Liam Gallagher

Newport, Wales, 4 May 1994
MH: For whom did you take the picture and what camera did you use?
KC: NME Nikon F3
MH: What do you remember about the shoot?
KC: It was for their first NME cover feature. We travelled to Portsmouth and to Newport in Wales before heading back to London. They were playing small venues – back rooms of pubs really. I’d already done a studio session with the Oasis wearing Manchester City shirts. Our shirt sponsor at the time was Brother – an electronics company. It was a visual gift. Two Manchester City fans (Noel and Liam) wearing ›Brother› on their shirts. As a City fan myself I was more than happy to promote my football club at every opportunity. The idea was to have a shot from the studio session as the cover shot – and the on-the-road photos would run with the feature. However our editor at the time didn’t like Man City and vetoed the shots in favour of the one featured here. It came about by accident. We were staying at a small hotel in Newport (Gwent) and as usual I was sitting in the reception area waiting for the band to wake up. 90% of my job is spent waiting for bands to turn up. Liam was first down and he stood in the doorway and said »Hello«. I looked up and that’s when I noticed that the bar in the hotel was called »The Oasis Bar«. I told him not to move and I grabbed my camera and fired off three or four shots. It was as simple as that…
MH: Liam Gallagher is from Manchester, like you are – and you’ve just published a book with photos taken exclusively of bands from Manchester (»Looking for the Light through the Pouring Rain«, Faber & Faber, 2009). You’re living in London now – could you also publish a book that only depicts bands from London? Or aren’t there really that much bands who are actually from London?
KC: Well, London is a collection of villages really. It’s also a city – like Manhattan – that bears no resemblance to the rest of the country. There are probably more Germans living in London than indigenous Londoners. So it’d make no sense to focus on the city. It’d be a very different book anyway. Manchester is much smaller and the number of people into alternative culture is far less than here in London. It was easier to focus on this smaller group of people. There’d be too many strands to a London book.
MH: You and me like to go to pubs. Liam does or maybe ›did‹ too. When taking a photo of someone from that angle the place becomes an important part of the picture, too. I was just thinking that a lot of English people regret the dying pub culture – so is this in a way also a documentary shot of a pub, a culture, that might have already disappeared or soon will?
KC: I like the documentary style of photography and use it a lot. It can tell a different story to each viewer. Location is interesting in retrospect – especially with the world changing so quickly.
MH: Is there someone you’ve never photographed but would like to one day? The Pope? Diego Maradona?
KC: Diego Maradona for sure. But I imagine it’d be a nightmare. If you ever want me to shoot him for Spex I will do. I haven’t really got a hit list of people I’d like to work with. Send me a list of the ten most interesting people in the UK and I’ll shoot it as a photo essay for Spex.








