Noel Gallagher decided to take three years off when his "really cute" son grew "a tash".
Noel Gallagher
The 53-year-old rocker - who has Anais, 21, with ex-wife Meg Matthews and sons Donovan, 13, and Sonny, 10, with spouse Sara MacDonald - was stunned by how much his kids had changed while he was away so had been planning to take a lengthy break from music before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
He said: “I went away on that last tour, I had a really cute eldest son. Good lad. When I came back, he had a tash...Right? He'd got a tash and he's calling me "Bruv"and he's wearing jewellery. And I'm like, 'Oh, I've been away too long. How long have I been away?'
"And so decided that I was gonna take 'til 2023 out anyway. And then, of course, the pandemic happened March 2020.”
The former Oasis guitarist has moved out of London and insisted his family's new life in the country brought about a "much-needed" change for them all.
Speaking to Absolute Radio's Dave Berry, he said: “Yeah, now we just, you know, embedded in the smell of, for want of a better word, s***, all day. 'Cause being in the country. But it's been, it's been much needed actually. Much needed, a bit of, a bit of space and fresh air.”
Meanwhile, the 'Black Star Dancing' hitmaker was stunned when he discovered his management team had paid all his band and crew despite their planned gigs being scrapped because of the pandemic.
He said: “I remember when it got to, maybe April, 2020, and I started to get - I had a few gigs booked at Glastonbury, right? 2020. And a few gigs round that. There were six which got blown out, and I started to get a load of text messages off my band and crew, right? All 36 of 'em, saying, 'Oh, thanks so much for what you've done for us and, like, it's really generous of you'.
"And I'm like, 'What are they talking about?' So, I called my manager and saying, 'What's how- Why am I getting thank you messages off all the band and crew?' And he's saying, 'Well, we've had to pay 'em all for the gigs.' And I was like, 'What, who's who's we? We? There is no we. There's only me. You mean, I've paid them all for the gigs that are now not happening? That no one's getting paid for.' He's like, 'Well, we thought it was the right thing to do.'
"I was like, 'Well, what about what I thought? They get enough.' They're travelling round the world staying in five-star hotels, going first-class everywhere, and they want paying for summit they're not doing?"
But Noel warned the touring staff to "live it up now" because he's determined to recoup the money somehow.
He joked: "I've said to them all, live it up now, 'cause I will claw that back off you. Somewhere down the line, you'll open your little pay packet and you'll go, 'I think it's a bit short this week, governor.' And I'm say, 'Do you? Well, remember 2020.' "
Watch the full clip on the Absolute Radio YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/ABSOLUTERADIO
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