Q+A: Melissa Locker on Her Brand New Book About Oasis Fans

Interview with a writer, editor and podcast lover!

Jun 30, 2025

Melissa Locker will release her wonderful book And After All: A Fan History of Oasis tomorrow (July 1), and we’re thrilled to present a Q+A with her today!

Tamara Palmer/Music Book Club: What was the process like to find all the fans who are in the book? Was it fairly organic or did it feel like careful casting?

I had such limited time to write this book, that I brought on two researchers, Jak and Stepfanie, who saved my life. They were absolutely essential to this project, and honestly, I couldn't have done it without them. Between the three of us, we were able to find fans all around the world who were willing to share their stories. Also, huge shout-out to the Oasis fan community, who developed strong friendships after standing outside dozens (and even hundreds) of Oasis shows together. Once we were tapped in, they were able to connect us to others and we were able to put together a collection of stories of fans who really reflected the Oasis fan community as a whole.

I share a fascination with writing about the culture of live music and learning from fans of all flavors! Are there other specific fandoms that you'd love to explore in this kind of detail?

I think fandom as a whole is fascinating. The strong feelings and deep connection that the fans feel towards bands, here Oasis, is incredible. The band truly changed their lives. I would love to explore it further among My Chemical Romance fans, happy hardcore followers, or folks who grew up as BTS fans or Swifties.

Did you listen to a lot of Oasis while working on the book, or did you have a soundtrack of other kinds of music?

I listened to a lot of Oasis, because damn those songs are catchy! Someone starts talking about Wonderwall or Don't Look Back in Anger and that song is absolutely going to be stuck in your head. Also, some of the fans loved deep deep cuts from later albums and I would want to know what they loved about, like, the seventh track on Dig Out Your Soul and would go listen.

Do you want the Gallaghers to read it?!

I would LOVE the Gallaghers to read this and I sent their management a copy in the hopes of them doing so. I think these stories are incredible. The level of dedication and devotion among their fans is staggering. I can't imagine what it is like as an artist to have people sleep in train stations or camp out for days to hear songs or to have a massive crowd sing back every word, let alone get your face tattooed on their arm or spend thousands to own a hat you wore once. My impression is that the Gallaghers genuinely seem to care about their fans, too, and may like to hear some of their stories, particularly the fan whose father hung out with the Gallaghers all the time and they may not know he has passed.

Can you recommend music books from any era that you love to our open-minded readers?

Carl Wilson's Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love (part of 33 1/3 series)

Jeff Weiss's Waiting for Britney Spears

Viv Albertine's Clothes Clothes Clothes

Michael J. Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind's Lords of Chaos