Oasis brothers take legal action over ‘unfiltered’ backstage recordings set for £1.6m auction
Oasis split up in 2009 but returned to touring in 2025. (Getty) (Getty Images)
Noel and Liam Gallagher have filed High Court legal papers in a bid to stop a planned auction of Oasis archive recordings estimated at £1.2 million to £1.6 million.
The brothers’ claim names the band’s former sound engineer Huw Richards as a defendant, alongside his son Owain and Worcestershire-based auction house Littleton Auctions. The recordings are due to be sold on Saturday.
The archive is described as featuring Oasis soundchecks, rehearsals and “unfiltered dialogue and banter” between Noel and Liam during the band’s peak years, spanning 1994 to 2001. It is also described as consisting of 209 DAT tapes, 73 analogue cassettes and three MiniDiscs.
Richards was quoted as saying: “The quality of the audio is great; they are literally ready to be mastered and put on a live album,” though the sellers have said intellectual property rights would stop any buyer from commercialising the recordings.
What’s on the Oasis recordings due for auction?
As well as off-mic moments, the collection is said to capture the band in working mode, with soundchecks and rehearsals logged across the seven-year period.
It has also been claimed that the archive includes what is said to be the only recording of Oasis’s 1996 Loch Lomond concert.
Why are Noel and Liam trying to stop the sale?
Oasis say they retain the intellectual property and copyright, while Richards argues he is the legal owner because he made the recordings and has them in his possession.
Oasis Partnership, Sony Music and Big Brother Recordings are listed as claimants alongside Noel and Liam Gallagher.
Littleton Auctions managing director Ben Homer was quoted as saying: “The Oasis camp is aware of the auction and has expressed concerns, which is entirely understandable given the scale and significance of the material.”
