Noel Gallagher refers to brother Liam as ‘tambourine player’ of Oasis

Noel Gallagher has referred to his brother Liam as the “tambourine player” in Oasis, who was “a bit of a loose cannon”.

The brothers formed the classic rock band in 1991, but have been embroiled in a feud since the band split in 2009 after a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.

Gallagher, who now fronts the band Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, spoke about the last days of Oasis on The Evening Show with Dan O’Connell on Radio X.

Asked if he ever gets nervous before a gig, he said: “Never, and it really f****** annoys people as well.

“Towards the end of Oasis you were always stepping into the unknown because the tambourine player was a bit of a loose cannon and it was like, ‘well is this gig gonna finish?’

“Now you put a band together and all the people around you, you know, it’s cool, I don’t get nervous at all.”

Gallagher also said he is “not interested” in interacting with crowds at his gigs, like Coldplay star Chris Martin or U2’s Bono.

He said: “Some people are just cut out for that kind of thing, like Chris Martin for example can do that thing with the crowd, Bono can do that thing with the crowd, I can’t, I’m not interested.”

Referring specifically to the crowd reaction during Oasis’s 1995 hit Don’t Look Back in Anger, he added: “That song is bigger than me, that song means more… that song will  be around long after I’m gone, those big songs like Wonderwall or whatever, I don’t feel I have to be larger than life, people are here to see me, they know who I am, they know what I’m like.

“There’s nobody better on this beach [Brighton] today at being me and that’s it, that’s what you pay for and that’s what you get.”

Gallagher also spoke about his aversion to pre-gig rituals, saying: “Even in the early days with Oasis, we used to see bands at festivals go into a huddle before the gig and we’d be like, ‘what do you think they’re f****** saying to each other? ‘Right lads, you go to  keep tight at the back, make sure you go forward as a unit, defend as a unit, give it your best, play to the whistle?’

“I mean what are you f****** saying? I’ve see thousands of bands do it, I wouldn’t know what to say.”

Gallagher formed Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds a year after Oasis split and the band have released four studio albums, including the recent Council Skies.

The Evening Show with Dan O’Connell is on Radio X on Monday to Thursday from 7pm-10pm, and on Global Player.