At a press conference in Istanbul last night, Beady Eye‘s Liam Gallagher, ex-frontman of Brit-poppers Oasis, promised he would never record any more music, following the release of his band’s sophomore effort, ‘BE’ (BE are the abbreviated initials of the band’s name, ‘Beady Eye’).
Dressed in khaki tailored military-style jacket, raybans, converse and a pair of jeans, Gallagher faced a grilling on subjects as diverse as his clothing line, thoughts on conflict in the middle east, and his new album.
The following is a full transcript of the press conference:
Journalist: ‘Welcome Liam. Do you still love John Lennon?’
Liam Gallagher: ‘Cheers, nice one. Well it’s not really love, cos I don’t really know ‘im, d’you know what I mean? It’s more like respect, awe even. Even though he’s dead, I can feel his spirit moving through me when I’m up there on stage, y’know?’
J: ‘Some might say Oasis try to sound like The Beatles. I think Beady Eye sound like one of my favourite English bands, Ocean Colour Scene. What do you think?‘
LG: ‘Heheh. Erm, yeah. I fookin’ love Ocean Colour Scene, me, good lads like. Cheers, nice one.’
J: ‘Thank you. The Beatles always change, always surprise, like dangerous listening. I love you music because always the same, same tunes, same sound, same voice.’
LG: ‘Right, yeah nice one. But really, music is like life, and progressing from sound to sound, stage to stage, living in the moment is important, y’know? Respect.’
J. ‘Haha, yes. But your first song from new album ‘BE’, ‘Flick Of The Nipple’, is wonderful because it is like Oasis are still here, but softer, not so aggressive, and the trumpet is so simple.’
LG: ‘Nice one, cheers, it’s called ‘Flick Of The Finger’, ok? It’s not just a trumpet, it’s a whole fookin’ expensive horn section that did all Spiritualized’s stuff, so respect, ok?’
J: ‘Yes, haha. There is another song called ‘Second Bite Of The Cherry’, which so funny, like nursery rhyme, child song.’
LG: ‘Right, yeah, innocence is important y’know, to look at the world with rose-tinted glasses, whatever the title is. I will never record another song after that one. It’s all beautiful if you want it to be, d’you know what I mean?’
J: ‘Yes. What do you think of use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict, Israel’s continued settlement expansion into Palestine, or the US’s multilateral use of Drone aircraft to assassinate anybody it chooses, anywhere in the world?’
LG: ‘Yeah, it’s sad, y’know. I think people should just try to get on with each other, love one another, y’know what I mean? I’d ‘ave ’em though.’
J: ‘Thank you. How is your clothes shop, Pretty In Pink? I am very interested with this.’
LG: ‘Cheers nice. Check yr names, man. Can’t actually talk about that though, legal stuff, know what I mean?.’
J: ‘I see. I will ask difficult question now. Do you think your name is bigger and more important to people than your music?’
LG: ‘Yeah, right, well, our kid Noel…’
J: ‘Noel Gallagher, your brother correct? He is older than you, correct?’
LG: Yes, correct, it’s a northern thing…well he’s the one that made all this celebrity stuff, not me. It’s not fair, I just want to make music, get drunk and fight people, but ‘is moaning about us in the NME just makes eveyone talk about me glasses an’ that.’
J: ‘Thank you Mr Liam, you are very enjoyable. I hope you enjoy your stay in Istanbul.’
LG: ‘Er, cheers man. What about the album?’
J: ‘I hope you enjoy your stay, Mr Liam’
