Noel Gallagher enjoys the freedom he now has as a solo star – because he doesn’t have to work with "record label f***ers".
The 48-year-old rocker has released his two albums following the demise of mega-band Oasis in 2009 on his own Sour Mash Records label, which means he has had to fund ‘Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ and ‘Chasing Yesterday’ himself and has earned less cash through sales and streams, despite the success of the LPs around the world.
But after spending years dealing with executives at Sony Music – the major label that bought Alan McGee’s Creation Records which Oasis were signed to – he’s glad to have complete artistic autonomy.
Speaking to Australian TV talk show ‘The Project’, he cheekily said: "I enjoy not working with people in record labels who are, in fact, as we all know f***ers. It is nice to get away from that mob.
"I enjoy the lack of money that I make. I enjoy the lack of record sales, I also enjoy the lack of recognition and the lack of awards that I receive. Quite frankly, my mantelpiece was chock-a-block with the f***ing things. It is nice to take a back seat."
Noel accepts the music scene is very different now to the one he and his brother Liam Gallagher conquered with Oasis in the 90s.
However, he believes if the ‘Live Forever’ hitmakers were a new band coming out now they’d still be a success, but wouldn’t have been such hellraisers as the climate has changed so much.
He mused: "There’d be some major differences with the way the music business is – but the music will remain timeless so I think it’d be the same but we’d probably have worse clothes and less of a drug habit, probably."