Don't look back in anger: the Oasis reunion is happening. How we got here.

[Music] I'm Alam ABD Mahmud this is commotion today on the podcast a reunion I never thought would happen maybe I don't really want to know you got gross Oasis is getting back together that is a real thing that is happening Liam and Noah Gallagher just announced that they'll be back on stage together again this is is something that people believed would just never happen again because of what we knew about how much these brothers hated each other but here we are Alex Spears is here Mora Johnston is here Rich Pell is here folks welcome to the Hell Freezes Over edition of commotion welcome to the show everybody how's it going he great thanks I'm I'm excited to get into this I can't believe that it's actually happening Rich I'm going to start with you because this announcement has been teased for a few days now today you get this joint statement from the brothers it's in truly Gallagher brother fashion it is incredibly dramatic the guns have fallen silent the stars have aligned the great weight is over come see it will not be televised that's the statement that they release Rich what's happening there so that's their words not your words I excited you are yes we have we have heard today in the UK and around the world that oases are reforming and we know they're doing 14 dates next June uh July and August yes um so they're going to do dates in Wales Scotland uh Manchester London and Dublin and then that's all we know yeah so we don't know we don't know who's in the band that's the big question and we don't know um anything else apart from the dates that have been announced yet somehow that seems to be more more than enough information for everybody to sort of just get into a tizzy I think like reasonably so this is an announcement that is like a long time in the in the making Alex we should say you are in an oasis cover band Park life and my my friend Lauren went to see you guys your gig last week and she had a great time um you were deeply in the Oasis fan Universe how badly did fans want Liam and no to get back together so I think there's a combination of two things first there was a segment of the fan face that was just resigned to it never happening I I would count myself among those um I I've been the like people have been messaging me today saying like you said it was never going to happen and I'm kind of having to eat my hat a little bit but yeah the the way people have been looking at it at least in a significant chunk of the fan bases they're almost like hypochondriacs so I'm I'm a hypochondriac with my health care I have a little you know pain in me my knee I think I'm dying yeah you know n says something slightly not totally cruel about Liam in an interview and and you know there there's this and people go off it's nuts and you know there's this one uh there's this one Facebook group in particular called the parka monkeys where it does feel like every couple of weeks there's some new craze where people are fully convinced it's going to happen and just feeding into the echo chamber but uh yeah so so it's surreal it truly is surreal because because it's legit this time look Alex people think like swifties are crazy I'm like no I think the people who were talking about an oasis reunion for years have been are are way crazier personally because well and to that point if I may I think now the original I'm having I'm having a bit of trouble hearing you there 10 shows at I they've only announced the my apologies how how's that how's that that's a little bit better um I can hear you a little better now so you're saying the original speculation that they're doing some shows at Wembley yes yes the original speculation was 10 shows at Wembley yeah and while they've only announced they they've announced a smaller number than that but I think that that remains to be seen if it sells out they could do 10 and my take honestly is that Taylor Swift holding the record for soldout shows at Wembley is exactly what motivated no Gallagher to get off the couch and do this because he couldn't stand the fact that someone other than his band was holding that record when it would be just the easiest thing in the world for him to do it that's I like what's amazing about this is that like for people who don't have a relationship with Oasis or with the Gallagher brothers you'd go no artist could possibly be that petty but hearing that about Liam I go like yeah absolutely I could 100% believe that he would be that kind of petty sort of figure more I want to get back to you in just a moment but Rich maybe I want to look at you know um for a moment get a sense of Oasis very particular place in culture let's play some song [Music] I mean this is a band that like belongs to people in a way very few bands belong to people that's one of the last shows they ever played you get the sense that the audience is just there ready to do anything for them how massive were Oasis at their Peak would you say Rich um they were massive they appealed to everybody that's the whole thing um the big stats is when they played nworth in 1996 which is a big open open uh outdoor venue that they historically use for gigs and 5% of the population applied for tickets so wow I think it was I think it was 125,000 people a day so uh a quarter of a million over two days but 5% which is is 10 times more than tickets that sold yeah so that if we go back to what Alex said about Wembley and uh if you look at the schedule they're doing two a week at the moment and then having a week off and doing two more in Wembley they're going open those States they're gonna beat Taylor Swift they're gonna beat their own record yeah but they were huge and I think one of the reasons they've reformed is that no Gallagher has always said he didn't want to the relationship with oases so people who knew them first time why you going to see a couple of middle-aged men doing not quite as good job as before but but oases have transcended the generations and Generation Z are now massively into oases as much as Generation X were when they came out so I think NOA said how surprised he is how many kids are singing OES songs back to him when he plays solo game so giving the kids the chance to see them is brilliant for them but it's going to make it more difficult for us trying to get tickets because now whole the whole world wants to see them it doesn't matter whether it's your nephew or your dad everybody's going Oasis you know what I actually want to return to the Contemporary uh use of Oasis sort of the temporary the Contemporary sort of space that Oasis occupies in just a moment but maybe more you can root us a little bit more more in the way that Oasis broke through because they broke through North America in ways that most British bands just don't how do you explain their enormous appeal Mora I think it speaks to what Rich was talking about about just how they were so massive I mean you know obviously there was the whole Brit pop boom right I'm sorry if I if that word about yeah and uh you got to say a trigger warning before you say Brit yeah um but you know like you had you know bands like Pulp and sued which were sort of my favorites but Oasis like they had that kind of like Bron and Mass Appeal that American Rock Fans want you know there's a there's a certain type of swaggering masculinity that I think Oasis had um and has and that really appealed to American listeners not not just like the people who listened to alt rock radio but like the people who tuned into Classic Rock Radio and you know I don't I think you can also s point to the fact that like around the time that um what's the story Morning Glory came out that was also around the time that um The Beatles were sort of back in the conversation because they were they they put out that song Free as a bird which was sort of Rec reconstituted from old tapes yeah a couple of months after after was the story Morning Glory came out um the uh the idea of Oasis being sort of having contemporary appeal is something that I want to talk about a little bit because Alex as far as I can tell you're not a middle-aged man and you play in a play in an oasis cover band I don't think we we can have this conversation without hearing from Maddy Healey of the 1975 um he was on Q not that long ago and he said this to Tom power what are aases doing can you imagine being in potentially right now still the coolest band in the world and not doing it because you're in a m with your brother stop Ming they're like men of the people and they sat around in like Little Venice and Highgate like crying over an argument with their brother grow up headline glenbury have a good time have a good time have a laugh grow up headline glenberry might be my favorite admonishment that anyone's given a rockstar Alex but also the idea that like Oasis right now could be the coolest rock band in the world that's a significant statement what do you make of what what what madd's saying there the idea that they're still this band that has this Mass cool appeal well and I I I I think the biggest thing that he's getting at is is the frustration that fans feel where like they they are they are seen as an incredibly cool band right now like they are seen as having a certain quality that's you know you can describe it as Swagger bravado but but but it is Indescribable in a lot of ways um they are seen as having this quality that contemporary rock bands just don't and they are seen as having this size and scale that contemporary rock bands just don't I mean if we're looking to bands like you know the Arctic Monkeys Fontaine DC these are incredible groups putting out really really great music but there's there's something missing there so the idea that these two dudes are there like they're not dead they're still there they're still you know on this Mortal plane physically capable of doing the thing and they're not doing the thing is infuriating and it's been infuriating so like Maddie perfectly captured the just deep frustration that I think fans and particularly fans of my generation who never got to see them in the first place feel well I think also had n and Liam not fallen out and had they been matey and had you know Liam sometimes turn up on N gigs and sing a few songs and no turn up Liam gig and play a bit of guitar no one would have wanted them to get back together yeah I think I think it's it's very clever because they've kept each other in the papers and you look at the feud you mean in the the feud has and had it not happened no one would have wanted wanted this Rich do you want to get into that a little bit because there's something about the relationship the explosive tension between these two brothers at least publicly um that we've seen that has kind of formed how we think about this band the relationship between the two of them in many ways is the band how how do what do you make of the way that that relationship worked its way into the music Ridge well there's the famous wibbling rivalry which was a 12 seven inch single of them just arguing they got into the shs in the UK yeah someone someone released a recording of the two of them arguing and it sold so well that it got into the charts in the UK that's that's how well that recording did yeah yeah but also they brothers and if you've got a brother you're going to fight in with them in a way that you don't fight with a partner or a friend cuz You' always got that unconditional love between you and no and Liam for the last 15 years have often said on record they love each other amongst all the bickering so I think it's uh I think they've been friends the whole time and the whole thing is just being a PR stunt that's this is the longest running PR stunt of our life if that is the case a 15 a 15year PR stunt is quite an aggressively long PR stunt quite a Comm I would say it's whated yeah it it worked it that's true that is true we are here talking about it Mora I want to say there's actually something kind of endearing about the consistency of this bickering between the two of them like sometimes they just take these random completely random shots at each other I want I want you to listen to this a journalist right that talked to no about Twitter have a listen to this well you know our President is on Twitter well and and and so is my brother and quite literally I put put the pair of him in a driverless car each so can run into each other Mora that's unbelievable the question was not at all about his brother but no's like I can't possibly resist this how do how how did the feud play into their mythology you think I mean I think it helped you know keep them at the Forefront of discussion while you know like rich said they were holding off from playing and really waiting for that moment for the iron to strike um I do think that they definitely are in line with a lot of the sort of great combustible Duos of rock you know you have lenon McCartney uh plant and paage Mick and Keith and I have have to represent Boston by shouting out the toxic twins Stephen Tyler and Joe Perry and I feel like those sorts of relationships like are you know the rock equivalent of like benfer or something where everyone's like are they gon to get back together what's gonna happen you know it's very it very much plays into that kind of like gossipy impulse but at the same time you know it also makes people real iiz that oh yeah they what they really want is for these people to kind of um reconcile and get back together Alex can I ask Mora um just sorry I'm I'm curious like do you like I'm I'm always fascinated by like with bands of this genre where where you look at Oasis who who made it in the States but you know a group like the stone roses or the Happy Mondays of a similar sort of scene if you will uh didn't how much of their success in the States was due to that sort of um that combustible quality that's a good question I mean I think it I I really think it's more about the sound just because I feel like you know um British Acts have traditionally had a tough time with obvious giant exceptions getting into the American realm just because um they're not as as brawny you know I mean even the song like wonder wall has like a kind of like hugeness about it that I think even with I think you know I think a lot of these songs are anthems but there's definitely an idea in American rock where um you know even with even with the kind of Hangover that people had from hard from like hair metal in the late 80s you know Nirvana and bands and Pearl Jam were still like big Swagger rock bands and act acts that were less maybe a little more subtle didn't break through in the same way so if FKS Mora Mora you mentioned benfer there did are they going to get back together which is very true but with benfer um they're trying to live they're trying to get married and live their whole life together with nol and Liam all they've got to do is commit to standing on stage with each other that's true for two hours and that's a very good point and frankly that sounds harder that that sounds way harder for those two hours could be a year I mean and I gen wonder how much of you know the sales for this tour are going to be the Intrigue of watching these two people who are kind of like repellent magnets or have been like repellent magnets in the past you know 15 years or so um standing next to each other again and what that will be like I mean that's they said that this will not be televised um which is I feel like a dig at all these sort of like tour videos that we've seen coming out in the last little while um but also like I'm desperate for someone to televis this because I don't think I'm going to be able to go to this thing but I desperately want to see it I should say I want to see tambourines chucked at head my experience not this is the appeal let me just pause here and remind people we are talking about my name is Al ABD Mahmud and this is commotion look we're talking about Oasis getting back together they have a 14 dat tour of the UK and Ireland next year we might get more Alex Spears is here he plays drums in an oasis cover band culture critics Rich p and Mora Johnson are here okay all of you you got to listen to this clip it's Liam backstage at one of his concerts recently and he's complaining about having to make his own tea records these days in the 90s had about four people doing it little GE are doing a kettle and some other little idiot doing that now you got to do now you got to do it yourself these days you know what I mean cuz these not smart asses download tunes for Niche and they wonder why there's no real rock and roll Stars around cuz this the [ __ ] you got us doing Liam Gallagher is very upset about having to make his own tea more part of what he's talking about there is the idea that there are no rock stars anymore uh Oasis could be an exception to that this is a cultural moment that doesn't really have a lot of use for for for rock stars Oasis are an obvious kind of challenge to this do you think them reuniting fills a void in anyway yes I mean one thing though you have to remember about Oasis is that they came up in a very different media environment and I think that the sort of decline of the Rockstar isn't as much about streaming as it is about this diffusion of the media environment um particularly you know with rock I mean rock is not the number one you know genre like it's not the dominant musical idiom of Youth culture anymore you know you have hip-hop you have dance music you have a lot of other things encro encroaching on it and sometimes overtaking it um and I think also with rock in particular you had kind of a peculiar thing happen in particularly in you know started in the early 2000s and definitely has progressed since in as much as um you had this kind of like bifurcation of artists that were getting played on radio a lot which were like uncool genres like new metal and post grunch and also you know artists that had legacies like Oasis like the Foo Fighters and then you kind of had the the the critical Acclaim artists like Strokes France Ferd and yeah yes who had more of a subtle almost like the a lot of the appeal of a lot of other Brit pop acts and I think that that is also a thing but you know I mean hey Spin Magazine just announced that they were coming back into Prince so maybe we'll you know maybe this is like some perfect timing where the rock star will be back on the rise Oasis is Back Spin Magazine is back who knows where this is going to take us uh rich I got to ask you you know obviously a part of the motivation for this is money um I think we have to consider the idea that like yes there are many other good reasons to get back together yes they also have a lot of money but it's going to help to have a little bit more um we are in an environment where you right before we started rolling you you kind of took a little little little shot at me for being like for for liking one of the later Oasis records because the first two sort of stand so much bigger um than the rest of their discography can you imagine them making a new album can you imagine them making like another standing on the shoulders of giants I want to hear another roll it over what what about you well mean how confident are you they're gonna play any songs whatsoever of um your favorite the to GI you're gonna be the only person who goes to see Oasis reform and walks away disappointed if they if they don't play Go let it out I think I'll be a little bit mad but can you imagine that uh can you imagine they making a new record I can I have read today that committed they haven't they've said they're categorically not going to do that okay yeah which um which is weird because you think they might do but if you look at say the stone roses who reformed yeah uh they managed a couple of singles everyone has forgotten about and whatever Oasis do really the first album was the best the second album was the second best the third album was the third best and the fourth album was the fourth best argue if you like about that order but the last album wasn't the best album yeah so whatever they do I think thing would live live up to the legacy of the early albums that everybody loves so whether they do because on the other hand some of n Gaga's solo material is the best stuff he's ever written I agree so he's got it he's got it in him so who knows I don't think fans care I actually don't think that like I I really don't like you know people want to see them live they want like see and this is another point that Matty Healey made in his interview which is that you know there's not a single person at a null solo show or a Liam solo show who wouldn't rather be at an oasis show because they have what the other lacks in a really perfect puzzle piece kind of a way and I think people just want to see that like that you know I I've not seen anything to indicate that fans are thirsting for new music they've got the music they're happy with the music they like you know first three records plus the Master Plan Plus in my case in your case Eline standing on the shoulders of giants that's enough that's that's all we need so I yeah I I I don't see any need for it actually I I feel like I need to defend my Oasis stac here and say my favorite album is actually Heathen chemistry which not staying on the shoulders of the Giants I think little by little is is a gigantic tune and I feel like we don't talk about that long enough but having having said all this sry go ahead Rich maybe they'll end up touring it album by album and by get to he chemistry it'll just be you and them Alex I'm going to give the last word to you on this because in your other life you also play in this cover band how are you thinking about trying to get some tickets to go see Oasis oh I so I have uh I think much to my my partner's uh sort of chagrin I I've said I'm will I'm willing to drop $1,000 on tickets alone yeah uh I will I will fly out to the UK I'm not taking chances that they're going to split up before making it to Toronto I I saw raging Against the Machine three shows before they broke up and didn't make it over to Europe I don't want the same thing to happen uh I'm I'm going and I'm willing to drop Fair a slightly shocking amount of D to make it happen Alex uh MOA and Rich and I are all pulling for you pal I really hope that this happens for you we got to leave it there for all of you Mora Rich Alex I really appreciate your time thank you so much for being here thank you of course my pleasure thank you so much Alex Spears Works in public relations and plays drums in the Oasis cover band Park life they're playing September 6th in Toronto by the way at Great alternative if you can't make it across the pond next year rich rich belly is a journalist with the guardian in London and Mora Johnson is a freelance music journalist based in Boston [Music]