Liam Gallagher and John Squire have announced long-awaited details of their collaborative project – with first single ‘Just Another Rainbow’ set to arrive next month.
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The former Oasis frontman turned solo star and ex-Stone Roses guitarist turned artist have been teasing music together for quite some time. Back in June, Gallagher brought out Squires during his Knebworth shows to perform the 1995 Oasis classic ‘Champagne Supernova’ before Tweeting: “Super group incoming LG JS.”
Gallagher would also confirm that the pair were “definitely” going to work together, before teasing that the pair’s joint LP will be “the best record since ‘Revolver’”, in reference to The Beatles‘ seventh album.
Now, having launched a website a series of videos from one another this week, Gallagher and Squire have announced that their first single ‘Just Another Rainbow’ will be released on January 5, 2024, with “more new music to follow as the year unfolds”. The single is available to pre-order on 7” vinyl and to pre-save here.
Hear a snippet of the single below.
A press release for the single promises Squire’s “instantly unforgettable psychedelia-tinged guitar” met with “passion, personality and utmost conviction” from Gallagher’s vocal.
“To me the most obvious take on ‘Just Another Rainbow’ is that it’s about disappointment, and the sentiment is that you never get what you really want,” said Squire. “But I don’t like to explain songs, I think that’s the privilege of the listener, it’s whatever you want it to be. To me, it’s also one of the most uplifting tracks we’ve made together, which is weird.”
While ‘Just Another Rainbow’ is the first taster of the long-mooted joint album, a press release from the Manchester indie legends has confirmed that “there will be much more new music to come – and there could well be shows, too”. Speaking of their collaboration, Gallagher hailed Squire as “a top songwriter”.
“Everyone always bangs on about him as a guitarist, but he’s a top songwriter too, man, no two ways about it as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “There’s not enough of his music out there, whether it’s with the Roses or himself. It’s good to see him back writing songs and fucking good ones.
“The melodies are mega and then the guitars are a given. But I think even when you take all the fucking guitars off, you can play the songs all on acoustic and they’ll all still blow your mind.”
The first show that Gallagher ever attended was Stone Roses at the International 2 in Manchester when he was 16-years-old, with the pair meeting four years later Oasis and the Roses were both recording at Monmouth in Wales on what would become ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘The Second Coming’. Gallagher and Squire remained friends, later working together to write ‘Love Me and Leave Me’ the latter’s band The Seahorses, who also toured as guests to Oasis.
After the guitarist joined Gallagher onstage at Knebworth to play on ‘Champagne Supernova’, Squire then sent over three songs which Gallagher dubbed “all mega” before they began writing in earnest and working remotely while citing Jimi Hendrix, Sex Pistols, The Faces, Bob Marley and The Bee Gees as influences.
The project then grew as Gallagher attended Squire’s studio in Macclesfield, before completing sessions in Los Angeles for three weeks of sessions with producer Greg Kurstin [Adele, Foo Fighters, Sia]. Kurstin also played bass on the record, while drums were provided by Beck, R.E.M. and Atoms For Peace drummer Joey Waronker.
Gallagher spoke of his long-held love for Stone Roses in his Firsts interview with NME, which you can watch above.
Asked about the first artists he ever fell in love with, Gallagher replied: “Our kid [Noel] was into The Smiths, but they were a little too early for me and a little too student-y, kind of – but the Roses were a bit more laddy. Not as laddy as us, but it felt a bit more right.”
He continued: “The first record I ever bought was The Stone Roses debut album. I know this is all sounding very cool and people won’t believe me, but it is – I’m just cool.”
Gallagher went on to explain how the first band t-shirt and CD he ever owned were by Stone Roses as he was “obsessed with them” after they were also his first gig. “It blew my mind,” he said of that show at Manchester International 2 in 1988, “and that was when I wanted to join a band.”
Earlier this week, Gallagher led fans into the announcement by hailing his collaborator as “without a doubt the best guitarist of his generation and in the world in my opinion” before Squire returned the favour by calling him “one of the all time great rock and roll voices. I put him in the same class as Dylan, Lennon, Jagger and Rotten.”
Squire has been working as a celebrated visual artist away from his work with Stone Roses, who split once again after their final gig in Glasgow in 2017. The Stone Roses initially reformed in 2011, after their first split in 1996. In 2016, they release two singles with ‘All For One‘ and ‘Beautiful Thing‘.
Gallagher, who released his acclaimed third solo album ‘C’Mon You Know‘ in 2022, will be hitting the road in 2024 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Oasis’ seminal debut ‘Definitely Maybe‘.