COVER STORY
Liam Gallagher
is nearly 50, but
slowing down and
reflecting on his
wild days hasn’t
stopped him baiting
his brother Noel —
and stoking hopes
of an Oasis reunion
DAN CAIRNS
INTERVIEW
T
o avoid filling this article with
the asterisks The Sunday Times
uses to denote swear words, it
will help if you assume that
every fifth or sixth word from
Liam Gallagher’s mouth during
the hour I spent with him began with
an F. Only the American singer Kelis has
come close for potty-mouthed prolixity
in my two decades of interviewing
music stars.
In other respects, though, Gallagher
has mellowed. At a restaurant near his
home in Highgate, north London, the
former (and, definitely maybe, future)
Oasis frontman sips a cappuccino
with no sugar. He may just be back
from a sun break he describes as such
a heavy “seven-day bender” that he
needs another holiday, but the days of
dedicated, 24/7 hedonism are over.
The star once synonymous with chaos
and carnage reaches his half-century
in September — and readily admits
that he can’t hack it any more.
“That voice [in my head], which
used to be very distant, saying,
‘Go to bed. You’re not going out
tonight,’ is now very loud.
Years ago it would have been
like,” he says, cupping his ear:
“‘You what? I beg your f***ing
pardon?’ These days it’s, ‘Chill
out. You’ve had your share.’
And I’m listening to that voice
a lot more... I don’t want to
feel shit any more. Or break
any more hearts. I’m nearly
50, I want to have good times,
not shit times. I’d love to get off
my tits all the time, but I can’thandle it. And bills have to be paid.”
He is, he says, increasingly aware of
the destruction his past behaviour left
in its wake. Two marriages — to the
actress and singer Patsy Kensit in 1997,
to All Saints’ Nicole Appleton in 2008
— and two divorces; infidelities; four
children, one of whom Gallagher
met for the first time when she was 19;
hefty alimony payments; his continuing
feud with elder brother Noel. Things
had to change. “I’ve been humbled,
I’ve lost a few things, marriage break-
ups and all that. You’ve just got to look
in the mirror and remember that.
There’s things I’m not proud of,
I’ve messed up and done
some stupid stuff.”
Gallagher’s success as a
solo artist may not have
silenced the clamour for
an Oasis reunion, but it’s
clearly given the singer a
confidence boost. He isOn the No 10 parties
‘You can imagine
Putin sitting there
thinking, “Call that
a party? Abba and
a cheeseboard?” ’
On Noel
‘It’s like
he’s been
abducted’
On his
new album‘It’s a bit
peculiar in
places, which
is good’
I THOUgHT wE’d dO
SIMONE JOYNER /GETTY IMAGES4 13 February 2022