I was thinking more about the financial repercussions. I'm sure they would be perfectly fine with it personally. And not even so much that Noel couldn't afford it but more about trying to decide how to divide the income. After all it is Noel's song. But at the time of the demoing Gsm would have been under the impression that they would have been sharing the royalties as members of the same band and would not have been paid for his time.

Now that a recording is being released under a new band there would have to be discussion about what would be fair to Gem. A discussion involving men whose purpose would be to ensure that each person was fairly recompensed. Retrospectively pay him as a session musician? Give his a small portion of the proceeds of the single as he is on half of the tunes and that would have been the implied understanding at the time of recording?

That's all I meant about it being easier to just find a demo Gem wasn't on and use that rather than one that Gem was all over. Particularly since it's just a b-side. It would hardly be worth the effort IMO

Money talk can strain the strongest of relationships. And I'm sure that the Gem Noel relationship isn't the strongest it's ever been.