Battle of the Bands: Full Disclosure {Wattys 2016}

Dance Floor Anthem and Gut-Wrenching Lyrics

Chapter 19

<Hendrix Ramone>

"We need to get to the bus, so we can get to the arena before we start losing stage time." Maddox calls from just outside our hotel room.

"I'm coming; I just need to find my performance notes." I reply, frantically searching through my duffle bags for the notebook where I kept notes on what I need to do during Saturday's performance. "There you are."

I grab the notebook from underneath a pile of dirty band tees as I head for the door. Maddox closes it behind me and drags me towards the elevator where Noah and Levi are trying to keep the doors from closing. We step in, Maddox pressing the lobby button as the relieved elevator doors are finally allowed to close. 

I whistle in the silence as the elevator descends, opening to reveal a bustling lobby. It's eight o'clock in the morning, but there are enough people meandering around the lobby to make it seem like the middle of the day. I sidestep a few people as my band heads towards the front doors where Delilah is waiting to take us and a couple of other bands to the arena to practice.

"Slightly Psychotic?" She calls out.

We raise our hands and she gives us a couple of laminated passes before letting us get on the bus. Once the other bands are on the bus, she calls for silence by clapping her hands.

"Okay, so this is your last practice before dress rehearsal tomorrow. You each get an hour to practice your set and once everyone has had their hour, we'll come back to the hotel. When you don't have stage time, you can sit quietly in the arena seats and run over your set or you can go backstage and find a quiet area to practice, but give everyone the same courtesy you expect in return. Capeesh?"

We all nod and then she gives the bus driver the 'okay', signaling to him that he can start driving. I lean my head against the window, one earbud in and the other ear taking in the conversation around me. A Good Charlotte song comes on, the angst-filled rhythm taking me away from the bus and placing me center stage, the lights shining and the fans screaming along.

"Hendrix, snap out of your daydream; it's time to go." Maddox chuckles, shaking my shoulder as everyone begins to file off the bus.

I rub my eyes in a disoriented way as I shove my earbuds in my pocket and stand up, following my friends off the bus. Delilah holds the back door open and checks us all off her list as if she expected to lose somebody between the bus and the back door of the arena. A stagehand stops us all just short of the curtain while Delilah calls out the practice order. Slightly Psychotic is going last, which means either a three-hour nap for me or a three-hour practice session directed by my best friend Captain Freak-out.

"Okay, guys, let's go find somewhere to practice." Maddox says, picking up his guitar case.

I guess no nap it is; thanks, Captain Freak-Out.

I grab my guitar case and sling it over my shoulder as we follow Maddox down the maze of hallways that makes up the backstage area of this week's arena. We stop at the end of one of the hallways and claim it as our space for the next few hours. Noah unpacks a set of bongo drums to help give us a beat without having to unpack his entire drum kit while I take out my guitar and plug it into a mini-amp. Now, it'll make the same noises, but at a lower volume.

"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of L.A., the footsteps that were next to me have gone their separate ways. I've seen enough now to know that beautiful things don't always stay that way. I've done enough now to know this beautiful place isn't everything they say." I sing, my fingers strumming slowly on my guitar.