PAUL ‘BONEHEAD’ ARTHURS quit Oasis following a furious row over him drunkenly breaking into the French hotel room of producer MARK ‘SPIKE’ STENT, a new book on the band has revealed.
The news counters official statements from both the band and Bonehead himself following the departure in August 1999, which claimed the guitarist had quit in order to spend more time with his family.
In ‘Forever The People: Six Months On The Road With Oasis’ long-time Oasis biographer Paolo Hewitt explained: “It was guitarist Bonehead who precipitated a crisis by drunkenly breaking into producer Stent‘s room at 4am. The subsequent row saw Bonehead pack his bags and fly back to Manchester.”
When NME broke the story last summer, Noel Gallagher famously quipped that Bonehead’s departure was “hardly McCartney leaving The Beatles“.
Bonehead was followed out of the Oasis fold within weeks by bassist Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan. They were replaced by former Heavy Stereo guitarist Gem Archer and ex-Ride and Hurricane Number One man Andy Bell.
Bonehead has since been reported to working on some solo material at Rockfield Studios in Wales.
‘Forever The People: Six Months On The Road With Oasis’ is published by Box Tree this month. Sections of the book are reprinted in the current issue of Mojo magazine.