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Great Chicago Sun Times article on Nathaniel Murphy, the guitarist and Oasis fan I've posted about before
in 2022 in the Musicians forum - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10355522 - and again last spring - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10357514#post7 - after ProfessorGAC mentioned the Chicago Music Exchange, the store where Nathaniel workd.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/music/2025/08/27/oasis-chicago-music-exchange-nathaniel-murphy-guitarist-youtube
Oasis’ biggest fan makes his own ‘supersonic’ guitar videos from Lake View
Nathaniel Murphy, who moved to the Chicago area from Manchester in 2012, really loves Oasis. But he’s also a rock star in his own right.
By Selena Fragassi | For the Sun-Times Aug 26, 2025, 4:06pm CDT
-snip-
Nathaniel Murphy, for one, says believe the hype. The Elmhurst resident and long-time Oasis fan just returned from Ireland where he saw the band’s Live ’25 gig at Croke Park on Aug. 17, calling the show “out of this world [and] phenomenal … with hit after hit after hit,” adding, “It’s great to hear all those classic songs in a stadium with deafening volume.”
Murphy has a rather unique perspective on the matter. It’s a bit too simple to call him just a fan; he’s a rock star in his own right. The 38-year-old’s love of Oasis, sparked during his childhood living in Manchester and attending the same school as the Gallaghers, transformed into his own quest to become a professional guitarist. And it ultimately landed him in Chicago where he’s gone from busking on Michigan Avenue, to kicking off a growing social media following on YouTube, to working as a full-time video specialist at Lakeview instrument mecca Chicago Music Exchange.
“You look at [Noel and Liam] and are like hang on, [they went] to the same schools, they weren’t from an affluent background, I certainly wasn’t,” Murphy said. “Look at what they have become. Why can’t I try and aspire to be something like that? It inspired me to pick up the guitar and see what could happen.”
-snip-
Sitting in the Chicago Music Exchange “Vault Room,” where his shorn hair, slung guitar and Adidas kicks drove home the comparisons, Murphy said his interest in Oasis began to take shape the first time he heard “Roll With It” off the album “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory” at the age of 8 on a CD player in his Manchester bedroom. That bedroom sat just a stone’s throw away from where the Gallaghers themselves grew up. As a child, Murphy attended the same schools Noel and Liam once did: St. Bernard’s in Burnage and Barlow Roman Catholic High School in Didsbury. “Noel went to the same dentist,” he joked. All of it seeped in through osmosis and had a seismic effect on the budding talent.
-snip-
Nathaniel Murphy, who moved to the Chicago area from Manchester in 2012, really loves Oasis. But he’s also a rock star in his own right.
By Selena Fragassi | For the Sun-Times Aug 26, 2025, 4:06pm CDT
-snip-
Nathaniel Murphy, for one, says believe the hype. The Elmhurst resident and long-time Oasis fan just returned from Ireland where he saw the band’s Live ’25 gig at Croke Park on Aug. 17, calling the show “out of this world [and] phenomenal … with hit after hit after hit,” adding, “It’s great to hear all those classic songs in a stadium with deafening volume.”
Murphy has a rather unique perspective on the matter. It’s a bit too simple to call him just a fan; he’s a rock star in his own right. The 38-year-old’s love of Oasis, sparked during his childhood living in Manchester and attending the same school as the Gallaghers, transformed into his own quest to become a professional guitarist. And it ultimately landed him in Chicago where he’s gone from busking on Michigan Avenue, to kicking off a growing social media following on YouTube, to working as a full-time video specialist at Lakeview instrument mecca Chicago Music Exchange.
“You look at [Noel and Liam] and are like hang on, [they went] to the same schools, they weren’t from an affluent background, I certainly wasn’t,” Murphy said. “Look at what they have become. Why can’t I try and aspire to be something like that? It inspired me to pick up the guitar and see what could happen.”
-snip-
Sitting in the Chicago Music Exchange “Vault Room,” where his shorn hair, slung guitar and Adidas kicks drove home the comparisons, Murphy said his interest in Oasis began to take shape the first time he heard “Roll With It” off the album “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory” at the age of 8 on a CD player in his Manchester bedroom. That bedroom sat just a stone’s throw away from where the Gallaghers themselves grew up. As a child, Murphy attended the same schools Noel and Liam once did: St. Bernard’s in Burnage and Barlow Roman Catholic High School in Didsbury. “Noel went to the same dentist,” he joked. All of it seeped in through osmosis and had a seismic effect on the budding talent.
-snip-
Much more at the link. Including that the custom Noel Gallagher Gibson J-150, which the store's CEO had given Nathaniel in 2021 - and which I'd included the video about in that 2022 thread - was signed by Noel when he stopped by the store in 2023, when he also told Nathaniel, "Oh you’re from Manchester, you’re one of us."
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