The moment Tony McCarroll’s time in Oasis came to an end: ‘You have to get it together’

Posted On July 29, 2024July 29, 2024

The hallmark of a great rock and roll band isn’t playing every note perfectly. The best bands have a certain looseness to their sound, an unpredictability that makes their performances exciting. If The Rolling Stones or Guns N’ Roses had adhered strictly to note-perfect renditions, they likely wouldn’t have achieved the electrifying live performances they are known for. However, a touch of finesse is still essential. Oasis realised this when they began collaborating with producer Owen Morris and recognised that Tony McCarroll’s drumming wouldn’t suffice for the band’s evolving needs.

Then again, the fact that they got hooked up with Morris in the first place was a miracle. They had recorded Definitely Maybe three separate times, and none of them had sounded right, but the minute that the producer added his signature brick walling technique to everything, it all just fell into place, creating that kind of psychedelic wash to a lot of their tunes.

If anything, Definitely Maybe sounds like the closest thing to an Oasis live album that the group made at the time, except it’s in a studio. Since the first few passes sounded weak, putting all of the faders up made them sound more like they do in a live setting, complete with guitars that sound like they’re roaring out of the speakers.

Or maybe he was just covering up for McCarroll’s deficiencies. Because as much as McCaroll’s punky approach suited songs like ‘Supersonic’, he was nowhere near the level he needed to be in Morris’ mind, given the fact that the original take of ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ had a hiss put on the intro to cover up the fact that McCarroll goes out of time with Noel Gallagher’s electric guitar.

Given that What’s the Story Morning Glory was on the horizon, songs like ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’ meant that McCarroll had to seriously get his act together before he even thought about walking into the studio. The rest of the band practised their asses off to make everything work, but no amount of goodwill ever resulted in Morris being happy.

Recalling in the Supersonic book, Morris remembered having to sit down with McCarroll and explain to him that he either needed to get better or be fired, saying, “When we were working on ‘Some Might Say’, Noel was like, ‘Fucking last time he’s ever in the fucking studio with me.’ I was going to Tony, ‘You have to get your shit together, Tony, or it’ll be, ‘Bye, Tony.’”

Although the group eventually had to let McCarroll go in favour of Alan White, there’s a certain character that comes with the early Oasis tunes that isn’t present in their later material. Sure, you could argue that those later songs are more accurately played, but they didn’t really have the same mojo as the studio version of ‘Live Forever’ or ‘Slide Away’ did, and that does come from how McCaroll performed.

Then again, it’s hard to really argue what White brought to the table, especially hearing his crushing drum rolls across ‘Champagne Supernova’ and being able to listen to ‘Wonderwall’ only a handful of times before getting the take that ended up on the album. Oasis were looking to have a technician behind the kit, but that primitive sound of their debut was absolutely perfect for the time.

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