Liam Gallagher interview

Liam Gallagher isn’t ready to hang up his tambourine just yet, as ShortList’s Luke Edwards found out when he met the music world’s most outspoken icon

Even through the heavy hotel door, the muffled Mancunian jabbering of Liam Gallagher is an intimidating sound. This is the man who has – between recording seven No 1 albums – fired a fire extinguisher at Paul Gascoigne and swung a cricket bat at his own brother. Suddenly, that question about monobrows we’ve got scrawled in our notebook doesn’t seem quite so clever. But, as we enter the large room, the atmosphere is surprisingly serene. Meeting our outstretched hand, the 37-year-old rock’n’roll legend, father and burgeoning fashion entrepreneur, who has just started his own clothing brand Pretty Green, greets us with an “All right, mate”.
Across a 20-year career, the former Oasis frontman has done it all, from headlining Glastonbury to irking Peter Kay at the Brit Awards. But, of course, there is an elephant in the room that we can’t help but mention before we start…

Was the recent conflict within Oasis a good thing?
Oasis ran its course. We stepped over that fine line. People in the band grew up and went different ways. He [Noel] wanted to be a certain way and I wanted to be another. He wanted to chill a bit – our kid’s not rock’n’roll, mate… I am. I’m still going for it ’til the day I die, without a doubt.

What would you do if you saw Noel?
I don’t wanna see him. But if I see him, who knows what would happen? I’ll probably end up f*ckin’ leatherin’ him.

Noel seems like he is mates with Russell Brand now…
They’re a f*cking match. Who do they remind me of? You remember that old politician, the weird little b*stard with the wife that were dead tall… Neil Hamilton! That’s who they look like.

What did you think of Blur reforming?
Them gigs weren’t as good as our gigs. No way. But, they’re all right. They’re in it for the money, aren’t they? The f*ckers. You won’t catch Oasis reforming, y’know. Never.