Noel Gallagher: "You Have To See Us in a League With the Rolling Stones"

Oasis are celebrating the holidays by hitting the road for a North American tour, which kicks off December 3rd in Oakland, California. There's much to be festive about: the band put out their finest album in a decade in Dig Out Your Soul and guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher has fully recovered from being attacked on stage in Toronto in September.

You've said yourself that you don't really need hits in America. Why do you still tour here?
I like the vastness of this country. In between each city when you're on that tour bus some of the stuff you see is stunning. It just took me awhile to understand the corporate nature of the music business over here. I never really understood why I would have to get up at nine o'clock in the morning, go down and see the guy who owned the local record shop and meet his fucking wife and fat kids.

What do you think the band has offer to an American teenager who is seeing you for the first time?
Nothing. Don't come and see us if you're expecting anything. I can't offer anybody anything apart from the music that's coming out of the speakers. And if they listen to that and they find some meaning in the songs, good for them.

OK, so you're not a spokesperson. What does the band have to offer?
Power. Musical power. Volume. Impeccable shoes. I speak for myself, by the way.

You and your touring partner Ryan Adams are both pretty opinionated guys with healthy egos. Do you get along?
Well, I'm pretty and he's opinionated. I got a lot of respect for the man. He's a great guitar player. He's a little eccentric. He wears stripy socks and platform shoes, but not everybody's perfect. I wouldn't be on tour with him if I didn't like him.

What did you find out about that guy who attacked you in Toronto?
Nobody knows why he did what he did. There's a legal case going on so they tell me I'm not supposed to talk about it. I'm sure the footage on YouTube says enough.

Has that kind of thing happened to you before?
No. I've never been violently attacked. Maybe by my girlfriend a couple of times when I stayed out later than I should've.

How did it affect you, other than...
Other than the fact that I got three broken ribs and I had five weeks off? Do you mean I wake up sweating in the middle of the night and think the guy stood over me? That kind of shit? Oh, no, not in the fucking slightest. It's a meaningless act. Something always happens to me on Oasis tours. I was in a car crash. If it's not that, it's getting fucking busted. If it's not that, it's coming down with some ancient fucking disease that's not been got by anybody for the last 600 years.