To avoid filling this article with asterisks to denote swear words, it will help if you assume that every fifth or sixth word from Liam Gallagher’s mouth during the hour I spent with him began with an F. Only the US singer Kelis has come close for potty-mouthed prolixity in my two decades of interviewing music stars.
In other respects, though, Gallagher has mellowed. At a restaurant near his home in Highgate, north London, the former (and, definitely maybe, future) Oasis frontman sips a cappuccino with no sugar. He may just be back from a sun break he describes as such a heavy “seven-day bender” that he needs another holiday, but the days of dedicated, 24/7 hedonism are over. The star once synonymous with chaos and carnage reaches his half-century in September—and readily admits that he can’t hack it any more.
“That voice [in my head], which used to be very distant, saying, ‘Go to bed. You’re not going out tonight,’ is now very loud. Years ago it would have been like,” he says, cupping his ear: “‘You what? I beg your f***ing pardon?’ These days it’s, ‘Chill out. You’ve had your share.’ And I’m listening to that voice a lot more… I don’t want to feel s**t any more. Or break any more hearts. I’m nearly 50, I want to have good times, not s**t times. I’d love to get off my t**s all the time, but I can’t handle it. And bills have to be paid.”
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