Oasis: The story of a record cover artwork

National World - Broadcast Video

Two former press photographers recall the events of the day when Liam and Noel Gallagher attended a photoshoot in a side street in Wigan.

Transcript

00:00We had the Wigan Observer, the Wigan Evening Post and the reporter group of newspapers.

00:15I was chief photographer in 1997. One of the reporters came in, she had a word with the editor and sub-editor

00:27and then came over to us on the photographic desk and said,

00:32Oasis are going to be filming an album cover in Wigan, the top of Darlington Street.

00:41I must admit I thought it was a bit, oh yeah, right, you know.

00:44We didn't believe it, yeah.

00:46So you sent me, didn't you, and I thought, well, go and have a look at it anyway,

00:49because I had a job, I think, up towards Hindley at a school or something.

00:52Yeah, so you had a look and the link was Brian Cannon, the graphic artist,

00:56lived in Wigan and he was the guy in charge of the artwork on the album covers.

01:04Brian had got all his relatives and friends from round Wigan to come here as extras

01:12to make up the crowd, because it was cheaper than ferrying actors in and that

01:17and they were happy to do it for nothing, obviously for Oasis.

01:21So that's how all those people ended up here and they used the gym and these steps.

01:28I came along from that angle, from that direction.

01:31Yeah.

01:32And then I saw, just down there, a lot of people moving about, a couple of coppers.

01:39And I think I just turned left into, is it Gordon Street, that one?

01:42Yeah.

01:43And then parked up and went to the door to see what, you know, make myself known,

01:47see what was going on.

01:48And this scruffy bloke kind of lunged out of the door and stuck his fingers up at me,

01:51and it was Liam Gallagher.

01:52It was Liam?

01:53Yeah.

01:54Yeah.

01:55I thought, cheeky bloke, we've only just met.

01:56It was not very pleasant, but I think it was a lot of bravado, I think.

02:08They came out of the gym and came round here for this shot.

02:14Yeah.

02:15They were stood up here, on the steps, and all the extras were down at the bottom.

02:19Yeah.

02:20So the, I think Brian must have been directing, but there was a photographer on a stepladder,

02:24near the grid down there, and the direction was for Oasis to walk down through the crowd,

02:29while up on the side of the blind shop was some bloke with a bible or a missile,

02:35preaching at people, like.

02:36Right, yeah.

02:37You know, ranting at them.

02:39And so the people were looking up, I think the crew were looking up and Oasis were walking

02:42through, like, you know, rather cool, you know, trying to ignore everything.

02:47When I was across in the street, trying to get the shots, because you've got the,

02:51I can't really see it now with the tree, but the church in the background.

02:54Er, they kept sticking their fingers up at me still, from here.

02:59Even though I was about, what was that, 70 yards, 50 yards away.

03:02Yeah.

03:03My pictures kind of set the scene where it was, with that in the background.

03:08But when Gary came along to relieve me of my juices, I think I just handed the films over to you.

03:13I'd come just to let your films let you go.

03:16But I had my camera, and I was just stood with the fans.

03:20And Noel came out first, and made his way straight into the car.

03:27But Liam hung about, and acknowledged the policeman.

03:30Yeah.

03:31Smiling.

03:32And then he just grabbed him and kissed him.

03:34And I just lifted my camera up and got that one shot, really, because he dashed off then into the car.

03:40I think they went to the Crispin pub around the corner for a pint of Guinness.

03:43It was the days before digital photography.

03:50We were a colour film.

03:52So when you were taking pictures, you couldn't see what you'd got until you'd developed the film.

03:56So we went back to Marlin Mill, developed the film, and when I looked at the negatives,

04:01it was literally just that one frame that was the picture.

04:05And they used that in the Evening Post, and then they cropped it to just Liam and the policeman.

04:13And that made a nice upright front page picture, yeah.

04:16I was chuffed, yeah.

04:18Everything had come together in that one shot.

04:21Because the frame before it, there were fans in front of me, and the frames after it,

04:27Liam was behind the policeman, you couldn't see him.

04:31It was just that one frame, click, got it.

04:34Got it.

04:35It's a great shot.

04:36Well, it was used the next two days later on the front page of the Sun.

04:39Yeah, because it was the WPC's reaction to the left of the picture.

04:43She was shocked.

04:44Well, that whole right shot was cropped, like typical tabloid style, on the Sun.

04:48Yeah.

04:49And then turned to page three, and it was a fuse gate.

04:51And it was the full picture, yeah.

04:52And it had the WPC in the corner, a really nice laugh.

04:54She was laughing at them.

04:55Yeah, it was all good humour.

04:57It was a great shot.

04:58Liam was in a good mood.

05:00It's only full of Guinness, I don't know.

05:03The mirror used it as well.

05:04Oh, the mirror used it.

05:05I think that must have been taken out of the side window, because I think the building

05:08was taller than that, where the chap was leaning out the window, preaching.

05:11Yeah.

05:12So maybe somebody got a quick picture up there.

05:14Yeah, good.

05:15And that's in the pub later, I think, at the crisping.

05:24That's why you go out taking pictures to get that, hopefully get that one shot, that

05:30captures everything in one picture, yeah.

05:32It's got one of those kind of once-in-a-lifetime shots, which you could die happy if you got

05:35that one picture in your career, you know.

05:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.

05:38I didn't really know much about them at the time and such.

05:40There was a lot of fuss I know, but I didn't really, until this bloke jumped out the door

05:44at me, I didn't really know what he looked like much.

05:46I felt I was gazumped when he got that picture.

05:48I thought I got all these lovely pictures and then Gaz got the shots.

05:51So I got a lot of historic location shots.

05:53He's got a historic kissing picture, because if, say, John Lennon had done that, that would

05:58be a famous picture now.

05:59And I wouldn't really consider them on the same page as songwriters, but we both are pretty

06:05good.

06:06Captured the moment in time.

06:07Yeah, yeah.

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