Remember Tony McCarroll, one time Oasis drummer?

[max_tranmere]

I was in HMV yesterday and I saw that he has written a book, an account of life behind the scenes in one of Britains biggest ever bands - the feuding, the booze and drugs, and the trashing of hotel rooms - but what I think will be most interesting is what went on behind the scenes leading up to him being sacked by Noel Gallagher. McCarroll was in the band in the early days before they were famous, during the whole of the 'Definately Maybe' period and about half of the 'Morning Glory' period of the band aswell. It was always said that Noel Gallagher didn't like him and then sacked him, but the detail of what happened arond that will be the most interesting to read I think. Are there any other Oasis fans on here, who might buy this book? You can get it here:

[Meatus]

Yeah i read a bit about it in the paper,

it had an interview with McCarroll and some extracts.......

apparantly he says it was Noel's idea to control the band from the beginning. He sais Noel and him became mates when they were younger and Noel was a Glue sniffer. Said it was him and Guigsy who started the band with another bloke as singer. Then they got Bonehead in before the original singer left. Thats when Liam joined. They were called The Rain then. Liam said he didn't like the name and they should be called Oasis. The others disagreed and he said they wouldn't be called The Rain anymore so did any of them have a better name than Oasis? They said they didn't and Liam said right then we are Oasis now. They played there first gig and Noel was in the crowd and after the gig he said Noel told Liam that they were 'Fucking Shit' but if he let him join he could make them great. Liam then sacked Guigsy and Noel was made Bass Player. It is here McCarroll said he told Liam that he wasn't having it, that it was Guigsy who started the band and it wasn't right. He said that Liam backed down and apologised and said he was right. Which McCarroll said he was surprised about because he would usually not back down and stand his corner over everything. It was then agreed that Guigsy would rejoin and Noel would Join as Lead Guitarist.

It is here that McCarroll said that Noel started taking over the band. Making them rehearse more and adding his songs into the setlist till eventually they played all Noel songs. Hhe said that when he signed his contract with Creation he turned up drunk and just signed it. It was only after Bonehead had told him he shouldn't have signed it and he was finished he actually read it. McCarroll claims that the contract states that the name Oasis and all rights to it belonged to the Gallagher brothers and that Oasis were Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher, Paul McGuigan and Paul McArthur. He claims he was on the contract as a session player and that all their names were printed out on the contract and his was added in Biro. He said from that moment on things changed and Noel took over the band. Orchestrated fights with Liam so they would make the papers and then sacked him. He said he never had any fall out with Noel and no fight with him. He said Noel just wanted to take control of the band and make it his own and that he wanted to show his authority to the others. And thats why he got sacked.

He claim's that Noel just 'invented' that he was a poor drummer to say to the press and he has had to live with that insult to his chosen craft all this time. But he was and is a good drummer and that he just loves playing music. Sounds all very tame considering what we have been led to believe?

[max_tranmere]

Thanks for that. Very interesting. I have heard many times about how Noel and Liam were basically the band and the others were more in the background. Noel does come over as a control freak, however him taking it very seriuosly and making them rehearse more and demanding the others devote a lot of time to the operation was probably one of the reasons for their success. A lot of people in bands are just fair-weather enthusiasts who aren't willing to make sacrifices for it and that is why many bands dont make it. Noel ran it like a military machine, and huge success followed.

I remember when Oasis were on the eve of their third period - the 'Be Here Now' phase. Towards the end of the previous period, 'Morning Glory', they had done Knebworth and were absolutely massive. There was a TV documenatry about them just before 'Be Here Now' came out which the then (1997) incarnation of the band were all exclusively interviewed for. At one point in the programme Noel and Liam were in a car being driven around their old haunts in Burnage, Manchester. I recall, when in the car and taking about the early days, Noel referred to "you (Liam), myself, Bonehead, Guiggs, and the other bloke". McCarroll had left about a year and a half earlier and been replaced by Alan White and you could see from how Noel was talking here that he did not think highly of McCarroll - refusing to even use his name.

I remember McCaroll took them to Court some time later and got, if I remember rightly, about ?400,000 out of them for unfair dismissal and was very chuffed when he got it. The news film of him arriving at Court showed someone very differnt from 'Tony McCarroll - the rock star of old'. There stood a largely unremarkable man in a suit with nice hair. Very differnt from the rocker of old. I think they said in the news report of the Court case that he worked at a music school up north or something.

[Meatus]

yeah it covers that in the book to.

He sued them for ?18 Million in unpaid royalties, unfair dismissal and character defamation. And from what i had heard at the time he had a very good chance of winning the case. Then at the last minute he accepted a settlement from Noel for ?600,000 and that was it. He said it wasn't about the money and it was about clearing up the fact that he had been made out to be a poor drummer, but Noel had said he wasn't when offering the settlement. But i have never heard Noel publicly, before or after the court hearing ever apologising to McCarroll or saying he was a competent drummer.

The case was around 'The Standing On The Shoulders of Giants' faze of the band and Bonehead & Guigsy had just quit the band! And after he accepted the settlement McCarroll had said that since he had been sacked from the band he had been learning Bass & he was offering his services to the band as Bass Player replacing Guigsy. The guy sounds as if he is on another planet!

Somehow i think there is much more to the story that McCarroll or Noel will ever let on!

[max_tranmere]

I remember when he, along with huge numbers of other people, wanted to join Oasis as the new bass player following Guigg's quitting. Quite how he though they would want him, after he fell out with them and was dismissed, is beyond me. Quite why he would even want to go back is something I also don't understand.

I read a book called 'The Last Party' about the rise and fall of Britpop. I highly recommend it, it is one of the most detailed books on anything I have ever read. Written by John Harris, a former NME journalist. One of thousands of things discussed in the book was how Tony McCarroll was at the very bottom of the pecking order to do with Oasis and their staff.

A music promoter who toured with Oasis says in the book that "someone always gets it [namely gets bullied] when a band is touring. Tony McCarroll was so low in the food chain that not only did he get bulllied by the rest of the band, he even got it from the crew". Basically McCarroll was viewed as a junior, largely insignificant, nobody.

This promoter guy said that the pecking-order of Oasis back then was: Noel (top man), Liam, Marcus Russell (their manager), Bonehead & Guigg's (jointly), the tour manager, the crew, then (last and certainly least) Tony McCarroll.

It is a shame really because I hate hearing about people being bullied. I've had it a bit myself during my life and it angers me to hear about that. McCarroll should have just said "f*ck you" and left if he was having a hard time from the others.

[Meatus]

I know who John Harris is, but i haven't read the book. Is it worth checking out.

The whole Britpop thing gets a bit of a bad press now, which i think is unfair. The fact they gave it a name and tried to label it and pigeonhole the bands was its downfall. But at the end of the day lads (and gals) strapped on their guitars and got playing again. And there was some really good bands and songs. The problem was that bands got signed who weren't very good because they sounded 'Britpoppy' and had a pudding bowl haircut!

I hope this doesn't start a lot of angry replies but since its only me and you Max thats posted here, i doubt it. I'm not a drummer and never have been. But i've been in a few bands and McCarroll doesn't sound that bad! 'Definitely Maybe' is the bands best album, and the drums sound fine. As far as i can tell there not hidden low in the mix and they really rock. The B-Sides of that era too which McCarroll plays on all sound perfectly ok to me as does 'Some Might Say', the last track he played on. Maybe we can get a drummers view on his technique and proficiency?

[max_tranmere]

People regard Britpop as having started in an embryonic form with the release of Blur's second album 'Modern Life Is Rubbish', Suede becoming the darlings of the pres,s and several other British 'indie' bands rising to the fore that year - 1993. It was the death of Kurt Cobain from Nirvana in 1994, the release of Blur's 'Parklife' album, and Oasis appearing and the release of their debut 'Definately Maybe', that really established the Britpop scene in earnest the following year -1994.

The scene is viewed as having ended in late-1997 or sometime in 1998. When the excitement and the realness that the music had began to go, things becoming stale, Oasis's third album 'Be Here Now' being regarded as crap, and Blur - having lost to Oasis in their fight to be Britain's biggest band and Blur starting to release low-fi non-commercial albums - those were the deathnails of the movement.

I always look back favourably on that movement and those times. I was in my 20's then and Camden Town in London, or Soho in central London, had a really exciting vibe and feel to them if you were out there on a Friday or Satuday night. That period was desrcibed by many as the best party London had had since the Summer Of Love in 1967 (before my time), even better than the punk period. There were regular parties going on in London during that Britpop period and it really was the place to be if you were young.

I wonder what the next 'scene' will be, when it will be, who will be involved and how it will start. London has not had that many 'scenes' going on over the years, but there have been some: The Summer Of Love in 1967, Punk in 1976 and 1977, and Britpop from about 1994 to about 1998.

Another thing Britpop did was make it ok to fly a flag and not be called racist or xenophobic, be into British cuture, celebrate it and so on. The appearance of Tony Blair as Labour leader in 1994 and 'Cool Britannia' had a lot to do with that too. I've become quite nostalgic about all of it just typing this, I might have to go and visit some of the places I frequented in those days - a trip down memory lane.

You can buy John Harris's book 'The Last Party' here:

[Jonone]

People who were at places like Shoom in the mid/late 80s will tell you that was the best party since the 60s.

[max_tranmere]

Jonone, for 'party' I mean 'scene'. I mentioned 'parties' in my last comment, like one round at people's houses, but most of the use of the term 'party' I've made in these comments on here refer to a general youth scene and the whole vibe that is going on within a city or nation at any given time.

It's interesting that you refer to a venue, Shoom, I had not heard of it but I just looked it up and found the following:

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

" Danny Rampling is a British House Music DJ and is widely credited as one of the original founders of the UK's rave/club scene[citation needed]. His long career began in the early 1980s playing hip-hop, soul and funk around numerous bars and clubs in London. During a holiday in Ibiza in 1987, Rampling, along with fellow DJs Paul Oakenfold and Nicky Holloway, attended Amnesia, a then open air nightclub in San Rafael. At the club the group were introduced to the unique eclectic style of DJ Alfredo, playing, among other genres, the new house music that had been exported from the USA. The group also discovered the music's powerful combination with the drug Ecstasy,(MDMA)[1] that reduced inhibitions and created a sense of oneness on the dance floor. Upon his return to England, Rampling, along with his then wife, Jenny, attempted to recreate the Ibizan experience by promoting what is regarded as the UK's first Balearic rave club, Shoom.[2] Shoom ran for three years, starting out at a gym in Southwark, London. It was a launching point for acid house culture[citation needed], while contributing to worldwide dance culture. "

Often one venue is the start of something, there was a place on Oxford Street called Syndrome in about 1991/92 where numerous up and coming British bands used to play, hang out, and drink lager. I only heard about it when I read the book 'The Last Party', which I mentioned previously. This place can be described as ground-zero for the Britpop movement.