Liam Gallagher has been opening up about his forthcoming album with new BFF John Squire, as well as teasing details of a series of forthcoming gigs.
“There’s 10 [songs] on the album, but we’ve done eight,” he told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “We demoed eight of them in John’s studio and then John done another two songs and we recorded them for the first time. Sang them for the first time out in America in LA.”
He also revealed that the creative process hadn’t yet extended to coming up with a name for the LP he previously described as “the best record since Revolver.”
“It hasn’t got a title as such,” he said. “It’s just Liam and John, like Liam Gallagher and John Squire, really.”
The first single by Liam Gallagher and John Squire was released on January 5.
The Mancunian supergroup’s first single together, “Just Another Rainbow” was released today (Jan. 5) to a predictably rapturous reception from fans of Oasis and the Stone Roses… and an equally predictably less-rapturous reception from those who would have preferred both men had retired after the demise of their former groups.
The true verdict lies more with the “yays” than the “nays”: slated as one of Q’s “Most Anticipated Music of 2024” picks, the single plays to both men’s strengths, with Squire’s swirling, psychedelic guitar lines especially prominent, and reminiscent of the best of anything he’s done since The Second Coming. Just in case you’ve somehow missed it, you can listen below.
Perhaps (even) more excitingly, Gallagher also announced that the pair will not be limiting their collaboration to the studio – and that as well as his planned Definitely Maybe dates in June, he and Squire plan to take to the road together.
“Yeah, we’re going out on tour,” he said. “We’re going to go and do some gigs, see what happens, and try to inspire people and make people happy. That’s it really. And then do another one.
“We’ve got a bass player, we’ve got a drummer, we’ve got a keyboard player on hold. We’re going to try and tackle it without a keyboard player [or] piano player and give it a bit of b***ocks, mate. A bit of rawness to it, but if it needs it, it needs it.”
John Squire, giving it a bit of b***ocks, mate.
Liam has previously spoken about his lasting admiration for the guitarist, after first hearing the Stone Roses as a teenager.
“I remember around that time, in 1989 or whatever, just sitting in the park, long hot summers, that music was like another dimension,” Liam told NME Gold, as reported in 2017. “I remember seeing them at Blackpool, Spike Island, and it was just… it’s youth, innit – you look back and nothing will ever compare to it.”
For his part, John Squire – who after the (second) split of the Stone Roses in 2017 has mostly remained out of the musical limelight – also recently sang the praises of the former Oasis singer.
“Liam Gallagher is one of the all-time great rock ‘n’ roll voices,” he said, when news of their collaboration first broke. “I put him in the same class as Dylan, Lennon, Jagger and Rotten.”
