With a UK theatrical release on April 29 ahead of its arrival on DVD on May 9, interest in Upside Down has seen McGee being summoned to film festivals across the globe.
From his meeting with school friend Bobby Gillespie to being whisked off an aeroplane by paramedics at the height of Oasis's success Danny O'Conner's film is a compelling portrait of Alan McGee's time running Creation Records, one of the music industry's most influential independent labels.
Here McGee discusses the film, which features many of the key former Creation employees and artists that helped make the label so hugely important, and the growing international interest in it.
MW: Have you been surprised by the interest in the film?
AM: [Laughs] Yeah! I thought it would be really low key, but I think it is going to something like 50 film festivals. In one week in May I do Brazil, Paris and Moscow. So for a film that had a budget of about £500,000, a small indie release, I never thought it would be so big, I never saw it coming. It's a bit weird, I did Belfast film festival last week and Berlin this and then I'm in Stornoway next week and Copenhagen the week after. I'm a little bit shocked that it is doing well, I thought it would come out on DVD, get some reviews and go away and I would be able to carry on reading my books in Wales and doing a bit of DJing. I never thought I would be travelling around the world and talking bullshit.
What kind of audience is it attracting?
Nobody is kidding anyone - it's not for 20-year-old kids, although they might enjoy the spirit of it. If you were in the Brit Pop demographic then you are probably going to be interested in it.
How long did the film take to make?
Five fucking years man. I never thought he was going to finish it. I used to crack jokes because I truly never believed it was coming out. I did the last interview in 2009 and when it got to 2010 and still hadn't come out I genuinely thought 'he doesn't know what he is doing, it's never going to come out', but he has got it out and I am forever in debited to that guy because he has made a fucking great film. For once somebody has captured the spirit of what our record label actually was. It was a mad rock and roll party; it was a 'we are in this until the death' kind of record label.
The long list of contributors certainly provides a great insight..
The main people like Noel [Gallagher], Jim Reid, Bobbie [Gillespie]; it's Bobby's film really to be honest but there are other great people in it like [fellow Creation founders] Dick Green and Joe Foster.
The film gives the impression that the label execs and artists are all in it for the love of music above all else?
I was with Anton Newcombe the other night in Berlin and he said that he really liked it and what he was impressed with is that everyone put aside their petty differences and spoke the truth and nobody is being large in the film; they are just telling it as it went down. So there is a lot of self depreciation in the film but it really works.
I half expected it to be everyone having a pop at Alan McGee, I'm an easy target, but that's too cheap and nobody did it, people focused on what the label meant to them and that's why it's a pretty inspirational film.
The early Nineties was hugely successful for Creation, what do you put that down to?
We were on fire, we were also on a lot of drugs [laughs]. You have to give Bobby Gillespie a lot of credit, I couldn't have had Creation Records without him. If I was one winger Dick Green was the other, but Bobby was the centre forward. He was the magnet that attracted a lot of people to the record label. I think Bobby Gillespie in his own bizarre way is a musical visionary. He is a great A&R man, it's just that no fucker has recognised that bar me. He brought me Primal Scream, Jesus & Mary Chain and Teenage Fanclub. Yeah I did find Oasis and Dick and I stumbled over the Valentines and I found Ride, but Bobby Gillespie should be getting as much credit over the artistic side of it as I do.
Do you think a label like Creation could survive in today's market?
Maybe it could in its own mad way but I'm not sure it could with the same attitude. I think Domino is the natural successor to Creation, Domino is a classic indie label.
So what music are you listening to now?
The Beatles is the only thing I listen to because it is so fucking untrendy. Equally there is not a band in the world ever that has been better than them so I'm in good company. I don't know anything about new bands and I don't want to know, I'm 50 now. I am quite fascinated by people that are aged 50 and still into new music but I personally have zero interest.
You're not tempted to start a new label then?
No, no fucking way man. I'm interested in things like the genius of Jack Parsons and NASA rather than what new band is coming out of Manchester. I have done music, I had Oasis and once you have had the biggest band in the world where do you go?
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