I spent an enjoyable lunchtime recently talking to John Niven about his new novel ahead of his Scottish book tour and his appearance at next month’s Edinburgh International Book Festival. The book is called The Fathers and regarding its subject, there’s a clue in the title. Including a novella and a memoir, it's the twelfth work he has produced in his productive second life as an author.

But given the Irvine-born author’s first life was as a music industry professional in the 1990s, the subject we alight on before too long is not fathers but brothers – two in particular, proudly Mancunian and currently enjoying the full glare of the media spotlight as their epic reunion tour hits the UK’s stadiums. Yes, it’s Oasis.

Niven first encountered the band supporting St Etienne at the Plaza in Glasgow in December 1993, seven months after their historic appearance at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. At first he didn’t see what the fuss was about. “But then I saw them again a few months later and it was like: ‘Oh wow! Okay I get this now. Then I saw them at Glastonbury in the summer of 1994 and I was at Maine Road.”

That was the iconic 1996 show at the old home of the Gallaghers’ beloved Manchester City FC. “So I was there for a few of the pivotal moments. They were a very powerful rock and roll group in their time and by all accounts they still are.”

As for the why, it’s all down to the power of the frontman. “Liam, even to kids who are 16 or 17 now, is a stone cold legend gangster. He just has this superpower aura of invincibility. He’s just the coolest guy.”

But Niven has skin in the Oasis reunion tour in more ways than one. As luck would have it, he has just completed a play called The Battle which tells the story of the race to number one between Oasis and Blur in the summer of 1995.........

© Herald Scotland