He may not be Oasis’ frontman—

that’d be his little brother Liam—

but Noel Gallagher has never

been afraid to shoot off his

mouth.“Ten years ago we told

everyone with a mic we were the

greatest thing ever,” he says.

“Now we just quietly believe it.”

By MICHAEL ODELL

Photograph by ALAN CLARKE

Abeaming Noel Gallagher strolls across the floor of a North London photo studio enthusing about a new and exciting phase of his life, looking lean and reasonably healthy in every-bloke casualwear: blue checked shirt, jeans, and desert boots. It’s not just that he has a seventh Oasis album, Dig Out Your Soul, ready for release or that he has spent a morning playing with his one-year-old son, Donovan, whom he describes as “an absolute diamond.” It’s the fact that he has started sleepwalking.

“Last night I got into bed with me missus and woke up on the middle floor of the house on the couch,” he says. “Amazing! I’m 41 and I’m starting this whole new nocturnal adventure.” He and his girlfriend, Sara Macdonald, were out drinking beer and tequila with British comedian Russell Brand until the early hours—Gallagher doesn’t remember anything after climbing into a rickshaw in London’s Soho district and being cheered through the streets. “Maybe that counts as a drunken stupor,” he muses. “Is that the same as sleepwalking?”