{"id":11706,"date":"2025-04-11T20:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T20:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/11706\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T20:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T20:00:11","slug":"photographer-tom-sheehan-on-the-secrets-of-shooting-oasis-and-the-bands-unfinished-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/11706\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer Tom Sheehan on the secrets of shooting Oasis \u2013 and the band’s “unfinished business”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary photographer Tom Sheehan has spoken to NME about his new book Roll With It: Oasis<\/a> In Photographs 1994\u20132002 \u2013 as well as sharing his secrets to shooting the band and what made them so special. Check out our interview below, along with exclusive photos.<\/p>\n

Published this week, Sheehan\u2019s latest follows other acclaimed books documenting his time behind the lens shooting the likes of The Cure<\/a>, R.E.M.<\/a>, Manic Street Preachers, <\/a>Paul Weller<\/a>, and Radiohead<\/a>, and during his years taking photos for NME, Melody Maker, Uncut and many more.<\/p>\n

Now \u2013 ahead of the band\u2019s reunion tour this summer with their band line-up recently revealed<\/a> \u2013 Sheehan\u2019s latest work illustrates his time with Liam<\/a> and Noel Gallagher<\/a>. This includes the Britpop giants\u2019 journey from New York before the release of seminal debut \u2018Definitely Maybe\u2019, through to their \u2018Heathen Chemistry\u2019 era via recording sessions, key live shows, intimate backstage moments and magazine cover shoots.<\/p>\n

\"OasisOasis from \u2018Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994\u20132002\u2019. Credit: Tom Sheehan<\/p>\n

Looking back on his first meeting with Oasis, Sheehan told NME: \u201cThey hadn\u2019t had the hits yet, but they seemed fully-formed and older than their years. I don\u2019t think their like or knowledge of music went much further than The Beatles<\/a>, but that comes with age, enthusiasm and getting the bug.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were incredibly confident and cocky, but had the tunes to back it up. They were ripe, and as time went on and after a few more sessions with different bits of clobber coming into play, they were treading their own path and singing their own tune. \u2018Here we are, love us or loathe us\u2019. Most people loved them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out our full interview with Sheehan below \u2013 alongside exclusive snaps from the book \u2013 as the photographer tells us about what the Gallaghers are really like off-stage, his memories of Britpop and the \u201990s, his thoughts on new material from the band, and the chances of new Oasis material.<\/p>\n

\"OasisOasis from \u2018Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994\u20132002\u2019. Credit: Tom Sheehan<\/p>\n

NME: Hello Tom. This is a big question, but what makes a good band photo?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tom Sheehan:<\/strong> \u201cThe trust of the artist, and the photographer knowing what they\u2019re doing and why they\u2019re there. You hear some bands say about some people, \u2018Blimey, that guy didn\u2019t have a fucking clue\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to have a bit of empathy with a band. It\u2019s a joint venture \u2013 you\u2019re creating something. The beautiful thing about musicians is that they might be from different parts of the planet but they can sit around and make something. I throw myself in as bait with a band and try to create something with them. I\u2019m not there as the enemy. I always used to hate it when there was a theme to a photo shoot and there had to be something going on. Let the band be the band!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like when high-end photographers impose a style on the band: you\u2019re not looking at the band, you\u2019re looking at the stylised picture. Try and do something in the flavour of the band\u2019s music. It helps if you\u2019re a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Tell us about the mood around the UK and in music in 1994\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGrunge was coming to an end, there was a lot of hip-hop stuff that had grown up from the late \u201880s and laid the path, then Oasis came along. They really were a breath of fresh air. They were selling something that had existed in the past but that people had forgotten. They\u2019d forgotten that great songs and great rock \u2019n\u2019 roll music could be pretty exhilarating and fantastic. They spawned a lot of carbon copies, but also a lot of good music.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was the vibe like on that first trip with the band to New York?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very \u2018up\u2019. They were the exception to the rule. I was spending so much time photographing bands and often being older than them, and a lot of them were wary of the music press. Certainly up North in Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, they seemed to think, \u2018Oh the music press are all wankers from London and it\u2019s shit down there\u2019. Mate, get your fucking blinkers off \u2013 it\u2019s a big fucking world out there and it goes even further than the British Isles!<\/p>\n

\u201cOasis seemed to have a vision, have it all worked out, and they were funny fuckers. They were great company and really intelligent in the sense of knowing what was going on. Humour is a great leveller, and if they take the piss then it\u2019s all part of getting to know them. To shoot a band from up North and not have to climb over a brick wall [of snobbery] before you get there is just fantastic, so you can just get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they just wanted to get the job done too?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTheir approach to work and getting things done was a breath of fresh air because you didn\u2019t have to skirt around the houses like with some bands who couldn\u2019t leave all their bullshit at the door. Forget that we\u2019re from London: today we get married and create something for rock history. You\u2019re doing it with your tunes and I\u2019m doing it with my pictures, so let\u2019s get married. It\u2019s that simple, but the fuckers don\u2019t get it half the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OasisOasis from \u2018Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994\u20132002\u2019. Credit: Tom Sheehan<\/p>\n

\"OasisOasis from \u2018Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994\u20132002\u2019. Credit: Tom Sheehan<\/p>\n

\"OasisOasis from \u2018Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994\u20132002\u2019. Credit: Tom Sheehan<\/p>\n

You see Liam on stage, even in the early days, and he seems now like a ready-made rockstar. Did he give you that sense at the time or did he ever become a different person behind the camera?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think he was ready-made. He had it all in there, and it was just waiting to be pulled out of him. You can\u2019t be 300 per cent straight off the bat. You can be 110 per cent, and then just get greater. It\u2019s all down to experience and working your craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re young, you don\u2019t realise that all this shit exists outside of your small perimeter. Once you\u2019ve been thrown across the planet a few times, you have lived more in your formative years than most people would in 60 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Did you ever sense any kind of tension or competition between Liam and Noel?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNot particularly, no. When it all kicked off big-time and Noel tried to fly back from the US tour [in 1994], it just seemed like brothers falling out. All my times with them were fun. I never made them jump through hoops of fire or do anything daft. Lest we forget, there were 51 issues of NME and Melody Maker per year. We were just working from gig to gig at the time. Who\u2019d have thought that these pictures I took in July 1994 would be of any interest to anyone in 2025?<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to New York to photograph a bunch of virtually unknown herberts from the North. It\u2019s just astonishing. I\u2019m still in wonder of that way of working where you meet someone you don\u2019t know, get very personal within 28 seconds and create something \u2013 then you fuck off and might not see them for another six months or two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Were you there for any of the wilder times?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t there for the ultra wild times, but I did raise a glass with them \u2013 I\u2019ll say that! I got a bit lashed with them a couple of times, but that\u2019s about the size of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

We interviewed Pulp\u2019s Nick Banks a few years ago<\/a> and he described Britpop as something of a \u201cjoke\u201d, especially when the bubble started to burst. How do you remember it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMost movements in music don\u2019t go on forever. You know they\u2019re going end some time, and my theory of it was the same as many journalists and photographers: you\u2019re going out to do all these new bands, some stick and some fall by the wayside, it runs its course and and Britpop comes to an end. The manufactured animosity between Blur and Oasis<\/a> was great \u2013 like Celtic vs Rangers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OasisOasis from \u2018Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994\u20132002\u2019. Credit: Tom Sheehan<\/p>\n

What with Liam and Noel changed in the final years?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were always still incredibly witty. By then there were in their second line-up and had travelled the world every which way and were longer in the tooth. They were a bit more world-weary but that last encounter with them was quite funny.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a journalist so I don\u2019t take a lot of that stuff in because it\u2019s not my bag. I\u2019m just the visual boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking as a photographer, what do you think of the pictures taken to promote the band\u2019s reunion tour<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI like that there\u2019s a unison between them: not just because they\u2019re brothers but the dark clothing. Something about the photography was quite off-kilter too. Almost saying, \u2018It\u2019s no big deal, but we\u2019re back, the big deal will come when we play the shows\u2019. They could have done something really fancy with the biggest photographer on the planet but they didn\u2019t, which I quite like. It keeps it real. I\u2019m sure down the line they\u2019ll be poured onto the cover of Vogue or something and take four days to take four photos, but that\u2019s the tedium of some photography \u2013 I don\u2019t subscribe to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to say, \u2018If you can\u2019t do it in five minutes then give up\u2019 \u2013 but now I\u2019m older I need a bit more time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

One interesting thing about the Oasis reunion is the fact that younger generations are so into it<\/a>. What is it about the band that young people are so obsessed with?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s because they\u2019re genuine. There\u2019s nothing false about them.\u00a0Young people, kids 15-20, need something like that. Right now, there\u2019s still nothing around quite like them for young people to groove on. The first few albums they made are still selling like hot cakes and will continue to this summer. The interesting thing will be if they\u2019ve got the fire to play these shows and then go in and make another record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you think Oasis will record new music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to think they would. It\u2019s a waste of time otherwise, isn\u2019t it? They\u2019re both creative, they\u2019ve got creative people in the band, and it would be a tremendous waste for music if they didn\u2019t write new tunes and bring out a record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got to be starving to do it. There must be so much unfinished business that I\u2019d like to think they could make another record and just get on with it. Forget the fucking dips in the road of some of their previous output and just start afresh: bang, off we go, phase two. We\u2019re 31 years down the line of when we last needed them, and now we need them again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OasisOasis from \u2018Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994\u20132002\u2019. Credit: Tom Sheehan<\/p>\n

Tom Sheehan\u2019s Roll With It: Oasis In Photographs 1994\u20132002 is out now via Welbeck and available here<\/a>. Oasis\u2019s Live \u201925 reunion tour kicks off in Cardiff on Friday July 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary photographer Tom Sheehan has spoken to NME about his new book Roll With It: Oasis In Photographs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,480,4022,77,481,453,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-11706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-britpop","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-indie","14":"tag-rock","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114321111605241023","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}