Oasis in '97: "You know what Pop stands for? Paddies on the Piss"

'97:

After topping the Irish and UK charts again in October with Be Here Now, Oasis returned to Dublin for two pre-Christmas Point Depot shows which, much to Noel’s chagrin, didn’t go as planned. Indeed, I left backstage genuinely thinking it might be curtains for the band...

“Did you hear about our kid? He’s not even turning up tonight. He’s got a sore throat so the spawny cunt’s going to be sat watching the telly while us fucking four idiots have to go out there and get bottled off, most probably.

“I got informed at about three o’clock. Somebody said, ‘Liam’s not coming so you’ll have to do it.’

“‘Er, excuse me. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m not the singer’.

“‘No, no, no, you’ve gotta do the gig or there’ll be a riot’.

“I’ll probably get away with it tonight but I’m not as good a singer as he is. I’d much rather be stood in front of me amplifier doing the odd backing-vocal. The cunt! I tell you what I’m tempted to do – go on stage and tell the crowd his room number so they can go round the hotel and get their money back off him."

“I’m bored and can’t be bothered writing music anymore. The bigger the monster becomes, the harder it is to manoeuvre. I’ve started thinking that maybe it’s time to scale it down - y’know, shed some of the weight or perhaps try new things altogether. I haven’t been writing recently ‘cos I don’t on tour, but when we had time to kill beforehand, I got this awful block which I’ve never really had before.

“To be honest, I don’t know if I can be arsed putting out another rock ‘n’ roll record for a couple of years. We’ve done three LPs in four years plus B-sides - in other words, 60 songs - which is more than some bands produce in 10 years. I just about deserve a fucking break.”

The mood in the camp was altogether cheerier in July when our man Neil McCormick was privy to Oasis supporting U2 on the North American leg of the PopMart tour.

“You know what Pop stands for?” Noel joked. “Paddies on the Piss!”

Here are some more of their pithy soundbites:

Noel to Bono: “Bands won’t admit they like you, right, and you’re the greatest band in the world. And the only band that will actually come out and admit that, is the next greatest band in the world!”

Liam: “If me mam could see me now! She’d say, ‘You done good, lad, you done good’.”

Liam: “This is the first time I’ve seen U2. Now I understand! It’s . . . phwoarghghghgh! Fuckin’ mad, man. Mad!”

Read the full 14-page Oasis feature in the current issue of Hot Press, out now: