Tgcom24 met the British singer-songwriter, who will be in Italy for a single date on November 8th
Noel Gallagher presents his new album with the High Flying Birdsdue out June 2. “Council Skies” the title of what is the fourth album of the band and the twelfth of their career dell’ex Oasis. “A title born by chance, from a book by a Sheffield artist and painter Pete McKeewhich reminds me of my youth lived under popular skies (this is the literary translation of Council Skies, ed)”, the musician and songwriter told Tgcom24.
The meaning of the title “I was actually writing one of the songs for the new album, but I was missing a line and didn’t quite know what it was going to be. On the coffee table next to me was McKee’s book, ‘Council Skies’ and reading the title it made me I said, why not? I called the songwriter, who’s a friend, and asked him if I could use the line and he said, ‘sure.’ So I put it into the song and then everything just fell into place. .. the popular skies, which reminded me of my youth but also McKee’s meaning of the term, which is a certain kind of blue color that he uses for his backgrounds, a ‘council skies’ blue…”.
Back to the origins With “Council Skies” Noel Gallagher reclaims his past, without nostalgia, and pays homage to Manchester, his city of origin. As evidenced by the same cover shot by the famous photographer Kevin Cummins, who has already captured the places of Noel’s origins: “I’m going back to my origins. Daydreaming, rolling my eyes and wondering what life could be like… this is as true for me today as it was in the early 90s. When I was growing up in poverty and unemployment, music saved me… It’s what I think music should do. I want my music to uplift and help in some way.”
The importance of making music And “Council Skies” seems to be an album born with this intention, “to make someone happy somewhere”, as the artist explains: “The music itself is the reward… Creating a song from nothing and then people will accept into their lives is a great privilege” and adds: “It would have been easy for me to put together a band that sounds like Oasis and does that thing, playing 4 new songs and 25 Oasis songs every night and I’m sure it would have been a great success. But that’s not what I wanted. Especially in this period, with all this crap… if you’re an artist and you can create you should share good things with the world, you should do it because it would make someone happy somewhere”.
A reflective album The album appears melancholic and nostalgic at times but Noel is keen to clarify: “All the songs were written during the lockdown, I don’t know if it was so terrible in Italy but we lived for nine months almost isolated from the world. It represents a dark period in the life of all of us. And mine in particular. I don’t love too dark music, I think that even in the most melancholy song on the record there is always a little bit of hope, I just think that these songs were the best way to come back, the lyrics as a whole come from a place of truth. I would rather call it a reflective album.”
And defends Produced by Noel with longtime collaborator
Paul “Strangeboy” Staceythe album also features the participation of
Johnny Marr of the Smiths on three tracks, including the first single released “Pretty Boy”.
“Huge applause to Johnny Marr for adding his unique touch”, recalls Gallagher: “He’s a really nice person, always enthusiastic, but very respectful of the songs because he’s a composer himself. I called him and he came to work with me…”. Then Gallagher tells of how a remixed one was born from the original song by none other than
Robert Smith of the
Cure: “When we were making ‘Pretty Boy’ we realized it sounded like The Cure so I wondered what if they do a remix? What if I bring them in? Someone emailed Smith the track and he loved it. He’s really a lovely person”.
Among the other pieces that anticipate “Council Skies” there is also “Easy now”, a touching ballad in the style of “Oasis”, which is very close to the artist’s heart: “It is a song about friendship, about those meetings you maybe every day with unknown people…”, an infusion of psychedelia between choirs and organ chords. And “Dead to The World‘, “one of my favorite tracks” that “has the vibe of a film noir”.
Music today Icon of British Brit pop in the 80s and 90s Gallagher has no doubts: “Pop reigns supreme today and music is driven by money, the economy and that damn spotify. Guitar bands don’t exist anymore… The boys, it seems to me rather that they wear guitars but don’t really play them. Maybe it’s because of the record labels, because guitar bands are complex to manage, they’re full of complex and high-stakes people. Maybe they prefer keyboard players who are boring and tea drinkers.” .
The past However, according to Noel, there is no going back to the past: “You can only learn. The world is different now. There was no Internet in the 90s…. I think the current generation still looks to the old, to the past, while when we are when we arrived everything was new. Our heroes were our age, in short, and I think this is the most important thing. But I also believe that if Oasis hadn’t arrived, someone else would have arrived, because every generation needs to have a band of our own and we set out to be that band.”
It turns Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will kick off their tour in early June with 26 US dates alongside Garbage, before returning to the UK with a long series of outdoor concerts, including a big homecoming show at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.
Noel will then play in Milan for a single date on November 8, 2023 at the Forumshowcasing a selection of tracks from the new album, career favorites and Oasis classics.
New record coming for Oasis, but no reunion
Before and after Oasis Noel Gallagher was the principal songwriter, guitarist and occasional lead singer of Oasis, one of the biggest and best-loved bands to ever emerge from the UK. His band has been instrumental in shaping and inspiring contemporary guitar music from the 1990s onwards. Noel’s continued success with the High Flying Birds cements his position as one of the most prolific and successful British singer-songwriters of the last 50 years.
But if you ask him to
a possible return to the stage with Oasis, perhaps to play some of “those unreleased tracks recorded”, as he himself says, “on tapes found in the Sony vault and belonging to the ‘Definitely Maybe’ session”, he replies with irony: “We will reform, we will do a gigantic tour and we’ll play everything in sequence, we’ll do Morning Glory too and the Beatles will reunite too and the Sex Pistols and John Lennon will come back from the dead.”