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Departed guitarist speaks about band’s legacy

Former Oasis guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs has said that he believes the band should have quit after they played their two shows at Knebworth in 1996.

The Manchester band played in front of a combined audience of 250,000 at the two huge outdoor shows on August 10 and 11 that year – with Bonehead (who was still in the band at the time) saying it would have been a suitable point to end their career.

“I always thought we should have bowed out at Knebworth,” he told the Guardian G2. “Walking out on that stage is a feeling I can’t explain: a sea of people. Big!”

Speaking about why he left the band in 1999, he added: “It was the best job in the world but by the time we recorded [1999 album] ‘Standing On The Shoulder of Giants’ it wasn’t enjoyable. My daughter was two days old and I was jumping on a flight. We’d made our money. We had big cars. We were renting out Christian Dior‘s mansion in France. That should have been fun, but it wasn’t. Liam [Gallagher, singer] was on a drinking ban and I wasn’t helping by not sticking to it. [Liam's brother, guitarist] Noel had his own problems.”

Arthurs said he would not re-join the band, but would be interested in playing with them live.

“I’d never rejoin them,” he asserted. “Not that I’d be asked. But for one gig? Absolutely. I still know the chords to ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star’.”

Oasis are set to kick off a series of three gigs at Manchester‘s Heaton Park on Thursday (June 4), with Liam Gallagher recently saying he hoped they would surpass Knebworth in terms of quality.

Quelle: nme.com

Stars gather for five-year anniversary of the Clash man’s death

A tribute night to The Clash’s frontman Joe Strummer on the fifth anniversary of his death has been announced.

Taking place at London’s Brixton JAMM on December 22, ‘London Calling – Remembering Joe Strummer’ will feature musicians including Jamie T, Primal Scream bassist Mani, former Oasis member Bonehead and The Smiths’ Andy Rourke.

Organiser Geoff Martin said: “Myself and the guys who run the JAMM venue down in Brixton had been talking about doing an event to mark the fifth anniversary of Joe’s death. It’s really come together over the last few days; there’s just huge support for the initiative from right the way across the industry – a lot of artists want to get involved.”

Speaking to BBC 6Music, Martin explained that some special guests may turn up on the night: “The problem we’ve got is that it’s right on top of Christmas – there’s gonna be quite a few people who will be out of town, quite a few people who’ve made arrangements. But all I can say to people is ‘Watch this space’.”

Proceeds from the gig will go towards causes including the Strummerville Foundation and Rock Against Racism.

Quelle: nme.com

Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs

A £50,000 guitar collection owned by an ex-Oasis star is being sold by a legendary Manchester music store.

Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, a founding member of the million-selling band, is putting 14 instruments up for sale – including one of the earliest electric guitars made.

The instruments are on display in the window at Johnny Roadhouse Music, on Oxford Road, which has cult status among rock musicians.

Manager John Roadhouse said: “He rang us up to say that he was moving house and wanted to get rid of some guitars because he had stacks and stacks of them. We don’t get many guitars of this value.”

Authentic

Danny Bourassa, who is a guitar expert at the store and has worked with Oasis band members for more than a decade, said: “A lot of these guitars are desirable in their own right. The fact that they are owned by someone famous adds value and it gives them a definite history which proves that they are authentic.”

Many of the instruments were played on Oasis tracks and the band’s gigs. Staff are in talks with instrument brokers and specialist agencies to get the best price for the instruments.

One of the earliest electric guitars, a Gibson Les Paul 1952 Goldtop, could fetch £25,000. Among the others is a 1966 Rickenbacker 330 that was used for the band’s 1997 Be Here Now tour.

In the early 90s, Arthurs, now 39, founded a band called The Rain, which was renamed Oasis after brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher joined.

Since leaving the group in 1999, Arthurs has remained in the music industry, building a studio at his home and forming a band with Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke, formerly of The Smiths.

Quelle: manchesteronline.co.uk

A STAR-STUDDED celebrity auction organised by the Western Mail which has so far raised almost £17,000 for the victims of the Asian tsunami will be boosted further today thanks to another fantastic donation.

Former Oasis musician Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs has donated a gold disc he received for the band’s best-selling album.

The signed commemorative disc for (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? will go on sale on the auction website eBay today along with a five times platinum disc for the same album donated by Welsh producer Owen Morris.

The Manchester band, pictured right – which includes brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher – received a number of discs, along with producer Morris, due to the phenomenal success of the 1995 album, which sold 4.2 million copies in the UK alone.

It remains the second biggest British album in history, behind The Beatles’ 1967 hit Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which sold 4.5 million copies.

Bonehead, who has since left the band, has donated the gold disc he was presented with after more than 25,000 copies of the album were sold in Denmark.

He generously decided to support the Western Mail’s auction to raise funds for the victims of the Asian tsunami after hearing that Morris had handed over his five times platinum disc, which he received after the album sold more than 1.5 million copies in the UK.

The chart-topping album – the second released by Oasis – spawned some of their greatest hits, including Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova, Roll With It and Don’t Look Back in Anger.

And although they had already gained a string of fans following the release of their debut album, Definitely Maybe, it was this, their second album, which propelled them to the top of their profession and made them one of the biggest bands of the ’90s.

Morris, who is from Glyncorrwg, near Port Talbot, produced the album for Oasis, who are managed by Marcus Russell from Ebbw Vale.

Although his five times platinum disc is one of the greatest pieces of music memorabilia, he decided to donate it to the tsunami auction after being touched by the victims’ plight.

“I wanted to put the disc forward for auction in the hope that it will raise as much money as possible for the appeal,” said Morris, who now lives in Crickhowell and has worked with other top acts like Ash and The Verve.

“I’m working with Thailand’s biggest rock band Loso who have told me just how bad things really are in their country at the moment. The Oasis disc should raise quite a lot of money for the cause.”

After hearing about the auction through Morris, father-of-two Bonehead decided he also wanted to do his bit to help.

“Owen said he was donating a disc and I thought it was a great idea,” he said. “I would rather it was used to raise money than just left sitting on my wall. I’ve got others and all of the band’s work is on record for my children. I still feel shocked by what’s happened in Asia – it’s destroyed generations.”

To bid on this item please click on this link

Quelle: icwales.icnetwork.co.uk

Bonehead aka Paul Arthurs formerly of the mighty Oasis answers Poptones.co.uk’s QUESTIONS OF DOOM about Noel Gallagher, dodging dwarves on stage, Alan McGee, Oasis’ scariest fan, the tenth anniversary of Definitely Maybe, the life and times of Oasis, The Seers and the recent documentary DVD of Definitely Maybe.

Quelle: poptones.co.uk

To lose one band member is unfortunate, to lose three… The name remains the same, but the people around Oasis seem to just slide away. John Robinson surveys the casualty list.

Two out of five ain't bad: Whitey, Bonehead and Guigsy line up with the Gallaghers in 1996. Photo: David Sillitoe/Guardian

• Tony McCarroll

  Who? The band’s first drummer, apparently expelled for a combination of the following reasons: his shoddy drumming; his often-referenced “punch-up in Paris” with Liam Gallagher; his arguable resemblance to someone from the Merseyside area.
  What’s the story? The ousted McCarroll, buried by his bandmates in the Live Forever video, came back to haunt them. In 1999, after the departure of Guigsy and Bonehead, he even offered to rejoin as bass player. More seriously, that same year he was awarded ?550,000 in a one-off payment against future royalties, prompting one tabloid to ask, “Is this the most stupid man in showbiz?”
  And then? In 2000, he debuted a new band, Raika, formed with his brothers. “I’m not interested in all that being-seen-on-a-yacht-with-Kate-Moss-business,” he remarked. Which is probably just as well. Last sighted at the helm of another unsuccessful legal action.

• Alan McGee

  Who? Creation Records boss, who legendarily signed Oasis after seeing them at a gig in Glasgow.
  What’s the story? Escort to Noel when Britpop drinks were held at 10 Downing Street, the public image of McGee and Oasis was as a very tight unit indeed. By 1999, though, he was moving in less grand circles, hearing the playback of the Go Let It Out single in the company of the Belgian licensee. “I thought, ‘Fuck this for a game of soldiers’,” said McGee. Liam countered by accusing McGee of spending the label’s money signing “a load of dickheads”.
  And then? McGee sets up the Poptones label which, initial losses aside, had the prescience to license the Hives. Now manages the Libertines. Well, someone’s got to.

• Ian ‘Robbo’ Robertson

  Who? Ex-paratrooper bodyguard to the band. Wrote one of the first biographies of Oasis, called, as it would almost have to be, What’s The Story? It is weirdly filled with quotes from Proust and the like.
  What’s the story? Said eldest Gallagher brother, Paul: “Liam hated him after several incidents including being dragged out of bed one morning when he was entertaining, and being pushed up against the wall with no clothes on.”
  Who? Excuse me Liam, since you’re enjoying your evening out, would you mind if I took a… Ow! Not in the… OW!
  What’s the story? Liam Gallagher has enjoyed a turbulent relationship with the gang of long-lensed money-printers that comprise the professional photography community. In March 1998, he cut his teeth on an amateur, clouting a backpacker with a camera in Brisbane. By November he was brawling with snapper Mel Bouzad in London. After a quiet couple of years, in 2001 there was a tussle at a Black Crowes aftershow in New York, and an altercation with photographer John Lillington in London.
  And then? In the main the scales of justice have weighed Liam’s aggro leniently. It’s worth mentioning, though, that in 2001 he was voted Madame Tussaud’s “Most Hated And Feared Waxwork”, romping home ahead of Saddam Hussein.

• Scott McLeod

  Who? Former member of Oldham band the Ya Ya’s, fleetingly fancied in NME in 1993.
  What’s the story? The Oasis life had taken its toll on Paul McGuigan by 1995, resulting in a bout of nervous exhaustion. Or as the ever-sensitive Bonehead called it, his throwing “a crispy”. McLeod was drafted in, found it tough, then one morning, after a gig in Pittsburgh, left without warning on a plane back to England.
  And then? A couple of weeks later he phoned Noel to say he thought he’d made the wrong decision. “I think you have too,” said Noel. “Good luck signing on.”

• Alan White

  Who? Younger brother of Steve White, the longtime drummer with Paul Weller’s band, “Whitey” was Oasis drummer from (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? until the beginning of this year.
  What’s the story? At present, it’s hard to tell, with both parties tight-lipped about his departure. Whatever, the official explanation – White’s ongoing hand problems, which surfaced as early as 1999 – seems a bit insubstantial. Or as White has deemed it, “bullshit”.
  And then? One would imagine a lengthy legal wrangle. Always one to enjoy a drink on the town with Liam, White’s involvement in last year’s “German fiasco” (he was also detained by police) may be at the root of all this.

• Paul ‘Guigsy’ Guigan/ Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs

  Who? In a band led by two fighter aces, Guigsy and Bonehead were, as Peter Stringfellow memorably called them, “the tailgunners”. One a deadpan football fan and pothead. One a man who chased two souvenir hunters down the street in his wife’s nightie when they stole his doorknocker.
  What’s the story? The making of Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants seems to have been the final straw for these two. Recorded under a Noel-imposed, Liam-calming prohibition, the strains start to show. One night Bonehead gets extremely drunk, breaks down a door and then leaves. Guigs is not far behind.
  And then? Noel is unmoved. “It’s hardly Paul McCartney leaving the Beatles,” he says. Bonehead (singer/songwriterly stylings) and Guigsy (dub-influenced noodling) have since been looking for deals.

• Noel and Liam Gallagher

  Who? To the newspaper-reading public, “The Battling Gallagher Brothers”. To the rightly-enthused record-buying public, “the heart and soul of Oasis”.
  What’s the story? What began as the tale of a band’s breathtaking ascent to greatness quickly became the soap opera of this two. Fights. Some storming off-stage. Some ruined American tours. Two broken marriages. Though the pair have come through the last 10 years reasonably unscathed physically (until Liam’s altercation with some German estate agents, during which he lost two front teeth), they have their scars. The sole original members of the group, they are, as Noel has often said, “chained to each other”.
  And then? The saga continues. Having quickly become the rock’n'roll stars they aspired in their best songs to be, the appetite for greatness quickly evaporated, but Noel and Liam retain a magnetic power for audiences. Sometimes it’s like a car crash. Sometimes, though, it can still be magnificent.

Cast no shadow

A few did get out of the Oasis wars unscathed

• Richard Ashcroft
  Verve frontman, band chum, and inspiration for Cast No Shadow. Now writes songs about the missus, and lives happily ever after.
• Robbie Williams
  Feuds aside, “Robster” remains unharmed, not to mention the bigger draw. Sensibly moved to another country, mind.
• Matt Deighton
  Stand-in for Noel during brief fit of pique. In quick. Out quick. Sound judgment there from the former Acid Jazzer.
• Paul Weller
  Spiritual leader, guest artist, man of fine footwear. Still plays grumpily to large devotional assemblies of bellowing dads.
• Damon Albarn
  Didn’t like him much, did they? However, unlike other people we could mention, he still makes good records.

Oasis play Glastonbury on Friday

Quelle: guardian.co.uk

He was once a member of the biggest British rock band of the 90s, at their peak playing to 125,000 people at Knebworth. Next week Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs will be on stage with his new band The Seers in a Nottingham club that can hold just 150. He spoke to me about life after Oasis.

He may have only written the odd early Oasis tune but strumming a guitar earned Bonehead the riches one would expect from being in a rock ‘n’ roll band at the top of it’s game.

According to The Last Party, John Harris’s in-depth book on the britpop phenomenen, Bonehead even surprised himself with his swollen bank balance.

“I was out with a mate once and I said ‘Can we stop at a cash machine?’ I pressed ‘display balance’ and it said ‘Your balance is ?480,000′. He was like ‘Is that right?’ I said ‘Look at that! Check it out!’”

Sounds fanciful.

“It’s true,” laughs Bonehead. “We were going for a pint and I said ‘I’ll go to the cash machine’.

He siad ‘no, it’s all right – I’ll give you a sub’. I didn’t know what was in there but I said ‘no, it’s all right I’ll grab it out, we’re passing it anyway’.

“Of course, I looked and it was like ‘check this out!’. When we got in the pub the drinks were on Bonehead.”

If he did it now how much would it be?

“Well, I was £1,500 overdrawn last week but I sorted it out. Did a few transfers here and there. If I did it now I don’t know – I’d be all right put it that way.”

Seems he was sensible with the Oasis dollar and invested it “here and there”.

“I was too sensible actually but that all comes from having a sensible wife. If it was down to me I would have blown it.”

Still he has a “large” detached house in Bowden, Cheshire, and drives a Porsche Ferrara 4.

It was family responsibility – he has two children, aged 9 and 7 – that stopped him joining in with the Gallagher boys’ excesses with cocaine.

“Going on tour when your baby’s two days old – well you can’t. I never did it anyway. It was always alcohol for me.”

During 1999, after 8 years, he walked out of the band. “I’d taken it as far as I could. There was no fun in it anymore. The vibe in the camp was no one is enjoying it anymore and if there’s no fun then there’s no point in hanging around. I thought ‘get out now while the going’s good.’ I could have stayed and toured the album but I thought ‘well, do I want to?’

“when I left there were the phonecalls from other band members saying ‘don’t go’ and I was just like ‘no, but you lot carry on, have it’.”

Doesn’t he wish the band had felt the same and ground the Oasis machine to a halt for good to preserve the reputation?

“Not at all. I wished them the best. I still watch them very closely. And outside the band I am still their number one fan.”

Though he wont see them play.

“That’d be a bit close to the heart.”

After facing 250,000 over one weekend at Knebworth, eight years on he is playing clubs like Junktion 7 in Canning Circus, which holds 150 people.

That’s a comedown, surely?

“Not at all. I think I speak for everyone in Oasis here: After Knebworth, if we could have woken up the next morning and said ‘right, that’s it, let’s call it a day, we’ve reached the pinnacle, how far can you get?’ I’m sure they all would have agreed. But nobody said it.”

“That was certainly my thinking. You know, we’ve brought it further than i ever imagined it would go.”

Getting back in at base level, he says, is exciting.

“They were always the best gigs for me anyway when we started out. And we were sort of slipping about in a Transit van and doing the small gigs and trying to guage people’s reactions. It’s simply a case of going back to doing that again, which is great fun, you know.”

Liam Gallagher agrees.

Two weeks ago he turned up to watch The Seers playing at Alan McGee’s Notting Hill club Death Disco- which, like Junktion 7 can’t hold too many punters.

“He was at the back watching me and i was on stage watching him watching me. Afterwards he said ‘******** **** it’d be brilliant to do this’”.

He’s still matey with Liam but hasn’t seen Noel in two years.

“There’s no problem there I just don’t see him. I don’t really see Liam often. We never did anyway, we didn’t get on the phone every night. We’d see enough of each other.”

“Besides I live in Manchester and they’re in London so we don’t get the chance to bump into each other. Though i do see Alan (White, ex-Oasis drummer) and Guigsy (Paul McGiugan, ex-Oasis bassist)

After walking out of Oasis he had a couple of years off.

“I built a studio at my house and I was writing and recording. Just for myself really. I had no real plans for getting a band together but you get itchy fingers. It just got to the stage where I needed a vocalist. The band came together from there. It just sort of happened.”

The Seers includes Bonehead on guitar and backing vocals, Johnny Evans (former member of Happy Mondays offshoot Buffalo 66) on lead vocals and guitar, bassist Levi Damarell and ex-Ladytron and Bentley Rhythm Ace drummer Keith York.

“It’s a big guitar sound. Anthemic, melodic.”

Not a million miles from Oasis then?

“Not a million miles, no. But it’s different. We’ve set our own sound up.”

He adds “We’ll take the band as far as it will go. We have no grand plans for world domination or anything like that. We’ve got a single coming out in September on a small independant label in Manchester. We’re just going to get it out and tour it. Get people into it. Have some fun, you know.”

He concedes that trying to out-do Oasis would be a masterplan of gross stupidity.

“It can’t be done. That level of success was beyond all our wildest dreams.

“And i have to say I’ve got great memories. They were the best years of my life.”

Quelle: oa515.com – forum