#bar brawl

[ai-satin-chic]

Her suitors never lasted very long.

[para-que-no-nos-borren]

"Where's your wife?" "My wife is standing right over there staring at ya." "I'll handle this." "No, don't do that now!"

[neonpaperlanterns]

Let me unclip your wings

Chapter Two: The Inlet

[Pt 1] [Pt 3]

Sleepy eyes gazed out across the smoke filled lounge. Muffled sounds of conversation filtered about the room as heels clicked softly against the wooden stage. Fingers wrap loosely around the stand that held the snoozing snail. Gradually its eyes opened as it let out a lazy yawn. A painted nail came up to scratch under the snail's chin.

“Ready?” It was said barely above a whisper and the little creature gave a happy wiggle. Taking in a breath she let it out slowly, curtains dragged across the stage as she was bathed in a single vibrant yellow light.

“As the waves gently crash upon the shore,” Wren’s voice carried through the darkened bar.

“Whispering secrets like never before,” Conversations started to die down and she let her eyes slip closed.

“I find solace in this vast, endless blue~ Where the sea and my soul intertwine, it’s true~” Carefully she began to circle around the stage. The steady drone of the bass strummed along with her liting vocals.

“And the tides, they sing me to sleep~ Their melody, so profound and deep~” The sound of the entrance opening brought in boisterous laughter and shouts for drinks. Languidly Wren opened her eyes, taking in the fresh ears.

“Drifting away on this salty breeze~ I’m lost in the rhythm of the seas~” Even from her vantage point it was difficult to make out who had entered. The lights cast everything outside of her little stage in darkness. Patrons turned to inconsequential shadowy silhouettes but as long as it was not marines she could lose herself in her song. 

“Underneath the moon’s soft, silver glow, time slows down as if it didn’t know~” As the disruption continued, Wren had to wonder if she would finish her set tonight. It would not be the first time a fight broke due to a misplaced crowd and as voice’s began to rise it would most certainly not be the last. 

Yet she carried on.

“The wonders the ocean holds in its heart. A story untold, a brand new start. As the currents guide me through I surrender as dreams come true~” 

CRASH!

The band kept playing, ignoring the sound of breaking glass.

“Dancing free in the moonlit night. With the ocean I find my light~”

BANG!

Tables broke all the time. They were no reason to stop.

“Oh the mysteries that lie within. Beneath the surface where secrets begin~” Swaying over the stage she avoided the incoming chair as it shattered against the wall behind her.

“The sea, my companion on this endless ride. Together we soar, side by side~”

“AAARGH!” A body flew through the air, crashing unceremoniously into her stage. It caused her to stumble and the band immediately cut out. 

For a beat everything was dead silent. 

Then a man was approaching, his steps measured as he came to stand in front of her. Their gazes roamed over each other. Eustass 'Captain’ Kid’s wanted poster didn’t truly do him justice. She watched as he hoisted the barely conscious man and tossed him to the side.

“Keep going.” Wren raised a brow at his demand but who was she to deny a customer. Gesturing to the band she took in a breath. Mouth forming into a grin she winked down at the pirate. 

She would get to finish her set after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

tag list; @punks-never-die205 never done one of these before. Weird.

[araneapeixes]

in the bathroom at the gay clubbbb

[telomeke]

Me: InSAAAANE fight scene, Jeff is so hot for this

Also me: But– hair dye! Hair DYE! HAIR DYYYYYYYYE!!!!

[snailmilkbiscuit]

redraw of an oldie

[oldschoolfrp]

John Blanche cover, White Dwarf 11, Feb/March 1979

[soapkaars]

Apparently I just want to draw these two brawling together. I think they could bond like that. I think it'd be fun. God I want to go into a bar and have a drunken fight, I think that could fix me

[johnny217]

If I had a nickel for everytime I like a bdsm evil deranged fictional guy with that facepaint and weird eyes I'd have 3 nickels

[mothstudios]

love when you can summon npcs for a boss fight. like hell yea me and the boys rolling up to get our asses kicked

[doawk]

bskies

[gazpachoandbooks]

*Gendry and Arya finally get together*

Bran: pay up dummies

Theon: oh really? Years with their heads up their asses and the SECOND I make a bet

Rickon: are you really going to make us pay?

Bran: rules are rules

Jon *sees Theon pass Bran the money*: wait, you REALLY made a bet?

Theon: it's just-

Jon: no "justs". This is so wrong in so many ways! You think it's a joke? That you can use other people's lives as entertainment? Bran and Rickon are still boys, but I expected more from you, you ass

Theon: but-

Jon: I don't want to hear it. Rickon, this isn't right. Never do something like this again, no matter what Theon says

Bran: *waits for Theon and Rickon to leave, arguing among them*

Bran: I'm guessing you still want half of this?

Jon *holding out his hand*: not all of us are rich Bran

Bran *splitting the money*: was that you placing mistletoe all over Winterfell this morning?

Jon: that was probably a guardian angel. Or Cupid

Bran: I saw you buy it yesterday

Jon: some mysteries are best left unsolved

[greenhousethree]

Chasing chapter four - Feint

She stood there in her towel a little longer, pressed up over the sink the way she remembered watching the older girls do. Longer, curvier bodies than she’d ever imagined herself fitting into, impossibly grown up. Women. Searching for imperfections, she’d assumed— anything they could magic or pluck away before slipping on higher skirts and fuller bras. But maybe instead they’d been doing what she was now, studying themselves to figure out whether this was it— a glimpse beyond the fleetingness of adolescence— if the person staring back was the one she had grown into, not one she would grow out of.

Reflections, rain, and revelry.

Many, many thanks for all of your check-ins/questions during this unexpected hiatus; they've truly meant the world! This one's long and a little heavy— prepare for teenage riffraff and two parties for the price of one— and if you're craving more scenes with a certain green-eyed someone, stay tuned for chapter five!

Listen below for Hermione's party soundtrack and Ginny's character theme!

Playlist can be found here. 💫

Songs for chapter four (real bangers here): Maybe Sprout Wings - The Mountain Goats Begging for Rain - Maggie Rogers Flying Sails (Ginny's Theme!) - The Gothard Sisters Bones - Radiohead I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending - New Radicals

P.S. - Quick update on the progress of this fic:

Life and work have been a runaway train these past months, but I'm finding more time for ~balance~ (read: writing) and am hoping to keep that going. That said, I won't continue promising quick updates because I'm terrible at delivering those, but rest assured this fic isn't going anywhere, and I'm looking forward to posting more regularly. Thanks a million to all of you following along; answers to asks are forthcoming 💕

[the-high-republic-tournaments]

The Great High Republic Bar Brawl Round 1: Match 1

Avar Kriss VS Phan-Tu Zenn

In one corner, we have the Marshall of Starlight Beacon herself, the Hero of Hetzal…Avar Kriss!

VS

The prince of Eiram, one of the two unifiers of Eiram and E'ronoh. He may be more of a lover than a fighter, but he’s pretty handy with a blaster when he needs to be…Phan-Tu Zenn!

(art credit to Jake Bartok)

[todays-just-a-daydream]

Charting the rise of Oasis in summer 1994 via archives of Music & Media (pan-European music industry magazine in the 90s). Issue dates from each clip left to right: 13 August; 27 August; 3 September; 17 September; 17 September.

Radio reports in industry magazines tell the story of Oasis climbing the UK charts and breaking into Europe in late summer 1994. Music & Media in the 90s was the European version of America’s Billboard magazine. While the record charts were the focus, each issue also included a section in new releases (both singles and albums) as well as station reports. Each week radio stations would report their lists to the magazine and include what songs they've added to their rotation. The way I understand it, A lists are played more than B lists, which are played more than N lists.

I went through the August-September 1994 issues of Music & Media searching “Oasis” for any relevant clips.

Note: Keep in mind all dates reflect the issue that the content was in and that there was a slight lag (generally 1-2 weeks) in industry news outside of the UK.

Following Live Forever’s release

The third Oasis single, Live Forever, gets added to the BBC1's N list on 6th of August upon its release, due to consistent interest in each single since Columbia (White Label Demo) in Dec 1993.

The single also makes the B list for Virgin 1215 AM London. The next week, Forth RFM in Edinburgh adds the song to its A list. One week later, the song gets a small mention in the New Releases review section of the magazine:

Is it a fata morgana, or is Oasis for real? We've had so many over-hyped British bands now, that we prefer to take a back seat. But then again we haven't heard such good pop since the La's.

Two weeks later, 27th of August, Live Forever reaches no. 10 on the UK singles chart.

The magazine reports this in a small blurb describing them as "Scottish band Oasis", possibly due to the concentration of the band’s support being in Scotland. Radio Clyde in Glasgow adds the song to its rotation. MTV Europe also adds the video to its new videos list.

At the start of September, Definitely Maybe gets a review in the new album releases, where Live Forever is called “a masterpiece.” I should add industry mags are typically dry and not prone to hyperbole.

Radio Clyde's head Bobby Hain writes that Oasis has become "local favourites" since performing at T in the Park festival a few weeks before.

At the same time, Live Forever gets added to more radio playlists. Red Dragon FM in Cardiff adds the song to its B list. In Europe, Radio 21 in Brussels, Het Station in Hilversum (Holland), and Polskie Radio 2 in Warsaw (Poland) add it to their A list.

By the 10th of September MTV Europe adds the Live Forever video to its Buzz Bin. This week Sveriges Radio in Stockholm (Sweden) adds the song to its A list, with Radio Stella FM 106 in Helsingberg following the next week.

But it takes until the 17th of September for Oasis to get a full length article in the magazine, entitled "Oasis Is No Mirage Of the British Hope and Glory" (above). It mentions the skepticism in Europe of British bands that don’t live up to the hype. But argues Oasis is the real deal. It singles out Sweden as the first European market where the band has broken out from the UK. It calls the band’s songs “retro pop,” lists some influences from Neil Young to T-Rex, and leaves with the idea Oasis seems like a “universal band” that can translate to other countries.

The case study of Sweden

The band plays the Hultsfred festival in Sweden 13 August 1994. This is also the site of the classic Gallagher interview where Noel claims their music will stand the test of time. There’s also bootlegs of a radio broadcast of the show, but it’s not clear if it aired live at the time or was simply recorded and broadcasted later in 95.

Noel and Liam both bragged about making headlines in the country for starting a bar brawl after they played this festival. Did this play a factor in the band’s early chart success there?

Notably mentioned by Music & Media, by the 3rd of September, Swedish radio stations are already picking up Live Forever, while most of Europe is still working through older singles.

Sweden becomes the first country outside of the UK for Definitely Maybe to chart (even a week before Ireland), entering the chart at no. 14. The album reaches 4 by 17th of September (to compare the album is at 9 in Ireland the same week).

Along with sales elsewhere, it’s enough to pull the album to 10 in the European charts.

Did the bar brawl help album sales in Sweden?

When looking at Oasis gigs in August/September it’s not surprising Sweden is the first to chart. They play Paris in June and New York in July. But Sweden is the first place outside the UK they have two gigs in less than one month. The festival gig in August and another one a few days after the first album is released.

Now I know controversy sells is a 90s maxim and Oasis used outrage to their advantage. But I remain skeptical of the claim they made front page headlines from the bar brawl. It seems to me that’d be a clipping you could find online if it happened. I don’t have access to Swedish papers to directly verify the pages (if anyone has access, lmk!). But I could do a quick search of archives of two popular newspapers, a morning newspaper and an evening one, to see "oasis" mentions in 1994:

While “oasis” gets mentioned a few times before August (some nonband mentions including a guy named Kenny Oasis drive earlier mentions), it’s steady afterward in reference to the band.

The results of a search for “oasis” in Dagens Nyheter in 1994 includes a thumbnail of the page and the relevant excerpt to check context. Below are the excerpts visible for August/September and a rough translation (any Swedish fans out there correct me if I’m wrong).

The 11th of August has a short article on page 20 about the Hultsfred festival they were set to play on the 13th.

On the 15th on page 24, the band gets mentioned in a review of the festival:

När Oasis spelade vid sextiden var det väldigt mycket folk i Saharatältet

(When Oasis played at six o'clock there were a lot of people in the Sahara tent)

On the 18th in the entertainment section of ads, Definitely Maybe as a pending Oasis album is mentioned. There’s also an ad for another show with Oasis on the bill with Pavement at the top and Jeff Buckley. This is most likely the 2 September show at the Gino.

On the 24th, Liam’s face makes an appearance on page 21 along with other band/artist photos. The photo caption reads “Liam Gallagher i Oasis renodlar det som andra påbörjat.” (Liam Gallagher's Oasis refines what others have started.) with a photo credit to “matthias bardå Filmiskt” so good bet it’s from the Hultsfred festival.

The 31st of August shows the closest Oasis gets to the front page at the time. On page 2, Live Forever is mentioned in a list of things to complain about (an opinion piece? satire? it’s not clear): Yvs över exportaktiernas uppgång, yvs över Oasis ”Live Forever”, men herregud, att yvas över ett land, ett stycke mark, det är väl. (Howl about the rise of export shares, howl about Oasis' "Live Forever", but oh my god, howl about a country, a piece of land, that's fine.) The mention does suggest the song is already recognizable to Swedish readers by the time Definitely Maybe is released.

Oasis at the Hultsfred festival is still being talked about 2nd of September (page 77):

Beatles anses vara en inte oviktig förebild för Oasis. Och det bekräftades i Hultsfred.

(The Beatles are considered a not unimportant role model for Oasis. And it was confirmed in Hultsfred.)

On page 75 the same day, an ad for the Gino show that night. But Oasis is now top billing (no Pavement).

Same issue, the show gets mentioned on earlier pages (page 20) in context of the band’s climb:

Oasis klättrar raskt och spelar dessutom i Stockholm i dag, fredag.

(Oasis is climbing fast and is also playing in Stockholm today, Friday.)

The rest of September, Oasis gets 8 mentions in the paper on pages 20-29.

Now without access to each article in full, I can’t be certain there is no mention of the bar brawl in all of this. But these excerpts do suggest that it’s a nonissue at least in this paper. Their festival show is well attended, people remember it, another show is set for a few weeks later and is advertised as the postfestival chatter ramps up the album release excitement. They return a second time for more buzz and the album hits the top 5 a few weeks later. But obviously that’s boring so bar brawl narrative it is.