Noel Gallagher says rock music is too middle class for new Oasis to emerge

Noel Gallagher believes rock music has become the exclusive preserve of the middle class.

In a new interview with the Mirror, the former Oasis man doubted whether teenagers would have the means to start a band in the current climate.

“Where are the 14-year-olds in bands now?” asked Gallagher. “Working class kids can’t afford to do it now, because guitars are expensive, there’s no rehearsal rooms. They’ve all been turned into wine bars and flats. Four or five guys from a council estate can’t afford guitars.”

Having grown up on such an estate in Burnage, south Manchester, Oasis were a working class success story, the like of which Gallagher feels is no longer possible. He accused middle class bands of “wearing” guitars rather than playing them. He also used the interview to reflect on the enduring success of Oasis’ records, attributing it to his estranged brother Liam’s live setlists, which lean heavily on his old band’s catalogue.

Meanwhile, during his latest appearance on The Matt Morgan Podcast, Gallagher reflected once more on Oasis’ wild heyday, something he says is now firmly behind him. “When I was in the Nineties, I just didn’t give a f***,” he said. “I’d be up for a good 24 hours, you’d have not been to bed, and then you get a call saying, “The car will be there in 15 minutes”. “For what?” “It’s the f***ing Brit Awards”. 

“You’re like, “What? Today?”, he went on. “It’s now, you’ve got to go now because you’ve f***ing won something”. And you’d just do it, you wouldn’t think of it. Now, I would have a f***ing nervous breakdown at the thought of having to do it without two nights sleep.”

Liam will release his third solo full-length, ‘C’mon You Know’, in May, and has lined up a massive return to Knebworth for June as part of a UK stadium tour. Noel, on the other hand, had previously told Morgan that he had “given [himself] until 2023 off”, but has since announced a string of UK tour dates for this summer, in addition to a slot at Glastonbury – you can see them below.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, June 2022:

4 – Margam, In It Together Festival

9 – Newcastle, Rock ’n’ Roll Circus

11 – Dundee, Summer Sessions

12 – Staffordshire, Cannock Chase Forest

15 – Cornwall, Eden Project

16 – Cheshire, Delamere Forest

18 – Colwyn Bay, Stadiwm Eirias

19 – London, Kenwood House

21 – Halifax, The Piece Hall

22 – Bristol, Bristol Sounds