The Roller

Album: Different Gear, Still Speeding (2011)
Charted: 31
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Songfacts®:

  • This anthemic piano ballad is the first official single by English rock band Beady Eye from their 2011 debut album, Different Gear, Still Speeding. The band was formed in 2009 by former members of Oasis, following the departure of songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher. Beady Eye comprises singer Liam Gallagher, guitarists Gem Archer (who plays piano on this song) and Andy Bell, plus drummer Chris Sharrock who having performed live duties for Oasis, became a full time member of the new group.
  • The song was written by Gem Archer and produced by Steve Lillywhite whose extensive CV includes work for U2, The Pogues, Travis and The Smiths. It was played for the first time on January 11, 2011 and made available digitally on iTunes on January 24, 2011.
  • The music video was premiered exclusively on Channel 4, and played for the first time on January 11, 2011. The promo was directed by Charlie Lightening (Lightening Productions) and was filmed in sub zero temperatures in Cambridgeshire in December 2010. It features the band playing in split frames whilst a female stunt motorcyclist and a couple of others ride around the walls of a "Motorcycle Wall of Death," one of only two in the UK.
  • The song harks back to the early 2000s and was written by Archer for Heathen Chemistry. In December 2000 Noel Gallagher declared in an interview: "Gem's written his first song for the band, called 'The Roller' - it's like T Rex doing 'Instant Karma.'"
  • Liam explained the song's meaning to Spin magazine: "It's a metaphor for how things are thrown at you in life, and how they aren't as bad they seem."

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