Liam Gallagher on deciding to work with John Squire: “The clothes said it all”
Liam Gallagher has discussed how he decided to collaborate with John Squire, saying that he knew it’d work as “the clothes said it all”.
The first taster of the project by the former Oasis frontman and Stone Roses guitarist arrived today (January 5) in the form of the debut single ‘Just Another Rainbow’.
The track was officially announced by the two last month after months of hype – including Gallagher describing the upcoming record as “the best record since [The Beatles’] ‘Revolver’”.
Now, the former Oasis icon has opened up about how the two began working together, and claimed that he knew they’d get on from the get-go.
“I had no doubt that they were going to be fucking cool. I had no doubt the music said it all. The clothes said it all, the attention to detail,” he told Zane Lowe in a new interview with Apple Music 1. “I knew there was going to be no clowns in that band. So it was easy. It was all about me, not acting like a c***.”
The genesis of the project began when Squire joined Gallagher onstage at Knebworth in 2022 to play on ‘Champagne Supernova’ – just as he did with Oasis in 1996. He later sent Gallagher three tracks.
Songs were put down at Squire’s studio in Macclesfield, before work with producer Greg Kurstin in Los Angeles. Kurstin also plays bass on the album, alongside drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M., Atoms For Peace).
Elaborating on how they knew each other before the project formed, Gallagher added: “John had played with us with Oasis and then, when we’ve met, we’ve gone on tour with the Seahorses and stuff, and I wouldn’t say we were mates, you know what I mean?”
“We sort of just knew each other. We were pleasant with each other and we’d seen each other and it was all, we had a bit of a shoe fetish going down. We always talk about shoes and where’d you get them from, blah, blah,” he recalled.
“And then going back to making these songs, I remember John just going, ‘Look, I’m back to writing songs and that again’, which made me happy regardless of me singing on [it] or anything. He’s doing songs again and playing the guitar and obviously plays everything, but so these songs come my way and I was double pleased to sing them. I love them.
“I think John’s a [censored] songwriter just equally as good as he is playing a guitar. And I’m sure people know that anyway, but it’s nice if more [censored] people get to know it.”
Reviewing the debut single, NME said: “The tune itself is the least shocking part of the endeavour – but that doesn’t make it any less intriguing.”
“‘Just Another Rainbow’ isn’t quite fan-service, but the duo are certainly playing to their strengths,” it added. “Liam’s vocals are full ‘Mind Games’-era Lennon, and Squire’s skills as a guitarist are given room to shine on a song that’s in a more familiar territory for the latter than the former. It’s a pleasure to hear Squire back on record at all, in fact.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Gallagher also revealed that he and Squire are in the process of planning some live gigs.
“We’ve got a bass player, we’ve got a drummer, we’ve got a keyboard player on hold and that if we need it. We’re going to try and tackle it without a keyboard player [or] piano player and give it a bit of bollocks, mate,” he said.
“A bit of rawness to it, but if it needs it, it needs it. But yeah, we’re going out on tour. We’re going to go and do some gigs, see what happens, and try to inspire people and make people happy. That’s it really. And then do another one.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
