Oasis: The Truth ”“ My Life as Oasis’s Drummer

★★★1/2
Writer: Tony McCarroll
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
In the final tally of the sibling rivalry that was Oasis, Noel Gallagher looks like the winner: He wrote the classic songs, and was less likely to assault you than Liam was. But in this memoir, former drummer Tony McCarroll gives Noel a proper slating. Sacked for his supposed lack of chops after Definitely Maybe, McCarroll describes both the “level-headed friend” of lean times and post-fame Noel, the Mancunian Megalomaniac: a guy who micromanaged his bandmates to the point of giving them lessons in how to vacuum a tour bus, lest Canadian customs find drugs. But more interesting than Noel’s alleged dickery is the portrait of a band trying to make it. A “master plan” is initiated ”“ be brasher than the Stone Roses, and “more fucking mental” than the Happy Mondays ”“ and soon it’s goodbye, dole, and hello, glory. No one will mistake the early Oasis saga for Hoosiers, but good luck trying not to root for them, twats or not.