Features

“We’re sort of doing things at the moment. Not Oasis, Oasis is done.”

It’s fair to say Liam Gallagher has been back and forth on how he should deal with the past. Just a few months after the demise of the group he had led for almost twenty years he was adamant. Oasis was over. “No, it’s not Oasis, that was a **** name anyway, I’m glad to see the back of it,” he would later tell XFM in February 2010.

However, the idea of carrying the Oasis torch minus their enigmatic leader and chief songwriter Noel Gallagher had been very much a distinct possibility even as tracks were being recorded for what would eventually make up Beady Eye‘s debut album ‘Different Gear, Still Speeding‘.

“We’re not using the Oasis name at the moment,” Liam told the Evening Standard in December 2009. “But if we don’t come up with something else by the time we’re ready to release the album it’ll be Oasis. I’m not going to call myself something ridiculous just for the sake of it.”

In the end, the decision to emerge as Beady Eye, clean slate, fresh start and all that, was both an admirable and correct one. For better or worse, the attention was on the music, and on the here and now. For the first time in years, Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer and Andy Bell could look forward to being judged on the merits of their current material, rather than the legacy of a distinguished past.

Who: Mark Austin, Tom Cosgrave, Shane Kinsella

Where: Dublin, IRE

When: ND at 501 Studios, March 15th. 5pm sharp.

Who: Daniel Pujol (vocals, guitar), Sean Thompson (guitar), Joey Scala (bass), Greg Meredith (drums)

Where: Nashville, TN

When: ND at 501 Studios, March 15th. 3.15pm sharp.

Who: Rory Friers, Johnny Adger, Chris Wee

Where: Belfast, NI

When: ND at 501 Studios, March 15th. 4pm sharp.

It’s the night before ‘Rise Ye Sunken Ships‘ is released in the UK.

Moments before the headliners are due on stage. Night & Day is crammed wall to wall with people. There’s hardly room to raise a glass of beer. The word’s gone around: this is a band you must see live. We Are Augustines have toured this part of the world up and down and back and forth for the last 12 months in one form or another, and now they’ve returned to Manchester as a three-piece powerhouse.

Who: Travis Hawley (vocals), Matt DePauw (guitar), Nick Fotinakes (guitar), Mikel Van Kranenburg (bass), Rico Rodriguez (drums)

Where: San Luis Obispo, CA

When: ND at 501 Studios, March 15th. 12:15pm sharp.

Who: James Grundler (vocals/guitar), Mark Boggio (guitar), Elias Reidy (bass), Fern Sanchez (drums)

Where: Los Angeles, CA

When: ND at 501 Studios, March 15th. 1:00pm sharp.

Who: George Elliot, Alex ‘Billy’ Hill, Joshua Martens, Ned Wyndham

Where: London, UK

When: ND at 501 Studios, March 15th. 1:45pm sharp.

Who: Allan Fox, Pete Bourquin, Colin Ryan, Alex Pappas

Where: Brooklyn, New York

When: ND at 501 Studios, March 15th. 11:30am sharp.

Why: Bring together two words to form a brand new word, you’ve got a portmanteau. Bring together influences as wide-ranging as Led Zeppelin, Queen and Brazilian samba and you’ve got the eclectic sound of Brooklyn’s Portmanteaux. Led by former NYU room-mates Allan Fox and Colin Ryan, the four band-mates have travelled from various New York boroughs to settle in for rehearsals out of Brooklyn, from where their self-titled debut EP was released late last year.

Check out the full details and line-up of Live4ever Media’s Two Finger Salute II unofficial SXSW 2012 day party here.

Who: Ryan Dooley (vox/guitar), David Cartwright (lead guitar), Jack Dooley (bass/vox), Will Heaney (drums)

Where: Stoke-On-Trent, UK

When: ND at 501 Studios, March 15th. 2:30pm sharp.

Why: High profile support slots with Morrissey and The Courteeners have given All The Young an immediate taste of the headline adulation their music so obviously craves. Smashing out of the Potteries with a string of gritty, anthemic singles last year, the band are leading a wave of new UK bands who are intent on shoving guitars back in the faces of an electronic obsessed era. SXSW will be the perfect opportunity to sample the band’s much anticipated debut album ‘Welcome Home’, which is due for release on April 2nd.

Check out the full details of Live4ever Media’s Two Fingered Salute II unofficial SXSW 2012 day party here.