stories from the city; damon albarn

2-

After retreating from the food tank and meeting the Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, the Erlich cousins had retreated back to their father's trailer, with a couple bags of food and drinks in hand. Joan seemed to be far more put together than her sister. The photographer in question couldn't seem to be able to tell if she was hallucinating in the heat, or if she had really seen the blonde boy.

As the girls entered the trailer and felt of gust of cool air pour over their faces, Chloe sighed, immediately slipping down onto one of the beanbags that had been set up in the damn thing. Her eyes fluttering shut to think of the man in question. Maxis. Not Hans.

Maxis Erlich was a simple guy, who had an extraordinary talent for writing music and playing guitars. In his 20's, he founded an entire psychedelic mess of a band that loved LSD and playing nonsensical long rock riffs, and while they sold a shit ton of records, Maxis wanted to expand his genres.

And so he did, alone.

The 60's were a fun time, or Chloe assumed so, by looking at the photos she'd found or seen of her dad back then. He just looked younger, had longer hair and was still hanging out with the people he did now. A lot of those people being The Beatles.

Maxis liked to say that Paul set him on track and was the one who got him to finally leave his mess of a band, saying that he could create way better material than what his band had been putting out as of late.

Turns out, the man was right.

Maxis Erlich created more lyrically satisfying music and "hipper" tunes that pushed and genre defied his career even more when he was solo. This also led Maxis to Maeve in 1967. The two fell in love in Switzerland high on whatever some sketchy dealer had given them. A year late came Kendal and Hans. And then, in 1970, the same year that The Beatles broke up- Chloe was born.

It was funny how much The Beatles were in her life in some way, almost comical even. And she even preferred The Stones.

The worst was probably when a toddler Chloe had accidentally called John Lennon on the home phone and said a few nasty words to him. However, while he had found the whole ordeal both amusing and confusing, Chloe now found it humiliating.

People were always fascinated with her experience with The Beatles. She could understand why, but then again she couldn't, since they were close family.

Besides, she'd met weirder Maxis Erlich fans over the years. Like Kendal's guitarist.

Chloe adored her father. He was an encouraging and doting man, he'd always wanted the best for his children. He had never forced ideas or careers onto them. He had let them roam along with his money. He was what fathers should be. The man had given all of his children the world.

While he was normally energetic and free spirited, these days Maxis seemed weary and withdrawn. Tired even. Everyone in their immediate circles knew why, that Hans had taken the life out of him. Had him questioning his choices. His lifestyle. His parenting.
And yet for the rest of the world he marched on- touring, saving face. Even managing to come to Glastonbury, the first of many punches to the stomach after realizing it would be the first family event to exclude Hans.

Kendal was using the trip as an excuse to fuck around.

Joan wanted a vacation.

It seemed that only Chloe and her mother had taken Glastonbury as a chance to boost his morale. They were the only ones concerned with making the trip perfect, with tossing their own social lives down the drain for a bit. Glastonbury was about Maxis.

Focusing back to the present, Chloe divided up the food and took a sip of her water before plopping back down into a seat. "Found a band you should check out."