(2011-00) Mojo Magazine

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Ross
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(2011-00) Mojo Magazine

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Mojo 2011: Excerpt from Noel Gallagher interview

Interviewer: You hinted at a new direction when you got the psychedelic DJ duo The Amorphous Androgynous to remix the final Oasis single, "Falling Down", and they provided a 22-minute epic that replaced your vocal with Alisha Sufit's of 70's hippies Magic Carpet...

Noel Gallager: I was on a plane to LA, reading Mojo, when I saw an ad for a compilation called A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind. Well, I'm having that. And the music was amazing. So I call up [The Amorphous Androgynous's] Gaz Cobain, who I've never met or had any contact with, so there's no way he could know I was calling. "Is that Gaz?" (Imitates whispery, mysterious voice): "Yes?" "It's Noel Gallagher". Ah. I was expecting you." And I'm going, Really? And he says, "Yes, yes... I've been watching you." When he says he's standing at the psychedelic crossroads, he's not joking.

Interviewer: Have the Amorphous Androgynous, or any other artists, worked on the album?

Noel Gallagher: Miles Kane played on the end of one of the songs, but unfortunately for young Miles, Dave Sardy felt it wasn't kissing the sky enough.
As for The Amorphous Androgynous, we've made an entire, separate album together, which will be released next year. We made the album at Paul Weller's studio, over the same time period as High Flying Birds, but in a way that was completely different to anything I've done before. Gaz Cobain made me record and record, and when he heard something he liked he would film it. Then his colleague Brian Dougans would go off and cut everything up and use a bass line for one track and a drum loop for another.
I almost called it off on the first day when Gaz made me play the same guitar line for five hours and 10 minutes. He kept saying things like, "Play it like it's orange. Play it smoky." What the hell does that mean? "You know what it means."
I can assure you I don't. I'm from the North. On the 27th take we nearly came to blows.

Interviewer: Didn't he see you as the boss?

Noel Gallagher: Not at all, and if I suggested something he would say: "I'm not really into other people's ideas." There was a healthy disrespect for my songwriting. I'd play him something and he'd say, "It's good, but wouldn't it be great if we got a bunch of African tribesmen to play it through an electric kettle - on acid?" OK, but it's not the first single. And another thing, I wasn't allowed to talk to Brian. I'd call up and say, "Can I speak to Brian?" And Gaz would reply, "No. Nobody speaks to Brian." I wasn't even allowed to speak to him in the studio. The result is an album that's heavy jazz, avant-garde, pop, and most of it was written in the studio, which is something I never do. It's a companion piece to the High Flying Birds album, but an entirely separate project.
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