One year later.
Los Angeles
Age 23.
Chloe woke to the sound of her alarm.
6:30 am
"Ugh," she groaned, silencing the buzzer on her phone. Waking up ninety minutes early was necessary if she wanted to beat the hustle and bustle of L.A. traffic.
Once she showered and dressed the ginger made her way into the kitchen area.
It was her roommate's turn to cook but when Chloe saw Lilly's door was shut she sighed and plopped a couple of pop tarts into the toaster. She wouldn't fault her for it. Lilly was just as tired as she was these days so Chloe let her sleep in.
Once the pastries popped. Chloe scooped them into a napkin, then grabbed her Strings and Things employee lanyard. Opting to eat on the drive to the guitar store she worked at.
The pay was bullshit but the employee discount and the access to a wide variety of instruments made it worthwhile. It also helped that her parents, both doctors, happily deposited five hundred dollars into their eldest daughter's bank account once per month. Living in the city of angels was expensive.
Living with Lilly as a roommate, Chloe found out, was easier than she'd expected. The quiet girl usually kept to herself. Aside from her job as an assistant music teacher, she rarely went left the apartment, except to go on the occasional date. And the two rarely fought.
Her roommate having music degree in percussion opened up new opportunities for Chloe. "Give me a beat Lil'" she'd say and the quiet girl would use old textbooks to tap out a rhythmic pattern while Chloe played a quick chord.
Lilly also taught Chloe basic music theory and Chloe took those lessons and used them to work on scales and chord progressions. Recently Chloe had fallen in love with blues.
Roy Buchanan, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, and Danny Gatton became staples of her playlist.
Their virtuosity was what Chloe aspired to achieve. There were a few nights when Lilly would wake up to use the bathroom and find Chloe off in the living area running her fingers over the strings.
"You need to sleep," Lilly said, barely above a whisper and pointing at the clock.
2:15 am
"I will," Chloe said refusing to take her eyes off of the fretboard. Her mind and body were exhausted to the point where they were synced. Driven by one sole purpose. A rigid and brutal determination in which sleep would only come as a reward for nothing less than perfection. "I have to learn this Gatton lick," she slurred. The ginger tapped the replay button on her phone and ruthlessly fingered the strings of her guitar.
Her fingers twitched uncontrollably. Chloe wasn't used to clumping her second and third fingers to use as picks. It was a technique called "chicken picking," and most advanced guitar players spent their entire careers trying to master it.
Lilly hung her head in defeat and sulked back into her room.
Almost another hour passed by before Chloe finally performed a satisfactory rendition. It became almost a nightly ritual, where Chloe would will herself not to succumb to sleep until she could perform a chosen lick or riff flawlessly, three times in a row.
Her social life dwindled, her mind and body paid the price, and sometimes her job performance lagged but they were small prices to pay. Chloe could rest once her guitar prowess was recognized and revered as among the best in the world.
She was twenty-three and made of piss and vinegar.
One night Chloe and Lilly were eating bowls of beef stew and watching Person of Interest when Chloe's phone rang. She excused herself to the bedroom to take the call.
"Jamie. It has been too long," Chloe laughed.
"I know. I feel bad," he said.
"So, How's things?" Chloe asked.
"Boring. Like always. How's Cali? You booking any gigs?" he asked.
"Chaos," Chloe laughed. "And yeah. When I can. I actually got a call from my mom asking me if I'd play at my cousin Jennifer's wedding. So that was fun!"
"I bet," Jamie deadpanned.
Chloe and Jamie caught each other up about what they were all up to. Chloe still felt bad for quitting the band, but she had different ideas. Chloe wanted to form her own group and play harder and heavier music. Chloe wanted to be in a band that was larger than life.
Jaime informed Chloe that Warner, their old drummer, recently did some session work with Aubrey Posen.
Chloe gasped when she heard that. Aubrey was a bass player who was making a name for herself around the state. Chloe was even more shocked to hear that Warner dropped Chloe's name.
Aubrey was looking to join a band as well. After a month of playing phone tag, Chloe and Aubrey finally made contact with each other and agreed to meet up.
Aubrey's sound was exactly what Chloe and Lilly were looking for. A perfect fusion of old school and contemporary influences. She and Chloe immediately hit it off and bonded over their "hit 'em hard and fast" philosophy of rock and roll.
Once Aubrey mentioned her love of Suzi Quatro and Carol Kaye, Chloe knew there was no way the two wouldn't become close friends.
The trio impressed each other with their work ethic and commitment. Band practice moved from two days a week, to three.
Aubrey encouraged Chloe to write songs about what she loved. Chloe loved dancing and partying, and sex.
Slowly their songwriting evolved into a heavier more mature style.
Still, they were missing a rhythm player.
Six months passed and they refused to book any gigs until they had a rhythm guitarist and more importantly an image. A clear directive on who they were.
A mission statement.
They didn't even have a name.
Lilly handed them bowls of Mac & Cheese when Aubrey remembered a guitar player she had occasionally recorded with, someone who had grandiose ideas and an attitude about rock and roll not too dissimilar to theirs.
Aubrey pitched it to the girls who quickly agreed once Aubrey assured them of the girl's work ethic.
Lynn Varley agreed to come jam with them.
A few days later the trio was taking a break when a blonde wearing a tank top strolled into their rehearsal space sporting a fresh pixie cut and a killer Ibanez.
She walked into the room like she owned the place and the girls were content with letting her think that, how bad could she be with a tattoo of Winnie The Pooh dressed as a biker?
Like Chloe, it was evident Lynn worked out. Her biceps were on full display.
Lynn's riffs were a natural fit, effortlessly blending in with Chloe's aggressive in-your-face, yet slick style which paid homage to her heroes.
The four girls were a force to be reckoned with.
A meeting of the minds was inevitable, but then again, Chloe never imagined herself let alone her band arriving at this point so soon.
Lynn liked what she saw. She knew it would take time to fit in with the other girls and learn to gel with their personalities, but it was undeniable the four of them had great chemistry.
Chloe was one of the most ambitious and gifted guitar players Lynn had ever met. The girl had learned to use her second and third fingers to pick the strings. Lynn knew that if Chloe kept on this trajectory, within ten years she'd be on everyone's top five lists for greatest guitarists in the world.
Aubrey was the team mom. Reminding everyone of their schedules, and doing her best to keep the dream alive and everyone fed and hydrated.
Lilly served as the backbone of the band due to her extraordinary percussion skills.
Within a week they rented out the back room of a restaurant so the four of them could discuss their future uninterrupted.
"I'll have a Vodka Cran," Aubrey told their server.
"I'll take a plain cranberry juice," Chloe said once the server got around to her.
Lilly and Lynn ordered a Dr. Pepper.
Chloe and Aubrey expressed interest in Lynn joining their band, they stopped periodically to run decisions by Lilly who would nod her approval.
"Are you opposed to wearing makeup?" Aubrey asked.
"Not at all," Lynn took a sip from her soda. "I just don't want to be like KISS or anything."
Chloe was about to take a drink when she pulled her mouth away from the glass. "What's wrong with KISS?" she furrowed her brow.
"They're not very good. And everyone wants to copy them," Lynn said.
Chloe gave Lynn a stern look. She was about to shoot back with a retort after she took a sip of her drink when her nose scrunched. Something funky was in her drink so she leaned over and spit it into the fake ficus tree beside her.
"I think there might be alcohol in this," Chloe pushed her drink towards Aubrey, who held the cup up to her nose.
"Yeah. Our drinks got mixed up," Aubrey sniffed out the vodka and passed her cranberry juice to Chloe.
"Anyway," Chloe continued, deciding to let the sleight on one of her favorite bands go for the time being, "The four of us have great chemistry. We were wanting a heavier sound and you're just what we're looking for."
"Well thank you," Lynn smiled.
"We need someone to front the band because, frankly, Aubrey and I-"
Lynn cut Chloe off, "Because you two have the voices of angels."
Just as Aubrey and Chloe were about to agree Lilly's head perked up, she reached for her bag and rummaged through it until she found her sketchbook. With skinny markers she went to work drawing, her eyes wide and her movements frantic.
A minute later she dropped her sketchbook onto the table. "Angels," she whispered.
Aubrey, Chloe, and Lynn stood to lean over and look at the sketch. Three angels were on stage. Two blondes, and a redhead. They were shredding on their guitars while fireworks exploded in the sky and flames shot up from the stage.
But what drew the girl's attention were the charcoal-colored wings connected to the characters. Angels weren't supposed to have dark wings. Angels were supposed to be golden with fluffy white wings.
"Dark Angels," Lilly murmured.
The three guitarists looked up at each other and then back down at the sketch as the idea baked in their brains.
"Ooh. I could control like fire and stuff," Chloe said.
"Mine could have something to do with nature," Aubrey mused. A million ideas were already running through her mind.
"I'm thinking hell or damnation," Lynn studied her character, carefully.
The three of them sat back down, still deep in thought.
"What do you want to be?" Lynn turned to ask Lilly.
With a blank look, Lilly pointed her thumb at herself. She didn't want to be any character.
"I think this could work," Lynn grinned.
Chloe looked at Aubrey, "If I had wings I could fly out into the audience and play a song!"
"I could make it snow, or rain, or I know! I'll summon a legion of bugs," she looked at Chloe, matching her excitement.
Chloe's excitement faded.
Aubrey sighed. "Okay, maybe not bugs," and Chloe perked back up.
Lynn wrapped her fist around her chin, "Lynn, the Angel of The Underworld. Can summon legions of the undead to fuck you up."
Chloe gasped, she had another idea. "We could do little skits in between songs."
Aubrey nodded enthusiastically as she jotted all of these ideas down in her notes app.
"Can I get a glow-in-the-dark drum set?" Lilly mumbled.
Aubrey was taken aback for a second before she answered. "Of course." Then wrote the request down in her notes.
After a nice lunch, the four resumed their brainstorming. They kicked around a few names before Generation II was thrown out.
Finally a suggestion nobody disagreed on, a lot better than the previous one LLAC, pronounced like Lilac, and inspired by the first letters of their names. The band deemed it too cliché and then vetoed it.
The name clicked, just vague enough that it could be about anything and badass enough the four women could see it on lights, and marquees, and abbreviated on merchandise.
It was a name they could sell out stadiums and step out of limousines to. A name thousands, possibly millions of fans would chant in the dark.
Now they had a name and a concept. The easy part was over.
Now they needed to reach an agreement on how to market themselves.
"It's not that hard to become famous," Lynn said. She slurped the rest of her drink and then put the cup down on the table.
"Says you." Chloe scoffed.
Lynn sighed. "Chloe. We live in the future."
"And?" Chloe said.
"Meaning. It's never been easier to get people to talk about you."
"Not all publicity is good publicity," Aubrey added.
Chloe leaned forward. She rested her head on her fist. "Okay Lynn," she started, careful to make sure her tone didn't come off as too patronizing. "I'll bite. How do we get people to talk about us?"
"We make them talk about us." the blonde leaned back in her chair.
"Uh-huh. How do we make them?"
"Just be ourselves. Rock hard. Be sexy, assertive, and progressive. Dudebros and edgelords will come to us like moths to a flame wanting to take us down a few pegs. They'll do their shit posting and next thing you know we'll be trending on Twitter. Free publicity."
Chloe hated knowing this plan might actually work.
Aubrey threw up her index finger "We could also buy ad space in the paper!"
"Only old people read the papers, Aubrey. And they aren't going to want to come out and see a bunch of nerds in makeup doing stunts and playing guitar," Chloe rolled her eyes.
"Chloe's right but I think you're onto something Posen," Lynn said.
Aubrey quirked an eyebrow.
"We find a few niche YouTubers. Ones with a sizable but not too outrageous audience. We throw them a few hundred dollars to plug us. They can play snippets of our concerts or something."
Chloe thought for a moment, "What if nobody's interested?"
Lynn shook her head. Appalled by how naive this girl was. "Chloe. There's always someone who will sacrifice integrity for money."
Aubrey wasn't new to the music business having dipped a toe in with her session work so, of course, she nodded along, but Chloe was surprised when Lilly suddenly agreed.
Taking a deep breath, the ginger relented.
Aubrey and Lynn used some of the money they had squirreled away to buy material for costumes and some stage props.
It took four tries but eventually, the girls found a good rhythm on the sewing machines. Before they knew it they had three kickass costumes and some cupid wings that they painted a dark gray color.
Aubrey decided on a leaf pattern for her makeup. A green leaf around each of her eyes and two stems of smaller leaves trickled down to her nose. Lynn and Chloe eventually came up with their own designs.
Lilly would put removable "No H8" tattoos on her cheeks.
At Chloe's suggestion, Lynn died her hair jet black because it would look cool if the band had a blonde, a redhead, and a brunette each playing guitar.
The four spent months writing and rehearsing songs. Finally, they secured a couple of gigs, performing at clubs around the state of California. It was time-consuming, the girls were exhausted, paid heavenly fees in gas money, and spent many evenings dining at Waffle Houses but it was worth it to get their name out there.
Needless to say a lot of potential managers and booking people didn't get their…schtick.
It baffled Chloe. They were Dark Angels from a realm called Wuhloolah who descend upon Earth to play Rock and Roll; aided by a normie who played the drums.
How could anyone not wrap their heads around this?
The other three girls convinced Chloe to drop the Wuhloolah part until they were well established as a band. Once that happened then they could focus on world-building.
Whenever there was an off day Aubrey, Lynn, Lilly, and Chloe would print off hundreds of fliers and staple them to anything that fliers could be stapled to.
Lynn argued with douchebags on social media.
Aubrey and Chloe suspected that Lynn liked raising hell as a hobby.
Chloe seemingly googled every manager in the state and sent them a ticket to their gigs along with a short blurb and a kickass graphic of them performing on stage.
They couldn't afford state-of-the-art rigs so that Chloe could fly into the audience, so to improvise she hopped off the stage and walked into the crowd to play a solo.
Snow machines weren't too expensive so Aubrey was able to perform her bass guitar solo in a snow flurry which she, being the Angel of Nature, "controlled."
The band found a way to have Lilly's drum set glow in the dark and the quiet girl was happy as a lark.
One of those packets made its way onto the desk of Anastasia Conrad, or Stacie as she preferred to go by, the founder of Conrad Entertainment.
The packet immediately caught her eye. She thumbed through the graphics; the band's vision and ambition bled through the fourth wall. With her leadership and connections, the tall brunette knew she could mold this group into a worldwide sensation.
Stacie paged her assistant Mark, she wanted him to see if the girls had any representation. Having learned years ago, in this business, never to get her hopes up too early. Once Mark got back to her with the information that the girls were not represented, Stacie leaned back in her office chair.
Did others not see the latent potential of this group? Managers in this business had long since lost the ability to see the infinite within an inch.
Attached to the packet was a single ticket for the band's upcoming gig. Stacie tapped the tip of her pen against her bottom lip, before leaning forward and browsing through her computer. Her schedule was clear on the day of the gig.
Seeing this band live became her priority. It was more of a necessity. Stacie already had a good feeling but she still needed to observe them in their natural element before approaching them.
Generation II lived up to the hype, and after one of their shows, the girls were shocked when they found someone waiting for them backstage. Stacie handed them her card, and the band eagerly agreed to a formal meeting at her office.
Outside of the multi-story building Lynn gave the girls a small pep talk. The four of them re-affirmed what their terms would be, and what they would and would not accept.
The elevator ride was so quiet that any one of them could've heard a pin drop. Finally, the ladies heard the ping and watched the doors open. Since Lynn was their front-woman she took the lead. Her swag was on full display as she sauntered into the office decked out in dark sunglasses while the three women followed behind her.
Stacie greeted them warmly.
"So," Stacie began, as she sat down at the end of the conference table once the other four women were settled and comfortable, "Give me the elevator pitch."
Lynn looked at her bandmates, who all nodded; she turned back to face Stacie, "Cirque du Soleil meets KISS meets the Harlem Globetrotters."
"Interesting," Stacie said, leaning back in her chair and smiling.
The ladies spent the meeting explaining their act. How they wanted to conduct their concerts which would be interspersed with skits, playful banter, and most importantly, kickass stunts.
Usually, these ideas were where the band had lost other potential managers. Stacie was different, she didn't seem afraid. On the contrary, the ladies sensed the manager might be even crazier than they were. Their terms and conditions excited her, and offered her a challenge that she was willing to meet head-on. And that was a welcome change.
So it came as no surprise when the woman said "Let's do it."
The four happily agreed. At last, they had a manager, and to their blessing, one with a little bit of a cash flow so they could execute their concerts with more stunts and theatrics than what had previously been allowed.
Stacie promised them that within two years they would be headlining arenas.
Stacie ended up staying true to her word. Generation II found themselves getting booked on those omnibus festivals with several dozen acts.
Now they had the luxury of flying to gigs instead of driving.
Chloe was the first to notice Lynn's unease. "Nervous flyer?" she asked.
"Little bit," she gripped the edge of the seat so hard that her knuckles turned white. Lynn leaned back in her seat as far back as she could, refusing to open her eyes. "Can I ask you something?" she forced out.
"Anything!" Chloe looked over at the girl next to her with wide worried eyes.
"Will-will you hold my hand while we takeoff?"
"Of course sweetie," Chloe said.
Chloe was a good friend and Lynn didn't tell her that as much as she should.
After a year of touring the girls noticed their band moving higher on the list, their letters getting larger and larger until they reached co-headliner status with the Black Veil Brides. The Brides admired their ambition and work ethic so much that they were invited to open for them on their tour.
Crowds grew as did their restlessness. Word began to spread about a wild stage show put on by a wild band. Soon the girls started upstaging their headliners. Soon, technicians and smaller acts began approaching Chloe for tips on technique instead of the members of the headlining band.
With only a month to go on their tour, the Black Veil Brides sat them down and told them they were being fired from the tour, that they were too hard to compete with.
The girls were feeling dejected until Aerosmith answered Stacie's call. Before they had time to lick their wounds, the four found themselves opening for the legendary band. It was a surreal experience and the girls were soon making a couple of thousand dollars each.
Chloe used her money to buy another Gibson Les Paul, an Ibanez Iceman, and an ESP M1. Life was good.
It was about to get even better when, at the end of the Aerosmith tour, Stacie called the girls to tell them the great news.
Two record labels wanted to meet with the band. Geffen and Epic.
"I'm sorry but the makeup and fancy theatrics just aren't in right now. We can't sell you four unless you can find room to make changes," one executive at Epic told them and he was met with supportive nods from his associates.
"You guys won't make it far if you don't loosen up and listen to people who know this business," he said as the four of them walked out of the conference room.
Aubrey, Chloe, and Lilly seemed to take the rejection hard, but Lynn was smiling the entire elevator ride down.
"Why are you smiling, didn't you hear what he said?" Chloe asked as they stepped into the lobby and headed for the front exit.
Lynn turned to face the other girls. "I'm smiling because it means we're close. So close."
"How?" Aubrey asked. "You heard them, we're not marketable. We'll never amount to anything."
Lynn kept her composure. "Because. Everyone great was told they'd never make it. And then they made it."
The girls managed a weak collective chuckle. The encouragement from their rhythm guitarist seemed to cheer them up. Within a couple of hours, the four of them were in high spirits again and determined not to fail their second, and possibly their last chance at a record deal.
Stacie accompanied them to the meeting with Geffen and the leggy woman must have been a good luck charm because the label execs agreed to every one of their terms without any hesitation. In a stunning turn of events, Geffen was thrilled to have an act such as theirs under contract.
Generation II was a license to print money in their eyes.
Using her portion of the very generous advance from the record company, Chloe rented out a luxury apartment. A tear landed on the paper, right above the final line requiring her signature. Chloe was so happy. Her hard work and dedication was paying off.
Clara and their parents were all too happy to fly out for the housewarming party. They even helped Chloe decorate and finish unpacking.
At the end of the first month in her new place, the rockstar decided that she was in a great place and ready to experiment some more with her sexuality. She eagerly christened every room and nearly every surface of her new home. Sometimes with men, sometimes women, sometimes even trans and non-binary people.
Sometimes with two or three partners at once.
Sometimes their activities amounted to soft and sensual, and other times wildly kinky and aggressive. And the musician always made sure she or her partners were using protection; always made it a point to get herself tested regularly.
To Chloe love was love and pleasure was pleasure, didn't matter what a person had going on downstairs.
Chloe loved herself and her body. It was like a sacred temple.
Sacred and well fucked.
It was a couple of months later when Stacie put the girls on a conference call to inform them that she had secured them their first headlining gigs.
Winstar Casino in Oklahoma, Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Florida, and the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas.
Each venue held about six to seven thousand people at full capacity. And the ladies decided that the Dr. Pepper arena was where they were going to film their concert. It was also the only venue where it was structurally possible to pull off Lynn's stunt.
Headlining also meant that the band needed to finish their first album. They wanted CDs to sell at their concerts. The four of them came up with the name Flash in The Pan. Just in case they truly were a one album or one-hit-wonder.
The band chose the three singles they were confident would chart and put their name out there.
Lying in The Wait, Howl, and Toxic Shock.
Of the three, only Toxic Shock managed to chart at #37 on the Billboard Charts. It was a good song, Aubrey and Lynn shared lead vocals, but Chloe hoped Lying in The Wait would do well because it was the band's declaration of intent. Generation II was primal and hungry, waiting to go in for the kill so they could dominate the Rock and Roll scene.
Overall the album peaked at #51 on the Billboard 200 album charts.
Nobody really knew how the charting system worked, and the best Stacie could explain it was that chart success was left up to fate. The music gods would reach down and bless certain performers.
A year passed. Album sales were stagnant but ticket sales were great. Word of mouth was spreading because Generation II was being booked to headline more often. Things like I need you to understand how complicated some of these techniques are, littered social media posts followed by a video of a foxy redhead wearing face paint and wailing on her guitar.
It still meant casinos and festivals, and the occasional small arena. Still meant late-night breakfasts at IHOPs and Waffle Houses.
Stacie kept her promise and the band, slowly but surely, flourished.
Geffen had enough confidence in them to cut a second album and the girls were ecstatic. Their first was barely halfway from being certified gold so the second album had to be much better.
Stacie had the idea to hold off on releasing footage from their concert at the Dr. Pepper arena to coincide with their second album, which they were going to call Triple Crown. If they found the right influencers to plug footage at the right time then there was a chance the band would go viral.
Their strategy paid off and one morning Chloe stirred. Her phone rang and her eyes were assaulted by the sunshine. She reached for her phone. "Hello," she grumbled.
"We went viral Chloe!" Lynn shouted on the other end.
"What?!" she bolted straight up. The musician flung the covers off of her and staggered over to her laptop. "Oh-my-god!" she screamed.
"Stacie has been on the phone with promoters all morning. This is huge." Lynn said. "She wants us all to meet her at her house asap!"
"Totes. I'm getting dressed right now," Chloe quickly hung up and put on a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. She was out the door and racing towards her car before she even had time to properly wake up.
The girls rushed over to Stacie who sat in front of her computer. Ticket sales were seconds away from going live. The screen refreshed and all five women gasped so loud it sounded like a jet engine.
"We just sold out Cowboy Stadium," Stacie said. Then her computer pinged twice more. "And MetLife, and Ohio Buckeyes' Stadium."
Tears prickled in the corner of Chloe's eyes. This was it.
"Holy shit!" Lilly said
"Oh my god," Aubrey staggered backward until she fell onto the couch.
"Are you okay Aubrey?" Chloe asked.
Aubrey tried her best not to hyperventilate. "Chlo. Tho-those stadiums hold eighty-thousand people."
"Ohio Stadium can hold over one-hundred," Stacie reminded them.
"I'm trying not to faint." Aubrey laid down on the couch and grabbed the closest thing she could reach to fan herself. Lynn rushed back with a glass of ice water while Chloe and Lilly tended to their friend.
Aubrey re-oriented a few minutes later. She was no longer sweating, her anxiety under control. "Wow. I just can't believe it," she smiled weakly.
"Believe it, ladies!" Lynn said. "We're kicking off this tour at Dallas Cowboy's Fucking Stadium!"
A/N: The lack of feedback is killing me y'all. Drop a comment. I'm very emotionally fragile and NEED validation haha.