EXCLUSIVE: Daily Star sits down with three Oasis tribute bands to understand what it’s really like ‘transforming’ into the Gallagher brothers, why they do it and how the reunion has bolstered their schedules
In what can only be described as a 21st century miracle, Oasis are finally reuniting this week after a long, pain-inducing – for fans – 16 years of separation.
The Gallagher brothers have finally kissed and made up after their bucket hat-clad followers were left in a state of limbo, sufferable tugging between ‘will they, won’t they’.
Well, there’s no maybes anymore. As Liam and Noel are definitely set to kick off their much-awaited stadium tour at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff on Friday (July 4).
But, in the years of Oasis deprivation, a handful of men, musicians themselves, sourced an oasis of sorts in the barren Britpop land the band left behind. It’s believed that there are at least 40 Oasis tribute bands in the UK alone, with more belting out the classic 90s grunge-infused rock n roll hits as the Mancunian squad in Ireland and beyond.
Here, we speak to some of the top Oasis tribute bands to understand what it takes to transform into the likes of Liam, why they have such an affinity to Oasis and how the reunion has kept these bunch of Oasis-mad lads booked and busy.
Oas-is
Aaron Clements had “dreams” and “aspirations” of cracking the music industry performing in a variety of bands in his youth.
But, it wasn’t until he was invited to ‘become’ Liam in an Oasis tribute band where he found the most success, like many others in the tribute world.
And performing to thousands, alongside his football association and guitar teacher job in Somerset, over 14 years later, Aaron hasn’t looked back since with tribute group ‘Oas-is’.
“If I look back on it now and reflect, it is quite weird – isn’t it – from the outside,” Aaron quipped when asked about what it’s like stepping into the shoes of Liam Gallagher.
“The crowds take it very, very seriously. I can’t imagine any other tribute act that would get the wild crowds and reactions that Oasis tributes get – I’m quite lucky in that sense.”
“The thing for me, in one of the documentaries Liam did, he said that when he just stands there, he’s in the middle of a sort of chaos and it’s all going off around him and he just takes that in.
“And you know what, I feel very lucky to relate to that in some way, not to the scale, but there are times when you do the stereotypical Liam stance, there’s chaos in the crowd, the music is going and I’m just stood in the middle and for that brief moment, you can take it all in.
“It’s a crazy, crazy world the tribute world. You meet some characters, that’s for sure.”
Oas-ish
“Every street has an Oasis tribute band,” Paul Higginson, who stars as Liam Gallagher in tribute group ‘Oas-ish’, quipped when speaking about the national infatuation with the Britpop group.
The bloke, based in Reading, has been playing in tribute bands since 1999, performing as Kelly Jones in ‘Stereotonics’, while on pursuit of chasing his musician dreams like many then young-lads in the 90s were spurred on to do by the working class Gallagher brothers.
Paul then found that putting on a wig, a parka and leaning forward into the microphone unleashing nasally tones was to be more lucrative come 2004.
Now 21 years later, Paul is still performing with Oas-ish and has made it into his full-time job performing up and down the country, reeling off the Britpop hits of the 90s and early 00s – and demand is only increasing by tenfold.
The UK is not short of Oasis tribute bands, albeit there are “levels” to them as Paul says. Oas-ish managed to bag the title of the UK’s official No 1 Oasis tribute band, according to TEAA (The Entertainment Agents Association) and were crowned winners of the National Tribute Music Awards in 2016.
“We’re probably one of the busiest Oasis tributes in the country,” Paul claimed.
“There’s levels to these tributes. You’ll get some that they only do one gig a month, or two gigs every three months.
“On a normal year, we’re doing about 80 gigs but this year it will have been getting on 400 gigs by the end of the year.”
Paul is unsure whether the demand will continue at that rate once the Oasis reunion fever has died down, but he doesn’t see himself doing anything else.
Although, he’s reluctant to still transform into a fruitful Liam Gallagher come the age of 60. Paul said: “They’ll be a point where I don’t want to do it anymore.
“I can’t see myself doing it when I’m 60-years-old, driving up and down the country, loading and unloading gear out the van and sticking a wig on pretending to be Liam Gallagher from when he was 25-years-old again.
“It will go as long as I can keep doing it for.”
Roll With It Tribute Band
Nick McCay isn’t one to put on a wig and leer into the crowd with a Liam-esque stance. The bloke, from Northern Ireland, takes more of a backseat as Bonehead but is instead the mouthpiece for ‘Roll With It’ Oasis tribute band.
The band are fairly new to the ‘crazy’ world of Oasis tribute acts, forming in Belfast in 2013 because “because nobody else in the country could be arsed.”
Nick, who works in finance as his day job, has seen Oasis 37 times in his lifetime and will be adding another show to the list come August 16 for their first Croke Park, Dublin, date.
Not before his tribute band performs a flurry of daytime shows for those who have missed out on the elusive tickets for the real deal.
“Playing the songs that I have adored since 1994 and playing them to crowds and you see people with their arms around each other, their eyes closed, hands above their heads and they’re singing like they’re actually at Oasis.
“If you close your eyes for a split second – hearing the roar of cries all singing along – they’re at an Oasis gig, and for us to facilitate that – it’s an incredible feeling.
“Then afterwards you get fans telling you they’ve seen Oasis live and we’re as good as they’ve ever seen. It really is such a privilege. The fact that people have come to our shows many times, it’s a sign we deliver a good product.
“I’m not going to blow my own trumpet, but we’re still here and still playing.”
Identifying a gap in the market, Roll With It have not only found success imitating the Mancunian band in Belfast but are set to play in Boston, US, later in the year.
Oasis might not have been able to crack America in their prime, but Roll With It are making sure the Gallagher brothers ‘Live Forever’ even across the pond.
“Being a huge Oasis fan and playing in the tribute band, it’s just a privilege,” Nick concluded. “It’s the best side hustle in the world.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
