In the final issue of Total Guitar, the esteemed British guitar magazine is celebrating 30 years of history with an epic search through its sprawling archives. One of the highlights that has been unearthed is a classic interview with Noel Gallagher – where he discusses the time Oasis nearly had Johnny Marr as a second guitarist.
The interview dates back to a moment in time when the Britpop band were finishing work on their fourth album, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants.
During that interview at Wheeler End Studios, just outside London, Gallagher reflected on handling nearly all of the guitar and bass parts on the album due to the departure of two founding members: guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs and bassist Paul 'Guigsy' McGuigan. He also revealed how Smiths legend Johnny Marr had been ready to step in if needed.
“I never really wanted to play lead,” Gallagher admitted. “I’m more of a rhythm guitar player. That’s how I write.”
“Johnny Marr offered his services to the band. He said, ‘If you can’t find anyone I’ll step in for a while’. And we said, ‘Fine’. But then we recruited Gem [Archer]. Johnny was just gonna save us if we didn’t have anyone.”
Marr and the Gallagher brothers go way back. In addition to sharing the common thread of being from Manchester-Irish families, the veteran guitarist met Oasis when they were still relatively unknown.
As the story goes, Marr noticed they were taking a long time tuning between songs, so he loaned Noel a couple of his guitars, including a Les Paul previously owned by The Who's John Entwistle.
For Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, Gallagher continued the tradition of using Marr's guitars.
“I got this Les Paul from Johnny,” he said. “There were really modern pickups in it and I didn’t like it. So I tossed the pickups out, took some from another guitar, and put them in this.” He quipped, “It’s a better guitar now, so he’s not getting it back!”
Following the band’s much-hyped reunion announcement, a handful of Oasis guitars – including Noel’s Definitely Maybe Epiphone Les Paul – exceeded initial estimates at a recent Sotheby’s auction.
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