“All my life caved in. I could barely tie my shoelace let alone run my business or my life": Liam Gallagher recalls the "absolute nightmare" of life after Oasis split

12 Jan 2024, 17:00 · louder

By Paul Brannigan
published 12 January 2024

Hoping for an Oasis reunion in 2024? Dream on

(Image credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

Liam Gallagher says that the years following the break-up of Oasis in 2009 were an "absolute nightmare" for him, telling The Guardian, "my life caved in."

Gallagher has launched a new project with former Stone Roses guitarist John Squire - their debut single Just Another Rainbow is set to enter the UK charts today, January 12 - but his memories of the break-up of the band with which he first made his mark in the music industry are still a source of irritation, 15 years on.

Oasis split in August 2009, when Noel Gallagher walked out of the band following a clash with his younger brother backstage at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris. "The level of verbal and violent intimidation towards me, my family, friends and comrades has become intolerable," the guitarist said in a statement issued after the incident. Looking back on the immediate aftermath of the split, Liam Gallagher now says that his brother and Oasis manager Marcus Russell "threw me under the fucking bus", adding, "All my life caved in."

Gallagher says that the years following the Manchester band's split were an "absolute nightmare" for him on a personal and professional level.

"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."

Looking back, Gallagher does see some positives that came after the split, but he's clearly still in no mood to build bridges with his brother. Anyone hoping that the 30th anniversary of the release of the band's debut album Definitely Maybe might see the brothers come together again would be advised not to hold their breath.

"There’s been no chat," Liam insists. "I haven’t seen him, and we won’t see each other."

"I know I’ve been humbled," he says. "And thank fuck 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.”

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Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

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