The supergroup Noel Gallagher always wanted to put together: “It would be a blast”
The idea of a supergroup is usually a death sentence for any band trying to become the second coming of Cream of The Traveling Wilburys. Those kinds of acts only get together on the rarest of occasions, and when you have to try to create artificial lightning in a bottle, there’s a good chance that every fan is going to see exactly what you’re doing and try to put a stop to it immediately or outright ignore it. It’s not easy to face that kind of rejection, but Noel Gallagher may have a decent English rock outfit on his hands with his dream supergroup.
Granted, Noel was never one to talk about the vast intricacies of how he came up with a chord for one section of an Oasis song or how to build the perfect verse over time. He was always acting on instinct and drawing from his personal musical heroes, but it was no use trying to outright copy any of them on his records.
His music had to speak to people on a deep level, and that meant writing about the truths of life, whether that’s him being on the dole and wishing for better things on ‘Rock n’ Roll Star’ or assuring himself that everything would be alright on ‘Live Forever’. If there were ever a John Lennon to his Paul McCartney, it was bound to be Paul Weller of The Jam.
Weller had indirectly started the Britpop movement with his solo career, and his habit of putting out spectacular music as B-sides probably explained why Noel put anyone else’s greatest hit out as the flipside of tracks like ‘Wonderwall’. While it would be hard to live without Liam’s trademark snarl in a supergroup, Noel figured that he, Weller, and Johnny Marr from The Smiths could do just as well as Oasis.
When talking about the prospect of musical forces joining together, Noel thought that having a huge band around him would be ideal for him, saying, “Me, Johnny Marr, Paul Weller – one album and a tour would be a blast. Asia was the last one, someone shite. Paul Weller singing and playing keyboards, me playing rhythm guitar, Johnny on lead guitar. Drums and bass? Reni from The Roses on drums.”
Although that lineup would seem near impossible today with every one of them embroiled in their respective bands, it’s not like it’s implausible. Weller had already contributed to ‘Champagne Supernova’ on What’s the Story Morning Glory, and given Marr’s constant appearances on Noel’s High Flying Birds albums, it seems like everyone would at least be interested in giving it a go.
That being said, that one album deal that Noel talked about might be the only way for them to get that kind of music out of their system. It’s one thing to try to jam with your friends on a bunch of cover tunes, but this idea feels like the inverse of what Liam Gallagher did when he teamed up with John Squire for an album.
Despite the massive audiences that would come out in droves to see this imaginary supergroup, Noel wouldn’t put this together for the money. It was about the joy of making music, and with Weller and Marr behind him, any tour of this magnitude would be like watching songwriting experts slowly create magic out of nothing.
