Oasis reunion, Rockfield Studios, and Liam's 'wild' ride on a combine harvester

What happened when Liam Gallagher drove a combine harvester to spy on the Stone Roses during the recording of (What's the Story) Morning Glory?

clock • 4 min read
(Oasis)
Image:

(Oasis)

Has it really happened? 

Definitely maybe has turned into a resounding, and hopefully unquestioning, yes.

Some might say Oasis have announced the comeback of all comebacks.

READ NOW: Alex James, The Big Feastival and the success of his diversification - 'he has completely thrown his hat into farming'

Perhaps greater, for all the football fans out there, than Liverpool's 3-0 revival against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League Final and their second significant comeback against Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League semi-final, overturning a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3.

But how many special people's lives have Oasis changed since announcing on Tuesday (August 27) that the band would be getting back together to headline gigs in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin across July and August 2025; making the world listen up in the process.

There's no longer that lingering question of whether the Gallagher brothers may or may not reform.

But there has been something missing from fans in all that time since a claimed drunken night in Paris and a smashed guitar led to Noel's departure from Oasis.

Liam and some of the then band continued under the guise of Beady Eye until it disbanded in 2014.

His brother then formed his own band Noel Gallagher's High Flying Bands in 2010 with relative degrees of success, until Liam went solo and achieved his own brand of stardom. 

After falling down a 15 year hiatus into the wilderness of broken down relationships, rifts, spats, solo tours, successful albums, not so successful albums, the iconic brothers have now called a truce and decided to bring Oasis back to life; quite arguably one of the divisive but yet greatest rock bands in modern history.

It has been a very long time coming for admiring fans who were there the first time around, and those not quite old enough to remember some of the greatest nights of their lives when attending Knebworth or Maine Road in 1996.

But one persistent question had remained unanswered for all the years in-between.

'When are Oasis getting back together?'

And now all those ifs, buts and maybes have now been answered, making fans feel like rock 'n' roll stars themselves.

Just imagine that first phone call, the first meeting and the very first hint of a reunion.

Something special.

Oasis have been a force of nature since the 1990s, when they took the world by storm in releasing their 1994 album Definitely Maybe, a masterplan of genius to those who love the band.

But something very unique, and if you understand the world of Liam Gallagher, very out of the ordinary took place during the recording of the 1995 album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? which involved a farm and a combine harvester.

Rockfield Studio, a recording facility near Monmouth in the Wye Valley which has graced the likes of Queen and Coldplay, was turned into a recording studio from a dairy farm by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward.

In a recording for the documentary Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm, Liam and Paul Arthurs, known as Bonehead, opened up about how they once drove a combine harvester to spy on fellow Mancunian band The Stone Roses at the countryside studio.

Liam said: "We went to have a f****** little snoop.

"It was a case of, ‘right, what the f*** are they up to?'

"As they had not been doing anything for three years.

"I am on about a proper combine harvester — ones you have got to get a ladder up to and it is miles up.

"Off we f****** go, crawling down the road with the big f****** lights on.

"It looked bonkers.

"We drove it in, turned the lights off and rolled out like something out of The Professionals.

"We could hear some f****** bassline and drums.

"We left the combine harvester.

"We got caught, we went in and had a little chat with Ian Brown (lead singer of the Stone Roses).

"We might have had a s***** and that and then we f****** f***** off.

"The next night they came over on a tractor and did the same.

"And then we were in bed.

"Proper rock 'n' roll."

The legendary rock brother are no longer looking back in anger, but the greatest question of all is how long will it last?

READ NOW: Farmers Guardian Podcast: Blur's Alex James on hosting the Big Feastival on his 200 acre farm in the Cotswolds

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