'Noel asked what I thought of the name Oasis'

In the early 1990s, Liam Walsh and Alison Bell were carving out careers as publicists and became friends with an as-yet-unknown musician by the name of Noel Gallagher.

The pair lived in the same building as Gallagher - India House - an apartment block in Manchester which had become a haven for creatives, especially those in the music industry.

They were invited to the band's first reunion show in Cardiff by Noel and would go on to work with Oasis on their first two albums.

Bell said the show on Friday was "a beautiful moment", but not a surprise, as she was so sure they would be huge in the early days, she even dreamed they would support the Rolling Stones.

Walsh said those days in the early 1990s were "beautiful".

"We feel lucky that we were growing up around those days, right in the Nineties. We really do," he said.

"The atmosphere, certainly in the North and most certainly in Manchester... it was electric."

Bell said they were ideally situated to be involved, with some of the city's most important music venues close by.

"India House is situated right in the city centre," she said.

"It was only a few minutes walk to places like the Boardwalk, the Ritz, the Hacienda which was great."

Bell said they met Noel while he was working as a roadie with Inspiral Carpets (Walsh was their merchandise seller), and he soon asked them to go and see Rain, the band which would turn into Oasis after he joined.

"He asked if I would come along to see his brother Liam's band," she said.

"He'd introduced me to Liam a few times and we went with Noel and his then girlfriend, to the Boardwalk.

"On the way back... he said to me, 'what do you think of the band?'

"I said, 'well, they're good'.

"'Liam's a good front man, but some of the songs probably need a bit of work on them'.

"Noel said he was going to join the band and give him the songs he's been he'd been writing.

"A few weeks later, he asked me what I thought of the name Oasis."

Red Alert went on to plug Oasis's early singles and shows, and Walsh and Bell stayed close to the Gallaghers and some of the other members of the band, such as rhythm guitarist Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs, throughout their rise to global stardom and their acrimonious split.

"We knew all the Manchester bands, we hung out with them, and those bands that were your friends were suddenly on Top of the Pops," Walsh said.

"It was actually really, really bizarre to see Noel, Liam and Bonehead on there."

Bell said they were always closer to Noel, but got to know Liam as the band rose to success.

"I really like Noel and got on really well with him [but] I didn't know Liam as well," she said.

"I knew him a little bit because he was often in [our offices at] 23 Mount Street, popping in and out.

"In fact, when we outgrew our office and needed a bigger space, we moved to [music mogul] Pete Waterman's Church, which is at the end of Deansgate, and our three removal men who helped us move all our records and CDs were Liam, Bonehead and their mate."

She said she always knew Oasis were going to be a great band.

"I just thought Noel was a fantastic songwriter," she said.

"I remember when we took them around to radio stations to do the kind of promotional tours sort of thing we did back then, I told Noel that I'd dreamed that they were going to support the Rolling Stones.

"You could see that they were going to be pretty big."

However while their relationships stayed strong, others did not survive the band's meteoric rise.

Drummer Tony McCarroll left the band in 1995 while Oasis were basking in the glory of their debut album Definitely Maybe, released the year before.

Arthurs then left in 1999, before a backstage bust-up between Noel and Liam at the Rock En Seine festival in Paris finally put paid to Oasis in 2009.

Walsh said they doubted they would ever see the band reunite, so "the minute that we heard it, both Alison and I independently texted Noel".

"He just said 'You two can come, you two have got to be there'."

Walsh said it was a very special night.

"To watch them walk back on stage, the two brothers, after 16 years... after all that fighting publicly... it was a beautiful moment."

Bell and Walsh said they hoped to be able to see the band again when they return to Manchester on Friday for a run of five shows.

"I think their hometown gigs, certainly the Friday night, it's got to be special for them," said Walsh.

"It's a massive happening, not just a gig, it's a happening for Manchester."

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