Noel Gallagher: 'We've finally got a band the songwriting deserves'

(CNN) -- Oasis' Noel Gallagher recently took time out to sit down with The Music Room and talk about the band's latest album, "Heathen Chemistry." Here's the rest of the transcript;

TMR: How did you come up with the title for "Heathen Chemistry?"

Gallagher: I can't remember the night that I thought of it, but I thought of it previous to it being an album title. I've got a feeling that I've seen it on a T-shirt for some reason, and I don't know why. And I just said "Heathen Chemistry" and everyone went "Wow." It's just two words that go together and it conjures up so many images.

The funny thing is about that and the single "The Hindu Times" is these things just come of the cuff to me. Then I spend nine months trying to come up with wacky stories to keep people entertained when really they don't mean anything.

TMR: You said you had fun making this record. Is that a reflection of the band's state of mind right now?

Gallagher: I think all records are documents. I think with all the records I've been involved in, I can look back and vividly remember the state of mind that I was in. Yeah, we had a great time making this record. It is something we all enjoy, especially me and Gem. We get obsessive with the recording process and that's what I enjoy the most, the creativeness of it. We weren't just down in the studio drinking and having fun. It inspired most of us.

TMR: Has the British music scene changed a lot in the past 10 years?

Gallagher: It hasn't. In England it really doesn't because British people fear change. We're very set in our ways. When we first started to put records out, the biggest bands in the country then were Blur, Radiohead, and Suede. Ten years on it's still the same.

The American scene is so transient and that's good. Five years from now a band like us could not last 10 years in America, like we have done. Liam would be in a penitentiary; I'd be running for president. Something crazy like that. There's a lot of longevity in England. It's very slow to change, very slow to catch on to any new music.

TMR: Are you satisfied with Oasis' place within American music, or do you want more?

Gallagher: I don't think I'd like to be as famous in America as I am in England. When I got on the plane to come (to America) yesterday, it was a great sense of relief because I knew when I got off the other end there wasn't going to be a cameraman waiting and there wasn't going to be someone with a microphone saying, "What do you think about such and such?" I can go walk up Santa Monica, and go walk around the shops and nobody bats an eyelid. I can't even go out the front door in England without someone running down the street or going through my dustbins. It's quite comical sometimes.

TMR: You guys have sold a lot of albums in the U.S.

Gallagher: It's a big place though. I've tried to explain this to people at home. We've sold maybe six or seven million albums. I couldn't give you the exact figure, and still people (in America) don't know who we are. And that's fantastic! In England you sell 100,000 albums and you get an idol these days. I think we get a lot more respect in the U.S. for being musicians, as opposed to in England where we are known more as celebrities.

TMR: When you're on stage in front of thousands of people do you still get the same rush now as you did?

Gallagher: I've got to tell you that I have to stop myself getting that thing, because I will literally get carried away with the whole thing, and I'll forget what I'm doing. I'll forget that I'm actually paid to play and sing, and I'll just be concentrating on the people down in front, and I'll be singing out and cheering. I'll be playing the wrong thing, just because I'll be having such a good time. So I'm at this stage now where I have to stare out in the distance and go somewhere else and make sure I sing and cheer and play the right songs at the right time.

TMR: Is it true that Oasis will not perform the single "Wonderwall" live?

Gallagher: We could never get that song right. The first time we came to America I would do it alone; just sit on a stool and sing it. I didn't feel that that was right 'cause Liam sings it on the album. I didn't think it was right because that's the song everybody's waiting for on the set list. And I'd walk out with an acoustic guitar, and everybody would go mad.

But we could never get it right as a band. It was either too fast or too slow. And we don't like playing it on accoustic guitar so we'd play it on electric guitar, and then it would sound like a rock and roll song.

Do you know Ryan Adams? I went to see him in Manchester and they were on and I'd never met this kid before. I hadn't heard anything about him. He gets midway through his set and he stops and he plays "Wonderwall." And the place went silent, and I went to see him afterwards and I said, "You can have that song because we could never play it live anyway". His version was so superior to ours. It was just beautiful.

TMR: Do you agree that Oasis hasn't produced its best work yet?

Gallagher: No, I don't agree with that. I think that the next album will be our best work. What we've done with this record is put the past to bed. I never really felt comfortable enough when I've produced a new album to go and play most of it live, because the stuff on Morning Glory casts such a massive shadow over anything that we've ever done. But with this album we've finally got a band that the songwriting deserves. We've finally got a singer who's more interested in singing than drinking. It's about to get very special for us. I can feel it now. I think the next album, is going to be some of the best work that anybody's band has ever done.

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