dog. People say to me: “Liam, you’re pissed,” and I’m like: “Yeah, that’s what you do, when you have a drink.” And at some point, if you have too many, it starts getting hold of you and you start getting a bit wheeyyyy... But where’s the dog, man? Show me the fucking dog. But I like the story. It’s a funny story. There’s been a few recently. What was that one about the gardens? The Garden Centre? What’s it fucking called? The Chelsea Garden Show? Chelsea Flower Show, that’s it. The story was that I’d applied for tickets and I was gonna fucking go there and fucking have it cos I love... flowers. Apparently. Obviously someone’s taken acid before writing that one. I don’t get upset, man. They can say what they want, as long as it’s not malicious. It’s all part of the game, I let them get on with it. I know what I’ve got to do. I’ve got to sing great songs and write great music. I’ve got a role to look fucking cool. And that’s exactly as I want it. I’m not doing it for anyone else, I’m doing it for me. I’m a fucking rock ‘n’ roll star – it’s my duty. And that’s how I like it.

With the second Beady Eye record released this week, is it fair to say you’re excited about music again?

I always get excited about a record, me. I love being in a band, that’s my gig, that’s what I do, that’s what I live for. But this is different – it’s something we’ve never done before, either in Beady Eye or Oasis. We’ve gone through a door with this record. Know what I mean? We’ve gone through the fucking door and we’ve fucking stayed for lunch. We’ve not gone: “Oh I’ll have a bit of that,” and then fucked off. We’re like: “Fucking hell, it’s nice in here, innit?” We’ve hung about for lunch. Maybe the next album we’ll stay and have dinner too, know what I mean?

Another round of handshakes, backslaps and exhortations to “stay fucking fabulous”...

“Once you’re in, you’re in, man,” he says, referring to the rock ‘n’ roll game. “You can’t give up. Never. Once you’re in, you’re fucking in for good.”

BE 8th positive review

2013-06-10T11:18:00.002+02:00

NEW YORK - Another positive review.
The obvious thing about Beady Eye’s new working partner is that he has not been afraid to tip the sound of the band on its head. Flick of the Finger is the obvious album highlight as Sitek’s motto must have been “No Beatles Allowed”. It has the swagger that would expect from a Liam Gallagher vocal but the atmospheric production and the liberal dose of horns throughout make it clear, this is not Oasis.
Follow up track Soul Love only proves the point further. Built around drummers Chris Sharrock languid beat, it resists the temptation to bring in the histrionics that you would expect from a bunch of rock dogs instead the final 2 minutes are a sonic soundscape you would more likely find on a Brian Eno album that only enhances the meditative mood of the song.
This makes track three, Face the Crowd even more effective as the band revert to their usual rock form and even though the songs is nothing new for them, and the James Bond-like strings are almost a copy of string they used on Millionaire from their debut album. It makes an effect opening three-song combo for the band.
The biggest surprise of this set is the fact there really isn’t anything you would consider bad. Sitek for all his efforts cannot completely beat the English rock roosts of this band and nor should he. The band strength is the fact they know how to play a good rock song. Why completely abandon that. Missteps are more the course as songs like Iz Rite with it’s aping of John Lennon and Soon Come Tomorrow which is unremarkable in its plainness.
There is still a lot to like about the rest of the album. The jaunty beat of I’m Just Saying, the reimagining of the Bo Diddley beat in Shine a Light, the trashy glam styling of Second Bite of the Apple are all enjoyable listens. The one thing you take away from all of these is that they could have been made all the better with some judicious editing. It’s all good and fine to let the band stretch their legs when presenting songs but a producers job is to make sure each songs is as good as it can be. No more is this evident than on Don’t Brother Me.
You don’t have to be a genius to know what this is about and who it’s directed at. Liam is not shy (as if he’s ever been) and he’s in full barbed glory when he’s singing "Don't bother me when you're done / Sick of all your lying, skimming and you crying / They say that I'm free but I'm one / I'm always in the sun, did you number one?"
However, he morphs into a conciliatory tone with "In the morning, I’ll be calling / Hoping you’ll understand / All or nothing, I’ll keep pushing / C’mon now give peace a chance / Take my hand, be a man".
Problem is what you have above is almost the entire lyrics for the song and it clocks in at over 7 minutes long. You could gut 4 ½ minutes out of this thing and gave us a properly great track instead you have something that meanders and is repetitive to the point of distraction. The same can be said for the two last tracks which are just there and unremarkable at best. You could have easily have left both these off and subbed in two tracks from the deluxe edition release of this album.
Most notably I would have included The World is Not Set in Stone with it apocalyptic feel and Girls in Uniform which is a dream marriage of Paul McCartney whimsy, Ray Davies narrative and a nice helping of fun. BE would have been stronger for it.

(should be added: the amazing Off At The Next Exit)

I like this album and it’s definitely step away from what you would expect Beady Eye to sound like. Dave Sitek expanded the bands sound and let them have their way with the songs. While this has resulted in some sterling songs and moments, this set could have used a fresh set of ears and power of veto or at least edit down some of the more experimental moments. When Beady Eye get it right, you will be rewarded just be prepared a wade through some flat spots to get to the good stuff. Recommended.

Final Score: 7.5 [ between Good and Very Good ]

Beady should play stadiums

2013-06-09T22:29:00.004+02:00

LONDON - Photo: Beady Eye in Japan.

They should play @ stadia again, but Liam doesn't need that, he makes music because he loves it, not for money as someone else, called Noel Gallagher... moaning about everything, even his own fans.

Another positive review:
The cover of Beady Eye's second album, a soft-focus picture of a sleeping woman, is more Last Shadow Puppets than Oasis: deliberately so, for this is a subtle, rather beautiful record that takes Liam Gallagher's quintet light years on from the lumpen stomp of his old group.
The first two tracks are lousy but from the lithe, Clash-like rock of Face In The Crowd onwards, Beady Eye enthralls.
Second Bite Of The Apple is a complex, soulful shuffle, arguably the most Lennon-esque piece Gallagher has recorded, Soon Come Tomorrow a truly great pop tune with phased guitar, I'm Just Saying an exercise in sheer exuberance with a counted-off refrain that will be echoing around a stadium near you soon.
There's a message, of course, to Gallagher N: a musing seven-minute appeal for peace with his brother, all the more affecting because he clearly doesn't need him musically any more.

vote: 4/5

Man City €40m interest in El Shaarawy

2013-06-09T12:03:00.001+02:00

MILAN - Happy birthday to me ;)

Buy the new album by Beady Eye tomorrow when the shops are open.

Italian main newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport (one of Inter Milan sponsors... so it could be just to disturb) claims AC Milan are considering a €40 million (£34m) Manchester City offer for Italian star Stephan El Shaarawy, while Chelsea want Kevin-Prince Boateng. Some say "Elsha" was already sold last January in an agreement when Balotelli joined Milan.
The front page suggested the Italian giants would be prepared to part with their 20-year-old forward.
Until now the club has turned down several bids for ‘The Little Pharaoh,’ who cost them approximately €15.5m (£13m) to sign from Genoa.
He was Serie A top scorer during the first half of the season, then hit a dry patch once Mario Balotelli arrived, but still managing 16 goals in 37 games.
El Shaarawy had also been linked with Arsenal and Manchester United, but La Gazzetta dello Sport maintains Milan are finally prepared to release him.

Noel Gallagher: fuck United, Arsenal and Wenger's socialist football.

He isn’t the only player reportedly heading to the Premier League, as there are also claims Jose Mourinho wants Boateng at Chelsea.
Robinho is waiting for offers from Brazil, while 36-year-old captain Massimo Ambrosini is increasingly likely to join West Ham United for the twilight years of his career.

Noel Gallagher: justice will be done with West Ham relegated.

Other rumours say City could add Tevez but the problem is his too high wages.

Beady Eye @ McClusky's

2013-06-08T01:56:00.000+02:00

KINGSTON (London) - intimate acoustic live.

already singalongs

makes you want to attend gigs

any other band with crowd surfers @ intimate acoustic gigs? ahahaha

more to add soon
Banquet Records Instore

interview with Andy

2013-06-08T01:55:00.001+02:00

DUBLIN - Beady Eye have just returned with their second album, Be, and it’s a record that may make their detractors re-evaluate Liam Gallagher’s post-Oasis band. Alan Corr talks to Beady Eye guitarist Andy Bell about giving the sixties a good monstering, Liam, Noel and working with producer Dave Sitek.

Andy Bell, well-spoken Oxford gent and hip young-ish guitar slinger, first encountered Oasis during his time with Hurricane #1 in the mid-90s. The former Ride guitarist clicked with the Gallagher brothers and while his own fortunes waned, he was said to enjoy partying with the then hell-raising Mancs.
After Hurricane #1, a band who owed a serious debut to Oasis, blew out, Bell had a brief spell with the much-maligned Gay Dad before he and Gem Archer were invited to join the Gallaghers after the departure of Oasis founding members, Bonehead and Guigsy [Liam formed the band too, and also gave the name "Oasis"]. Bell spent ten years in their ranks, enjoying premier league rock band success for the first time and stoically enduring the ups but mostly downs of Liam and Noel’s relationship.
When the brothers eventually fell out for good after a very ugly stand-off in Paris in 2009, Bell decided to take part in Liam’s plans for a post-Oasis comeback. Apparently Noel hasn’t spoken to Bell since. Now Beady Eye have released their second album Be on which Bell has written three songs. And guess what? They’re the best songs on the album. [it depends on your taste, also Gem and Liam wrote good ones]

Is it true that when producer Dave Sitek met Beady Eye first he told you were stuck in 1969?

Andy Bell: “Well he didn’t say it in so many words but we were thinking the same thing ourselves. We knew we were in a bit of a sixties vibe and I think we always will be but we’re also open to that being enhanced or changed. What we did with Dave was very complimentary to our fallback style. I still think the new album is very sixties and I can hear all that in there. I don’t think our musical style got changed. I think it got broadened.”

If not 1969, the spirit of ’68 informs at least one song on the album – Flick of the Finger which samples a speech by at an anti-Vietnam War rally in London

“Absolutely right. That speech is from a sample we used on a demo and it’s from a television programme about 1968. There is not much of that sense of revolution these days. It’s definitely there in the world but not necessarily in our soap opera and X Factor society. it’s definitely not in music anyway. Bobby Gillespie said recently that there was no rebellion in music right now and I was thinking well Flick The Finger is out now and that’s at least one song with a bit of rebellion in it. I think people like us and Primal Scream there’s anger in our music in the rock `n’ roll we do and that comes from a counterculture legacy. It comes very naturally to me and with Bob, it’s more in his lyrics and his interviews. In terms of other bands doing that, I’m sure there are lots of them but I don’t see many.”

You’ve written three songs on Be. In terms of the division of labour, I know there were rumblings from Noel when you were Oasis about song writing but it seems there’s a very democratic set-up when it comes to writing in Beady Eye

“There is. When we’re demoing songs, we rotate though Liam, Gem and myself. We’ll bring a song in that maybe needs a bit of work and make the demo. Every song gets a lot of love and we help each other. It really does show that in some bands teamwork is the way. No one in the band would claim to be a complete song writer in the way that Noel Gallagher obviously is, he’s the whole package. In our band, it’s between the three of us. None of us can deliver everything on our own and we know that.”

So compared to Noel’s Angry Birds, you really want to have a united front as a band

“It’s the reality. It is a band. It’s as simple as that. We’ve been playing together for years, just in two different bands so that I think does come through. Me, Gem and Chris have a beautiful sound together which really works especially live. For our tour, we have a keyboard player called Matt Jones, but we’re being joined by Jay Mehler from Kasabian as a bass player and he’s bringing in something new too.”

One of your songs, Soon Come Tomorrow, initially sounds like a pretty conventional rock song but there are some very interesting things going on underneath it all

“I know, it’s crazy. That’s the one where I have no idea what is going on with it, what’s going on with the atmospheric s. We recorded our version and then Dave started whipping up this atmospheric soup around it and it really suits the tune, it lifts it and puts you in a certain headspace which fits the lyrics. He did a great job but I couldn’t tell you what he did with it. He uses an early synthesiser for strings called a solina which was a fake orchestra keyboard thing that was out in the late seventies.”

The cover art for Be is shockingly retro – a beautiful girl in profile lying down bathed in the kind of sunlight that only existed in 1974. She is also naked. Are you worried that some American retailers might take a dim view of this?

"I think the use of a well-placed sticker will cover up any offending areas and when people get home they’ll pull the sticker off and be confronted with the full horror of a human body. We thought we were being quite risqué but nobody seems to have batted an eyelid. The sticker thing has just solved it without it becoming an issue and even in Japan they’ve released it.”

Have there been any concerns about Liam’s voice? After years of well, cigarettes and alcohol and singing with Oasis and Beady Eye, is it showing signs of wear?

“There has been no concern whatsoever about Liam’s voice. Liam’s got an amazing voice. In fact, on this album we wanted to take away the effects we had been using so the voice is a lot more bare and intimate and it’s double-tracked so much, so it’s in the room with you feeling and that suits the introspective tunes on the album. Lots of singers’ voices get tired on tour and Liam really belts it out so he gets tired. He can’t do three gigs on the bounce and that’s one of the things we have to observe on tour. His voice is not shot in any way – he is singing beautifully and I’ll tell you what, check out the session we did in Abbey Road for Absolute Radio. It’s Liam singing unadorned and he sings like a little lark.”

[also check out the session @ Oui Fm radio]

The reviews for Be in the British media have been uniformly three out of five. Do you think journalists constantly hedge their bets when it comes to Beady Eye?

“Yeah. I’m just pleased that the reviews are generally positive but I don’t expect to get the gushing ten out of ten type things. This band has a lot of baggage and I think that’s probably the main reason. I think the album is great, if only I was reviewing it! The media may not be fans. It doesn’t bother me as long as we connect with our audience and I think this time more than the last that’s happening. I have a feeling that people we are reaching out to our there.”

Even though it’s four years since Oasis split, even now the battle lines are being redrawn between Noel and Liam. How hard is that to rise above?

“It’s a weird one. Liam said it pretty well the other day. His favourite band is The Stone Roses and they’re one of my favourite bands too and when they broke up, nobody felt the temptation to take sides. Bands break up and it’s a natural thing especially after 10, 12, 15 years together. All I can really do is take it as a compliment and take it as love for Oasis’ music.”

[well about Oasis it's a bit different, we have one, called Noel, telling a thousand lies... it's easier to take sides... and after all it was Noel building sides, putting everybody and everything on one side, himself the great hero on the other one]

And is Liam - in the words of Noel - still a man with a fork in a world of soup?

“I think he found a spoon.”

[here Noel sounds like an old man with a spoon in a world of spaghetti... he wants to play the diva, the superstar interested in money, the great man who doesn't need anyone when he clearly needs, sounding pathetic]

BE 4th+5th positive reviews

2013-06-08T01:54:00.000+02:00

DUBLIN - Other positive reviews.
In the lead up to this release, Beady Eye’s Liam Gallagher made yet another bold claim.
BE, he said, was the album Oasis should’ve made after (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
But for once, there’s a little truth behind the bravado.
That’s because on BE, Beady Eye (aka Oasis without the elder Gallagher) does something Oasis never really did – experiment.
To expand their horizons for the follow up to 2011′s Different Gear Still Speeding, Beady Eye teamed up with TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek. He proves to be an inspired choice.
Of all the tracks here, it’s Flick Of The Finger that best showcases Beady Eye Mk II.
The album opener is an optimistic call to arms and hopefully a signpost of things to come. It features an aggressive horn section, eerie synths and the key lyric, “the future gets written today”.
Further along, the Liam-penned Don’t Brother Me could’ve been an olive branch to Noel if it weren’t for a few snarky one-liners.
“Always in The Sun, with your number one,” Liam snarls before adding, “sick of all your lying, scheming and your crying”.
But later he seems keen to bury the hatchet. “In the morning, I’ll be calling and hoping you’ll understand,” Gallagher croons until a spacey lengthy instrumental outro.
Other highlights include the bluesy, slow-burner Soon Come Tomorrow, closing ballad Start Anew, and Soul Love, a dark, atmospheric song Oasis would’ve never recorded in their pomp.
BE is imbued with a sense of discovery and adventure, something recent Gallagher releases have sorely missed.
vote: 7.5

Beady Eye's second is a very fine rock`n'roll album with some intriguing and refreshing weirdness.
At this stage you could almost guess what is going to be on a post-Oasis album from Liam, or indeed Noel, Gallagher. Yea verily! There will be a vaguely psychedelic, lysergic ballad; there will be a incantatory, mantra-like rock out; there will be a song with a Slade-like title (in this case, Iz Rite); and there will also be the use of backwards tape loops and a sitar.
And for those of us who long gave up expecting either Gallagher to do anything truly interesting after we heard the first notes of Oasis’ third album, that’s just fine. BE is a very good rock `n’ roll album indeed. Drafting in Dave Sitek of TV on The Radio to give Beady Eye’s sixties dreaming a bloody good monstering was a masterstroke and while BE still casts a longing eye back to pop’s so-called golden age, it also proves that the band themselves were fully aware that nostalgia has no future.
BE may sound rather pedestrian on first listen but pro-tools, speech samples, the use of iPhone apps and Sitek’s cunning employment of an old school Solina String Synthesizer to add phantasmagorical string effects, reveal that there are whole other layers under the usual meat-and-spuds rock orthodoxy. The spirit of ‘68 does inform opener Flick of The Finger which features a compelling sample of an anti-Vietnam rally in London and a whiff of sixties sedition hangs in the air. Smartly, the title is not what you think and refers in fact to a digit hovering over the red button to launch nuclear wipe out.
That’s the closest you’ll get to lyrical subtlety here as Liam rolls out some classic rhyming dictionary duffers and a plethora of borrows from The Beatles. The best songs belong to Andy Bell, former member of Ride and ex-Oasis new boy. His three contributions, Face The Crowd, I’m Just Saying, and Soon Come Tomorrow, all have interesting things happening under the lashings of wha wha and big acoustic guitar trash. Gem Archer’s Second Bite of the Apple is also a cracker, featuring rumbling and rolling drums, big blasts of brass and Liam’s hooky line, “shake my tree, where’s the apple for me? Tickle my feet with the NME”.
It is not without its plodders and cringe-inducing Beatles references.
Despite the odds, Beady Eye’s second album has set them up as a worthwhile on-going concern.

"There's little denying that Liam Gallagher and Beady Eye sound refreshed here with the production twists of Dave Sitek...there are strung-out epics and short punchy nuggets sung by a man with renewed fire in his belly."