Tender (A britpop era fiction)

Connection

"The weeks after were busy as hell. Oasis was touring all around the UK, night after night after night they had gigs. The days were filled with interviews and record store gigs and photoshoots. Then Whenever he could, Noel and Coyley would rush to the studio to assist Owen Morris with the producing of the album. And whenever I could I would accompany them, sit in the back corner of the room and tried to learn by listening to them and watching them.  

I have no idea when we ever slept. That damn bus became our living room and the team behind Oasis became very close. 

There was Coyley who loved and believed in that band like maybe no one else did. He would've done everything for them and he was especially close to Noel. They knew each other from their work for the Inspiral Carpets."

I lose my thought there for a moment. Good old Coyley, loyal, quiet but never shy. He was truly a fifth member of Oasis. I remember him comforting me after Tony and I split up, being there for me like my brothers should have been. It broke my heart when he left and I know it broke his too. The one person out of the bunch I'm still in contact with which surprises me to this day. I always thought his loyalty to Noel would know no boundaries. 

"Phil Smith was quicker than all of us with the gear, with the set-up and everything. He was the one you could see in the early days running on stage and setting everything up between the songs. He had an endless amount of energy, always the last to go to bed and the first to get up."

And he ran right into a grown out burn-out with it. When he left shortly after Coyley did, it was the beginning of the end for the Oasis I knew and loved.  

"Jason, our roadie, what a mental cunt. Fucking funny and always high, but also very considerate. He would buy Maggie and me flowers sometimes, not out of a certain motive and despite the others making fun of him. He didn't give a flying fuck. He just wanted to see us smile.

Maggie, the tour manager. God bless that woman. I loved her, she was probably my best friend at that time. Each and everyone of us has put her through hell at some point. But she managed to get the band on stage most of the time, she managed to get the boys into the interviews and everyone into the tour bus after a gig. Except for one time when we forgot Jason 'cause he was too busy snorting coke from a hookers breasts." I remember his distraught phone call and remember how I could not stop laughing for the whole night when we picked him up, standing there in his undies like a madman, white powder all over his face. 

"If you ever want to make a movie about Oasis, you can't do it without talking to these people. They were the core of this first years, the rock the band stood on. As Noel said, they were fucking essential."

"So there's one thing at last you and him agree on" Matt smiled.

"We agree on almost everything I suppose. Or we did, back then. We just diverse in our opinion about each other." I smile sadly. For a moment, there is a silence far too heavy to bear so I collect my thoughts and start talking again.

"About two months after Supersonic, Shakermaker was released. The video was filmed in Manchester so it was a good opportunity to finally see our mam and our kid Paul again. Paul then accompanied the band on tour for a while but I'm not sure if he particulary liked it. But I liked having him around, I missed him very much after that."

Probably some of the best weeks of my life, having my three brothers with me, sneaking into Tonys bunk bed every night and being surrounded by my friends while their success slowly became inevitable. 

"Is there a certain point in that few months period that you particulary remember as a mile stone in your perception of the bands success? A moment between all of this were you realized the potential of Oasis?"