Noel Gallagher doing whatever the (expletive) he wants

He's like a sommelier of swearing, his vocabulary as blue as his eyes.

Noel Gallagher is a skilled practitioner of the F-bomb, an artful potty mouth, fond of emitting expletives the way a fire hose emits water.

But the thing is, the guy doesn't come across as being especially sharp-tongued.

He just sounds perpetually enthused, like an athlete who made a championship-winning score and can't contain himself.

He's not vulgar, just really happy.

"I still feel that I'm living someone else's dream," says the well-traveled singer-songwriter and guitarist, formerly of Oasis and now fronting Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, in what might register as a maudlin, Hallmark moment were it not to be soon followed by a litany of curses.

"It's nighttime somewhere, and there'll be a kid in a bar with an acoustic guitar and he'll be playing one of my songs, like 'Wonderwall' or 'Don't Look Back in Anger.' How dare I be bemoaning that I'm famous and I've got all the money in the world when this kid's (expletive) playing my songs for $10 a (expletive) night. What the (expletive) is that all about?"

Fair question.

Gallagher's quick with an answer.

"With fame, I don't see what the problem is," he says. "I'm hypothesizing here, but maybe a lot of people's miserableness in regards to fame is that they feel that they're not worthy of it being bestowed upon them.

"Now, I don't give a (expletive)," he continues. "I'm famous because of the songs that I wrote. I'm not famous for being a bass player or a (expletive) drummer. I don't feel the need to prove my worth every time I go out on the street. My songs speak for themselves. And that's the end of it. If people want to follow me to the supermarket and watch me buy underwear, then great. Come along. I don't give a (expletive)."

Gallagher not giving a (expletive) was established long ago as the chief songwriter in Brit-pop prime movers Oasis, where he and his brother, singer Liam Gallagher, made hits and tabloid headlines in equal measure via a contentious personal relationship.

They are to one another what a lit match is to a puddle of kerosene.

But it bears repeating now that Noel has struck out on his own with the self-titled debut from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

It's a warm-sounding, uninhibited album, with Gallagher penning plenty of the kind of stirring, impeccably crafted, unabashedly sentimental rock 'n' roll that would sound right at home on an Oasis album, if he were still making them.

"I didn't think, 'Wow, this is my first solo record and I should really be saying this or there should be some songs about freedom and (expletive) like that,' " he says. "I was just making my next album, and that was it. The songs are very direct, human and intimate.

"It's just me," he continues. "I'm writing, singing and arranging all the songs, and I was co-producing the record, so this record says more about me than any record's ever said about me since 'Definitely Maybe,' 'Morning Glory.' "

The album doesn't feel like much of a departure for Gallagher, save for maybe a few more elaborately arranged tunes.

The difference, for the man who made the album at least, is that there were no filters on this one.

Gallagher just had to please himself.

No wonder he sounds so pleased.

"It's amazing when you're on your own and can just do whatever the (expletive) you want, play whatever you want, with whoever you want, whenever you want," Gallagher says. "I find a great sense of freedom in the fact that at the end of this tour, I don't have to worry about when I make my next record. I can make it next year if I want. Or I can have five years off and watch my kids grow up and I'm not worried about anybody else. That's a pretty special feeling for me."

Gallagher's a rock 'n' roll romantic if ever there were one.

But every true believer needs something to believe in.

And for Noel Gallagher, that's, well, Noel Gallagher.

"I feel that if you're young enough - and if you can - then you've got a duty to put more music in the world," Gallagher says, expounding upon his motivations as a songwriter. "There's enough (expletive) in the world, the more good there is the better. And what's better than music? Nothing."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.