Credit: Far Out / Freschwill
Fri 15 May 2026 13:00, UK
Noel Gallagher didn’t really need to have any other legends working with him.
He was already under the impression that he was in one of the greatest bands that the world had ever seen, and if anyone disagreed with that sentiment, they were best standing aside unless they wanted to be trampled by Team Oasis. Noel was already the biggest cheerleader of his own band throughout their rise to the top, but he did have a special place in his heart for bands that he considered to be the second and third greatest groups in England.
One can’t build an empire like Noel and Liam did alone, and they needed a lot more musical training to reach the top of the charts. Noel had already been in love with writing songs ever since he first discovered a knack for it when he was a kid, but for anyone who still calls him a hack for pinching a few Beatles songs here and there is missing the entire point of what the band was all about.
It’s no big secret that Noel liked his fair share of Beatles tunes, but there was a lot more going on in the underground when he was a kid. He could identify with someone like Johnny Marr when The Smiths played Top of the Pops for the first time, and aside from listening to the greatest names in punk rock, there was already a lot more for him to explore when he started seeing what people like The Stone Roses were doing in Manchester.
He was clearly no John Squire, but if The Roses’ debut was what turned Liam’s head when he first heard it, Noel got his own awakening when listening to The La’s for the first time. Lee Mavers was a mad pop genius when he worked on most of their debut record, and while a lot of the pieces weren’t to his satisfaction when he eventually handed in the record, Noel figured that he could have helped Mavers become one of the biggest artists in the world had he had the chance to join them.
There was no one like The La’s, but if ‘Way Out’ and ‘There She Goes’ were a small sample of what they could do, Noel could have easily found a place with them, saying, “His lyrics are great, his voice is amazing and the whole vibe of The La’s is amazing. Bands from Liverpool used to be really busy but there came a point after the 1980s where unless it was something happening in Liverpool, they just didn’t give a fuck. In more modern times they’ve been in the shadow of Manchester because of that. But that is also their strength. There is no other band of musicians in the world I would sooner play with than a band of scousers. They’ve all got it.”
And it’s not like Oasis couldn’t pay it forward a little bit as well. The La’s might not be in the cards for any potential reunions by any stretch, but since Oasis saw it fit to include Cast on the bill for their reunion shows, they were at least still proud of their old heroes, even if not everyone was going to know them in the US.
Further reading: From The Vault
Then again, there were more than a few times where Noel could screw over some of his Scouse friends as well. The Real People were their friends from Liverpool who helped them create the magic on their debut, and yet Noel mercilessly ripped them off throughout their entire 1990s run by pinching their riffs on tunes like ‘Don’t Go Away’ and ‘Rockin’ Chair’ without giving them any sort of credit.
But even if Noel has had a bit of a checkered past when it comes to some of his musical friends, he was always going to stand up and pay his respect to The La’s for what they did for the entire indie scene. They weren’t the most successful band by any stretch, but if they hadn’t broken through for a brief second, there’s a good chance that Noel and Liam would be leading very different lives today.
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