Legendary photographer Tom Sheehan has spoken to NME about his new book Roll With It: Oasis In Photographs 1994–2002 – as well as sharing his secrets to shooting the band and what made them so special. Check out our interview below, along with exclusive photos.
Published this week, Sheehan’s latest follows other acclaimed books documenting his time behind the lens shooting the likes of The Cure, R.E.M., Manic Street Preachers, Paul Weller, and Radiohead, and during his years taking photos for NME, Melody Maker, Uncut and many more.
Now – ahead of the band’s reunion tour this summer with their band line-up recently revealed – Sheehan’s latest work illustrates his time with Liam and Noel Gallagher. This includes the Britpop giants’ journey from New York before the release of seminal debut ‘Definitely Maybe’, through to their ‘Heathen Chemistry’ era via recording sessions, key live shows, intimate backstage moments and magazine cover shoots.
Oasis from ‘Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994–2002’. Credit: Tom Sheehan
Looking back on his first meeting with Oasis, Sheehan told NME: “They hadn’t had the hits yet, but they seemed fully-formed and older than their years. I don’t think their like or knowledge of music went much further than The Beatles, but that comes with age, enthusiasm and getting the bug.
“They were incredibly confident and cocky, but had the tunes to back it up. They were ripe, and as time went on and after a few more sessions with different bits of clobber coming into play, they were treading their own path and singing their own tune. ‘Here we are, love us or loathe us’. Most people loved them.”
Check out our full interview with Sheehan below – alongside exclusive snaps from the book – as the photographer tells us about what the Gallaghers are really like off-stage, his memories of Britpop and the ’90s, his thoughts on new material from the band, and the chances of new Oasis material.
Oasis from ‘Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994–2002’. Credit: Tom Sheehan
NME: Hello Tom. This is a big question, but what makes a good band photo?
Tom Sheehan: “The trust of the artist, and the photographer knowing what they’re doing and why they’re there. You hear some bands say about some people, ‘Blimey, that guy didn’t have a fucking clue’.
“You’ve got to have a bit of empathy with a band. It’s a joint venture – you’re creating something. The beautiful thing about musicians is that they might be from different parts of the planet but they can sit around and make something. I throw myself in as bait with a band and try to create something with them. I’m not there as the enemy. I always used to hate it when there was a theme to a photo shoot and there had to be something going on. Let the band be the band!”
“It’s like when high-end photographers impose a style on the band: you’re not looking at the band, you’re looking at the stylised picture. Try and do something in the flavour of the band’s music. It helps if you’re a fan.”
Tell us about the mood around the UK and in music in 1994…
“Grunge was coming to an end, there was a lot of hip-hop stuff that had grown up from the late ‘80s and laid the path, then Oasis came along. They really were a breath of fresh air. They were selling something that had existed in the past but that people had forgotten. They’d forgotten that great songs and great rock ’n’ roll music could be pretty exhilarating and fantastic. They spawned a lot of carbon copies, but also a lot of good music.”
What was the vibe like on that first trip with the band to New York?
“It was very ‘up’. They were the exception to the rule. I was spending so much time photographing bands and often being older than them, and a lot of them were wary of the music press. Certainly up North in Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, they seemed to think, ‘Oh the music press are all wankers from London and it’s shit down there’. Mate, get your fucking blinkers off – it’s a big fucking world out there and it goes even further than the British Isles!
“Oasis seemed to have a vision, have it all worked out, and they were funny fuckers. They were great company and really intelligent in the sense of knowing what was going on. Humour is a great leveller, and if they take the piss then it’s all part of getting to know them. To shoot a band from up North and not have to climb over a brick wall [of snobbery] before you get there is just fantastic, so you can just get on with it.”
And they just wanted to get the job done too?
“Their approach to work and getting things done was a breath of fresh air because you didn’t have to skirt around the houses like with some bands who couldn’t leave all their bullshit at the door. Forget that we’re from London: today we get married and create something for rock history. You’re doing it with your tunes and I’m doing it with my pictures, so let’s get married. It’s that simple, but the fuckers don’t get it half the time.”
Oasis from ‘Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994–2002’. Credit: Tom Sheehan
Oasis from ‘Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994–2002’. Credit: Tom Sheehan
Oasis from ‘Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994–2002’. Credit: Tom Sheehan
You see Liam on stage, even in the early days, and he seems now like a ready-made rockstar. Did he give you that sense at the time or did he ever become a different person behind the camera?
“I think he was ready-made. He had it all in there, and it was just waiting to be pulled out of him. You can’t be 300 per cent straight off the bat. You can be 110 per cent, and then just get greater. It’s all down to experience and working your craft.
“When you’re young, you don’t realise that all this shit exists outside of your small perimeter. Once you’ve been thrown across the planet a few times, you have lived more in your formative years than most people would in 60 years.”
Did you ever sense any kind of tension or competition between Liam and Noel?
“Not particularly, no. When it all kicked off big-time and Noel tried to fly back from the US tour [in 1994], it just seemed like brothers falling out. All my times with them were fun. I never made them jump through hoops of fire or do anything daft. Lest we forget, there were 51 issues of NME and Melody Maker per year. We were just working from gig to gig at the time. Who’d have thought that these pictures I took in July 1994 would be of any interest to anyone in 2025?
“I went to New York to photograph a bunch of virtually unknown herberts from the North. It’s just astonishing. I’m still in wonder of that way of working where you meet someone you don’t know, get very personal within 28 seconds and create something – then you fuck off and might not see them for another six months or two years.”
Were you there for any of the wilder times?
“I wasn’t there for the ultra wild times, but I did raise a glass with them – I’ll say that! I got a bit lashed with them a couple of times, but that’s about the size of it.”
We interviewed Pulp’s Nick Banks a few years ago and he described Britpop as something of a “joke”, especially when the bubble started to burst. How do you remember it?
“Most movements in music don’t go on forever. You know they’re going end some time, and my theory of it was the same as many journalists and photographers: you’re going out to do all these new bands, some stick and some fall by the wayside, it runs its course and and Britpop comes to an end. The manufactured animosity between Blur and Oasis was great – like Celtic vs Rangers.”
Oasis from ‘Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994–2002’. Credit: Tom Sheehan
What with Liam and Noel changed in the final years?
“They were always still incredibly witty. By then there were in their second line-up and had travelled the world every which way and were longer in the tooth. They were a bit more world-weary but that last encounter with them was quite funny.
“I’m not a journalist so I don’t take a lot of that stuff in because it’s not my bag. I’m just the visual boy.”
Speaking as a photographer, what do you think of the pictures taken to promote the band’s reunion tour?
“I like that there’s a unison between them: not just because they’re brothers but the dark clothing. Something about the photography was quite off-kilter too. Almost saying, ‘It’s no big deal, but we’re back, the big deal will come when we play the shows’. They could have done something really fancy with the biggest photographer on the planet but they didn’t, which I quite like. It keeps it real. I’m sure down the line they’ll be poured onto the cover of Vogue or something and take four days to take four photos, but that’s the tedium of some photography – I don’t subscribe to that.
“I used to say, ‘If you can’t do it in five minutes then give up’ – but now I’m older I need a bit more time.”
One interesting thing about the Oasis reunion is the fact that younger generations are so into it. What is it about the band that young people are so obsessed with?
“It’s because they’re genuine. There’s nothing false about them. Young people, kids 15-20, need something like that. Right now, there’s still nothing around quite like them for young people to groove on. The first few albums they made are still selling like hot cakes and will continue to this summer. The interesting thing will be if they’ve got the fire to play these shows and then go in and make another record.”
Do you think Oasis will record new music?
“I’d like to think they would. It’s a waste of time otherwise, isn’t it? They’re both creative, they’ve got creative people in the band, and it would be a tremendous waste for music if they didn’t write new tunes and bring out a record.
“They’ve got to be starving to do it. There must be so much unfinished business that I’d like to think they could make another record and just get on with it. Forget the fucking dips in the road of some of their previous output and just start afresh: bang, off we go, phase two. We’re 31 years down the line of when we last needed them, and now we need them again.”
Oasis from ‘Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994–2002’. Credit: Tom Sheehan
Tom Sheehan’s Roll With It: Oasis In Photographs 1994–2002 is out now via Welbeck and available here. Oasis’s Live ’25 reunion tour kicks off in Cardiff on Friday July 4.
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