Bonehead: ‘You Can’t Be In Oasis If You’re Not Giving it 100%’


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Our friends and frequent Live4ever contributors at SCYHO recently caught up with Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, the Ex-Oasis star, for an in depth chat about his time as a member of one of rock’s biggest bands ever. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

Were you shocked when Liam thanked you and the other members of the band during his acceptance speech At the Brits?

Shocked no, not at all, no, it’s nice to be thanked, of course he was going to thank us, it was alright. I’m not surprised he did not thank Noel, there’s no surprises there.

What did you make of Liam’s gesture to give the award away?

I didn’t think anything of it, cause the Brit Awards don’t mean shit to me. So what? I think it was late that night my phone went, I just got so many texts saying stuff like, “Oh God, he’s done it again” and “Bonehead, did you watch it?” And I’m like, “What’s happened?” I knew we had won the award, I knew weeks before that we had won it. So I got all these texts and I thought, God whats he done?, so I went on YouTube and I watched it and I thought so what?

The media made a big deal out of it really

Well, they made a big thing, what did he do? He came on thanked the band, he thanked the fans, live forever. He gave the award to the audience fair enough, he didn’t want it sitting on his shelf, know what I mean? In my eyes he was just giving it back to the fans, that’s who deserved it, so whatever, big deal. I have seen him do worse, put it that way, I’ve stood next to him at award ceremonies where he has been fucking worse than that. I think he was just totally fucking honest, so what? But deep down they would have loved him to smash the place up, wouldn’t they? But he’s mellowed out. He did no wrong in my eyes, it’s just Liam being Liam.

Are there any songs that you recorded with Oasis that have never seen the light of day? If so can you tell us any titles?



That we recorded, I don’t think so that we recorded, we used to do a lot of things there used to be a lot of stuff we used to do in France. Noel was bringing a lot of ideas, really good ideas… And what we would generally do in sound checks and so on was play them and work them out or whatever. And they would just get recorded just live from the death. There was a lot of stuff that didn’t see the light of day or didn’t evolve into a song. Noel would turn it into something else that went out as a release. We also used to do a lot of stuff in the studio just jamming about. I can’t remember any titles but generally there weren’t any working titles. Lots of stuff just jamming and whatever, tons of it, I got a box full of tapes at home with stuff on there, labelled ‘new ideas’, ‘Noel new ideas’. I got tons of stuff that has never been heard and probably never will. I’m certainly not going to air it’s not my songs to do, but there is plenty of stuff like that.

Noel has called several songs (Acquiesce and Some Might Say, for example) those that “defined Oasis”. Which ones do you consider as the definitive Oasis songs?

Lets sum them up, I think I’d go for the obvious ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’, I think they are, ‘Bring It On Down’ has just got that real edge that the band had in the early days, sounds really raw and punky. I love that song ‘Bring It On Down’ but I think if you really want to define them it’s got to be ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ but then ‘Live Forever’, ‘Wonderwall’ there’s just so many. ‘Slide Away’. If you want to get a good presentation of Liam’s vocals then ‘Slide Away’ for me, that songs always been up there with the best vocals take he has ever done. If you really sit down and listen to Liam on that, it’s amazing man. it really is.

What was the real reason of you walking out of the recording for “Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants”? There are so many rumours……

There’s millions of rumours, loads of rumours… Legally you don’t leave Oasis overnight, you don’t wake up one morning and think “I’m walking, I’m going”, it just doesn’t happen. There were lots of reasons but the main reason was, for me personally was there was a definite spark to that band. When we first came out in 1994 to sign that deal we were just five lads of the street, there was a real sort of energy in that band. A lot happened very fast and we reached a great height very fast, by the time we came to record ‘Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants’ we were all living and rented this big chateau in the south of France that belonged to Christian Dior.

And we set up a studio in there on our own, and we started recording an album there. It had a swimming pool, we were driving big sports cars, you know, we had the world at our feet. To reach that stage then you should be having so much fun, and that should have been so much fun and for me personally there was no fun there and that spark has gone. The original spark didn’t feel like it was there, it really didn’t. I don’t know it had just gone.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy being there, but it was just a feeling that had gone on over time with me. And I did a lot of serious thinking, and that sort of nailed it for me. And I just thought, that’s it for me, the old gang thing had gone for me and it does not feel right. And if I had carried on and finished that session and then gone on and done a two year world tour to promote it I would not have been giving 100% to the band and the fans. And I have said it before you can’t be in a band like ‘Oasis’ or you can’t be in ‘Oasis’ full stop if you’re not giving 100%.

Now, I could have finished the album, I could have gone out on tour but I would have been giving 90% and that’s not good enough, you got to be giving your all. So I would have been lying to the band, lying to the fans. I’d have been lying to myself and that’s what really made me make my decision. I just thought I can’t go on with this, to sort of kid people I’m giving my all when I won’t be so I just made my decision, that was the main reason.

It’s not an easy decision, believe me, but I had to do it. But once I made it there was no going back. I was set… I certainly don’t regret one minute of what I did in Oasis, absolutely not. I look back and think proudest/best moments of my life ever. But I could not carry on by not giving 100%, I just couldn’t do it. I mean the truth be told, I think when we did Knebworth that was such a massive thing to reach in such a short space of time. And I have said it before and I will say it again, I think we should have done Knebworth and on that second night we should have all taken a bow and said, thank you and good night, we were Oasis.

We should have bowed out but we didn’t, we carried on, it was a bit of a struggle after Knebworth, fucking hell. To go over to America and play to a few thousand people, when you just played to a quarter of a million. I think we reached that point and more that we ever dreamed we could have reached. I think we should have bowed out after Knebworth, but then again, I think the band did pick up after I left.

After I left I think they got better, got better, got better, then, unfortunately they split. But I do think they were progressing back to their roots as it were.

Would you ever consider working with Liam or Noel again in the future?

If I was asked to do something with them, course I’d do it, but it’s not my priority. I’m not going to sit down and wait for a phone call or, “Oh shit I want to do it”.

But certainly if Liam would ring me tomorrow and said, “Do you want to play on guitar on this track?”, I’d be there like a shot, of course I’d do it. But you know what, at the moment I’m playing with The Vortex and I got the same feeling with The Vortex and the same vibe that I had in 1993/94 with Oasis, it feels like that for me now. I’m really enjoying what I’m doing, this is what I want to do, and this is where I’m going.

It’s full time for The Vortex for me, I don’t sit around dwelling on the past and wish for a phone call for sure, but if I was asked, sure, I would do it.

And finally, on the Oasis Split and Solo futures of Liam and Noel Bonehead had this to say:

…It was sad to see they split with a fight, and I hope they make it up, of course.

But I think this is going to be for the better, cause it’s going to be good for music now. Just to see what Noel comes up with, to see what Liam comes up with on their own individual selves… I’m looking forward to that.

And I think it’s going to be good for Liam, especially Liam, I really, really, really can’t wait to hear what Liam comes out with. Cause I think when Noel comes out, and this is nothing against Noel, but I think when Noel comes out with his new stuff people will say it sounds like Noel Gallagher, it’s definitely a Noel Gallagher song. And it does, and we know it’s going to be good… we know it is.

But I think Liam won’t be scared to put a little twist to what he does. Liam will experiment a bit more, he will stick his little Liam twist to it, and I think it will be pretty interesting. I’m really looking forward to it, it’s going to be good for music, it’s going to be good for young bands coming up, I think, pretty influential on all, I’m sure, I hope.

For Full Interview Visit SCYHO
Photos courtesy of Paul Slattery


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