Oasis lovers, don’t look back in anger — look forward to Melissa Locker’s upcoming “fan history” of the band!
And After All: A Fan History of Oasis, the music journalist’s oral history of the beloved British band “as told by the fans who were there,” comes out July 1, and PEOPLE can exclusively debut its cover.
“The story of Oasis,” the ’90s band fronted by famously feuding brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, “has been told many, many times, but I wanted to tell the story of the fans,” Locker tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement.
Through And After All, the author wanted to share the story of “the people who were camping out for tickets, sleeping in train stations after shows, following the band to 20, 30, 50 gigs, getting the Gallagher brothers’ faces tattooed on their arms, collecting every last scrap of memorabilia and spending hundreds and hundreds on tickets, all because this band changed their lives,” she says.
“Oasis may have written the songs,” Locker adds, “but it’s the fans who made them live forever.”
And the arrival of the upcoming oral history coincides with the Oasis Live ’25 reunion tour, which also kicks off in July.
The tour, which the British rockers first announced in July 2024, comes almost 15 years after the Gallagher brothers famously broke up in 2009 after a reported backstage argument. It was also infamously difficult to get tickets, even among celebrities and the band’s most die-hard fans — a phenomenon the book will help explain, Locker teases.
“The reunion shows made it seem like everyone and their mom, dad and rescue dog were closet Oasis fans,” the author tells PEOPLE. “Music industry people I have known for years suddenly were pulling every string they have to try and get tickets for shows in New Jersey, of all places.”
“It is exciting when your favorite band gets back together unexpectedly, but it’s even more exciting for the fans who never were able to see them live before,” the Oasis historian says. “This book will hopefully make the case for why this band is so important to so many people and why fans were so willing to spend hundreds on tickets.”
“Don’t tell Ticketmaster,” Locker adds, “but they might have been able to charge even more.”
According to an official synopsis, And After All — named after a lyric in Oasis’ hit song “Wonderwall” — promises to include “never-before-seen perspectives charting the rise, fall and rise again of Liam and Noel Gallagher and the British rock band whose music defined a generation.”
News of the musicians’ truce — and reunion tour — the synopsis explains, “sent fans into a frenzy, ticket prices soared and Definitely Maybe was back on the top of the charts. That’s because for a generation of music lovers around the world, Oasis really mattered. Their combination of earthy lyrics, brazen attitude and earworm-worthy tunes set against a backdrop of working-class experience made them relatable, memorable and important.”
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From “couples who met because of the band” to the person who “may have kick-started” its long-awaited reunion, And After All weaves together “personal stories about the music, the concerts and the band come together in a mosaic that depicts Oasis’s enduring legacy,” the synopsis says.
And After All: A Fan History of Oasis comes out July 1, and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.
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