Liam Gallagher has shared his opinion on brother and former Oasis bandmate Noel Gallagher‘s recent cover of Joy Division‘s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.
On Thursday (June 1), Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds performed a live cover of the Joy Division song as part of the BBC Radio 2 Piano Room series, accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra. “I would play this song, this version of it, at home down the years,” he said.
Gallagher expressed initial trepidation about performing his rendition: “I was like, ‘How can I get away with that?’ Because it’s such an iconic [song] and, being from Manchester… well, this is going to be tricky.”
He added: “But now I’ve got my own studio, I went and did a little demo of it and I was like ‘You know what? I think I might be able to pull this off.’ So we’re going to do’‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by the Divs.”
Gallagher’s brother Liam was among those who took issue with the rendition. “I must once again apologise on behalf of my family for [Noel’s] piss poor and damn rite blasphemous version of joy division’s love will tear us apart tut fucking tut SORRY,” Liam wrote on Twitter late last evening.
I must once again apologise on behalf of my family for Rkids piss poor and damn rite blasphemous version of joy division’s love will tear us apart tut fucking tut SORRY
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) June 1, 2023
The Gallagher brothers have publicly traded barbs back and forth over the last few months, largely in relation to Oasis’ prospects of reuniting. In 2020, Liam said a reunion was “gonna happen very soon” in a cover interview with NME. In January this year, Noel expressed that he would “never say never” to the idea.
However, tensions have resurfaced recently. In March, Noel said that while his brother wants a reunion to happen, he had not been in contact to arrange anything. “He should get his people to call my people,” Noel said during an interview with French outlet France Inter.
“He’s got my number, he’s got my manager’s number. Call us. But you know what? He won’t call.” Shortly after the interview, Liam claimed his brother has “done a lot of damage to Oasis as a brand” and had “a lot of making up to do not just to me but to you the fans”.
Last month, Noel branded Liam too much of a “coward” to commit to the idea of performing together again. Following his comments, Liam took to Twitter and told fans that his brother is “full of shit” and “hates Oasis fans”.
His brother isn’t the only person Noel has directed incendiary comments towards recently. Last month, he responded to The 1975 frontman Matty Healy’s comments calling for an Oasis reunion, describing Healy as a “fucking slack-jawed fuckwit” who “needs to go over how shit his band is and split up”.
Noel’s BBC Radio 2 performance came in support of his new High Flying Birds album, ‘Council Skies’. NME called Gallagher’s fourth album with the project “the brightest, most listenable collection of songs he’s pieced together in some time” in a four-star review.
To celebrate the release of ‘Council Skies’, Noel Gallagher and co. have lined up 26 dates in North America with support from Garbage. The band will also embark on a full UK arena tour this December, featuring stops in London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Glasgow and Liverpool. Find all upcoming dates and remaining tickets here.