He says his younger self wouldn’t have liked working with the Blur singer.
In a new interview, Noel Gallagher opens up about working with Damon Albarn in 2017. The former Oasis member says in the talk with The Big Issue, among other things, that his younger self thanked him for working with the Blur and Gorillaz Head “put a knife in the balls”. Gallagher provided backing vocals on Gorillaz’ track “We Got The Power” six years ago – the song is featured on the band’s 2017 album HUMANZ.
Noel Gallagher on his past dislike of Damon Albarn
Both Blur and Oasis were big names on the Britpop scene in the ’90s – the two groups therefore shared a rivalry on the charts, constantly challenging each other for the top spot with their respective releases. Exactly on the same day, August 14, 1995, two singles were released: “Country House” by Blur and “Roll With It” by Oasis.
“How would my younger self think that I worked with Damon Albarn,” Gallagher muses in the current conversation and says: “It would depend entirely on which side of the bed I got up on that day. If you caught me on a good day, I’d say, yes, I could imagine that… On a bad day, my younger self would have put a knife in my balls.”
Gallagher met David Bowie – and can’t remember
Elsewhere in the interview, the head of the High Flying Birds admits that if he could go back in time, he’d like to relive the moment he met David Bowie, as he has “no memories whatsoever” of the meeting. How can that be? “In the ’90s I watched David Bowie and Morrissey at Wembley Arena. I was high and drunk. Then, before Bowie performed, someone approached me and asked if I wanted to meet David. So I was taken to David Bowie’s dressing room.”
He explains: “I don’t remember it at all…I remember walking in and he was putting his makeup on in front of a mirror and that was it. To me he’s on par with John Lennon and I have no idea what we said when I met him. If I could go back I would appreciate it so much more. I would tell him what he meant to me growing up and how much he means to me now.”
News from Noel Gallagher and Blur
In April, the musician released his new single “Council Skies”. The track is the fourth single from his upcoming June 2 album with High Flying Birds, COUNCIL SKIES, following “Dead To The World”, “Easy Now” and “Pretty Boy”. He also announced a 2023 UK arena tour in support of the new record, starting August 30th. The guitarist and songwriter also confirmed that 2024 will see the release of an anniversary edition of Oasis’ debut album, DEFINITELY MAYBE, which will feature a number of previously unreleased recordings from the period.
Blur announced their new album THE BALLAD OF DARREN on May 18th and released the lead single “The Narcissist”.