Melissa Locker

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Recently I was able to schedule a Zoom call with author Melissa Locker to discuss everything that went into her newly released book, And After AIl: A Fan History of Oasis. In this interview, I asked Melissa about the number of Oasis fan interviews she conducted for research for the book, the coolest Oasis memorabilia she came across in fans’ collections, and a bit of a discussion on fan/”stan” culture today. The book is out today via Gallery Books at all major retailers here.

First of all, thanks so much for your time today, Melissa. The first question I have is about your new book called And After All: A Fan History of Oasis. Was there a certain moment that sparked your interest in telling this story?

Well, I’ve always been like a fan of Oasis. But honestly, the reunion shows were what inspired the publisher to want to do it. I’m always down to write a story, but in this particular case, it was really whether the publishers would be interested or not.

Did you have any like back and forth with pitching ideas or things like that with the publisher?

No, this point in particular, I think they were just really eager. And my agent is British, and I think she had seen Oasis growing up, and so I think she knew just how big this was going to be. And so she got in pretty early.

That’s awesome. So approximately how many fan interviews did you conduct for this book, and how’d you go about reaching out to fans for the band Oasis?

I’ve never actually counted how many fans I talked to…but it was at least 70, maybe 90.

And how did you do that? In-person, Zoom calls, telephone calls?

Mostly Zoom, and yeah, I finally figured out how to use WhatsApp for phone calls.

Yeah, it’s one of the things I have yet to download yet with all the other apps out there, but I know a lot of people use that for sure…

Yeah, and particularly in Europe and the UK. Americans tend to be less WhatsApp users in the world. So I finally had to figure out how to use WhatsApp and start making phone calls to people. But the book was actually on a very tight timeline, and so I had two research assistants working with me, both great journalists. And so between the three of us, we were able to dig in and really track down as many fans as we could.

And I understand you talked about Oasis fan memorabilia and stuff like that. What was the most interesting piece that you came across?

So there’s this guy, Brian Garcia, down in Texas, who has an incredible collection of memorabilia. I mean, he owns suits that like Noel Gallagher wore. He has pieces of drum sets that were used on Definitely Maybe. And then there’s a guy, Rob Fineman in the UK, who’s also kind of like this incredible collector. And both of them sort of buy and sell merch, but Brian Garcia told me that Noel was like, “Wait, how do you have that?” They’re just such big fans and such big collectors that these pieces pop out to them and they just want to own them.

Did you hear about that fan that tried to steal one of Twenty One Pilots drum kits? That just reminded me of that when you said they had a piece of the drum kit. I was like, how did they even get away with it?

That’s funny! Well, that one, I think that one actually maybe Rob Finneman, but I think Tony McCarroll the original drummer, he’s not with the band anymore, and Oasis has famously gone through a lot of drummers, so I feel like there are a lot of drum kits out there that were used to record songs, or we were used on tour that aren’t being used now.

Yeah, that’s true. What are some of your favorite Oasis songs? I mean, there’s so many in the catalog, but is there a favorite of the big singles? And then, a favorite deep cut?

Yeah, I always want to have a better answer to this, because having talked to so many fans there who have such extensive knowledge of these kinds of obscure rarities and B-sides. And what I’ve decided is my all time favorite Oasis song is the one that no one else has heard, that Noel Gallagher recorded put on a USB track, and then this guy, Kyle Dale in the UK, has the USB track. And no one has ever heard those songs. So those are my favorite obscure songs

That’s awesome. Does it have a title? Or is it untitled?

Untitled. Never been released. Noel doesn’t know how to get them off the USB, supposedly. So they’re just gonna be there forever. So those are my more obscure ones, but as ones that I love personally, “Don’t Look Back In Anger”, “Supersonic”, “Live Forever”. It’s hard to go wrong. I mean, that’s one thing that I love about Oasis. They wrote songs that have resonated across decades, and have people in pubs around the world know every single word to those songs.

Yeah, and even if they play it on a big stadium PA, people start singing along, almost kind of like the “Mr. Brightside” phenomenon of our generation.

Yeah!

So there seems to be a heated debate with fans over the best Oasis record. You may or may not have noticed…<Laughter> So, which side are you on? Definitely, Maybe or (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory. You can probably see both of those covers over my shoulder…

I can see them over your shoulder. You know, that is one of those arguments when you talk to more and more fans, it’s like they’re, they’re both incredible albums. And then people that I talked to also, they also love Be Here Now. They love Standing On the Shoulder of Giants. Some people really, really got into their later work and will argue with you for a very long time that those are actually very misunderstood albums that people should go back and listen to. I personally really like Definitely, Maybe. But, I’m not going to be mad at (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory coming on.

Yeah, I’m kind of the same way. It depends on the mood I’m in and what I’m looking for, stylistically or sonically, stuff like that. So I assume you’ve connected with some audience members in the past for Oasis concerts?

Yeah, of course.

Okay, and how would you describe the average Oasis fan?

I think there’s kind of this misconception, actually, that a lot of Oasis fans are these kinds of drunk football hooligan bros. And there certainly is a contingent of that at the show, and they tend to be loud and a little obnoxious and drunk and throwing pee in the air. But I think there’s also a lot of younger female fans, people of color, people who just aren’t quite as loud, and are still loving the shows. And they are there to revel in the music like everyone else.

That’s cool! So, the new book also has an audio book option read by Kit Griffiths. Did you personally select your “voice” for this book?

Yeah, they gave me a bunch of options, and I then had to decide who they were, and I listened to a bunch of them. I am actually an audio person. I run a music podcast company.

Oh, what’s that company called?

It’s called Nevermind Media. And I worked at WNYC in New York for a really long time, so I really wanted to have a voice that I thought sounded good and would kind of reflect the book.

And how would you describe Kit’s tone in the audio book?

You actually are breaking the news to me! I actually did not know that they had anyone. So I will have to go back and check.

That’s funny, because I saw it on the Amazon listing, I was like, hmm, interesting…

I wanted them, for the most part, for that someone to be British, but I also threw an American in there. <The publisher> came to me with all male voices, and I wanted to give them some female options as well.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, it’s your words throughout the book, so why wouldn’t you want a female voice…What are your favorite excerpts from the book?

I think it’s just like some of the stories that most strongly resonated with me. I love, there’s a woman named Lindsay, who had really had a tough childhood, and she just kind of found redemption through Oasis. She found a connection, she found community, and Oasis really kind of changed her life in a lot of ways. And for me, that really showed the power of music too. Just how powerful music can be, and just listening to these songs in your headphones when you’re a kid who’s struggling and she just found a whole new life through this band. And I thought that was really cool.

That’s awesome, and it’s great to hear that you’re making those connections with fans, too. Was Oasis, the band themselves, even aware of this book? Or did they have to get any type of heads up?

I reached out to management a few times, but because I also didn’t…I really wanted them to give more of a quote about fans. I didn’t want to interview them for the book, because at this point, Oasis, they’ve been around a while. They’ve done a lot of interviews. There’s been a lot of books written about them, and I mean they had Paola Hewitt following them around on tour forever. So I feel like their story has been told pretty well. So what I really wanted was to just focus on the fans and tell the fan stories, and tell the kind of the perspective of what the fans were seeing from in front of the stage. Because everyone knows what was happening on stage. So in theory, they do know about it. I have talked to management, and they said that they <the band> wouldn’t be involved. Which is fine, there’s a lot of Oasis books out right now. This is the only one about their fans.

That’s awesome. Do you ever plan to kind of expand upon this concept of Oasis, the fan story, with either a podcast or different long-form interviews? What’s the promotional process look like for the book?

Great question. I mean, we’re doing kind of a small book tour. I’m talking with a bunch of the fans. The fan community for Oasis is so strong and so interconnected, and because I talked to so many people about it, I’m hoping just the fans will want to share it.

Yeah, and we’ve shared the pre order link on our site too, of course. And we’ll also re-plug the book once this article comes out, too.

Thank you for that!

Of course! What do you hope people who buy and read this book will take away from reading through these detailed pages of Oasis fan history?

Well, I think this book is really going to appeal mostly to people who are already Oasis fans, and kind of people who may like it may reflect their experience with the band. Or, it may remind them of things like, “Oh, my God. I was at that Wetland show in New York City when they played there for the first time ever.” Or I was at the bottom of the hill in San Francisco when Blur and Pulp were at the concert too. Or, I also saw them in Newcastle. So I’m hoping it just kind of brings fans back to a time and a place where maybe they remember what they were <experiencing> at a concert. It just kind of inspires them to listen, pick up another Oasis album, listen again, go back down memory lane. But I also hope it broadens people’s understanding of what fans look like. I feel like there’s such bad mouthing of fandom right now because of Swifties and K-Pop, and there’s this kind of marginalization of them. But I think fans are amazing, and I never mentioned this in the book, but when you’re watching videos of Oasis perform at River Plate in Buenos Aires, and they stop singing, and the entire roar of the crowd just starts singing every single word back to them…That’s where the power of music is. That’s where the excitement happens. And I hope this book kind of distills that power and that importance of music. Because music is great, but if it doesn’t have any fans, then…I don’t know. It’s one of those Zen situations, where it’s like, if music is wonderful, but doesn’t have fans, does it matter?

And I don’t think Oasis fans fall into that “Stan” culture. Is that kind of what you felt, too?

I think they can. I think that they tend to be a little older. They were very much there before. It would be interesting to see if Oasis came on the scene now in the age of social media. Like what would have happened? Because they have a lot of fans, and they have for a really, really long time. And they have a lot of ardent fans who will go to 100-200 shows, who will travel the world watching them, who will spend nearly a million dollars on merchandise and memorabilia. I think it sort of depends how you define “Stan”, because I think if they had been around during social media, they might have.

Sure, yeah. And the Brit pop movement was obviously huge during the 90’s and stuff like that.

Especially in the US. With Brit Pop versus K-Pop. I don’t know which one would have <won>.

Yeah, that’s a great point. So any last quick little plugs for the book. Why should somebody take the time to thumb through these pages?

What I hope is that people take away is really just kind of a look at what fandom really looks like, and what it means to love a band. But it also tells interesting stories of what life was like for people in the 90’s who were just trying to find a little escapism. There’s a story about a girl who grew up in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and Oasis became her life. And you don’t really hear stories like that every day, so I hope people find something that interests them, and they connect to.

That’s awesome, and I hope the book does really well for you!

Thank you so much, have a great day!

You too, Melissa!

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