86TVs' Felix White once chased Noel Gallagher out of HMV

22 August 2023, 19:56 | Updated: 22 August 2023, 21:55

Felix White and Noel Gallagher — Felix White has recalled his first encounter with Noel Gallagher. Picture: 1. Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns/Getty 2. Diana Scrimgeour/Redferns/Getty

By Jenny Mensah

The 86TVs rocker and former Maccabees guitarist is a huge fan of Oasis and recalled the moment he met each Gallagher brother in his teens.

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Felix White has recalled how he first met Liam and Noel Gallagher and revealed he chased Noel out of a famous record store.

The former Maccabees guitarist and member of new band the 86TVs is a huge fan of Oasis and shared his very different experiences meeting each of the Gallagher brothers as a teenager.

"I was completely obsessed with Oasis," he told Radio X's Dan O'Connell on The Evening Show.

Quizzed if he'd ever met Liam or Noel Gallagher, he revealed: "The first time I met Liam, I went to - at 16 years old - see Oasis support Neil Young in Paris and I think that might have been Heathen Chemistry Oasis [era] maybe?"

He went on: "Liam was on the Eurostar and I had a disposable camera and I very very very nervously asked for a disposable photo, which he said yes to and did the perfect B-boy stance next to me in a photo as I'm going bright red."

"I've never guarded a disposable camera with my life like anything," he admitted. "That was the most precious thing in the world for that moment on. I've still got that photo."

His encounter with the Oasis frontman may have gone down perfectly, but when he spotted his brother Noel, things went slightly less smoothly.

"The first time I met Noel [...] We were in HMV and I was buying [The] Smiths - Hatful of Hollow, Love - Forever Changes and another record that I'd only thought of because Noel would talk about these records...

"And then my mate ran up to me as I was about to buy them and went, 'It's Noel Gallagher,' and as I say that now I can still see myself going white, but I ran to the shop and as he was walking out of HMV in Oxford Street and I chased after him. But as he left I still had the CDs in my hand and I set off the security alarm system out of HMV!

"As he turned to look at me, security were coming to get me and he was looking directly at me and I was trying to explain to him and them that I'm only buying these records because he's told me to".

Catch up on the full interview on Global Player

86TVs Felix White talks meeting the Gallagher brothers

86TVs - who have no official frontman - are completed by fellow former Maccabee Hugo White, their brother Will (who as a solo artist went under the moniker BLANc) and former Noisettes and Stereophonics drummer Jamie Morrison.

Speaking to Dan O'Connell on The Evening Show, they also discussed their debut single Worn Out Buildings and revealed how they came together as a band.

Watch the official video for the single below:

86TVs - Worn Out Buildings (Official Music Video)

Hugo said of the song: "Worn Out Buildings’ is about the importance of validation in being off track, with the reassurance that you’ll get back there in time, as a different person, one built on everything you’ve been through. And we’re all united in that.”

Felix White, James Morrison, Hugo White and Will White of 86TVs. Picture: Press

Though the four-piece (mainly comprised of the three brothers) had been quite a few years in the making, they described the former Noisettes and Stereophonics drummer Jamie as the missing piece of the puzzle.

Hugo explained: "The three of us making music together was always something we wanted to do, but I think the dynamic of actually being able to do that together in a room and the thing of Jamie arriving and becoming part of it just suddenly allowed us to share songs together and the dynamic to work and from that it started to happen and it became a thing."

Felix added: "I have to say for Jamie, the vision he showed in it from the beginning, his belief that he wanted to be part of it and put his time in it was enough for us to be like, 'OK . Let's make this album."

The band will embark on live dates next month, which will see them play the likes of Moth Club in London, Hackney.

As for 86TVs destination? The band have already plotted UK and European dates next month, which will see them play the likes of London's Moth Club.