More about: Noel Gallagher

With tickets selling fast and a huge summer of touring on the horizon with his High Flying Birds, fans are hoping that Noel Gallagher will drop at least a couple of new tracks into his setlist when he hits the road. But how is progress going on his upcoming new album? Well, to find out, we caught up with the record's producer, David Holmes. 

The electro legend and producer was at the Ivor Novellos yesterday to pick up the award for Best Television soundtrack with Keefus Cianca for his work on London Spy where Gigwise caught up with him. Naturally, we had to ask about progress on Noel's new album, after the former Oasis icon let word slip that the pair would be working together.

"Why did he fucking announce that?" laughed Holmes. "Yeah, it's going really good. We're a good bit into it now, we've got nearly five tracks done now. People are going to be surprised. I think people love Noel and they're desperate for him to make a really big, bold, uptempo beast of a record - a lot of Noel's music is quite mid-tempo. This one is quite fun."

He continued: "Noel's straightforward, he normally just reacts - he either goes 'yeah, that's great' or 'no, that's not for me', or to be perfectly blunt 'no that's fookin' shite'. It's been really good, Keefus has been playing on it - it's been a fun experience. He's super talented and a joy to work with."

"It's not for me to say what it sounds like, it's his record - I'm just helping him try to realise a different way of working and stuff. You're going to have to wait and see.He's a brilliant guitar player, and he's really getting into guitar pedals and stuff. He's got two great ears."

 “David Holmes is producing it,” said Noel earlier this year. “And I’m singing one song in the highest register I’ve ever got to in my entire life. It’s almost unenjoyable singing it.”

Meanwhile, he also said earlier this year that the album would have a David Bowie influence. 

"I'm in the studio at the minute," he said. "I'm in the middle of fucking about.

"I'm doing some stuff that, this time in particular, will get really, properly ignored in America. I don't just mean ignored like the rest of 'em. I mean properly ignored. That's what I'm aiming for: total, total anonymity. I'm sick and tired of being in New York and being pestered by one person a month. That's gotta fucking stop."

Speaking of the influence of Bowie on the record, he said he'd been inspired by the classic 'Jean Genie', he added: "I've nicked a little bit of that. The 'woo-hoo!'. You'll hear that sooner or later in one of my tracks."

As well as headlining Y Not, Kendal Calling and Victorious Festival this summer. Noel Gallagher's upcoming tour dates are as follows. For tickets and more information, visit here. 

Wednesday 03 August 2016 - SCARBOROUGH Open Air Theatre
Thursday 04 August 2016 - LANCASHIRE Lytham Festival Proms Arena
Friday 26 August 2016 - GLASGOW Bellahouston Park
Sunday 28 August 2016 - PORTSMOUTH Southsea Castle Field

More about: Noel Gallagher