By Ashleigh Rainbird & Susan Knox
Several of Oasis’ founding members like to keep a lower profile than the Gallagher brothers, but as the 30th anniversary of the group’s debut album Definitely Maybe approaches, the reclusive members have been pictured for the first time in years.
Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan, 52, keeps a low profile, but has been pictured near his North London while original drummer Tony McCarroll, also 52, has been seen in Manchester.
It was Guigsy who first started the group The Rain in the 1980s, with bandmates Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, 58, and Tony on drums, before Liam Gallagher, 51 joined and then brought along his brother Noel, 56. The group went on to change their name to Oasis, who were famously signed at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow, Scotland \- and the rest is history.
In August 1994, the group released their debut album Definitely Maybe, which catapulted them to superstardom. But for the original lineup, this was short-lived, with Tony departing soon after in 1995, before Bonehead and Guigsy quit in 1999.
To mark its 30th anniversary, Liam and Bonehead will play Definitely Maybe in its entirety at concerts which sold out in minutes. A live version of their single Supersonic is set to reenter the Top 10 this week, following its release on Friday.
Liam has declared the album “the most important album of the ‘90s bar none”. He added to fans: “I wouldn’t be anywhere without it and neither would you.” But he has noted that Noel declined to participate in the shows, despite apparent “big money offers”, and neither Tony or Guigsy will appear to mark the occasion.
Oasis split when Liam and Noel notoriously shared spats and bust-ups throughout the duration of their time together in the band and even after Noel quit in 2009, they couldn't help but exchange savage remarks about one another in interviews and online, with Liam's later attempts to reconcile famously going amiss.
The pair have had major tensions ever since Oasis hit the big time in the 1990s. The first notable cracks in the relationship between the pair emerged on their first American tour in 1994, where Liam frequently changed the lyrics of Noel's songs to annoy both his brother and American listeners.
This resulted in a physical clash between the boys and a chair being thrown, prompting Noel to abruptly quit the tour. Similar anger emerged a year later during recording sessions, as Liam invited an entire pub's worth of people to the studio where the band were working and this considerably riled Noel - so much so that he hit Liam with a cricket bat.
During the same period, the brothers were interviewed by music mag NME but couldn't refrain from repeatedly telling each other to "f**k off" in a rather memorable spat. The next bust-up came in 1996 as Oasis' MTV Unplugged performance arrived and Liam pulled out at the last minute, but viewed from a VIP box and heckled Noel as he sang his brother's parts.
Things appeared to calm down until the time the new millennium came but a tour in Spain saw a drunken altercation occur between the pair. Noel punched his brother and split his lip open after Liam questioned the paternity of Noel's child with Meg Matthews, Anais. This even prompted Noel to briefly depart the band before returning days later.
Liam went on to have what Noel described as a "diva fit" when performing in Japan by acting up and walking off of the stage during the show. However, the final straw came for Noel in 2009 when he publicly quit the band.
Noel said in a statement that he couldn't work with Liam for "a day longer". The elder Gallagher had said of Liam to NME: "I don’t know who the guy is who’s in these interviews, he seems really cool, because the guy I've been in a band with for the last 18 years is a f**king knobhead."
But where are all the members of Oasis now? Here we take a look at what they're up to after the band famously split in 2009 and why they decided to leave the biggest and most successful band in the UK at the time.
Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan
Guigsy was the group’s bassist from 1991 to 1999, although he briefly quit the group in 1995 due to exhaustion, and was replaced on bass for the video accompanying Oasis’ hit Wonderwall.
Guigsy was notoriously quiet member of the group, once described as a “calming influence” on the Gallaghers - besides an occasion in 1994 when he and Liam were locked in a cell on a ferry travelling to Amsterdam for getting into a bust-up on board, before being deported back to the UK from Holland.
Noel once claimed he had spoken to him for around an hour over the course of 17 years, adding: “He loved cricket and Doctor Who and weed and Man City. I’d say 5th after that was being in Oasis.”
In 1999, Guigsy quit the group along with Bonehead, to spend more time with his family after his wife Ruth gave birth to their first son Patrick while he was on the Be Here Now tour.
Now living quietly with his family outside London, he occasionally DJs, but stays out of the limelight and declined to participate in the 2004 Definitely Maybe DVD, or the 2016 Supersonic documentary, in which Last year Liam said that despite still living “only up the road”, the pair have not seen each other since 1999.
Tony McCarroll
Just a year after Definitely Maybe’s release, drummer Tony left the group in a bitter breakup while they recorded What’s the Story Morning Glory?
Noel reportedly said: “I like Tony as a geezer but he wouldn’t have been able to drum the new songs.” Tony attempted to sue Oasis for £18m, but in 1999 it was settled out of court for a six-figure sum. Tony said he “got drunk for three whole years” as the court case dragged on.
In 2019, McCarroll went to a party for the Oasis documentary “Supersonic,” where he had a fond reunion with Liam. “It was hugs, kisses, ‘bloody hell, how are you?’ and all that,” he recalled. He wrote memoirs about his time in the band in 2010, and contributed to the Supersonic documentary in 2016.
In 2021, he suffered a heart attack and praised the NHS for helping him recover. In 2022, he got married to wife Sue, who he lives in Manchester with, and works as a guest speaker, presenter and podcaster.
Liam Gallagher
Following Oasis’ eventual split in 2009, Liam topped the album charts just last month, with a collaboration with John Squire, and has also enjoyed solo No. 1 albums, as well as with his band Beady Eye, featuring Bonehead.
He is happily married to wife Debbie Gwyther, after several high profile divorces from All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, who he shares son Gene, 22, and Patsy Kensit, who he shares son Lennon, 24.
He also has a daughter Molly Moorish, 26, from a previous relationship with Lisa Moorish. Gene’s band Villanelle to support the rockers at their upcoming shows which kick off in Sheffield in June. Liam has repeated spoken about offers made to Noel to rejoin the band, but earlier this month said: “It’s over we must all really move in for our own mental health.”
Noel Gallagher
Noel, now 56, was the last to join the group in 1993, with Liam originally asking him to manage them, which he refused. It was Noel who walked away from the remaining members of the band in 2009, following a spat with Liam at Rock en Seine festival in Paris.
He formed High Flying Birds a year later, topping the charts with several albums. He has been twice married, first to Meg Mathews and then Sara Macdonald, with his second divorce taking place just last year. Despite Liam implying Noel would need to reform Oasis to pay for his divorce, this is yet to happen - Liam even claimed Noel rejected an offer of £100million to tour with the group. Noel shares a daughter Anais, 24, with Meg and sons Donovan, 17, and Sonny, 14, with Sara.
Paul Arthurs – aka Bonehead
In April 2022, Bonehead was diagnosed with tonsil cancer but announced months later that it had “gone” after a course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. “I had a full scan 10 days ago and it’s all clear, it’s gone,” he announced, praising the team at Manchester’s Christie cancer hospital, where he was treated. Liam - who will perform with him at the upcoming gigs - said he “soooo happy” at the news.
He quit Oasis in 1999 following a spat with Noel, and to spend more time with his family. His two children, Lucy, 28, and Jude, 25, were just four and one when he walked away. Noel then famously quipped: “Well it’s hardly McCartney leaving The Beatles.” Bonehead was replaced by Gem Archer, and went on to perform with Liam in Beady Eye during the 2010s.
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