FROM NME.....

OASIS' NOEL GALLAGHER has spoken exclusively to NME about the future of the band.

In an email from the guitarist, he said that attempts to finish off their new album have proved to be "frustrating and fruitless".

Gallagher revealed that Oasis will start working on a new set of songs this month and are hoping to release the follow-up to 'Heathen Chemistry' at the beginning of next year.

He also wrote about the band's recent set at the Glastonbury festival, laughing off suggestions he and brother Liam demanded different dressing rooms and that they refused to see Paul McCartney's set together.

The letter read:

"Dear NME,

"We started talking about recording a new Oasis album in November last year. We thought it would be a great idea to try something different with the production this time around, and Liam came up with the idea of using Death In Vegas as producers/mixers, which everyone believed would be a fantastic collaboration.

"We drew up a list of songs (10 in total), booked Sawmills Studio in Cornwall and gave ourselves three weeks. Unfortunately, after the recording process we decided we didn’t like anything we had played/recorded during those three weeks, and because of commitments with Death In Vegas, Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes couldn’t find any more time to give to the project. It was then decided we would attempt to finish off the record ourselves, which so far has proven quite frustrating and fruitless. All the while, new songs have been written and old ones have fallen away. So we think the 'moment' for that particular record has passed.

"We plan to start work on a new set of songs some time in July and we hope to have a new album out in February/March 2005, so hopefully you will hear some new tunes by the end of the year.

"As for the other two points you’ve raised, the one about separate dressing rooms, is as usual, laughable. And as for not watching Macca from the stage, all I can say is Liam and his friends did, and me and my friends prefer the shared experience of the masses to the privileged position of the few. Now if you don’t mind…<br>
"Peace, love and bananas,

"Noel Gallagher."


is that bollocks or the truth??