Love Letter To A Record: High Tropics’ Josh Stewart On Oasis’ ‘Definitely Maybe’

Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.

In this series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.

Josh Stewart, High Tropics to Oasis – Definitely Maybe

Dear Definitely Maybe.

With only a couple of love letters under my belt I am no Romeo, but if I were, then you would be my Juliet.

I realise I am not alone in my love for you – you were a seminal album of the nineties, a pinnacle of the Britpop era – however, I am still indebted to you for a multitude of reasons, least of which is rescuing me from my more embarrassing musical phases. You changed my musical life’s trajectory by making me fall in love with rock ‘n’ roll, by starting me on my songwriting journey, and by sending me on an endless quest to find the perfect denim jacket and to write the next ‘Live Forever’ (I’ve got my pick of jackets now, but the latter endeavour still remains incomplete…).

Admittedly I was late to the party – I was still just a child when you were dominating charts and soundtracking millions of people’s lives – but it really wasn’t until I started trying to write some hits of my own that I could fully appreciate your genius.

Yet, it’s not just Noel G’s knack for songwriting that makes you so good, it’s the interplay between your arrangements and Liam’s iconic snarl (a textbook example of how a vocal coach would say not to sing) that make your songs stand the test of time. Likewise, the relationship between the famously quarrelsome brothers only adds to your allure.

While this could easily have been addressed to your sibling What’s the Story Morning Glory, we may likely never have got that album if it weren’t for you. You laid the foundation that built Oasis from a beloved indie band throughout their home country to global megastars, allowing for people like myself to discover your excellence, many years after your birth.

But this isn’t just a love letter; this is an expression of gratitude too. I owe you many thanks – for accompanying so many of my memories, for inspiring a generation of artists the world over, including not just myself but some my favourite bands, for the major-to-minor [key] transitions, and for everything else I’ve learned from Noel G’s bag of tricks.

If I could play fantasy football with songs and albums I would’ve swapped ‘Digsy’s dinner’, ‘Up in the sky’ and ‘Bring it on down’ for ‘Champagne Supernova’, ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ and ‘Wonderwall’ for what would no doubt have been known as the greatest album there ever was or will be… but all in all, I’m just grateful tunes. Stay supersonic my dude.

Sincerely,

Josh

Queensland’s High Tropics have just unveiled their new single ‘Feel The Same’, an irresistible garage-pop singalong purpose-built to soundtrack your next coming-of-age summer roadtrip. Listen below.

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