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September 10, 2026 \u2014 11:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Darren Spiby, 57, and his son, Tom, 24, play Liam and Noel Gallagher in Noasis, the Oasis tribute band<\/a>, bringing their own family dynamics to a famously fractious sibling relationship<\/a>.<\/p>\n Darren: I\u2019ve been playing since I was young and performing was normal in our family. Tom got his first electric guitar at seven and, within a year, he learnt to do Nirvana. He\u2019d be wearing a wig, his brother would come in with a wig as well, they\u2019d get it down pat. He went to drama school and was in all kinds of shows. Our first times on stage together were back when we were still living in Derbyshire in the UK [the family came to Australia in 2013]. I\u2019d chaperone him to a ballet or opera show, then get thrown into the cast, too, because they knew I could perform \u2013 \u201cWear this, stand here, do this\u201d \u2013 and then you\u2019d go out in front of a thousand people and wing it. It was loads of fun.<\/p>\n We knew Tom had talent, an understanding of music \u2013 and words. When he was tiny, we had placemats on the kitchen table with unusual herbs pictured on them. By the age of two, he could recite them: \u201cVervain!\u201d he\u2019d call out. It was nuts. He was very, very switched on. His brain is a little bit like mine. It\u2019s difficult for us to just listen to music, we dissect it: \u201cOh, that bass is too loud.\u201d We\u2019ll hear the same nuances.<\/p>\n I started Noasis in 1996. Five years after we arrived in Adelaide, I got Noasis going over here. After a while, I kicked out one guitarist and asked Tom to come in so we could keep rehearsing. The other guys said, \u201cOh, he\u2019s good. Can he sing?\u201d He could. It\u2019s been five years and now his younger brother, Dan, is in, too, playing bass. It\u2019s a show, a job, so we put on the costumes and get into our roles. We don\u2019t walk around the streets like Liam and Noel Gallagher. But the perfection we seek is real and Tom is opinionated. He might stop the band during rehearsal: \u201cYou should be singing like this, Dad.\u201d It gets heated, we\u2019re family. \u201cNo, Tom, that\u2019s not quite right.\u201d It kicks off, then the whole band ducks for cover. It can be intense in that cauldron, but it\u2019s because we both want to do a great job.<\/p>\n To play with your kids, it\u2019s just amazing. On stage, Noel \u2013 or Tom \u2013 might do a lead break. I\u2019ll step away, go to the corner of the stage, like Liam would do, and just play tambourine, let Noel have his moment. Often I\u2019ll dive behind the speakers and record on my phone from the side. I\u2019ve got dozens of little clips of him singing and playing. Pride is always there. That\u2019s the bit I have to wrestle and keep down so I don\u2019t get too emotional when I\u2019m doing this. When I share the father-son connection, I\u2019ve had people full-on bawling. I think they wish they\u2019d done more with their parents or their kids. That\u2019s the big one.<\/p>\n Related Article Tom\u2019s into his acting and he\u2019s just made a short film. I think there\u2019ll be a natural path where he\u2019ll choose which way he needs to go. But there\u2019ll always be music. We were saying yesterday how great it would be to be able to stand in the crowd, go down the front, and watch our show. If only we could do it with holograms or something, that\u2019d be very cool.<\/p>\n Tom: I remember Dad rehearsing for his own gigs and helping me with musical theatre; he\u2019d be on the piano, guiding me through Memory from Cats, coaching me on notes and delivery. He\u2019d chaperone me to auditions and then end up jumping in. I remember one where I was a little teacup and he came out in this menu costume, a head on top of a massive human poster. He wasn\u2019t embarrassed, so there was no reason for me to be.<\/p>\n He coached me in basketball, too. We were always talking about shooting form to get the perfect backspin. It was tough love. I respond to no-bullshit feedback because I can action it straight away. He\u2019d instil that in me and we\u2019d go and shoot 800 shots before school.<\/p>\n I was 20 when I first filled in with Noasis. We did three songs, then Dad was like, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you sing Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger?\u201d They had a meeting and thought, \u201cYeah, we could get away with this and it brings down the age demographic of the band.\u201d It was new and exciting, but I was nervous about getting it right because Dad\u2019s such a professional. He\u2019s very specific in how it needs to sound, which is great because it makes the product so good.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve watched so many Oasis concerts. I can hear stuff, Dad can hear stuff, then we talk about it. There\u2019s a song, Turn Up the Sun. He thought he was hearing something, but it was just that when a bunch of you play a certain chord, harmonics ring out. He was asking, \u201cDo you hear that note?\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cYes, but that\u2019s because it\u2019s a harmonic.\u201d And he\u2019s like, \u201cNo, no, it\u2019s definitely there.\u201d Everyone else in the room is going on their phones, avoiding eye contact because they don\u2019t want to take sides.<\/p>\n Those conversations usually end with him saying, \u201cThirty years\u2009\u2026\u200930 years.\u201d That\u2019s him saying he\u2019s been listening to it for 30 years and that supersedes my opinions. He\u2019s very specific. He gave me a note the other day about the pronunciation of the word \u201cknows\u201d when I\u2019m singing. I was singing it more \u201cnose\u201d. He wanted me to do the English accent, drop the jaw on that word. I could hear it. He was totally right.<\/p>\n Last year, we saw Oasis together in Melbourne. That was colossal, but just as important was a Sam Fender gig a week or so later. Dad introduced me to his music. He played this song, Spit of You, which is about him and his dad. The lyrics go, \u201cI can talk to anyone but I can\u2019t talk to you.\u201d It was so special having Dad next to me. There\u2019s that whole thing about men not talking, articulating feelings. Why is that? Who puts that on us? With my dad, I\u2019m pretty open and I don\u2019t feel the age difference. It\u2019s only recently I\u2019ve started to appreciate the whole thing. A lot of people don\u2019t see their parents because of work or because of their family dynamic. I\u2019m lucky we have these gigs, and we\u2019re so in sync.<\/p>\n Music is an escape, a release; it\u2019s uplifting, you feel it in your soul. We connect with it. There\u2019ll be an Oasis song playing, say, and we\u2019ll hear a certain part we haven\u2019t spoken about before. He\u2019ll go, \u201cDid you hear that?\u201d And I\u2019ll go, \u201cYep.\u201d Before he even finishes his sentence, I know that he\u2019s talking about a drum fill in one section. That\u2019s it. That\u2019s all we need.<\/p>\n The film Oasis: Don\u2019t Look Back In Anger is now showing in cinemas nationwide.<\/p>\n Get the best of Good Weekend delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read more from Good Weekend magazine:Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"\u201cI](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a7cd0a531486529365cbdd0667e682c7f19de8bde746e81d348bc2f4f980605b.gif\")
\u201cI was nervous about getting it right because Dad\u2019s such a professional,\u201d says Tom Philby of joining his father Darren\u2019s band. \u201cHe\u2019s very specific.\u201dBrent Lewin<\/p>\n![\"\u201cWe\u2019ve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/209bf7d639eb991a07527bf2849eeeb0bb0949b1.jpeg\")
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