Liam Gallagher says Noel threw him under the bus during Oasis split: "All my life caved in"

13 January 2024, 15:00 | Updated: 25 January 2024, 15:21

Liam Gallagher reminisces back on the Oasis split
Liam Gallagher reminisces back on the Oasis split. Picture: 1. Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage/Getty 2. Michel Linssen/Redferns/Getyy

By Jenny Mensah

The former Oasis frontman has opened up about the moment his brother Noel quit the band.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Liam Gallagher has described the time his brother Noel decided to leave Oasis as the moment his "life caved in".

The Britpop icon spoke to The Guardian with his fellow Manchester legend John Squire about their collaborative project, amid the release of their Just another Rainbow single.

Asked about the collapse of the band ahead of their 2009 Rock en Seine gig and asked if he'd do anything different, Liam responded: "Yes, I’d fill ’em both in,” referring to his estranged brother and the band's manager Marcus Russell.

"They threw me under the f***ing bus," he went on. "All my life caved in."

Liam went onto suggest that his aggressive behaviour was part and parcel of being in Oasis and he was made a scapegoat for Noel's desire to go solo.

"If you want to do your little thing because you’re not getting enough attention, feel free, mate. I’ll go to Barbados and sit on a beach for six months, but don’t be pulling the plug on the band. That’s the way I saw it."

At the time Noel shared a statement, which said "the level of verbal and violent intimidation towards me, my family, friends and comrades has become intolerable" and he later described the Paris incident “just the straw that broke the camel’s back".

However, Liam believes he'd never changed.

"That was my behaviour since day one, and his. That’s what made Oasis what it was,” he says. "I wasn’t any different, but all of a sudden, he’s turned into Ronan Keating or some soft c***, going: ‘We can’t have that behaviour.’"

Describing the five years after the split as an "absolute nightmare" he went on: "I was sitting at home with no management, no office, and no one to really speak to, while Noel was still walking into his big management office having everyone running around after him, getting smart and dissing people.

"Looking back with hindsight, you can go: ‘You’re a big boy’ and all that, but when you’ve had all that stuff for 20 years … I could barely tie my shoelace let alone run my business or my life. All that support was taken away, but little Noely G had it all still there.”

He added: “There were 40 or 50 people working for Oasis. All of a sudden, everyone was out of a job. Meanwhile, he’s off with his guitar and his wife, having a lovely time."

Asked if he'd ever spoken to Noel directly about the time, he replied: "No. There’s been no chat. I haven’t seen him, and we won’t see each other. They are up their own arses, all of them."

"I know I’ve been humbled," he adds. "And thank f*** for it because it’s made me a better person. But he’s not. He’s still going round thinking he’s the man, but we’ll see."

Bonehead on 30 years since Definitely Maybe