Love Letter to a Record: The Deenys on Oasis’ ‘Live Forever’

September 8, 2022

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Shane Harris, bass player for Perth band The Deenys, shares his love for Oasis’ 1994 single, ‘Live Forever’.

All five members of Perth band The Deenys trace their origins to the UK and Ireland. This is reflected in the band’s indie rock influences, which include Arctic Monkeys, The Smiths, Fontaines D.C., The Libertines, The Kooks and Jamie T. The band’s latest single is ‘Lonely Paradise’, which focuses on the challenges of navigating young adulthood in 2022, and all the hedonism and poor decisions thereby provoked.

The Deenys on Oasis’ ‘Live Forever’

Shane Harris: Dear ‘Live Forever’ – if there is one thing all members of The Deenys can agree on, it’s that Oasis has had an impact on our lives. For me and Lloyd (rhythm guitar), it was driving to school blaring hit after hit in a 2009 Hyundai Getz. For Drewe (vocals), Craig (drums) and James (lead guitar), it was going through their dads’ CD racks and discovering the raw sound of Oasis that was the backbone of British popular music in the 1990s.

‘Live Forever’ is one of those songs that you hug your mates to; a classic ballad that leaves you losing your voice. With a combination of mesmerising, earworm guitar and the raw emotion in Liam’s vocals, ‘Live Forever’ has been influential in all of our lives. It’s a song that has cheered us on in the happy moments and been there for us in sad ones.

I remember being 17 watching Oasis at Maine Road in 1996 and ‘Live Forever’ being sung by 50,000 Mancs with goosebumps coming up my arm. Liam bowing down to the photo of John Lennon during Noel’s guitar solo is one the defining moments of British Music in the ’90s. From that day on, I dreamed of being in a band and wanted to make people feel how Oasis made me feel through the sound of that song.

‘Live Forever’ isn’t just a song with a few chords and words, it’s a story about a young bloke stuck in a world of confusion and doubt, with the only thing making sense being his love for a girl. This story has moved millions of listeners all over the world in one way or another, including all Deenys members.

It has related to us in different ways as all of our lives have progressed. We all went through the growing up phase of being frightened in the big world of adulthood, but young love keeps us stable and sane.

Our paths have been different but the road has led us to the same destination: forming our band. Without ‘Live Forever’, there would be no Deenys, and without that we would have no identity. So on behalf of the Deenys, thank you Oasis. You have changed our lives and brought us together. Heroes come and go but legends never die.