Original Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll wants the band to reunite.
The 47-year-old musician was in the iconic Manchester group from the very start, with brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs and bassist Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan, and he has admitted he would jump at the chance to play with his old bandmates once again – despite taking them to court.
Tony left the group in 1995, but sued the band in 1999 and ultimately agreed an out-of-court settlement of over £500,000 that also saw him give up all future royalties.
Asked if he’d like to see the ‘Some Might Say’ hitmakers get back together, he told the Daily Star newspaper: "I would love that. If I got the phone call, that would be a nice way to round things off. End it where it started.
"That wall of sound we had with me, Guigsy and Bonehead, that power, it was all there."
Tony was hit hard by his departure from the Britpop group and hit the booze "for three whole years".
He also admitted that he was "young" and naive to take the band to court.
He recalled: "I couldn’t get myself out of a suitcase for the next few years.
"The band were getting bigger, good on them, but I needed to get away from the whole thing.
"Really I got drunk for three whole years.
"But at the same time the court case was all ongoing, so I’m dealing with questions from solicitors round the clock.
"And that just wasn’t me. I was a young lad, I didn’t appreciate or care about law and litigation and I was just gutted I had to go through that."
The sticksman also finds it impossible to escape the band as he’s reminded of their music and success everywhere he goes.
He said: "You’re reminded every single f***ing day of Oasis. "On the radio, one of your mates, someone you work with.
"I’ll never get away from being the original Oasis drummer and that’s something I’ve got to take on the chin."
Recalling how he repaired his friendship with Liam, 46, at a ‘Supersonic’ film screening in Manchester in 2016, Tony said: "We were all drunk and I just thought f*** it."
He also had a fractious relationship with Noel, and upon his exit from Oasis, the band’s chief songwriter had stated that Tony wasn’t up to playing their new material, despite drumming on their first number one single ‘Some Might Say’.
Noel said at the time: "I like Tony as a geezer but he wouldn’t have been able to drum the new songs."
Tony was replaced by Alan White, who remained until 2004.
Whilst Tony is keen for a reunion, he will have a hard job trying to convince feuding siblings Liam and guitarist Noel, 51, to agree to reform Oasis.
Noel – who quit the group after after a backstage fight with his younger brother at their concert in Paris in 2009, which ultimately led to their split – repeatedly insisted he has no intentions of rejoining his old band.
Although Liam had given up hope of a reunion, the singer had said he was open to commemorating the 25th anniversary of ‘Definitely Maybe’, which Tony played on, with Bonehead – who frequently joins Liam on stage at his solo gigs – and Guigsy.
Asked if he’ll mark the anniversary of the band’s seminal 1994 debut album, he said in January: "Who knows? I love having Bonehead around, he’s a good craic, but as for having him in full-time, f**k that, I couldn’t handle it and vice versa.
"Been there, done that. I’ve not heard from Guigsy for a long time, I hear he’s still in London."
Original Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll wants reunion
