A Sound So Very Loud

Ted Kessler and Hamish MacBain are fantastic chaps. The Dudley Moore and Peter Cook of music journalism LG x – Liam GallagherWhether you’re a super fan or Oasis novice, this book is essential reading. Hamish and Ted have had front-row tickets to the Oasis story from the very beginning. There’s no one who knows more about the band, the music and its impact than these two – Mat Whitecross, director of Oasis: SupersonicWith both wild-eyed fan devotion and a NASA-style attention to detail, Kessler and MacBain perfectly capture the lightning-in-a-bottle joy of Oasis – Alex Needham, Arts Editor, The GuardianAstute, intimate, hilarious and candid, Kessler and McBain have produced the definitive Oasis book. Every page is jam-packed with insight, analysis, access and anecdotes – Terri White, author of Coming UndoneThe authors’ own clear love of the music comes with enough journalistic objectivity to balance the zing of rollicking storytelling with the ballast of serious scrutiny. The pair have written something special: a book of wit and verve about why Oasis matter – The TelegraphThis, unquestionably, will become the Oasis book against which all others will be judged … to read it from start to finish is to fall in love with Oasis all over again – Simon Goddard, author of the Bowie Odyssey series, in The A-Z of Oasis magazineDefinitive … Ted Kessler and Hamish MacBain combine the enthusiasm of fandom with the rigour of journalism, and having both interviewed Liam and Noel Gallagher countless times they capture them brilliantly: the humour, the chaos, the surprising perceptiveness – Will Hodgkinson, Chief Rock & Pop Critic, The TimesWhatever Hamish and Ted know about the songs that have played a key part in my life, I want to know. We all do. I can’t wait to get stuck in – Emma BarnettGenuinely essential for any Oasis fan – Felix White, The Maccabees & TailendersThe one book that will make hearts still smitten by Oasis’s music beat faster. Regular interviewers of the Gallaghers in the UK music press, [Kessler and MacBain] manage to combine a keen ear for the wit and wisdom with a broader, more adult perspective on peak Oasis and their milieu. – Mojo[Kessler and MacBain] do an excellent job of communicating the excitement and chaos of Britain’s biggest ’n’roll band, while celebrating the very music that put them there – Record CollectorComprehensive and meticulously researched … Sharp, witty writing brings the stories to life, perfectly capturing the brothers’ humour and charisma. – The Sun

Ted Kessler was on the staff at NME between 1993 and 2003 before joining Q magazine’s staff, working there for sixteen years, four of those as editor. He first interviewed Oasis around their debut single, ‘Supersonic’, in 1994 for NME; his final interview with the band was on the road in Amsterdam in 2009 for Q, a few months before the spilt. Since then, he has written five Liam Gallagher cover interviews. He is the author of the memoir Paper Cuts: How I Destroyed the British Music Press and Other Misdemeanours and To Ease My Troubled Mind: The Authorized Unauthorized Biography of Billy Childish. He also devised and edited My Old Man: Tales of Our Fathers.

Hamish MacBain worked at NME from 2004 to 2010, where he had a front-row seat to the break-up of Oasis. He wrote the words in the band’s last ever official tour programme and was sitting on the train on his way to review what would have been their final UK show when it was cancelled at the last minute. With Noel Gallagher, he co-authored the 2018 book Any Road Will Get Us There (If We Don’t Know Where We’re Going). His sleevenotes for the reissue of Be Here Now were blown up to 8x8-inch size to form part of the Chasing the Sun: 1993-1997 Oasis exhibition.