Oasis: Battle of the brothers

Oasis feud deepens as Liam Gallagher goes to court.

LONDON:

The feud between Oasis rockers Noel and Liam Gallagher heated up after singer Liam issued a libel writ against his brother who claimed that a show was cancelled due to Liam’s drinking.

Liam, 38, called his older brother a “liar” and said accusations that the band pulled out of an appearance at 2009’s V Festival, due to his hangover, were a slur on his professionalism.

“I have taken action against Noel Gallagher’s statement,” Liam, now frontman of his own band Beady Eye, said in a statement published in The Sun newspaper.

“The truth is I had laryngitis, which Noel was made fully aware of. What Noel has alleged this time went beyond rock-and-roll banter and questioned my professionalism,” the fiery vocalist said. “I tried to resolve this amicably but have been left with no choice but legal action. All I want is an apology.”

On Thursday, Noel, 44, said that “every cloud” had a silver lining after hearing that Liam’s fashion shop in Manchester had been ransacked during the city’s riots.

Oasis split up in August, 2009 after the sibling tension, that provided much of the band’s creative impetus, finally exploded into an epic row before a festival show in Paris.

Noel walked out after the argument, marking the end of a band that had been in the vanguard of the ‘Britpop’ music movement of the mid-1990s.

Noel is now a solo artist while Liam’s new band released an earlier album this year.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2011.