Oasis were about to go supersonic when former Dundee music writer Roddy Isles called Noel Gallagher and got Liam instead.
Liam picked up the phone at mum Peggy’s house in Manchester while the answer machine message was playing.
Obviously not shy, the Oasis frontman sang down the phone to the journalist and told him the Mancunians were ready to dominate the charts.
Definitely Maybe had yet to be released but Liam was spot on.
The band’s raucous, electrifying debut album, released on August 29 1994, changed the British music scene and laid the stage for years of hits.
It also meant the band would no longer have to worry about the price of cigarettes and alcohol.
It turned out Liam wasn’t the only one who was right about Oasis – Roddy was too.
He’d been an early backer of the band in his Courier Rocktalk column and had connections in the office of record label Creation.
This meant he was one of the first journalists to get an interview with the Shakermaker hitmakers.
Oasis were on the brink of massive success
Everything Changes by Take That was number one when Roddy interviewed Noel before Oasis performed at Lucifer’s Mill in Dundee on April 5 1994.
Only 74 people turned up.
It was the band’s first-ever headline tour in support of debut single Supersonic, which reached number 31, and Oasis were on the brink of massive success.
Roddy arranged to interview Noel prior to the release of second single Shakermaker.
Here’s what happened when Liam answered instead.
Roddy said Liam gave a burst of “nonsensical singing” that lasted a minute and told him Noel had “gone to the shops” but he would chat instead.
Liam told him he was still recovering from a joint tour with Shed Seven that saw every venue sold out and every night finish with a wild party.
“It does your head in a bit but it’s well worth it,” said Liam.
“All the gigs have been sold out and the whole thing’s just been mega.”
Coming from the streets and into the charts in a hurry can be hard to handle.
“When Supersonic first went into the charts, I thought we maybe shouldn’t be in there but then you look at it and think, ‘why not?’,” said Liam.
“It’s about time there was someone in the charts who’s a bit decent.
“It might as well be us.”
What was Roddy’s take on Liam Gallagher?
Roddy wrote: “That may sound like pure arrogance but look at the facts and you’ll see there are plenty of people who agree with Liam.
“Their natural cockiness, that street-corner kind of attitude that says ‘no-one is better than us’, has helped Oasis stand out in the crowd.”
Shakermaker got to number 11 in the singles chart.
It was followed by Live Forever on August 8, which peaked at number 10.
Definitely Maybe would be released on August 29 and Creation offered Roddy another interview with the Oasis frontman before the album hit the shelves.
To quote The Rolling Stones, though, you can’t always get what you want, and this time Liam was busy.
Bass player Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan took the call.
Guigsy declared Oasis were ‘just so good’
Guigsy had no desire to hog the spotlight and rarely spoke to the press so the bass player’s interview provided real insight into the workings of the band.
“We sort of expected all this to happen,” Guigsy told Roddy.
“We knew the songs would do it – Noel’s that good – and we’ve got enough of them, so we knew it would fall into place.
“Noel’s more prolific than Alan Shearer.
“We’re just so good.”
Guigsy said Oasis had a working-class work ethic.
“A lot of people think of it as graft but we just love doing everything,” he said.
“We literally don’t want days off – that’s boring.
“We just want to keep doing as much as we can.”
Liam was held up doing a photo shoot but as soon as he was finished he took the phone from Guigsy and took time to apologise to Roddy.
He chatted for a minute before giving the phone back to his band-mate.
Guigsy finished the interview by talking about the relationship between Liam and Noel.
“We’ve all known each other for more than 10 years and we’re all good mates,” he said.
“Yeah, we do fall out sometimes, but that happens with everyone.
“It’s just that the press like to make something out of it with us.
“It’s the same with Noel and Liam.
“I share a room with Liam, and we argue, but nobody’s interested in that, they just want to hear about the brothers, and even that’s just the usual brother stuff.
“It doesn’t bother us, because the press or anybody else can’t touch us.”
Roddy backed the Manchester band to hit the heights
Roddy shared the unshakable belief that Oasis would reach the top.
He wrote: “This is a band who are so good they simply can’t fail – and they know it.”
On September 4 1994 Definitely Maybe entered the UK album chart at number one, beating The 3 Tenors in Concert and Their Greatest Hits by Wet Wet Wet.
The release helped propel them to be the biggest band in the world.
Oasis hit the peak of their fame in 1996, a year after (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? rocketed the group to worldwide superstardom.
The band performed to 250,000 fans over two nights at Knebworth.
Oasis had eight UK No 1 singles and eight UK No 1 albums before splitting in 2009 after Noel quit following a bust-up with Liam in France.
Liam and Noel went on to enjoy successful solo careers.
The pair have now got back together, with an Oasis reunion in the summer of 2025 including a series of concerts across the UK including Edinburgh.
Roddy, now head of corporate communications at Dundee University, has revisited his Oasis prediction 30 years on.
He told me: “Right from the start there was the sense that Oasis were the right band at the right time.
“There was a gap left by the largely unfulfilled potential of their Mancunian predecessors The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.
“Their run of early singles – Supersonic, Shakermaker and Live Forever – ignited the rocket fuel and in the space of a few months they’d become the biggest band in Britain.
Watching Oasis reach the top was thrill ride
Roddy said they were cool and cocky but, crucially, also very productive.
He said: “In the space of that first two years they toured constantly, banged out a great run of singles, packed with tremendous B-sides, and two albums.
“It’s a thrill ride seeing a band go, well, supersonic like that.
“They played Lucifer’s Mill in Dundee and a year later were headlining Glastonbury.
“The records still sound great, and they’re tailor made for singing at the top of your lungs in a stadium or festival field.”
Roddy said getting back together for a series of massive shows has always seemed inevitable.
“The only thing that can stop it is the thing that added the extra appeal all along – the sibling rivalry shared by Noel and Liam,” he said of an Oasis reunion.
“Which probably will make anyone who buys a ticket months in advance for reunion shows slightly nervous that they’ll actually happen.”
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