"Every time we put a record out, we just wanna be as contemporary sounding as possible, but also to keep the basis of the rock 'n' roll band. We always want to be able to play things live, and we don't want a bunch of geezers stuck behind keyboards, pressing buttons and that. So when I first started writing this record, I wanted a massive, radical change of direction for the band, because I was more excited about listening to The Chemical Brothers, Death In Vegas and The Prodigy, and I thought what we were doing was all a bit naff. But over the first six months it was like I had to accept certain facts about me as a songwriter and accept that I write songs on an acoustic guitar, in a bedroom, and that's just the way it is. Y'know, I can't play keyboards, and I don't know about samplers, they're just f***ing alien to me. What I'm good at is strumming a guitar and writing melodies over that. And that in itself is a very retro thing to do. But, then you've gotta say right, well, if that's what I do, what do we do to make that more contemporary-sounding, more interesting for us, and ultimately more interesting for the listener?"
Noel's answer was to bring in Mark "Spike" Stent, who had already produced the likes of U2, Madonna, Bjork and Massive Attack, to help bring the Oasis sound forward without losing their essential Dadrock appeal.
"He said, look, you're a rock 'n' roll band, you've got the Beatles and the Stones thing going on, don't ever lose that. But definitely you could move it forward three or four decades. So as we enter the year 2000, we've dragged the band kicking and screaming into the '90s!"
As for his former mates in Oasis, Noel is peeved that the pair waited till the album was finished before announcing their departure, thus ensuring their cut of the cake if the records sell millions, but also avoiding the hassle of having to tour. You could hardly blame them, though: if they'd opened their mouths before making the album, it would have been like jacking in a job with just a couple of months to go before you qualify for your pension. Noel doesn't see it that way. As far as he's concerned, Bonehead and Guigsy have left Oasis in limbo, and though he respects their decision, he disdains the pair's official reason for leaving. "I just want to spend more time with my family," sneers the father-to-be. "They'd just had two f***ing years off. Nobody loves their wife that much!"
Although Liam panicked at the news, Noel kept his cool and calmly set about searching for the new Oasis blokes.
With Gem and Andy installed in Oasis, everything is, according to Noel, "up for grabs". Both new members are Noel's equal in songwriting and guitar playing, so he's not baulking at the prospect of only writing four or five songs for the next album, or being relegated to bass playing. In fact, he's almost relishing it.
Noel is also relishing the prospect of playing what will probably be the last ever rock concerts at Wembley Stadium, in July, before the eminent old venue is demolished to make way for a spanking new ground. He confesses that he was "staggered" that the gigs sold out so quickly, before anyone had heard the new material, or Oasis had even found their new bass player.
Before that, there's the Lansdowne Road show on Saturday, July 8th, for which 35,000 tickets have been snapped up by Irish fans. Oasis may be in limbo, but it seems that they still can pull a hell of a crowd. It will be interesting - to the tabloids at least - to see if the forthcoming tour descends into another satanic mill of boozing, bust-ups and bad behaviour. This time round, however, Noel is determined to thwart the devil in Liam.
"We'd had a bit of a mad one around Christmas, and he got pissed and he was giving it all the old Liam come-out. You know, you could actually see the beard growing. So, we got him in the office and I said to him, look, before we go out on the f***ing road, I wanna know who's coming on tour. 'Cos if it's the idiot that turned up in 1997, then I wanna know what weapons to pack. But if it's the actual f***ing singer in the band, the one who comes to rehearsals . . . 'Cos touring is hard enough as it is anyway, plus we got a bunch of new geezers in the band. Let's make it easy on ourselves, because this is either going to be the last tour we ever do, or it's gonna be the greatest tour we ever do."
If this indeed turns out to be the last hurrah for Oasis, Noel certainly won't be looking back in anger. He admits that he'd happily sit in the studio all year, putting out records every six months and working on various side projects with such musical mates as The Chemical Brothers and Tailgunner, and never go out on the road again. After all, The Beatles did it, and subsequently came up with their best material. And just like the Beatles with Apple Records, Noel has set up his own label, Big Brother, following the departure of Alan McGee from Creation Records. The label's founder and driving force, McGee, had signed such acts as Primal Scream, Super Furry Animals, My Bloody Valentine and of course Oasis, and had sold the label to Sony. When he jumped ship late last year, Oasis walked too, and Noel is hoping his new imprint will last well into his own retirement. "That label is for me to play with when I'm 60. Instead of playing Wembley Stadium every five years, I'll just send some other twat out to do it. I'll probably still be writing songs and sending some little kid band out like Westlife."
He's got nothing against the boybands and girl groups which dominate the pop scene at the moment, but believes that the time is right again for guitar rock to regain its rightful crown.
"The only reason people are buying pop records is because guitar music is dead on its arse at the moment. But I think this year you'll find with the likes of us and Radiohead and Richard Ashcroft and Primal Scream coming out with albums, that kind of credible guitar rock will be back in vogue for the next 18 months, and then it'll die down again and something else will come up. But I think you'll find in five years time that all the big pop bands like Steps and Westlife and all them, you'll probably never hear of them."
The reaction to Standing on the Shoulder of Giants will tell if Oasis topple or whether they can hold their heads up and stride into immortality. Many see Oasis as riding on the psychedelic coat-tails of the Beatles, but Noel confesses to undying respect and admiration - and possibly a little envy - for another fab foursome who live just across the water from Liverpool.
"U2, man. Totally. Right from the early days, for them four to stay together that long, is f***ing staggering. America didn't break them, they broke America, and they smashed it all the way around the world. They went through their religious phase and all that, and they've done some pretty cutting edge music. And when you meet them, they're the nicest f***ing guys in the world, they can drink any c*** in this room under the table. And they're brilliant musicians, I don't care what anybody says, they write f***ing brilliant songs. To me they were always, I wished that The Smiths had gone on and got as big as U2, y'know what I mean, only because I felt closer to The Smiths because they came from Manchester, but if I was to have a surrogate gang of musicians it would be U2."
Oasis's new album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, is out on Big Brother Records via Sony on February 28th. The first single from the album, Go Let It Out, is released on February 7th. On Saturday February 12th, the last 5,000 tickets for the band's Lansdowne Road concert go on sale