Dec 1991: “Interesting, But I’m Not Too Excited” — Looking Back On My Oasis Demo Review

In December 1991 I reviewed the Manchester band’s first demo, two years before they were signed. 30 years on, I wish I’d kept the tape

Back in December 1991 I was working hard to establish myself as a freelance music journalist in Manchester, England.

My big break had been getting a foothold at City Life, the city’s fortnightly what’s on and lifestyle magazine.

I was spending most of my time going to gigs by unsigned local bands and listening to as much new music as I could.

City Life ran demo reviews every issue; you got paid £10 (it might have been five) for your efforts.

There were always plenty of tapes to review — back then, the magazine was one of the few places where unsigned bands could get covered.

Demo reviewing ‘system’

Band demos would arrive in the post at the City Life office all the time, some addressed to specific writers, most sent to ‘Demo Reviews’ or similar.

They would usually end up in a box (or was it a drawer?); there was no filing system that I remember, no note made of the date they came in. If it was your turn to do the demo reviews, you just stuck your hand in and plucked out four or five tapes.

That’s how I ended up reviewing the Oasis demo, along with tapes by four other bands, for City Life’s December 1991 Christmas edition.

I really don’t recall much about Oasis at that point — it was post-Madchester and there were plenty of groups in the city who were enthralled by The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.

Perhaps I’d heard the name mentioned in passing, or seen them at the Boardwalk or another venue.

Whatever the reason, I picked the scrawny-looking Oasis tape out to review.

The demo itself? I’m pretty sure it had three tracks on it. I heard much later (when Oasis were the biggest new band in the UK and overexcited critics were comparing them to The Beatles) that it must have been gathering dust in the demo box for a couple of months before I got to it.

I also discovered some time later that my short review was the first press coverage the band ever received. That always makes me smile, because until all the Oasis books started appearing and my review was cited, I’d forgotten all about writing it.

And sadly, I didn’t keep the tape.

‘Interesting, but I’m not too excited’

Writing the demo reviews wasn’t one of the most prized assignments at City Life, but I do remember taking the responsibility pretty seriously.

After all, there was always the possibility of having to explain yourself to a band if you bumped into them at a gig.

So, while I make no claims for its journalistic prowess, I can safely say it was a genuine reflection of what I thought at the time.

This is the review, exactly as it was published 30 years ago:

‘Oasis go for the dramatic build-up here, first acoustic guitar, then pattering drums and bass. And then the vocs. A bit nasally in places, sort of like Dermo from Northside* but with a cold, and in fact the whole song is in that Northside vein. The second track’s a bit more urgent and weird, sort of Inspirals on psychedelics. Interesting, but I’m not too excited.’

*For those unfamiliar with Manchester guitar bands of the early 1990s, Northside were a four-piece from north Manchester signed to Factory. They did a string of decent early singles (with covers designed by Mondays’ mates Central Station Design) and released an album, Chicken Rhythms, which was produced by Ian Broudie. I quite liked them.

This is probably a good time to set the record straight about which Oasis songs I was actually writing about, as for some reason I only reviewed two of the tracks and I didn’t include their titles.

References that I’ve seen online state with unsubstantiated certainty that the first song I mention is ‘Colour My Life’ and the second ‘Take Me’.

Having recently reacquainted myself with the tracks, I’m pretty sure the song with the ‘dramatic build up’ was actually ‘Alice’; ‘Colour My Life’ begins with an electric guitar and I don’t think it was even on this 1991 demo.

The track that sounded like ‘Inspirals on psychedelics’ was, yes, ‘Take Me’.

What happened next?

There was no feedback from anyone in Oasis after the review was published— it was pretty rare for bands to respond to articles except to perhaps send you their next demo.

I don’t recall Oasis doing that, either.

People were starting to pay more attention to Oasis the following year, but there wasn’t any great buzz about them until everything really blew up in ’93.

I interviewed Noel a couple of times for City Life in ‘94 and ’95 — the first backstage at Manchester University Students’ Union, the second a few weeks before they played a sell out show at the Manchester Arena.

By then I was both interested in and excited by the band’s energy and attitude.

I went on to see them at Glastonbury, Maine Road, Knebworth and plenty of other venues. Their gigs around the time of the first two albums were always electric, thrilling.

That feeling of excitement didn’t last, sadly. But I’ll be forever grateful to the City Life demo section for giving me my own small place in the Oasis story.

(With thanks to Nayaba Aghedo, the City Life Lifestyle Editor at the time, who patiently edited my scrappy review copy)