FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OASIS YOUTUBER CARRIES THE CLASSICS THROUGH THE LOCKDOWN IN OMAGH
Don’t Look Back in Anger, it’s All Around the World!, D’You Know What I Mean?
OMAGH, Co TYRONE, (May 2020) When you embark on a journey to list a band’s 50 greatest songs, with a descriptive video for each one, it’s a daunting enough prospect. For Omagh Youtuber James McAnespy, having to contend with the lockdown made things considerably more challenging.
The Omagh actor and writer, who is listing his fifty favourite Oasis songs in release order had started releasing the project in his Belfast flat in January, but the lockdown and personal circumstance meant he’s had to continue it from his family home in Omagh. Now past the first ten songs from the seminal Definitely Maybe era, James has found a new angle to the songs that weren’t obvious the first time round.
“Definitely Maybe songs were all about feeling trapped and getting out of the situation Noel Gallagher found himself in,” James said. “Suddenly phrases like ‘It would be nice to be alone for a week or two,’ (Married With Children), or ‘Is it worth the aggravation to find yourself a job, when there’s nothing worth working for?’ (Cigarettes and Alcohol) feel a lot more prescient.”
James is planning to continue to release two videos a week, with the next one he’s set to record being Half the World Away, the theme tune to the beloved sitcom The Royle Family. His videos are a mix of respectful criticism, informed breakdowns and fan celebration of the songs, and he feels fifty isn’t even enough to do the band justice!
“The whole challenge was to find fifty better songs than Roll With It, the song they had in that chart battle against Blur. In the end I had to pare it down from nearly seventy!
“Oasis have been unique in that they were successful commercially speaking, but ten years after they ended, they still have an undeniable imprint in the culture of the population as a whole. No other band can claim to have so many songs that the general public are intimately familiar with as Oasis. That’s what I’m looking to celebrate with these videos.”
The videos, and much more including Ecumenical Matters The Father Ted Podcast, plays, show reels, acting clips and even audition tapes, are available as a free subscription on the James McAnespy Youtube channel.
James McAnespy is a writer and actor, responsible for some of the most beloved new plays to be performed in Tyrone. His 2012 play Sitting Up For Michael was the best selling play of the year in the Alley Theatre and the Strule Arts Centre, and was followed by a three week run in the legendary White Bear Theatre in London, where it garnered five star reviews. He has also hosted the hugely popular Ecumenical Matters The Father Ted Podcast, which is also being re uploaded to his Youtube channel.
##################
