Summary:

Sara takes (kind of sort of) a break from talking fanfic and bandfic to talk about a different form of storytelling– music, and writing about music! shineswithyou is a familiar face around Oasis and U2 tumblr, but what you might NOT know is that she has recently embarked on a writing journey of her own, with a substack blog about music and its place as the soundtrack of her own life.

Sara and shines talk about her blog, and the difficulty of “writing words about sounds”; how music is a language in and of itself capable of telling its own (and our own) stories.

Of COURSE we loop it back around to fanfiction and RPF (or, ‘real person fanfiction’), and how bandfic is, at its core, a pure form of love for the musical artist. Other talking points include: how awesome Bono is, and how we wish we could have been at Slane Castle in 2001; the perennial dysfunction of the Gallagher brothers; and the dichotomy of the U2 and Oasis fandoms.

Contact and Credits:

• Theme Music: Kyle Laurin "Oasis Supersonic Theme" (Twitter: @cobrakylemusic)
• Clips from "Pop Muzik" by M (℗ 1979 Robin Scott Limited) and "Marquee Moon" by Television (℗ 1977 Elektra/Asylum)
• Tumblr: talkinfanfic.tumblr.com 
• Instagram: @talkinfanfic
• Email: [email protected] 

Time caps:

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 14:52 - Interview start
• 23:07 - Music memories and growing up
• 30:40 - Tumblr and bandom
• 34:27 - the pf+hb blog!
• 39:32 - Blog entry 1 
• 44:40 - Tom Verlaine and Television
• 46:50 - Excerpt of blog entry 4
• 48:56 - shines’ music writing style and influences, and the difficulties of writing about music
• 57:15 - Art in the time of Covid and intentional listening
• 01:10:56 - More on Television’s style and ‘Marquee Moon’
• 01:22:22 - CBGB’s and ‘the scene’
• 01:28:29 - Music mags!
• 01:32:05 - Speaking of U2…
• 01:36:55 - The dichotomy of the U2 fandom vs Oasis fandom
• 01:43:01 - Rapid Fire Questions!

Episode References

• “Pf+Hb” shineswithyou’s substack blog 
• Shineswithyou on Tumblr 
• Music vid for The Stone Roses’ “She Bangs the Drums” (title inspiration for the blog)
• M - Pop Muzik (Official Video) (Youtube) 
• Book - "Heartbeat" by Sharon Creech (Goodreads) - a children’s coming-of-age story told in free verse
• Music writing rec - Words by Liz Barker - Website of professional music writer and blogger Liz Barker
• Music writing rec - "Strawberry Fields Whatever" - Music blog by Liz Barker and Laura Jane Faulds and illustrated by Jen May  
• Music writing rec - Liz Barker's tinyletter and an excerpt from her novel 
• Blog rec - Hanif Kureishi’s substack and a piece he wrote which shines recommends 
• Album - Nirvana MTV Unplugged (Spotify)
• Album - The Velvet Underground & Nico (Spotify)
• Trouser Press - “The biblio of alternative rock”
• "The Too-Muchness of Bono" by David Brooks for the Atlantic
• Achtoon Baby - U2 music blog project by Kelly and PJ
• Fic mentioned - "The Passing of Peggy Gallagher" by Jeevey   
• Fic mentioned - “Stop the Clocks” by savageandwise 
• Youtube Clip from “My Beautiful Laundrette” (1985, starring Gordon Warnecke and Daniel-Day Lewis, screenplay by Hanif Kureshi. You can stream it on HBOMax)
• Film Trailer for “CBGB” (2013) starring Alan Rickman
• Book - Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 (Goodreads)
• Documentary - Meet Me In The Bathroom (2022) - Youtube trailer stream on Paramount+ or rent on Amazon Prime Video 
• Documentary - "Gimme Shelter" (1970) - “A harrowing documentary of the Stones' 1969 tour, with much of the focus on the tragic concert at Altamont.”
• Music Video - “Dark Sunglasses” a single off of Chrissie Hynde’s 2014 album ‘Stockholm’. The album doesn’t appear to be on streaming platforms.
• Youtube - Where The Streets Have No Name (Live From Slane Castle, Ireland (2001) (you can see the heart-shaped stage that shines mentions really well at about 58 seconds!)
• Shines’ Desert Island Discs: “Achtung Baby” by U2 (but on another day it might be “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” by Coldplay
• Shines is listening to: “Lucifer On the Sofa” by Spoon (album, 2022) 
• Shines is listening to: “Wet Leg” (self-title debut album, 2022)
• Music Discovery - Paul Gallagher's MixCloud channel (Sara rec, Paul does a weekly playlist with tons of great and lesser known artists. You can listen for free and there’s no ads, but to get the tracklist you have to be a paid subscriber)
• Justin Hawkins Rides Again (Youtube channel, and he has a new podcast)
• Music Discovery - Shines recommends finding your local independent radio station with real human DJs! You can google, and most colleges have student run stations, and TuneIn is a site that has a “find a local station” feature you can try out!
• Fic Rec - “cheaper than a dime” by harmonising (Beatles RPF, George & Paul gen) -  Shines says it’s a “beautiful, angsty study of Paul and George’s relationship, written in a choppy, time-jump style”
• Fic Rec - “Dare, Disturb the Universe” by Trapelo_Road475 (ao3, Bruce/Steve)
• Fic Rec - “Wharf Rats on the Stage” by Trapelo_Road475 (ao3, Bruce/Steve)
• Fic Rec - “Fictitious Characters” and “You Wanted Me Alone” by likeamadonna. Shines says: “gorgeously written and very meta - an alternative history of U2’s early days framed by Bono & Edge’s relationship, & written by them.”