The End of Beady Eye

Remember Oasis? It’s hard not to, especially with all the rumours of the brothers burying the hatchet. It’s now over five years since they split, and the various ashes of the era-defining brit-pop band went on to different things.

Picture courtesy of Chris Boland on Flickr

The older Gallagher brother went onto a lucrative solo venture, with his High Flying Birds, a name which coincidentally suited the according critical acclaim. Although Noel’s latest works may not have the same rock-infused riffs and sounds that he pioneered in Oasis, but his latest tunes are still immensely catchy, and will have you singing along at the same levels as drunkards yell out ‘Wonderwall’ after only a few listens.

But what about the rest of the band? The group consisting of Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock?

Well, they went on to form the arguably less known band; Beady Eye. And although they pumped out more content than Liam’s brother, it was to varied acclaim. But none of this hullabaloo about singles and E.P.s really matters anymore, as Liam Gallagher, and then Andy Bell, took to Twitter to announce and then confirm the split of Beady Eye’s five year run. For those after music reminiscent of Oasis, your best hopes now lie with the other Gallagher brother, and the upcoming ‘Chasing Yesterday’.

But was Beady Eye the better phoenix which rose from the ashes of Oasis? Should you actually care that they’ve split? It’s all up to you, but here’s my opinion on the matter.

For me, Beady Eye was always the weaker band in the rat race consisting of themselves and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, with songs of varied quality and consistency. Noel could consistently produce catchy anthems, despite sounding like a mash up of folk and indie rock, but Beady Eye occasionally had the odd tune which was more focused on good old fashioned rock. Although these songs were a bit hit and miss to say the least, the likes of ‘Flick of the Finger’, ‘Four Letter World’ and ‘Beatles and Stones’, had a melody and a certain application of distorted guitar which made them a little bit more traditional than the work of the High Flying Birds.

Every now and then, Beady Eye could produce something which would sound like new Oasis material. Granted, Noel was the brains behind Oasis, but that didn't stop the younger brother from trying to create some hits which harked back to their glory days, something which dedicated fans lived for. 

While Noel was the brains behind Oasis, the odd one or two hits that Beady Eye had drove nostalgia-riddled fans to praise them beyond their actual worth, and while hardly terrible, some of their work was excessively praised due to the swaggering presence of front-man Liam Gallagher, whose character simply couldn’t be replicated by the likes of his brother.  

LG's arrogance simply cannot be recreated by Noel, and it rightfully shouldn't be. In knowing what he does best, Noel seems to have endured the musical storm. 

Take Beady Eye performing the likes of ‘Morning Glory’, ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ and ‘Rock N Roll Star’, all Oasis classics which fans of either Gallagher brother adore. Maybe it's Liam’s excessively strained voice, or the fact that the band lacked Noel’s driven talent, but these songs just weren’t what they used to be when in the hands of Beady Eye. These tunes weren’t butchered, but they were hardly up to scratch.

That said, if Noel Gallagher’s latest single, ‘In the Heat of the Moment’ is anything to go by, I think his debut work may still be his best. Granted, it takes some getting used to, maybe it’s the intro and bridge sections which just repeat ‘Nah’ over again like a Monty Python musical number. I might need to listen a few more times until it inevitably becomes catchy, but it doesn’t have the same instant effect as older numbers like ‘AKA… What a Life!’, or ‘If I Had a Gun’.

Who knows? Maybe the downfall of one Gallagher brother will bring about the 2018 Oasis reunion tour, which everyone and their grandparents have been wanting for what seems like an eternity. But, if the worst case scenario becomes a reality, and everything remotely related to Oasis ceases to exist from the live music scene, it’s not like Oasis, Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds have barely enough tracks to scrape together. We’ve still got shed loads of great songs, and don’t necessarily need any more; it’s not the end of the world. 

Gig Review: Royal Blood at The Leadmill, October 31st 2014

Queuing outside the neon lights of one of Sheffield’s most highly touted small venues had the relatively small crowd divided. Half an hour before the doors opened, my fellow queue-goers consisted of completely emotionless combat-wearing people, giving murderous glares whenever someone sang an incorrect or poorly timed lyric, or those dressed as skeletons who were lovely and sociable, despite making references to incredibly outdated memes.

Throughout the night, the crowd may have been extremely mundane at best, being either detached from the freight-train sound which the duo blasted out to near-perfection or trying to mosh to slower songs such as ‘Blood Hands’, insisting that drumming on your back for the full set was just a bit of fun, (honestly), but it didn’t take away from the experience as a whole.

There’s always someone in front of you…

Drummer Ben Thatcher stood centre stage and parted the crowd, as security attempted to chemically bond me with the person behind me, as though I could fold away like an elegant storage solution. A coffin came through the crowd which was heaved over the barrier, and on stage to reveal a blank-faced Mike Kerr who then proceeded to belt out the immense-sounding B-side, ‘Hole’, with the duo, and the majority of the crowd dressed as skeletons, with varying degrees of convincingness.

The entrance, and subsequent performance of ‘Hole’ had set the tone for the night, and the band proceeded to live up to expectations. Apart from a tiny mic issue, and the odd off note in the closing number, the vigorously played ‘Out of the Black’ was a great performance which made you want to mosh to every song at some point (if you had the physical space and capability to do so).

Kerr’s vocals seem to have the rare talent of remaining consistent in the transition from album recordings to live performance, although this was somewhat ruined by the drunk guy behind me belting out the chorus to ‘Little Monster’ to the point where something dropped. Granted, for those who aren’t too familiar with their music, Royal Blood’s discography may seem relatively repetitive, as with other bands like Rage Against The Machine; the guy next to me really wanted to get into the spirit of things, head-banging like he was intent on breaking his neck, but when it got to the less well acclaimed B-side ‘You Want Me’, he understandably gave in. He deserved a medal for his efforts, but gigs as small as these need people who know pretty much every potential song that could be played.

However, the variation, or interpreted lack thereof, in their songs can’t be helped, and it’s a matter of personal taste. One of few other quarrels was the set itself, and the songs played. I appreciate that Royal Blood aren’t exactly a purveyor of slow, more mundane songs, but perhaps throwing in a lovely cover of ‘Ace of Spades’, or playing their catchier B-sides such as ‘Love & Leave It Alone’ would have been much more appreciated than the filler tunes of their latest album. Unfortunately, their singles retain the best tracks with the most punch.

If you do like being blasted with brilliant riff-centred noise for a good half hour or so, you can’t go wrong with Royal Blood, and their concise live performances. While I’m not a fan of their slower works, the likes of ‘Blood Hands’ really emphasis their prolonged two-pronged assault on the senses, the calm really helps elevate the upcoming storm.

And for fifteen quid, you even get a support act too. Pretty good deal, getting to see one of Britain’s fastest growing bands in a small venue. Especially if you get a group of moshing skeletons dancing to the appropriately vibrant ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’, it all made for one of the best Halloween nights out there.

After support from Turbowolf, Royal Blood played 12 tracks consisting of:

• Hole
• Come On Over
• You Can Be So Cruel
• Figure It Out
• You Want Me
• Better Strangers
• Little Monster
• Blood Hands
• Careless
• Ten Tonne Skeleton
• Loose Change
• Out of the Black