Noel Gallagher (Mark O'Neill, SUN)

TORONTO - Sibling rivalry hasn't suddenly become sibling revelry in the Oasis camp.

Yes, wildly unpredictable singer Liam Gallagher has written three songs on the Manchester band's new album, Don't Believe The Truth, including one about his relationship with older brother and Oasis guitarist Noel called Guess God Thinks I'm Abel.

But Noel, who is also sharing songwriting duties this time with rhythm guitarist Gem and bassist Andy Bell, says the first time he heard Abel, just one thing went through his head.

"Who the fook is Mabel?" joked Noel, 38, seated opposite Gem in a Toronto hotel boardroom yesterday prior to their sold-out show tonight at the Molson Amphitheatre.

"God thinks that Liam is a woman called Mabel."

Seriously, Noel said he would love to perform the song live, but rehearsals of it haven't gone well.

"We tried to rehearse it with Liam and it turned into an Abbot and Costello sketch," said Noel. "It was very funny. We had to abandon it. We'd rehearsed it a couple of times at the sound check, when he wasn't there and it sounded fooking amazing. And then he turns up drunk saying, 'You're playing it too slow, because I'm slurring me words.' It didn't register in his head that he'd been up all night the night before, drinking lager."

Noel sums up the relationship with his brother this way: "You can pick your singers. And you can pick your nose. But you can't pick your singer's nose."

More generally, he said, "Relationships between men are weird anyway, because men don't talk to each other, do they? They kind of skirt around the subject. If you're in a girl band, then that's different. That's why girl band's last about fooking 18 months 'cause they don't ever shut their fooking mouths, 'cause everyone's got a fooking opinion. 'You need to lose some weight. You need to fook off. I'm leaving.'

"Men are kind of different. Northern men -- they suffer in silence."

But not when it came to Oasis drummer Alan White, who was given his walking papers before the recording of Truth because of his attitude.

"In the studio, he'd always be saying things like, 'I can't make it tomorrow because my cat's got a cough and I've got to give him medicine,' " explained Noel.

Following White's departure, Oasis began recording early last year in Cornwall with DJ duo Death In Vegas, who had used Liam as a vocalist on their 2003 single, Scorpio Rising. But three weeks of recording didn't amount to anything.

So with replacement drummer Zak Starkey -- son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and sometime member of The Who -- in tow, Oasis eventually went to L.A. to work with U.S. producer David Sardy (Marilyn Manson, Hot Hot Heat).

Noel, a Fab Four-fanatic, described Starkey as "a little bit of magic. I could sit and watch him drum all day. He's a top geezer."

Translation: He's a good guy. And his dad isn't so bad either.

"We met a couple of weeks for the first time," said Noel, showing off a white plastic bracelet given to him by Ringo and bearing Starr's trademark phrase 'Peace and Love.'

"He came to one of the shows and he was all he was cracked up to be. Let me tell ya. He wished us all, 'Peace and Love,' as he was leaving." (Does Liverpudlian accent) 'Peace and love, yeah, Peace and love.' "

Oasis warmed up for tonight's amphitheatre gig -- which sold out in an hour and officially kicks off their North American tour -- with a surprise club show in front of contest winners at Kool Haus on Wednesday night.

The band played for about an hour-and-a-half, which is what they expect they'll do tonight with even more new songs in the set list.

"I wouldn't fooking hold my breath, though," added Noel. "Because Liam doesn't enter into the spontaneity of 'Let's do a new song.' He has to be told days up front so he can prepare himself to sing it."

But what if it's one of the Liam-penned new songs?

"Well, you'd think that would be different, wouldn't you?" said Noel. "Liam has to have the lyrics to his songs taped on his monitors. You would have thought the fact that he'd written them down in his own hand would kind of be indelibly printed on his brain. You ought to see what's behind his monitors. It's fantastic. It's almost like War And Peace up there. There's fookin' lyrics everywhere."