Oasis legend Noel Gallagher is set to make a return to his hometown next year with a brand new High Flying Bird’s album.
The famous Mancunian will embark on a six-date arena tour early in 2015 and will be stopping off at the Phones 4U Arena on March 9.
The album, which is set for release on March 2 2015, is titled ‘Chasing Yesterday’ and features a collaboration track with fellow Mancunian and Smiths Legend Jonny Marr.
Leading single, In the Heat of the Moment, was revealed yesterday during a live Facebook Q&A session in London, along with details of the new album.
Speaking about the album, Noel insists it is a different kind of record this time around and will keep his legion of fans guessing.
“You could take two particular tracks and think ‘fucking hell, he’s gone insane what has he done there?’. And then you could take another two tracks and say it sounds like a rock ‘n roll album,” said Noel.
“Another two different tracks sound a bit disco. It’s very eclectic and I don’t think it’s one kind of thing or another. I think it’s great though.”
And Noel has pledged to avoid following in the footsteps of Irish rockers U2 by releasing the album for free on iTunes after the move resulted in a PR disaster for Bono and co.
But the Rock ‘N’ Roll Star has had more trouble with just naming the album – and he admits Chasing Yesterday is essentially meaningless.
“It basically means it hasn’t got a name,” Noel Gallagher quipped when he was quizzed about the origins of his latest LP’s rather whimsical title.
“Is it great? Of course it is. What does it mean? It doesn’t mean anything. Will you love it? Of course you will.”
The exciting news comes three years after the release of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds debut album which featured tracks If I Had a Gun, Dream On and The Death of You and Me.
And Noel insists that this album could break his two-album hoodoo after a mixed track record in the past.
“The second time around you’ve kind of seen it all and you know what you’re gonna go up against,” he told the crowd at Facebook’s London headquarters.
“I’ve never really been involved in two really successful albums in a row after Definitely Maybe and (What’s The Story?) Morning Glory cos’ we kind of blew the one after that.
“But when you know what your audience is and what you need to do then it’s different – and hopefully easier.”
Chasing Yesterday also marks Gallagher’s first self-produced product and he admitted that it was an alien experience.
“I didn’t enjoy it to be fair,” he said.
“I went to four producers in the end and for whatever reason they didn’t want to do it.
“They’d say it was already finished – and producers want to get involved from the ground up.
“So it was kind of a case of starting again with it to be honest. But I didn’t really enjoy the freedom of it.
“I’m used to sitting in a studio and asking people ‘so what are we doing today?’ – not being in charge.
“The end product is great, but it was a pain in the arse.”
Gallagher also maintained that he had no plans to change the name of the band, like he had originally planned.
“My plan was to change it with every album, but that sounds pretty cool and it took me so long to come up with it that I thought fucking hell, I’m not coming up with anything else,” the life-long Manchester City fan confessed.
“I finished it [the album] months ago – the day after the world cup final actually.
“I got really restless after the end of the last tour – I got bored and started it early so I’ve actually been sat on it for a while.”
And Gallagher did confirm that he would be interested in playing at Glastonbury festival next summer, if the chance were to arise – but not as former outfit Oasis.
“If it I was asked, yeah. I’ll headline the spoken word tent, anything,” he added.
“I was there this year, all three days, but I didn’t see a single fucking band – I watched it all on BBC iPlayer when I got home.
“It was brilliant. I clapped Lars [Ulrich of Metallica] on stage and as much as I love him – I’ve known him for about 20 years – after about 30 seconds it dawned on me, fuck, this is heavy metal!
“And we went off to go to some acid house tent and relive our youth. But yeah, if you’re watching, Michael Eavis, I’ll do it.”
“We [Oasis] never really got on with [Glastonbury].
“I don’t know why. The time that we did it when we should have been great was the first year we headlined it [1995].
“But we’d just come out of the studio from making What’s the Story? (Morning Glory) and decided – it was fucking suicide – to play six tracks off of it that no one had heard
“I remember playing Don’t Look Back In Anger for the first time to silence – the only time that ever happened. But I’d be up for doing it again.”
The 47-year-old, who was raised in Burnage, enjoyed huge success in the 90s as one-fifth of the band Oasis whose debut album, Definitely Maybe, marked the beginning of Britpop’s, and the band’s, rise to fame.
The Gallagher brothers featured regularly in tabloid newspapers for their sibling disputes and wild lifestyles but in 2009 Noel announced he had left the band following a final spat with Liam, which sparked a five-year family feud.
The songwriter’s second High Flying Bird’s album will come 20 years since the release of Oasis’ 1995 smash hit album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?.
Full Chasing Yesterday track-list
1. Riverman
2. In The Heat Of The Moment
3. The Girl With X-Ray Eyes
4. Lock All The Doors
5. The Dying Of The Light
6. The Right Stuff
7. While The Song Remains The Same
8. The Mexican
9. You Know We Can’t Go Back
10. Ballad Of The Mighty I
Image courtesy of Facebook with thanks
