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Afterparties. A staple of the Gallagher brother’s newly adopted Rock N’ Roll lifestyle. Sure they had their fair share of drug-doing and sex-having shenanigans even in the days where they merely played local clubs, but ever since the release Of “Definitely Maybe” and its follow up “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory” it’s seems like it’s all they ever did.
This night was like any other night of the tour, the effects of all the substances in Liam’s system and his overall drowsiness seemed to make the days morph together like clouds on a stormy day. He had his arm around some bird who was chatting on and on… yet he couldn’t understand what she was saying. Not until she pulled out a bag of white powder from her purse. Liam knew he shouldn’t do it… his head hurt enough as it was! So with all the confidence he could muster in his state, he politely declined.
“Nah, I’ve got plenty enough shite in me system to keep me loopy fer days”.
He wasn’t wrong. In fact just then he could feel his lids start to flutter closed and his body start to grow heavy. That's when he knew he had to do something. Concentrating on his coordination, he quickly was able to stand up from the couch where he was sitting. Conveniently enough, Bonehead was slouched in a chair right behind him. Liam shot back to tell him he was going out.
“Ey I’m gonna go take a breather, yeah?” He tapped Bonehead on the shoulder who despite being out of it himself, gazed up at Liam with his beady blue eyes and simply nodded with a small “aight”.
No one else knew where he was going, nor did anyone notice. Whatever… he was sure Noel would keep them entertained. Smug bastard.
The December breeze, although quite strong, didn’t really affect Liam as he was of course already equipped with an oversized parka. The weather here wasn’t exactly better or worse than Manchester… Where was he again?
Ohio… right… he remembered now. They had just played in Cincinnati the night before, sold out as expected, and now they were in some random ass town a little while north. It was one of those nights where you didn’t quite remember how you got there, but you were there anyway.
In order to feel more grounded, Liam walked around a bit, taking a look at his surroundings. He’d just left a dingy bar that the rest of the band had dragged him to which was located on a random suburban street…weird. Liam didn’t understand a lot of things, and America was one of them.
Even though Liam was still disoriented, he kept walking in the path of a sidewalk that seemed to lead to a main road, silently praying that he’d somehow make it back had he lost his way.
The next 20 or so minutes were spent walking mindlessly in a haze of drunkenness and the need for sleep. How much had he drunk? It didn’t matter. Not when he couldn’t count the number on his fingers without being interrupted by his throbbing head.
Through all his pain however, he seemed to reach a destination. He looked over to his left to see some crudely dressed dudes drinking outside a small club that seemed to be having a show that night. Curious, he made his way closer to read the flyer. He squinted at it, arms reaching behind his back like he was some overly-cartoonish critic.
“Brainiac, eh? Must be some pretentious fucks to be named somethin’ all sci-fi like that”, Liam remarked under his breath, just low enough so that the guys couldn’t hear. Surprisingly, no one noticed him at all as he made his way into the venue. Though he couldn’t pay attention to anything else as the brightness of one of the LED lights shone right into his eye. “Bloody hell…” he hissed.
It was a weird atmosphere for sure, especially for the mancunian now trudging his way through the place like a tourist. As he scanned the crowd, one thought immediately came to mind:
“SHITE!!! PEOPLE ARE GONNA NOTICE ME HERE!!!!”
How Liam hadn’t thought of that before was beyond him. Acting like he didn’t see his own face plastered all over MTV and in newspapers, acting like he didn’t enjoy the attention… but for the first time in his life… he didn’t want it. Had it been because of his inability to do anything in the state he was in? Or maybe he just really wanted to see the band? He didn’t know.
Soon enough, Liam just sort of blended in with the crowd as more and more people filed in presumably to see these “Brainiac” guys. Upon overhearing some conversations, it seemed like they were a staple band of Dayton. Aha! Dayton! That’s where he was. He didn’t really know what to expect, but from the sounds of it, these guys were strange. A young woman in front of him even told her friend about how the last time she saw them, the singer had stuck the mic half down his throat all well “hootin’ and hollerin-“.
“What is this? Circ-du-Soleil?” Liam scoffed. He didn’t want to admit it but he was thoroughly intrigued. I mean it’s not often you end up in some random midwestern city in a random club seeing a random ass band you’ve never heard of. “Good life experience” Liam thought…yeah.
Before Liam could get too comfortable, well, as comfortable as you could be standing surrounded by the scruffy air filled with the stench of body odor, the band came on. Through a bit of silent treading, he was able to see them more clearly.
“Good night and thanks for coming out. We’re Brainiac” a male voice spoke clearly into the mic (the clearest it would be all night). He was a sharply dressed young man, with short brown hair and wide brown eyes. He had the kind of swagger where you knew he was the frontman as soon as the light hit his uniquely handsome face. Despite this, he wasn’t full of himself. A fact Liam would learn later on.
The band took a few seconds to get themselves sorted before they went directly into the first song, the opening synth line ringing before the drums came kicking in like a punch to the gut.
Liam didn’t know what to expect, that much was true, but this was surely like nothing he’d ever seen before. The way the frontman banged the keys of the synth while wailing into the mic made his drunk mind even more freaked out. The music was by no means his thing, “we gotta go back to rock ‘n roll” he’d always say, but he couldn’t help but stand in awe. Liam was mostly in awe at the fact anyone would even try and make music like this, let alone be confident enough to perform it in the exciting way they did. Enigmatic was the only way he could really describe it in his jumbled mind.
The songs roared, stomped, shook, and even whimpered. He knew he should dance, but he just couldn’t. It wasn’t until the song “Hot Metal Doberman’s” that he tried doing anything of the sort.
“This song is about dancing and is for dancing” the frontman said before the song started. Talk-singing into the mic which was connected to his moog synthesizer, making it sound all fucked up and distorted. It made him feel weird. Not in a grossed-out way but more like his pants all of a sudden were really uncomfortable. The only way he could shake it was by stepping back and forth in his place. Trying his best to not draw too much attention to himself.
“Silence! Is what my girlfriend says when she’s kicking out the teeth of some guy who thinks he’s president, a whack cat! That’s what my girlfriend says!!!”
Liam was too focused on the band and its frontman who had his plump lips directly on the mic to notice the same girl from before leaning back into him a bit. Usually he wouldn’t mind getting that kind of action… but this time it just annoyed him. He didn’t even know if the girl knew who he was. Either way, he slowly backed away until he was able to make his way around the crowd and further towards the front.
“Who do you think you are??? Some kind of bonsai superstar??? A hot metal dobermans modified with cinnamon fins”.
He had no idea what he was on about through his low growls and high-pitched screeches, but it didn’t matter. All he knew is that whatever powers he possessed were pulling him closer. As the next song “Sexual Frustration” started, this feeling only grew. The title was fitting because whatever magnetic force was drawing him to the music and subsequently the musicians, was almost sexual in nature. He felt like an idiot. A drunk idiot who had no business being in a place like this.
And then it happened.
After the song ended, the frontman scanned over the room, his eyes landing directly on Liam. It was obvious he recognized him. The blue parka he was wearing did little to hide the fact he was in fact, Liam Gallagher. He seemed too in shock to really say anything, but once the crowd noticed his eyes off to the side, they looked over to Liam too.
Shit.
The crowded room was still. If anything, Liam was shocked by this. He thought damn well someone would’ve tried to rip his clothes off by now!
“What the hell is he doing here?” he heard the guitarist say to the frontman. He should be asking the same thing. Upon listening in, he learned the frontman was named Tim. Noted.
Soon enough, Tim faced away from his guitarist and back to the crowd, making direct eye contact with Liam. He could easily have been drooling the way he just stared, but he quickly composed himself. He furrowed his thick brows and crossed his arms, pretending not to care about whatever was transpiring between the two.
“So uh… wasn’t expecting such a special guest…” Tim spoke, holding back a dry laugh. The guitarist and bassist however made their laughter very known. Again, for the first time in his life, he wished he was invisible. “I guess I should ask how you’re enjoying the show..”. There was silence after Tim’s words until Liam decided to let go and strut up there, taking the mic swiftly from Tim’s surprisingly soft hands.
“It’s pretty good mate… you’re a mad fuck, y’know? But yeah yeah it’s good” he replied, handing the mic back to him, looking down at his shoes and putting his hands in his pockets almost to act nonchalant even though he was not only drunk, but a little embarrassed. He was embarrassed to be seen in a random ass local venue where a band that played what could only be described as “queer pervert sci-fi music” was playing. The fact he enjoyed it didn’t make it any better. The weird feeling in his trousers only grew while his thoughts were soon interrupted by Tim’s laughter. His laugh was surprisingly soft and…cute. Hm.
“So are you mad fer it?” He heard the lanky brunette bassist ask jokingly, putting on a horrible mancunian accent. Liam scoffed.
“Not given’ ya lads too much credit”.
“Oh whatever…” the bassist retreated to go talk to the drummer.
“Well we got one more song left… if you wanna stay.”
Liam gazed up at Tim again and let out a small “oh yeah…yeah” before sitting down on an empty instrument case right near the right wing of the stage.
It didn’t take long for them to get sorted again, almost immediately going into their song “Draag”. It was another odd number that contained a lot of shouting and vocal effects. When Tim sang that specific part in the song where he slowly gets more aggressive, Liam wondered if it really was effects doing the work or if he could just do that. Either way he was astonished.
“Now that my life’s been ripped asunder!!! And I feel like I’m going under! Well you appear on the scene… with your trappings so serene”.
~~~~
Brainiac had finished their set, getting ready to pack up while Liam still sat on that case, completely zoned out. That was until Tim decided to tap him on the shoulder.
“Hey uh… you good… mate?” It was obvious he added that last part hesitantly, almost like he was afraid of getting him riled up. The media tended to portray him as that kind of character.
“I’m ay oh fuckin’ kay” Liam responded with a bit of aggression, but not the kind Tim expected. It was strange… seeing the man up close like this with no TV screen separating him from the other. Tim could smell his breath, see every little hair on his face, feel his presence… it felt like he’d found god.
Tim was not necessarily a huge Oasis fan, although he did own both of their albums and would always joke about how they stole the Brainiac song title “Superdupersonic” to make “Supersonic”. No matter if he was a fan or not though, he was still in the presence of Liam fucking Gallagher! So with all the confidence he could muster, he asked if Liam wanted to come backstage. Much to his delight, he accepted.
The backstage was dingy, with piping and graffitied walls visible. It reminded Liam of the early days of Oasis, how his aspirations of playing big stadiums seemed so far away. He turned to face Tim who was talking with a fan, beer in hand. When Tim turned around, Liam couldn’t help but notice the way he jumped a bit. Almost like he was surprised the man had been paying attention to him at all. “If only I had something for you to sign,” Tim joked. “Though I wouldn’t have guessed this would ever happen”.
“Me neither…” Liam’s tone had a bit of an amused quality to it, complimented by his signature smirk that made you feel like he’d bite you any second. “We played in Cincinnati the other day and yeah somehow we were fuckin’ partyin’ and i just took a stroll down here…” Liam rambled, stopping himself from going on and on and making him seem like a complete idiot. If Noel was here he’d be on his ass about his attitude right now. Then he noticed Tim was giggling. He was offended “the fuck you laughing at?”
“The way you said Cincinnati”, Tim chuckled, his grin almost as menacing as Liam’s own… except it had a strange innocent quality. “It was funny”.
“Seen-seh-nah-tee!!! What’s so funny about that?” Liam was getting genuinely pissed now, hands balling into fists. Tim saw this and became even more amused.
“Are you about to punch me?” Tim laughed as he leaned against a back wall. Making sure not to lean too much in case he got stuck to it (venues like this tended to have sticky walls for some reason).
“Might as fuckin’ well…” Liam snarled, raising his fist to eye level. Tim however was thoroughly unimpressed.
“Do you get mad at everyone who tries to joke with you?”.
“You weren’t jokin’ with me you were jokin’ at me and you know it”. Liam grabbed Tim by his shirt collar, pulling him closer. Tim was breathing hard, still maintaining a cocky grin. One which he couldn’t help but stare at.
“Hey my eyes are up here! Do you want to kiss me or something?” Tim teased, eyes staring up through his lids like a tiger hunting down their prey. The tension was so thick it made Liam feel like choking. He couldn’t take it any longer and with that, his arm seemed to jerk forward by its own volition, hitting Tim square in the nose.
“SHIT!” He groaned loud enough to catch the attention of his bandmates. The guitarist, John, was quick to run to his side, gently wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close. Tyler, the drummer, was also quick to get some toilet paper from a nearby bathroom to help with the prominent nosebleed. Despite the chaos, they hadn’t completely forgotten about the perpetrator. John’s eyes soon travelled up to meet Liam’s which were wide and filled with adrenaline.
“The fuck is wrong with you???” John yelled, trying his best not to knock Liam out so he could get a taste of his own medicine.
“He was bein’ a little shit, innit?” Liam responded, completely unfazed. Although he couldn’t help but regret it a little bit. He acted a lot on impulse so that was a commonality.
The whole thing could’ve easily turned into a brawl, but John stayed calm. He knew that if he let himself get too worked up, the alcohol permeating his bloodstream from soundcheck would cloud his judgement and make him do something stupid.
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, while that was going down, just outside the club was Noel Gallagher: Liam’s older brother who had been searching far and wide for him for the past hour. All the searching brought him to where he was now. Of course, Noel tried to keep it classy. He knew he couldn’t just barge in there. I mean… he’d be trampled by a bunch of adoring fans!!! So he decided to be sneaky and try to come in through a back door, but while he was tinkering with it he doorknob…
“Oh.” A soft voice spoke. It was Tyler. He had a few loose hairs in his face and was holding a bass amp, but despite other distractions, he very much knew who was standing right in front of him. “You must be looking for your brother, huh?”
“He in there?” Noel spoke, trying to act professional and like he wasn’t high off of 10 different substances.
“Yep… and he sure made his presence known.” Tyler laughed dryly, smirking to himself. “He punched our singer in the nose.”
Noel couldn’t say he was surprised, but he sure wasn’t happy either “why?” he asked. He also noticed Tyler struggling and put his hands out to help carry the equipment.
“Thanks man… and uh… he was making fun of his accent or something like… the way he said Cincinnati? Anyways he had Tim… uh that’s our singer’s name… by the collar and- oh!” He took a pause to lift the amp into the back of their van. “Yeah and Tim made a comment about how he was staring at his lips and then… you can guess the rest”.
Noel rolled his eyes, tapping his foot on the parking lot cement like he was trying to distract himself from his growing want to bang his head against a wall. Of course. He should’ve never left that motherfucker unattended. He was soon brought back to reality by Tyler, who placed a warm hand on his shoulder. One that was covered in bandaids and callouses. “You must do a mighty good job banging them drums, huh?” Noel commented, gazing down at the hand that was still placed on him. It gave him a strange sense of comfort in such an uncertain moment.
“How’s you know I’m the drummer?” Tyler cocked his head to the side.
“Bloody hell, I’m in a band! I know a drummer’s hands when I see ‘em.”
Tyler just chuckled a bit, though it came off as sort of fake-amused… but it didn’t bother Noel. He just seemed to act that way. He eventually raised his hand, walking towards the back door, but not before Noel asked something.
“Why are you all dressed up like that?” Noel asked, sounding oddly amused. Like he found the way Tyler dressed funny.
“That’s kinda how we are.. our band… it adds to our whole wacky vibe. Maybe you think it makes us look like clown but-“.
“I don’t”. Noel interrupted, walking up so he was at Tyler’s side. “You’re a nice bloke… I’m sure that Tim didn’t deserve whatever Liam did to him”.
The cool night air grew quiet again as they looked at each other. Tyler hesitated to say what he wanted to, but he let it out anyway.
“You’re a lot nicer than I thought you were, Mr. Gallagher”, Tyler spoke with a mock professional tone. Noel found it a lot more amusing than he should’ve, giggling and laughing like a little girl.
“Thank you… thank you”.
~~~~~
After a while of chatter, Tyler eventually led Noel into the club through the backstage exit to fetch his brother who was now sitting on a couch, talking it out with Tim who had a handful of tissues to his nose. It was weird how there was no violence in his eyes. Noel expected to walk in on him full on raging!!! But no… he was perfectly calm now. It wasn’t until he caught sight of Noel that his mood shifted.
“Who let this big head in here???” Liam berated, standing up to size Noel up.
“Are you mad??? I’ve been lookin everywhere for ya” Noel was quick to retort, shoving his younger brother’s shoulder. He was more than used to his brother’s loud-mouthed insults, but he’d be lying if he said it didn’t annoy him.
“Got a problem with me doing a little tourism, yeah?”
“tourism? In this utter shithole?” Noel couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at Liam’s response. Tim, who was watching this all go down, laughed along despite his still bleeding nose. I mean, he wasn’t wrong. Despite Brainiac’s pridefulness regarding their city, Dayton still was a shithole. Noel noticed this and lazily pointed a finger “See! Even he agrees!”
“I needed a break… too many birds… too much noise” Liam took a step back to sit back on one of the couch arms, flailing his arms in his usual overdramatic diva way.
“Our noise is better than that noise… really?” John rose from where he was sitting on the floor, looking down at Liam who was slouched, arms crossed.
Liam scoffed “you boys make a pretty good ruckus, lemme tell you”.
“Really?” Noel seemed intrigued upon hearing the praise Liam gave Brainiac.
“Yeah… pretty darn fucked up though”.
“Pretty fitting considering how fucked up you are” Noel quipped, though less berating and more cheeky. This earned a small smirk to appear on Liam’s lips.
“You could buy our record, if you feel so inclined,” Tim spoke, though his face seemed a little uncertain like he knew what he’d just said was stupid.
“Hell… why not? The next city we stop by we’ll buy it, yeah?”
Tim couldn’t help but smile. He even became a little flustered “yeah…cool.”
~~~~
Tim, John, Juan, Tyler, Liam, and Noel spent the next two hours chatting away about whatever they wanted to. Their respective home towns, tour life, making records… it was pretty sweet. What made it even sweeter was Brainiac had managed to get their hands on some good weed the night prior—a rare delicacy for the band which they were willing to share. Tim had been telling some tour story when Noel burst out into uncontrollable laughter. Falling back into Tyler’s lap who was also laughing.
“Fuck… we are out of it aren’t we?” Tyler managed to get out through his laughing fit, placing the hand that wasn’t holding his joint on Noel’s shoulder. It was strange but oddly beautiful how these guys from completely different musical worlds were able to connect like this— even if the substances in their system made everything cloudy.
Eventually, though, they had to cut things off as one of the venue owners came to stop the party. Urging them to get rid of the weed smell and get out or else they’d never be allowed to play there again.
“Okay okay!!! Jeez…” Juan snarled, probably the most disappointed looking out of the group. Though Liam would’ve easily cussed the bloke out… he refrained. Just walking alongside Tim—even bumping shoulders with him a few times.
“Sorry for er… your nose… again” Liam spoke into the chilly midnight air—his Manchester accent shining through as always. He had his hands in his pockets and seemed quite reserved.
“It’s all good… trust me” Tim responded with a rather laid-back tone before placing a hand on Liam’s back. This made him flinch. “Life’s too short to hold grudges. Christ my own bandmates have done worse to me”. Liam laughed dryly at the last part, which made Tim laugh too. Eventually, it was time for Tim to let go as they reached his band’s bus. He reluctantly pulled away… he’d almost gotten used to Liam’s warmth. Speaking of Liam, he wasn’t exactly pleased either. His thick eyebrows seemed to curve in a way that made him look like a sad puppy. He shook the expression soon after and cleared his throat.
“Was nice meeting yeh” Liam yelled from where he stood in the parking lot, waving.
“You better buy our record!” Tim yelled back before climbing into the van. Despite him being a few feet away, he could still see that cheeky grin.
“Cheeky fucker…” he mumbled to himself before following Noel back to where they were earlier that night.
~~~~
It was about a week after their time in Dayton, and Liam had finally got the chance to visit a record store. Though he rarely did nowadays due to it being kinda hard—well… he was a rockstar after all. He still tried to do it as often as he could.
He was perusing when he remembered the promise he made with Tim… his heart suddenly felt heavy as he remembered the bittersweet goodbye they gave each other. Jesus! Liam! Get your head out of the gutter!
“Looking for those blokes’ record?” Noel asked, smiling knowingly before revealing a copy of “Bonsai Superstar” from behind his back “knew you wouldn’t shut up about it”.
“Hey!!!” Liam shouted “says the one who was all touchey-feely on their drummer~”.
“Hey fuck you, mate”.
“Not until you buy me that record… mate”.