44 - Oasis - Definitely Maybe 30th Anniversary with Johnny Hopkins (Part 1)

44 - Oasis - Definitely Maybe 30th Anniversary with Johnny Hopkins (Part 1)

Author: Rock n Roll Book Club December 28, 2024 Duration: 55:00

On May 31st 1993 Alan McGee walked into King Tut's War War Hut in Glasgow & stumbled upon Oasis - immediately after the gig he rang Creation Records Press Officer Johnny Hopkins to enthuse about his new discovery - the calls were repeated every hour throughout the night. Johnny joins us this week for the first part of our conversation about the beginnings of Oasis & the making of their debut album Definitely Maybe.



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The day after King Tut's, Alan McGee arrives back at Creation HQ in Hackney with the famous Union Jack demo tape - Bring It On Down being the first track Johnny & the Creation staff heard.


Within a week Liam, Noel & Bonehead come into Creation & are sharp & funny - impressing everyone. Shortly after they sign with Creation in the UK & Sony worldwide.


The first thing many people hear is the Columbia white label 12" which appears towards the end of 1993 & is instantly played on Radio 1.


Also in late 1993 Oasis decamp to Monnow Valley Studios with original producer Dave Batchelor, however the results are deemed unsatisfactory & Noel Gallagher & Mark Coyle take over production duties for further sessions at Sawmills Studios, but again the recordings fail to capture the sound everyone is hearing at Oasis gigs.


Owen Morris has a go at mixing the record & nails it - producing the sound you hear on the finished album.


The first London gig takes place at the Water Rats in Kings Cross in January of 1994 & features the first known performance of debut single Supersonic, which comes out on April 11th.


This landmark gig is followed by a legendary trip to Amsterdam which is where we end Part 1 of our Definitely Maybe 30th Anniversary episode - part 2 will follow next week.



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The Music Maps Podcast from the Rock n Roll Book Club isn't your typical music show. It's an audio expedition where geography is the guide. Every episode starts with a specific location-a city, a venue, a forgotten roadside attraction-and uses that place as a launchpad to explore the sounds, stories, and scenes connected to it. You might find yourself deep in the blues clubs of Chicago one week and tracing the underground punk threads of a small European town the next. The conversations are wide-ranging, connecting the dots between iconic artists and obscure movements, all anchored to a point on the map. Listening to this podcast feels like adding a new, richly detailed pin to a global atlas of musical influence. It’s about the context behind the chords and the cultural soil from which genres grow. The result is a continuously evolving, deeply human portrait of how music and place are inextricably linked, one fascinating destination at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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