April 4, 2000 - Having Words With Gem Archer - Gem Archer Interview from Twin Cities at CitySearch

HAVING WORDS WITH GEM ARCHER

Some might say you're loony to strap into the roller coaster ride known as Oasis, but the band's new guitarist Gem Archer doesn't give it a second thought. The Heavy Stereo player came aboard, along with ex-Ride bassist Andy Bell, to replace the band's outgoing side men Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs and Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan respectively. While Archer doesn't play on Oasis' latest "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" (Epic), road reports have him adding much to its monumental bombast.

CitySearch's Scott Henkemeyer caught up with Archer on the eve of the American leg of Oasis' world tour, and discovered this lovely, earth-bound chap speaks quite casually about trading licks with Brit-rock's undisputed heavyweights, Noel and Liam Gallagher.

CitySearch: Where are you?
Gem: I'm in some Sony office, I think, in the middle of Manhattan.

CS: When did you guys get into New York?
G: Last night. We got in about 7pm and had all these big ideas about going out, but fell asleep.

CS: That's not very rock and roll.
G: No, but you know, it was a very, very long plane ride.

CS: How has the tour been going so far?
G: So far, from my viewpoint, it's been bizarre, really. Japan was huge—like 16,000 people for four nights in Tokyo and Hiroshima. We did a few small gigs in Europe. And in Paris it was like 1,800 people or something. It was just basically like (playing) a sauna with a guitar.

CS: You got yourself a gig in the biggest rock band in the world.
G: (Laughs) Tell me about it. That's exactly it. I couldn't have put it better myself.

CS: What's it like to be a part of this machine?
G: It's really weird 'cause it's not—if I could say the word "normal" and get away with it, I would. It's just a band. The only weird thing ... (Phone rings) I'm on someone else's telephone. The first weird thing was the first day of rehearsals really, and that lasted for about two minutes. It's only when you start playing and then the real voice comes in.

CS: You and Andy have added another layer to the band.
G: Yeah, hopefully. Me and Andy, we get a lot of scope, you know? Especially with the new songs, there's a lot that's kind of up for grabs. I mean, "Gas Panic" ends up being about three hours long.

CS: You've helped re-invent the songs on "Giants" for the live realm?
I went down to speak with Noel and Liam about joining [Oasis] when they were just mixing, so I heard the songs then and sort of heard where the songs were going. Obviously when Noel rang me up and said, "Do you want to come and play guitar?" I didn't know where they were going to be at or anything. I instantly thought, "Well it's the best rock and roll band anywhere," and it's the only band that I would step out of my band for. When I heard the new stuff, it sort of blew me away really. I mean some of the sounds—not just the guitars, but the keyboards and everything—were right up my street.

CS: It's a great record.
G: Yeah man. You know, it goes right across my moods in my house. Certain songs are Friday night tunes, and certain songs are morning tunes. Then to start rehearsing those [songs] when they hadn't even rehearsed them was great as well. It was all open and up for grabs, really from the off. I went on [stage] the first night and said to my wife, "Liam seems like he's about 14." And he did. He couldn't wait.

CS: It makes sense. They've taken their sound to a new level.
G: Hopefully so. I've said all along that I hope the lineup fulfills its potential. Andy is a fantastic musician.

CS: He was in Ride.
G: Yeah man! He knows his way around a few tunes and how to get sound out of some gear. Already we can see [drummer] Alan [White] going bananas because he's got the leeway to [do it] now. Hopefully everybody knocks off everybody else in a positive way.

CS: Do you find yourselves onstage amazed by what the others are doing?
G: There are a couple of times when I'll look over and there's Liam out on a limb somewhere, and he's just standing stock-still. I'm getting off on it as well as the crowd, 'cause it's like, he's a geezer man. I'd be fool if I said that didn't creep up on both me and Andy at times.

CS: Tell me about Heavy Stereo.
G: We were signed to Creation, that's how I met Noel anyway. It was a full-on rock and roll band, you know? If you ever want to backtrack to hear our stuff, I'd say start with the singles. The album got a little bit too slickly produced, really. And then we got, as we call it, the "Creation Kiss," which is we were dropped. We went to Japan and felt like the Beatles and everyone was gone mental. Then we got back, and a week later, we were dropped. That's the nature of the beast.

I didn't really go out or sort of socialize for about a year because we all just lived in our manager's house and started making the next album for peanuts. We were about 70 percent of the way through that—it was going really slow because we all had to earn money—when I got the call from Noel.

CS: You parted ways with Heavy Stereo and here you are.
G: I still speak to them a lot because they are my best, best mates. It's just one of those life opportunities, innit? They all totally understand, anyway.

CS: Who are you listening to these days?
G: I don't know if you've picked up on the album that's blown all of us out of the water recently is from this band Cotton Mather.

CS: Yes, they're from Texas.
G: They're from Texas, man! I'd read about them in Mojo [magazine]. The way it was put was Bob Dylan sings John Lennon on a four-track, and I thought, "Whoa!" We checked it out. It blew us away, and we played it to Liam, who went, "Hang on, this is outrageous." We tried to find out about them. That's all part of the fun as well. It was like a little, kind of, treasure trail trying to find out about them. They supported us at two gigs in Europe.

CS: Excellent. Okay, I think I've got everything I need.
G: All covered? Thanks a lot man. Talk to you in a bit.

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