My gaze moves from the beer to the e-mail that I just printed out. It’s from a friend in London and reads, “Thanks God you don’t have to interview the other brother!”
It’s 2pm, I’m wearing a pair of Howard Showers jeans (the closest thing to ‘cool’ I own) and a Plant ‘n’ Page Tour t-shirt (purchased at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre 1996 and worn to death) and I’m really hoping Noel doesn’t hate Led Zeppelin
Noel Gallagher, the musical brain behind the mega-success-story of the 90’s, Oasis, is due at 2:45pm for a 15-minute live-to-air interview. No time to edit out the inevitable swear words or to retract any questions that may not be to Mr. Gallagher’s liking.
Now, I’m not normally this nervous before an interview, but the Gallagher brothers’ bad behaviour has just hit an all-time high, with reports that the boys trashed the plane on their flight to Australia, throwiing drinks at the Hosties and now face the possibility of being banned from several major airlines!
2:20pm, we get a call to say Noel will be late. Apparently, he and Liam went out on the town last night and have slept in. Noel has rescheduled for 3:30 (ish). I breathe a little easier and go over my prep.
3:15pm… my newfound confidence diminishes with the good news that Noel is now running early… he’s approximately three minutes away. I remind myself to breathe. Moments later, a Triple M staff member pops in (there are a lot more of them than usual hanging around the studio and they’re all looking very glamorous… maybe I shouldn’t have torn the sleeves off Page ‘n’ Plant!?)
“Two minutes, Sheridan… are you excited?” “I’m fine.” I lie. Now my boss sticks his head in… “Minute and a half… are you OK?” “Sure… I’m ready.” More lies. The whole building is buzzing with anticipation, the boss is back. “Their limo’s just pulling up now… ’bout 30 seconds!” I look up at the security monitor. Christ on a cross! The whole of U2 didn’t have an entourage this BIG!
3:19pm… In strolls a very hungover Noel Gallagher, big pile of CD’s in tow, a cheeky grin and eyes that twinkle… I mean, they literally twinkle! I’m surprised by how cute he is… catch the thought and remind myself that he’s married.
“I’m Noel,” he says. “I know, I’m Sheridan, is there anything you don’t want to talk about?” “Nope, it’s your show, love.” He seems sincere.
SS: First up, thanks for coming, we often get someone lined up and well… I guess they’re got a lot on… they don’t always make it.
NG: That’s alright, don’t worry about it.
SS: I believe you’ve been shopping for vinyls in Adelaide. What did you pick up?
NG: Um… some German porno music for one of our DJ’s, he’s into that. An old John Lennon album with a free 1970 calendar in it, the peace concert from…
SS: Toronto?
NG: Toronto, and I can’t remember the rest to be honest with you.
SS: How was Perth… your first ever concert in Australia?
NG: Really good, really good for a first one. Didn’t know what to expect from Australian audiences, not having been here before… but it was pleasantly surprising!
SS: So nobody threw shoes at you?
At this point, I play an Oasis track and ask Noel to do the honours and back-announce it…
NG: Yeah, that was me doin’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger” off our multi-million-dollar-selling album, “What’s the Story, Morning Glory?” still available in record shops, apparently.
SS: Well, you gotta love a guy who can write a song about a morning erection.
NG: (grins) Well yeah, Yeah I woke up in a good mood that day.
SS: (can’t leave this theme alone!) on the right side of the bed?
NG: On the floor actually, the bathroom floor… you have to do that quite a lot when you’re in a band.
SS: So all the rumours are true? Wild sex, drugs and rock ‘m’ roll…
NG: (laughs) not so much of the sex these days… mainly rock ‘m’ roll.
SS: So you went looking for adventure in Adelaide last night, what did you find?
NG: Well, we just went to this bar across the road from the hotel, watched this band… Rhythms of Love or something… quite cheesy but pretty good covers of George Michael, Madonna, the Bee Gee’s… They had a drum machine and not much else. We had a good laugh just drinking cocktails, getting extremely pissed and we did what’s called a ‘pie-floater.’
SS: You’ve got to be really pissed to eat one of those! You guys (Oasis) have been known to toss a cover or two into your live set, I like that, and Australian band, the Screaming Jets, do it too and it honours the musicians who have inspired them…