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Perth Now
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
'I was touring Japan and they said do you want to join our band?' The Blow Monkeys singer Dr. Robert reveals Oasis stole his drummer
The Blow Monkeys singer Dr. Robert lost drummer Alan White to Oasis. The It Doesn't Have to Be This Way singer was touring as a solo artist in the 1990s and Alan was part of his live band. After Oasis' original drummer Tony McCarroll was fired from the band in April 1995 by Noel Gallagher, the guitarist's friend Paul Weller told him that Alan would be a great fit for the Supersonic rockers. Paul's own drummer Steve White is the brother of Alan and he had heard about his drumming talent from Steve and from Dr. Robert, who previously played in Weller's band The Style Council and is a close friend of "The Modfather". Dr. Robert remembers being on the road in Japan in April 1995 when Alan got a call from Oasis asking him to join straight away so he could appear with them on TV show Top of the Pops when they performed their first number one single Some Might Say. In an interview with Contact Music, Dr. Robert said: "I was touring in Japan at the time when they rang up Alan White, he was drumming with me, and they said, 'Do you want to join our band? We're number one and we're doing Top of the Pops next week.' 'I said, 'Alan, you better go.' 'He's Steve White's brother. Steve used to play for Paul Weller and The Style Council and Alan was drumming for me, so there was a connection. 'Alan's a brilliant drummer, he played on the first solo album I did and he was magnificent. 'I played a lot with his brother Steve, who was phenomenal. He's, like, the greatest British jazz drummer there's ever been, he's so good. 'Alan's different, he's really good at playing on songs, he was perfect for Oasis. You can really hear it on Wonderwall, his drumming on that." Alan was in Oasis from 1995 until 2004 and played on four albums - (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, Be Here Now, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants and Heathen Chemistry - before departing and being replaced by Zak Starkey - the son of Beatles drummer Sir Ringo Starr. Dr. Robert thought that Alan, 53, or Zak, 59, would get the call to re-join Noel and Liam for the Oasis Live '25 Tour rather the brothers choosing new drummer Joey Waronker for the reunion tour. He said: "I thought Zak Starkey would get the gig. "Although I did like the original drummer Tony McCarroll. He had a lazy style, and he was dreamy, sort of behind the beat, I loved all that." The Blow Monkeys will release their 13th studio album Birdsong on 15 August 2025, followed by a 10-date UK tour in October with The Christians. The band bring out new single The Penny Drops - the first track to be released from the upcoming LP - on 17 June. Tickets are on sale now from the official Blow Monkeys website. The Blow Monkeys full list of tour dates is as follows: Oct 11th - Gateshead, The Glasshouse Oct 13th - Glasgow, Clyde Theatre Oct 14th - Edinburgh, Queen's Hall Oct 16th - Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall Oct 18th - Manchester, RNCM Theatre Oct 19th - Wolverhampton, Wulfrun Hall Oct 21st - Bexhill, De La Warr Pavilion Oct 22nd - Watford, Colosseum Oct 23rd - London, Shepherds Bush Empire Oct 24th - Fareham, Live Theatre
Scotsman
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Album reviews: Stereolab Dr Robert & Matt Deighton
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Stereolab: Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic UHF Disks/Warp) ★★★★ Dr Robert & Matt Deighton: The Instant Garden (Last Night From Glasgow) ★★★★ Scott C Park: Crossing the Line (self-released) ★★★★ Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Beloved analogue synth stylists Stereolab return with their first new album in 15 years and will spend most of the second half of 2025 touring this excellent comeback record. Instant Holograms on Metal Film is a mouthful of a title for an album that is easy to digest, from the glorious aqueous pop of Aerial Troubles, with its devotional intertwining voices, to the pastoral electronica of Immortal Hands, one of a number of tracks which unfolds over more than five minutes and several movements. They offer song titles to conjure with, too. Electrified Teenybop! is as fun as its name, all hectic bubblegum arpeggios with some disco kicks, while Esemplastic Creeping Eruption is not some death metal odyssey but a blithe pop number with shades of sci-fi shudder. Stereolab | Contributed Blow Monkeys frontman Dr Robert teams up with Matt Deighton of Nineties acid jazzers Mother Earth for a balmy album of gentle acoustics, beguiling pastoral pop and soothing harmonising vocals. Deighton calls their hippyish collaboration 'horticounterculture'. The Instant Garden is infused with the influence of Syd Barrett, Crosby Stills & Nash and George Harrison, while opening Bowiesque ballad Giving Up the Ghost also gives off distinct early Eighties Glasgow vibes. Gardening in the Mediterranean Way, meanwhile, is not a stray title from the Sparks album but a jumping off point for some mellow melancholia. Dr Robert & Matt Deighton | Contributed Hebridean singer/songwriter Scott C Park exhibits strong pop chops on his debut album, emerging as a Scottish Bright Eyes on the spindly, plaintive folk pop of Crossing the Line's title track. Several tracks are dappled with cosmic Americana brushstrokes while Park exudes Paolo Nutini-style Caledonia soul vibes on Slide. It's an easy listen on some difficult subject matter, from the bitter country waltz of Blind Eye to Come Back to Me Dead, a sad and angry confessional on loss of faith. CLASSICAL Schubert: Music for Violin and Piano (Delphian) ★★★★ Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Did Schubert write Summertime? Of course not, Gershwin did. But there's a lovely touch at the end of this Schubert duo album by violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux and pianist Joseph Havlat where the two composers shake hands. This is Sommer-Abschied, a 'reimagining' by Halvat in the spirit of a Schubert Lied in which the harmonic framework of the Gershwin gives vent to a lyrical Schubertian fantasy by the violinist. It's a magical end – dissipating into the ether – to an already imaginative programme that intersperses major Schubert works with genuine transcriptions of his songs. The former range from a sparkling Rondo in B Minor to the eccentric Fantasy in C, via the adventurous Sonata in A, showcasing the expressive versatility and supple rapport between Saluste-Bridoux and Havlet. The incidental songs invoke rare intimacy, the arrangement of Sei Mir Gegrüsst – which the Fantasy uses for a variation set – an especial delight. Ken Walton JAZZ Janette Mason: ReWired (JM Music) ★★★★
