Alan White of Oasis

Ruling British Pop Drummer

by T. Bruce Wittet

(This interview was excerpted from our August 1996 international issue.)

Oasis is all over the place -- just the sort of play on words the band has come to enjoy. You turn on the television, and it's this voice -- "you're my wonderwall" -- on MTV. At the other end of the dial, it's the Brit Awards, and Oasis is cleaning up. Switch on the car radio -- AM or FM -- and it's the same wailing north-country voice: "Champagne super nova in the sky." There's no, er ... refuge from them.

The band has not gone unnoticed by its progenitors. In fact, both George Harrison and Paul McCartney, real Beatles who ought to know, have acknowledged the band's worth. Oasis is a fine pop group. Their dreamy, psychedelic musings are reminiscent of the Fab Four -- and, of course, there's the hair they share. In a recent Billboard, Harrison singled out one member: "I think the drummer is pretty good; he's the one who stands out to me as being pretty cool." I asked drummer Alan White if he was aware of the compliment: "I'm going to get that framed in my house, actually; it's something to be proud of. Anything said by a Beatle is pretty impressive."

Alan was born in London in 1972. His brother, Steve, currently backs Paul Weller and was profiled by MD when he was with Weller's Style Council. When Steve left the family home, Alan inherited the drum loft his father had built for the older sibling. Up there he'd work through the lessons assigned by veteran tutor Bob Armstrong, who employed the Moeller system: "It's a graceful type thing," White says. "You move your arm up and drop the stick for a bounce and come down for a power-stroke. It's basically getting two hits on the drum from one movement. I think Vinnie Colaiuta and guys like that have a similar style."

Drums had long resounded in the neighborhood. Ginger Baker attended school right around the corner from the White household: "He's a London boy. Fantastic. He did a drum clinic last year, and me and Steve went down. Chad Smith from the Peppers was there as well. Ginger had the old kit he's been using for years -- it's all out of tune -- and he got up and played and it was brilliant: It's just the way he is."

Alan's early influences were American. "The first stuff I was really into was soul. I used to listen to James Brown every day because I thought he was the greatest bloke on earth. I loved the grooves and the fills -- Clyde Stubblefield and all those guys -- I was well into those. As I got older I was into the Beatles, Kinks, and Small Faces." Ringo Starr's finesse wasn't wasted on Alan: "A lot of people slag him off. It couldn't have been another drummer in the Beatles. It had to be Ringo."

Barely four years ago, Alan was working at a prominent London drum shop, Footes, imagining a future trudging down the little hall to the back. "I was getting fed up," Alan admits, "thinking 'If I don't make the break I'll just be working in the shop all the time.' I hooked with these guys who needed a drummer, Star Club. I auditioned and got that job. We toured around America for a bit. We came back but just didn't do anything at all in England. And then there were problems with the record company and the band got dropped. I left them and just started doing my own thing."

The whole experience lasted about three years. By that time, a defiant young band called Oasis had rocketed out of Manchester. Their first album revisited themes touched upon by David Bowie in Ziggy Stardust. Alan was aware of Oasis, but never for a moment expected the next step -- a phone call from Noel Gallagher, Oasis songwriter and guitarist, who had heard Alan through an open studio door drumming on a track. There was no audition.

From the moment Alan White joined up, on the eve of a Top Of The Pops appearance, things accelerated for Oasis. Replacing Tony McCarroll (who, if a true thread prevails, ought to console with Pete Best), Alan recorded the current hit album, (What's The Story) Morning Glory? The lead tune from the record, "Hello," features ruffs, busy triplet fills, and just the right cacophony: "It's one of those pushy sort of songs. I'd rather it be a bit busier and then, if need be, I could sort of chill it out. But Noel was really happy with it. The previous drummer was very, very straight. I can be straight, like on 'Don't Look Back In Anger," because that's what's needed -- a 'Cross The Universe' type thing by the Beatles. Just dig in and let the guitars do the work."

A casual listen confirms one thing -- the man's got nerve: "I play what I like to play. If I can get away with doing it, I'll do it. That's how I've always played. I'd go in and Noel would play the song on an acoustic guitar. He'd say to me, 'Just play as you play.' He never dictated what to play, which is what's great with Noel. He says, 'You're the drummer. You do what you think is right.' He might ask me to try something, but really I just go in and do whatever I feel. I think the reason there are so many grace notes and bits and bobs in my drumming is that the way I play was the way I was taught by Bob Armstrong. I just think it makes it dance along a bit more!"

Indeed. Check the loping groove on the hit "Champagne Supernova": "I wish I had spent a bit more time on the drums," Alan says. "I mean, it's a great sound, but I wish I had been a little heavier. You're in there and you do it, and if they're happy with it .. it must sound good. People are buying it! [laughs] It is a nice sound with the snare popping like Mitch Mitchell's on '1983.'

Alan attributes some of the sound to an affection for vintage drums: "I bought my Rogers kit off a bloke who came into the drum shop where I was working. All the other drummers in there were just into new stuff. It was on old, 1065 Rogers Holiday kit, absolutely in mint condition, with the original heads on it. I still use those drums, and I've just aquired a (vintage) 12" tom for it in the states."

The snare sound can be attributed, at least in a small way, to Alan's brother. "Steve's got a load of old drums, old Radio Kings. I think 'Champagne Supernova' was an old Radio King; I think it was about a 6". We had a good time getting sounds, and once we got then up we just went for it, which is what it's all about, really. If you spend too long on it, you start to get a little too anal."

Not a chance! Check "Wonderwall." The drums are tacet off the top. Any other drummer would have entered on the "one" of the phrase, but Alan tumble sin on bar two: "I actually come in when Noel says, 'Backbeat.' I asked him what the lyrics were and he said, 'Backbeat the word is on the street.' So I thought, 'I'll come in here.' It's a bit of a weird one, but it worked!"

Alan takes his drums and cymbals seriously. Pearl, for example: "They were good to me when I didn't have this sort of success. They're good all around the world -- same with Sabian." Like his brother Steve, Alan favors larger cymbals: "I think you need it, otherwise it just doesn't cut through. I think it looks better, as well. Gets back to the old days."

The media surrounds Oasis. They are big stars with big stars on their guest list. there's lots of action, lots of mouthing off. Alan seems to see through it all nicely. "I try to keep fit. After breakfast I'll have a swim and a sauna. If you'r etouring to this extent, you can't do it without trying to keep healthy. That's important for a drummer. I mean, you could easily get caught up in going out on the piss every night, but at the end of the day it's your living, and you've got to be healthy." All in all, Mr. White seems to be a pretty regular guy doing well at making a comfortable place for himself at the top.