Noel Gallagher believes people had stopped “listening” to Oasis before they split.

The guitarist – who quit the group following a row with his brother, frontman Liam Gallagher, in August 2009, triggering their split – knows the band would have continued to sell out their concerts, but doesn’t think many people were interested in their new music.

He said: “I think people had stopped listening. People kept coming to the gigs, but people had stopped listening.

“It’s like, if I was sat here today, doing a press conference for a new Oasis album. well I wouldn’t be doing a press conference, would I?

“It would be like, ‘Oh f***ing hell, Oasis have got a new album out, so what?’ That’s just the way it is when you go on for so long. Does anyone care about a new Rolling Stones album? They go and see ’em don’t they?”

Despite his comments, Noel – who is set to release his first solo album ‘Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds’ later this year – admits he still feels the band could have continued for longer.

He added in an interview with NME magazine: “The kids hadn’t stopped listening but I guess the press stopped listening. But I never felt we were at the end.

“Because half of this stuff, the ‘High Flying Birds’ album, was written and demoed before that, so some of it was going to seep in there at some point. But it’s all kind of in hindsight now. I mean, I didn’t think of any of this stuff at the time.”