Ocean Colour Scene frontman Simon Fowler says Noel Gallagher has him and his band to thank for his friendship with Paul Weller.
Noel, 51, and the 60-year-old Modfather have been pals for over 20 years and have collaborated with each other on numerous occasions, most recently on Paul’s latest album ‘True Meanings’ and on ‘Who Built The Moon?’, the one-time Oasis guitarist’s third solo LP.
Simon, 53, has revealed that it was the pair’s mutual friendship him and his bandmates that led to them meeting, and without Ocean Colour Scene – whose guitarist Steve Cradock performs with Weller live – they may never have got so close and also Noel may not have evolved into such a fashionable rock star.
Fowler told BANG Showbiz: "I met Noel at a video shoot in Oxford, then they were playing at our local pub in Birmingham so I went along to see them and that’s the first time I met Liam and then we got Noel together with Paul and I remember that within a fortnight Noel was wearing penny loafers instead of trainers and Liam got his nose put out of joint and started calling him, ‘Weller fella!’ Which is funny because Liam has now ended up running Pretty Green. So he’s a ‘Weller fella’ too now. But Noel and Paul have been friends ever since, at one point they both lived in Maida Vale in London and they could see each other from their kitchen windows."
Ocean Colour Scene were one of the biggest bands of the Britpop era in the 90s and Simon enjoyed partying and indulging in the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.
But now he’s in his 50s, ‘The Day We Caught The Train’ hitmaker much prefers the quiet life he lives in the country rather than repeating the hedonistic feats of that decade.
He shared: "I live in the country in Stratford-upon-Avon now and I don’t live a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle in the slightest. I live in the countryside, go to country pubs, walk my dog, I’ve given up partying. I can’t think of anything worse now than partying, staying up all night talking s**t. I think as you get older you demand more out of life, so you demand that in the morning you don’t feel like a car crash. When you’re in your 20s, and 30s to an extent, you expect to feel s**t, it’s your job to be confused. Whereas now it isn’t, it’s my job to get up make breakfast and take the dog for a walk and go to country pubs and read. Be able to stand up, things like that!"
Simon Fowler says Noel and Weller owe friendship to Ocean Colour Scene
