"Liam In 'Aloof' Shock"

Oasis' Liam Gallagher kept his distance from extras appearing on the video for "Go Let It Out", according to cult TV personality Amy Lame. Amy and a cast of other "quirky" characters played the parts of passengers on Liam's double-decker bus. Standing on the open platform, Liam wears impenetrable shades in the video - as he did for the duration of the shoot.

"He didn't acknowledge anybody," said Amy. "He wore his sunglasses the whole time so you couldn't really look in his eyes. He kept up that cool, pop star persona. It was fine. It was kinda what I expected."

The bus trip extras did not see the rest of Oasis, who filmed their live part of the video the next day. Said Amy: "We spent the day getting on and off the bus and waiting at this stop they'd constructed. It was just a lot of sitting around waiting, or standing out in a freezing cold field waiting for Liam to come by in the bus. It wasn't glamorous at all. I heard the single about three million times the day we wore filmed, and I got fed up with it. But now when I hear it, it kind of gets me excited."

The extras received their chance of an audience with Liam after filming, at sunset. "One of his assistants said, 'if you want to go and get an autograph now, you can go to Liam's trailer and bring your CDs or whatever you've got.' All the boys who play football in the video went, but I wouldn't embarrass myself by going to his space-age van and asking for his autograph." The single was released this week.

Meanwhile, Oasis fans have been getting the chance to own the band's new album a month before it even been released. "Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants" is being broadcast on the lnternet, and fans can download it for free, along with the artwork, if they have an MP3 player. It's been reported that it could cost Oasis millions in lost sales if people settled for a downloaded copy of the album, or if they decided not to buy it after hearing It in advance.

Alec McKinlay, MD of Oasis' new record label, Big Brother, was not convinced by the reports. He sold: "We re aware that a few pirate sites are making from 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants' available, but the problem is no worse for Oasis than for any other internationally established artist. As a matter of course, we pass details of illegal sites on to Sorry, who are taking action to close them down through the appropriate national authorities. "Contrary to media speculation, MP3 flies are not CD quality. The results are really not much better than recording music off the radio."

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c 2000 Andrew Turner

aturner@interalpha.co.uk

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