Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has said he never needed to take drugs – but did because it was “fucking brilliant”.

The guitarist, who went sober at the end of the 1990s, said narcotics had never affected him “mentally or physically”.

Instead, he drew attention to the “very uncool” people that surrounded the band in the mid-90s.

“Drugs brainwash you into thinking you can't survive without them. I was never in a mess mentally or physically. I have the constitution of a large ox,” he said.

“I never needed to be on drugs. I just wanted to be on drugs because it was fucking brilliant. But then there came a point where I didn't want this anymore. So I wanted to be straight.

“And then there comes a point where you maybe want to be somewhere in between, which is where we're at now I think.”

(by Jason Gregory)