kid Row bassist Rachel Bolan opened up about his decision to cover Oasis, explaining that the idea started casually after hearing the band on the radio and later became something he nearly second-guessed because of the timing around their reunion tour.
Bolan said he did not catch Oasis live on their reunion run, but made clear that he still considers himself a fan — just not an obsessive one.
“I did not catch them on the tour, and I’m a fan. I’m not a huge fan, so at the time that I heard that Oasis was no more. They were broken up, and as far as anyone knew, it was never going to happen,” Bolan said.
He explained that he first connected with the song before even realizing it was Oasis. What caught him was the opening sound and the feel of the track.
“I heard that song on the radio, and I was like; ‘wow, what a cool beginning’ with the slide part, and that swampy, bluesy feel to it. I didn’t know who it was, and then once I heard him sing, I was like; ‘oh, this is Oasis’.”
After recognizing the band, Bolan said he began paying closer attention to the lyrics and found himself relating to the message.
“I started really tuning into the lyrics, and I’m like; ‘whoa, I get exactly what he’s saying’. Sometimes people just expect you to be this character that they see on stage or on the internet, and they expect you to be that twenty-four/seven, and you’re not. Sometimes you’re the guy that is out in public with spinach in his teeth, or your fly is open when you’re taking pictures with people; true story, both these things happened to me.”
Bolan also said the song’s sarcastic tone appealed to him, comparing its British attitude to the way people speak in New Jersey.
“The way he put it across was very sarcastic; that British sarcasm, which is very similar to how we speak in New Jersey,” he continued. “I heard it in the car, and I thought ‘When I get home, I’m going to demo this just the way I would demo it’.”
From there, the cover came together quickly. Bolan changed the tempo to fit his own voice and realized the new version needed an additional lead section.
“So, I sped it up to where I’d feel comfortable singing it, and then I noticed the song was considerably shorter now, so I’m like, ‘okay, I’ll put a lead section’. I called Scotty. I said; ‘I just did this for fun. You want to throw a solo on this?’, so he did. I got it back and the solo was insane, and it’s the exact solo that’s on the record.”
However, Bolan admitted he later became unsure about releasing the cover after Oasis’ reunion became such a major event. He worried that listeners might think he was trying to take advantage of the band’s renewed attention.
“Fast forward to when we’re getting ready to do the record, and I’m like; ‘man, they just did this enormous, highly successful, highly publicised reunion tour. I feel like I’m trying to seize an opportunity. I’m afraid that people are going to see it that I’m just being opportunistic’.”
According to Bolan, his bandmates helped change his mind. They argued that the cover worked because he had not copied Oasis directly and had instead turned it into his own version.
“Nick is like, ‘Nah, dude, you did it your own way. It’s like a nod. It’s cool you made it your own, and it’s not like if you did it exactly the same’. He goes; ‘I think the way you did it is really cool, and people will be like, oh, this is Oasis, but a different version’.”
Bolan ultimately agreed, especially after drummer Rob Hammersmith reminded him not to overthink the reaction.
“A good song is a good song, no matter what genre you put it in. And then Rob Hammersmith said; ‘I agree with Nick, and secondly, when did you ever start caring about what people thought of you?’ I was like; ‘that’s true, both points. Let’s put this on the record’.”
His comments show that the Oasis cover was not planned as a reunion-era cash-in. Instead, Bolan said it began as a personal demo made for fun, built around his own interpretation of the song, before becoming a track the band felt deserved a place on the record.
