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A QUICK perusal of the home page of this site will tell you that the simian features of Liam Gallagher adorn this month’s cover. Scarily, it has been 10 years since the furore that surrounded the release of Oasis’s Be Here Now album reached a fever pitch, and then quickly abated when the hundreds of thousands of folk who’d bought it on the day of release determined it was a hubristic, overblown mess. Be Here Now signalled the end of Britpop, the end too of an era when one could sell markedly more magazines simply by referring to the ‘Brit’ word. Cheers, Oasis.

We tell the Be Here Now story this month. It’s a cracker. If nothing else, it re-enforces the fact that Oasis were – and remain – among the last of a dying breed: proper rock stars. They glorify in their success, apologise to no one for it, and forever run the risk of flushing it all away. Monstrous egos, ridiculous excess, grand delusions and the shovelling of vast quantities of Columbian marching powder up their collective beaks are indelible parts of their story. And you don’t get that with The Killers or the Kaiser Chiefs.

Q has had a sometimes rocky, but always fruitful relationship with the Brothers Gallagher and whoever else has comprised their band over the years. They’ve graced and – praise be – sold our cover many, many times. They’ve brought the Q Awards to life equally often. Liam Gallagher was, memorably, arrested after one such afternoon drinking in our company.

On another Q Awards occasion, fortified no doubt by the copious bottles of free plonk on his table and having been to the toilet more times than is seemly (perhaps he suffers from a weak bladder), Liam directed his considerable ire at Chris Martin, entering a new term of abuse into the lexicon in the process: “Plant pot!” he roared at Coldplay’s hapless frontman as the latter attempted to give an acceptance speech. Like much that issues forth from Gallagher Jr’s mouth, one could only guess at its meaning, but you had to laugh.

And therein lies the essence of Oasis. Notwithstanding the eternal appeal of their everyman anthems, by God they’re funny. Noel and Liam, that is. Lovely fellas though Gem, Guigsy et al no doubt are and have been, there’s little evidence to suggest that you’d need a change of underwear after an hour in their company. By contrast I once spent a thoroughly entertaining hour in Liam and Noel’s presence during an Oasis photo shoot for Q. Together, they’re a terrific comic double act.

On that afternoon, Noel greeted his scowling brother with a cheery “Hello Happy!:”. “Fook off,” replied Liam, whilst performing the most outrageously exaggerated ‘monkey walk’. Girls Aloud arrived as Liam was having his picture taken. Noel convinced them to shout “Wanker!” at his younger sibling throughout the session. Liam spoke but five words to me. They were, “Who the fuck are you?” He is everything you’d expect him to be. Noel, I find, is more so. He’s an effortlessly funny man, but a smart one too. I think he’s hugely impressive.

So... let me further recommend that Be Here Now feature to you now, Should that spark a yearning for more Oasis tomfoolery, let me direct you too to another of Q’s Oasis cover features, from 2005, around the time of the release of Don’t Believe The Truth. It’s by Michael Odell, and to my mind remains the best, and most entertaining piece written on the band. The man Odell has certainly dined out on it ever since.

As for the rest of this month’s issue? Well, I think it’s a good one – it is home to Kaiser Chiefs and Mika, ‘80s pop starlet Debbie Gibson too, and a free quiz book (question 1107 is a bugger), after all – but I couldn’t tell you much about the process of compiling it. For, while the rest of the Q team were doggedly piecing it together, long-suffering Art Director Mark Taylor and myself were locked in a dank dungeon deep within the bowels of Q HQ (more accurately referred to as the 4th Floor Green Room) redesigning and reinventing Q. We’re quite partial to that sort of thing. We’re pretty pleased with the results, but you can judge them for yourself next month.

Until then, enjoy this issue. Please, let me know what you think of it. And if there is anything else Q-related you’d like to get off your chest and/or ask, then post here and I’ll be delighted to get back to you.

Till next time...

Paul Rees
Editor, Q

9:51 AM | 26/04/2007