January 1994:

The session recorded before Christmas is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on the 4th January. The world is introduced to "Shakermaker", "Cigarettes & Alcohol", "Up In The Sky" and "Bring It On Down".

The 8th sees the band ushered off to Monnow Valley Studios, Wales to record more songs. Dave Batchelor [of Sensational Alex Harvey Band fame] is in the producer’s seat. Dave Scott is the engineer. The relationship disintegrates quickly. By the 26th, when a Creation rep arrives, only a rudimentary "Slide Away" and a handful of Rolling Stones covers with Noel singing have been recorded. The £800 per day fee is wasted.

One day later, the year’s gigs start with a media-friendly gig at The Splash Club in the Water Rats, King’s Cross, when 200+ disciples are turned away at the door of the packed venue.

On the 30th the band moves to Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, and bring old friend Mark Coyle on board to produce. The unfortunate Batchelor gets dumped.

Then over the next month or so it’s off to Sawmill Studios in Cornwall, Out of The Blue in Ancoats, Manchester, Loco in Caerleon and finally Matrix in London!

February 1994:

Following a one-off gig at a launch party for the band at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland on the 6th, our plucky heroes head for their European debut in Amsterdam on the 18th at the Sleep In Arena.

But...trouble flares on the ferry journey over on the 17th when Bonehead and Liam get drunk and into a scuffle with some Chelsea supporters. A slanging match ensues, Guigsy and Tony get caught up in the disagreement and the four of them are locked in the ship’s brig. Noel arrives in Amsterdam without the rest of the band who are on the next ferry back home. The friction arising out of the incident surfaces later during John Harris’ infamous interview with the brothers in early April; it is this which forms the heart of the "Wibbling Rivalry" single.

With no more gigs set until the end of March, the band again head off to Sawmill Studios in Cornwall to record the debut album. Amazingly, between the 20th and the 4th March, and in the good care of producer Coyle and engineer Anjali Dutt, the backing tracks are almost completed.

March 1994:

After Sawmill Studios, the band move on to Eden in London with Coyle, Dutt and mix engineer Owen Morris. Here 10 of the 12 songs which appeared on the first album are mixed.

The 18th sees Oasis play "Supersonic" live on the mildly anarchic Channel 4 youth programme, "The Word". Guest Bob Geldof approves! As does co-presenter Terry Christian. The response from viewers is extraordinary. Now the paying public know the band exist. Crazy helter-skelter ride approaches.

A 15 date tour follows with Whiteout. The small venues are sold out. Chaos starts to be caused, culminating in their first hotel chain ban; the honour goes to Moathouse. Liam and Bonehead also start to hand out calling cards to 'female admirers' inscribed: "You have just met Stray Dog & Bin Bag" - nicknames appropriated from a Smaller song.

Ted Kessler of the NME reviews the 100 Club gig in London on the 24th and there are mentions in Q, Vox, Select, Smash Hits and MM. And I see the band for the first time as a headlining band at Southampton's Joiners Arms.

April 1994:

A brief respite from touring sees more tracks for the album mixed at Matrix Studios, London with Owen Morris. "Cigarettes & Alcohol" is the last.

On the 7th the band reach Glasgow, and that nights gig is to be broadcast live on BBC Radio 1 as part of 'Sound City 1994'. To another rapturous reception and plenty of radio overkill the band rip through "Shakermaker", "Digsy's Dinner", "Live Forever", "Cigarettes & Alcohol" and "Supersonic".

Earlier in the day at the Forte Crest Hotel in a testy interview with the NME the brotherly tensions erupt into a fist fight. The band’s first major feature appears in the NME dated the 23rd, the John Harris "interview" forming the centrepiece of a memorable article.

As the 15-date tour meanders on, the 11th sees Creation release "Supersonic". It promptly piles into the chart on 17th April at number 31.

The month ends with the band back out on the road. The new 12-date tour sees the band through to the middle of May.

May 1994:

On the 3rd, and prior to their gig at TJ’s in Newport, Gwent, the band play an acoustic set for the 'Hit The North' show presented by Mark Radcliffe on BBC Radio 5.

After the gig, The King’s Hotel sees some memorable wreckage. Not even its 'Oasis Bar' is spared.

Two days later they attend a press conference for the forthcoming 'Undrugged' concert. After a hilarious discussion with NME readers, and the brief and mysterious disappearance of some microphones, the Oasis, Boo Radley and Ride entourage decamps to The Good Mixer pub in Camden.

However, the band are kicked out after a constant barrage of abuse directed at Graham Coxon of Blur, whom they had met for the first time that evening. An indicator of problems to come?

June 1994:

Gig schedules start to increase dramatically. Another 12 dates include an appearance at the Albert Hall in London on the 4th.

By now, Oasis have been joined for their live jaunts by tour manager Margaret Mouzakatis.

After a dramatic spat with Liam, only Noel on guitar and Bonehead on piano take the stage to play a short acoustic set at Creation’s 10th Anniversary celebrations entitled "Undrugged". The duo play acoustic versions of "Shakermaker", "Live Forever" and "Whatever".

Noel also gets to meet an all-time hero of his - Arthur Lee of 'Love'.

Unfortunately, Creation Records founder Alan McGee misses the gig and much of Oasis’ early rise while he is in drug rehab.

The band’s first front cover and second major interview appears in the NME dated the 4th - Simon Williams accompanies Oasis on UK dates in early May. View here.

On a day off from the tour grind, Oasis go into the BBC studios in Maida Vale on the 7th to record tracks for the "Evening Session".

Meanwhile, Noel and Louise Jones have been going through a rough patch in their relationship, and it becomes apparent at the gig at Manchester University on the 9th that they are no longer an item.

After the band’s first foreign sojourn to Paris - at the exotically name 'Erotika' club - the short tour culminates with a glorious performance at Brighton Centre East Wing.

The session recorded earlier in the month is broadcast on BBC Radio 1's "Evening Session" on the 22nd. This time they perform "Live Forever", a sublime "Sad Song", "Whatever" and "I Am The Walrus".

On the same day as the BBC Radio 1 broadcast the band are in Camden, London to record "Supersonic" for a Channel 4 TV programme called 'Naked City' and which was broadcast on the 24th.

On the 23rd a euphoric Noel plays alongside Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse at an Ian McNabb gig. He’d met Arthur Lee, Molina and Talbot, and Johnny Cash. Now, he only wanted to meet Burt Bacharach. Ha, how dreams can so easily come true!

There follows a masterly appearance at the Glastonbury Festival on the 26th, the band sandwiched between Credit To The Nation and Echobelly.

And "Shakermaker" is released on the 20th and busies it’s way to number 11 in the final chart of the month. The success of this second single results in the band's first outing on BBC 1 TV's long-running 'Top Of The Pops' programme. Recorded on the 29th, it is broadcast the following day.

So ends an extraordinary month.

July 1994:

A brief hop across the pond for the New Music Seminar, sees New York’s Wetlands experience an opening salvo of the Oasis phenomenon at first hand on the 21st. Sandwiched between Lotion and X-CNN, the band get an ecstatic response.

After the gig the band repair to a flat on 125 W 3rd Street for a party given by the infamous Rock Chicks.

The next day the band record a video for forthcoming single "Live Forever" at the bandstand in Central Park. They play an impromptu set at Strawberry Fields as they wait for the video production team to get their act together. The small crowd of onlookers see and hear "Supersonic", "Shakermaker" and instrumental versions of "Live Forever", "Listen Up", and "Cigarettes & Alcohol".

Back in the UK hotel ban number 2 arrives. The band is told not to return to the notorious rock ‘n’ roll haunt in London; the Columbia Hotel in Lancaster Gate, London, home to many an outrageous of rock ‘n’ roll excess, is the venue for an orgy of room smashing which ends in tears. Somehow, broken furniture flys out of a window and lands on the manager’s Mercedes. Oops!!

Undeterred the end of the month sees Oasis play the inaugural T In The Park Festival in Hamilton, near Glasgow, where they kick footballs into the audience.

August 1994:

In a rare feat the band grace the covers of both NME and Melody Maker on their issues dated the 6th.

"Live Forever" is released on the 8th reaching number 10, and the following day the band embark on a brief series of gigs in the UK.

However, at the first gig at Newcastle Riverside on the 9th, the boisterous and leery crowd upset the band, and the gig is terminated when a small stage invasion causes Noel to get hit in the face. Band exit stage left. A rehearsal for times to come?

The next day bodyguards are employed. Enter, one Ian Robertson. He will soon find Liam a tricky customer.

A brief sojourn takes the band to the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden where they play with Verve and Primal Scream. After the gig they go on a wrecking spree and Liam breaks his foot after jumping from a moving coach. Hmmm.

They fly back to London on the 14th when they do the photo shoot for the sleeve for "Cigarettes & Alcohol" at the Halcyon Hotel, Holland Park, London.

The speed of events doesn't let up as gigs on the 15th [when the band first use pseudonyms to book into a hotel] and 16th are followed by a second appearance at the BBC 1 studios at Elstree for a recording of "Live Forever". This is broadcast the next day.

Also on the 18th Noel, Liam and Bonehead pop into MTV studios in Camden to record an interview with Miles Hunt [formerly of the band 'Wonder Stuff'] for 120 Minutes and a couple of tracks for 'Most Wanted' for future transmission; "Whatever" and "Live Forever".

They then hurtle over to the Astoria for the evenings gig supported by 60 Ft Dolls and Ocean Colour Scene, after which they retire to the Leisure Lounge in Holborn for a party.

The 21st sees tha band still in London, as they record the video for "Cigarettes & Alcohol" at the Borderline club. The rabidly excited audience are really up for it and are treated to an impromptu set.

Another dash into Europe on the 28th for the Lowlands Festival at Dronten in Holland is the precursor to more Oasis madness....

...because the 29th sees the release of the debut album, "Definitely Maybe".

The album smashes into the charts at number 1, on it’s way outselling all contenders for the fastest selling debut album of all time. It is now the third highest selling album in the UK. The reviews are almost universally ecstatic.

The band celebrate with an acoustic appearance at the Marble Arch store of Virgin records on the 30th. They are joined on stage by Evan Dando of Lemonheads fame on tambourine and falling over.

The early evening performance sees the band play "Whatever", "Shakermaker", "Supersonic", "Live Forever", "Sad Song" and "Slide Away". They then head straight off and catch a shuttle flight to Manchester to see the Afghan Whigs.

Dando first met the band at their Glastonbury appearance the previous June, and bumped into them again in Paris on the way to their joint appearances at the Lowlands Festival. He follows them back to the UK.

On the 31st, a gig at The Tivoli in Buckley climaxes with departing punters being serenaded from the roof by a drunk Evan Dando.

He reappears with the band at Dublin Tivoli on the 3rd September and at Manchester Hacienda on the 5th.

It is around this time that Noel purportedly co-writes a song with Evan Dando. It is not until the release of a solo album in September 1996 that its existence becomes general knowledge. Noel then blocks the release denying he had written anything with Dando. Let alone a song called "Purple Parallelogram".

September 1994:

The gigs continue as the band undertake further journeys around the UK and Europe, before jetting off for a series of dates at Quattro clubs around Japan.

The tour starts on the 13th and it is here that the first Oasis encore takes place. A rendition of "Rock‘n’Roll Star" in Nagoya on the 19th - the occasion? Their 100th gig.

Guigsy meets Ruth Tolhurst on the flight out. She later becomes his wife.

Within a few days of their return the band head off to the US for their first tour.

First stop is Moe’s Mo'Roc'n Cafe in Seattle, WA on the 23rd. But wait. Trouble ahead.

On the 28th there is an appearance on a "Love-In" radio interview for K-ROQ. Liam loses his rag over questions about scooters. Noel is asked about penis extensions, and replies that Oasis had one on drums! Tony!!

The same night the band visit the infamous Viper Club and afterwards go back to Bonehead’s brother’s house in LA. Chaos ensues and the LAPD turn up and caution Bonehead.

The show on the 29th at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in Los Angeles is a shambles and Liam and Noel have a set-to onstage. Noel has now had enough. He goes on a bender.

He disappears with every intention of splitting the band.

October 1994:

He turns up some days later, having spent his time in San Francisco and Las Vegas, ready to keep going. Only four gigs are cancelled; Austin, Dallas, Kansas and Missouri.

He also appears with two new songs; "Talk Tonight" and "Half The World Away". The air is cleared and the new songs are then recorded a couple of days later in Austin, Texas.

The band also shoot the US version of the video for "Supersonic" somewhere in Southern California.

Back in the UK "Cigarettes & Alcohol" is released on the 10th and it shoots straight into the charts at number 7. The video shot at the Borderline is shown on 'Top Of The Pops' the following week.

On the 14th the band resume the 16-date tour in Minneapolis, record the Chicago Cabaret Metro gig on the 15th for a live CD promo and end it with a second visit to Wetlands in New York on the 29th.

Whilst in New York at the end of the tour the band attend another party thrown by the infamous Rock Chicks.

November 1994:

Meanwhile, the cover of 'Vogue' sports the eyebrows of our merry japesters.

No sooner are the band off the plane from the US, than Oasis is bus bound for an extensive jaunt around Europe.

Starting on the 3rd our heroes traipse across France, Sweden, Germany, Holland, Belgium. The 28th of the month and 14 dates later Oasis return to the UK where the white cliffs of... Southampton beckon.

December 1994:

Yep, the UK gets it in the neck again. Another 12 dates takes the band into 2000+ halls. Christmas passes in a blur (!!) and the year in which the band "large it" ends with Middlesborough experiencing the phenomenon that is becoming Oasis.

It is during this tour that Oasis came into contact with another person who was to become part of their coterie of trusty professionals.

Jill Furmanovsky took her first pictures of the band at the Cambridge Corn Exchange gig on the 4th. She had been a highly respected rock photographer since the early 70s. To bookend a book of work she was compiling she wanted to snap a current band. Daniela Soave, already fascinated by the band, suggested them. She has barely missed a notable event in the band’s history since.

It is also here that Patsy Kensit first meets Liam and watches the band play.

At the Glasgow Barrowlands gig on the 7th Liam walks offstage after "Fade Away"; Noel finishes the set on vocals. The gigs at Middlesborough and Liverpool are cancelled and reset for later in the month. Liam's problem? His throat.

Time is even found on the 6th to record an appearance on BBC 2 TV's "Later With Jools Holland" where the band perform with an 8-piece string accompaniment and a pianist.

Broadcast four days later, Oasis power through a plaintive "Sad Song", a stirring "Whatever" and a moody, malevolent "I Am The Walrus".

Some time during the late autumn Noel and Guigsy also find time to move to London. Liam, Bonehead and Tony remain in Manchester. Though they are rarely there and spend much of their time in hotels in London when not on tour.

Noel finds a place in a basement flat at 13 Albert Street in Camden.

He has also met Meg Matthews who spends time with him while they complete their final gigs of the year at Glasgow Barrowlands, Brighton Conference Centre and the re-arranged gig at Middlesborough Town Hall.

All this as the track that Noel promised at the start of the year would be top 3 at Christmas - the lushly arranged strings of "Whatever" - is released on the 19th and takes flight to number 3 in time for the Christmas chart. Thank you Mr. Bookmaker.

What a year!

• Contents
• Chronology - index

c 1998 Andrew Turner

aturner@interalpha.co.uk

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