When Oasis found themselves in need of a new guitarist, Johnny Marr stepped up and expressed his willingness to join the band temporarily. He stated, “If you can’t find anyone, I’ll step in for a while,” demonstrating his readiness to support the group alongside Noel Gallagher.
As part of its 30th-anniversary celebration, a prominent British guitar magazine is delving into its extensive archives. Among the notable discoveries is a classic interview with Noel Gallagher, where he reminisces about the time Oasis almost brought Johnny Marr on board as a second guitarist.
This interview took place while the Britpop band was wrapping up their fourth album, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants. During a session at Wheeler End Studios, located just outside London, Gallagher reflected on how he ended up managing most of the guitar and bass parts for the album. This was due to the departure of two founding members: guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and bassist Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan. He also shared that Johnny Marr was prepared to step in if necessary.
“Johnny Marr offered his services to the band. He said, ‘If you can’t find anyone, I’ll step in for a while.’ We said, ‘Fine,’ but then we recruited Gem [Archer]. Johnny was just going to save us if we didn’t have anyone,” Gallagher explained.
The connection between Marr and the Gallagher brothers runs deep. Both hail from Manchester-Irish families, and Marr first encountered Oasis when they were still emerging artists.
According to the story, Marr noticed the band taking an unusually long time to tune their instruments between songs, which led him to lend Noel a couple of his guitars, including a Les Paul that had once belonged to The Who’s John Entwistle.
For Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, Gallagher continued the tradition of using Marr’s guitars. “I got this Les Paul from Johnny,” he mentioned. “It had really modern pickups in it, which I didn’t like. So I tossed the pickups out, took some from another guitar, and put them in this one.” He humorously added, “It’s a better guitar now, so he’s not getting it back!”
Following the recent announcement of the band’s much-anticipated reunion, several Oasis guitars, including Noel’s Definitely Maybe Epiphone Les Paul, fetched prices above expectations at a recent Sotheby’s auction.
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