Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

This article is about the band. For their 2011 début album, see Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (album).

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Origin	Manchester, England
Genres	Rock, alternative rock, psychedelic rock
Years active	2010–present
Labels	Sour Mash Records
Associated acts	Oasis, Tailgunner, Smokin' Mojo Filters, Inspiral Carpets
Website	The Official Noel Gallagher Website
Members
Noel Gallagher Jeremy Stacey Russell Pritchard Lenny Castro Mike Rowe Tim Smith

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds are an English rock band formed in 2010 as the solo moniker of former Oasis lead guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher. The band originates from Manchester and includes former Oasis session pianist Mike Rowe, drummer Jeremy Stacey of The Lemon Trees, former bassist for The Zutons Russell Pritchard and percussionist Lenny Castro. The band also varies guests on their debut album such as the Crouch End Festival Chorus and The Wired Strings.

Since his split from Oasis in August 2009 many speculated that Gallagher might record a solo album. In July 2011, he held a press conference to confirm that this was the case, after denying rumours from his brother Liam Gallagher that he had already heard the tracks featured on it. He also explained that he would be collaborating with Amorphous Androgynous for a second album that is due for release in 2012.

The singles for Gallagher's debut album are "The Death of You and Me", "If I Had a Gun..." and "AKA... What a Life!". The latter made its debut on a Vauxhall television advertisement, and is only to be released as a UK single.

Gallagher announced that he will begin touring a week after the album is released. He stated, "We're going to go out on tour a week after the album is out. We're going to start off slow in small theatres. If it's good enough to get bigger than that then it'll get bigger than that. I don't think there'll be a huge great big tour this year. I think this year it'll be a quick whizz around the world and try and do the major cities and then it will probably be a bigger tour next year."^{[citation needed]}

Gallagher explained in an interview with Jonathan Ross on The Jonathan Ross Show that the inspiration for the band's name was from two sources. The idea to prefix the name with "Noel Gallagher's" was formed whilst washing up dishes listening to the album Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, while the latter part of the name is taken from the song High Flying Bird by Jefferson Airplane.

History

Break-up of Oasis (2009–2010)

Since the release of Oasis' Dig Out Your Soul, speculation had been rife that Noel Gallagher intended to go solo; however on 12 July 2009, it was announced through the Oasis publicist that this was not true.

Things changed less than two months later, though, following a fight between the Gallaghers in a backstage area which reportedly resulted in Liam breaking Noel's guitar and then storming off. On 28 August 2009 the group's manager announced the cancellation of their concert at the Rock en Seine festival near Paris just minutes before it was about to begin, along with the cancellation of the European tour and a statement that the group "does not exist anymore".^[1][2][3][4]

Two hours later, a statement from Noel appeared on the band's website writing that "with some sadness and great relief...I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer"

High Flying Birds first two albums (2011–present)

His solo career plans began in earnest after the demise of Oasis, on 6 July 2011, Noel held a press conference in London^[5] during which he announced that Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will release a self-titled album on 17 October 2011, and a second collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous would be released in 2012. In July 2011, he released his debut single "The Death of You and Me", to positive reviews.

Following the success of "The Death of You and Me", Noel confirmed on his website that the band's next UK single will be "AKA... What a Life!" which was released on 11 September 2011.^[6][7] "If I Had a Gun...", Noel's first US single, was made available on the Apple Store on 20 September 2011.^[8]

Gallagher's second album is a collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous, due in late 2012. He said, "It sounds a bit like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. The sound is similar to High Flying Birds, but more psychedelic and tripped out. It's not an electronic project. People are jumping to that conclusion because Amorphous Androgynous used to be an electronic outfit."^[9]

In the press conference, explaining solo album material and collaboration talk, Noel admitted the collaboration is "far out". "It's fucking far out. It's got like 18 tracks on it, some of it's krautrock, some of it's soul, some of it's funk and that's just the first song.". Then later confessing, that he's nervous about releasing his second solo album with Amorphous Androgynous. "A lot of people are looking forward to it, which I'm a bit nervous about. They're building it up in their own minds, thinking it's going to be something it might not be when they hear it. It's fucking good, but I probably shouldn't have announced it. But I just thought, 'It's finished, so fuck it, here's what I've been working on.'" He later found it hard to say "no comment" to journalists, adding, "I'm just cursed with an absolute endless stream of one-liners. I'm sorry about that. People say it's the way I talk in interviews that makes people interested. But they just mean I'm honest. 'Oh, he's got a way with honesty, that lad…' How depressing is that?"^[10][11]

Discography

Studio albums

Album title	Album details	Peak chart positions														Certifications
		UK	AUS	ESP	FRA	GER	IRE	NLD	NZL	SWE	US	JPN	SWI	NOR	CAN
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds	Released: 17 October 2011 Label: Sour Mash Formats: CD, LP, digital download	1	16	15	9	11	1	11	10	21	28	5	10	2	19	UK: Platinum[12]
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions								Album
		UK [13]	UK Indie	BEL (Fla)	BEL (Wal)	IRE	JPN [14]	SCO	US Alt
2011	"The Death of You and Me"	15	2	15	24	35	—	10	—	Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
	"AKA... What a Life!"	20	3	—	—	—	—	15	—
	"If I Had a Gun..."	—	37	32	—	—	2	—	25
"—" denotes the single was not released in that country, or did not chart.

Other charted songs

Year	Single	UK [15]	Album
2011	"The Good Rebel"	192	"The Death of You and Me"
	"Let the Lord Shine a Light on Me"	107	"AKA... What a Life!"
	"Everybody's on the Run"	128	Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

See also

• List of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds songs
• Oasis
• Beady Eye
• Noel Gallagher
• Liam Gallagher

References

1. ^ "Oasis annule son concert à Rock-en-Seine et se sépare". Le Parisien (France). 29 August 2009. http://www.leparisien.fr/loisirs-et-spectacles/oasis-annule-son-concert-a-rock-en-seine-et-se-separe-28-08-2009-619494.php. Retrieved 29 August 2009. 
2. ^ "Oasis annonce la fin du groupe rock". Ouest France. 29 August 2009. http://www.ouest-france.fr/actu/actuDetFdj_-Oasis-annonce-la-fin-du-groupe_39382-1050490_actu.Htm. Retrieved 29 August 2009. 
3. ^ "A statement from Noel". 28 August 2009. http://www.oasisinet.com/NewsArticle.aspx?n=773. Retrieved 28 August 2009. 
4. ^ "Music - News - Oasis split as Noel Gallagher quits band". Digital Spy. 28 August 2009. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a174501/oasis-split-as-noel-gallagher-quits-band.html. Retrieved 3 October 2009. 
5. ^ http://www.noelgallagher.com
6. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhZZSd5kzdA
7. ^ http://www.noelgallagher.com/#news/noel-gallaghers-high-flying-birds-announce-ne
8. ^ http://itunes.apple.com/album/if-i-had-a-gun...-single/id464096983?v0=9988&ign-mpt=uo%3D1
9. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a340792/noel-gallagher-solo-material-wouldnt-make-it-onto-an-oasis-album.html
10. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/noel-gallagher/57827
11. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/noel-gallaghers-high-flying-birds/60093
12. ^ http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/Search.aspx
13. ^ "Chart Stats - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds". Chart Stats. http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=12997. Retrieved 18 September, 2011. 
14. ^ [1]
15. ^ "Chart Log UK - New Entries Update 3.09.2011 (wk34)". zobbel.de. http://zobbel.de/cluk/110903cluk.txt. Retrieved September 4, 2011.