Sibling Rivalry: Noel Gallagher’s journey from Oasis to the High Flying Birds

It’s been a bitter two years and two months since a back stage scuffle and a broken guitar caused Noel Gallagher to quit Oasis. It had been a tumultuous twenty-year career full of highs, lows and near continuous infighting, but many assumed the Gallaghers would be a permanent fixture on the British music scene, after all, what could Liam do to drive away his elder brother that he hadn’t already done?

Noel had outlasted the entire original lineup (outside Liam), resisting a decade’s worth of calls for a solo album in the process, suffering any number of indignities at the hands of his kin in the process. Perhaps outwardly cool and confident the elder brother secretly doubted himself. He may have had good reason, Liam, while the band’s junior partner as a writer and composer, embodied the character and drive of the band. He had the swagger, and never was his importance more keenly felt than in his absence.

In what must have been a crushing moment for Noel, at the height of the band’s fame, Liam decided to go house shopping, missing the band’s pivotal 1996 US tour. America was there for the taking, but without Liam the band appeared to lack its customary edge and energy, and Oasis soon fell from superstardom in the States, where they would never again enjoy a platinum or even gold LP. If that wasn’t bad enough, Liam was forced to miss the band’s MTV Unplugged appearance, citing a saw throat, but still found the strength to heckle the solo Noel from the crowd.

Whatever the case, after a year of stoic silence (by Gallagher standards) the arrival of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds was announced. Speculation was rife, as the second chapter of the Gallagher rivalry was set to reach its conclusion. Could Noel top Liam, what would Noel’s new record sound like and did he have anything left to offer after Oasis’ long and depressing decline?

Liam, naturally enough, had to have the first word, and the second, and the third, and fourth, and so on. Striking out alone almost immediately with the remnants of Oasis and launching a full-scale assault on Noel in the process.

First things first, before Liam could get round to recording a new album, or even coming up with a new band name, he launched into a series of attacks on his elder brother intermixed with his boastful braggadocio. Having ditched the Oasis name, which he declared “shit” saying he was glad to see “the back off it”, he set about launching his new project, Beady Eye.

After building up some critical goodwill with a series of surprisingly passable singles, the singer managed to once again sour the mood at The Brit Awards. When Liam went to accept the award for Best British Album Of The Last Thirty Years won by What’s The Story? (Morning Glory), an album written entirely by Noel, where he thanked each member of the original band, except Noel, before tactfully throwing the microphone into the audience.

On the 28th February Beady Eye’s Different Gear, Still Speeding was released to a mix of middling and negative reviews, and  some mild commercial success (the album has recently gone Gold in the UK). While it was certainly an improvement on Liam’s worst work (“Little James”) it failed to live up to the promise of arguably Oasis’s last great single “I’m Outta Time”, and was weighed down by a whole host of derivate Beatles and The Who imitations.

Not to be deterred 2001 saw the band took to the road for a series of well-received low-key rock and roll shows. Based more on reputation than actual tangible success Beady Eye were afforded huge slots at both Isle Of Wight and Reading Festival where they duly flopped, as the band’s new material struggled to hold the attention of larger audiences who quickly began cat calling for Oasis material.