(Writer's note: Now I know why I don't do Drummer POV's often, because it fails ¬.¬ I try to make him think differently and it makes him kind of... Dunno, less quirky and interesting than the others. Still love him though :D Btw, the song that goes with this one- I read over the lyrics and realised it kinda looked like a screamo o.0 its not- kind of imagine a similar tone to Gives You Hell by All American Rejects :D Things are starting to get serious again :S Oh well, hope you enjoy it anyhow :D)
Chapter 12
1st Round
~Drummer
I didn’t see any point in being nervous, I was the drummer. I hit things with sticks. I’m pretty good at it, if I say so myself. Strings was nervous, although he didn’t show it, the only way I could tell was because he was wearing his lucky dragon ring. He only ever wears that when he’s nervous. Red wasn’t nervous, he was too busy calming Chris down to be. I patted her on the back.
‘You’ll be fine.’
‘What if they’re better than us?’ She squeaked, as manly as she could.
‘They won’t be.’ Strings said, ‘We’re up against two bands in this round- Our Royal Pain and The Penguin Legion.’ He sniggered. I could tell what he was thinking, Our Royal Pain was a heavy metal band, so in his logic, crap and The Penguin Legion would be crap also. He really shouldn’t judged bands by their names.
‘How many people signed up to the competition?’ Chris asked.
‘…Two hundred and eighty nine, I think.’ Red answered. This didn’t help Chris’s nervousness at all.
‘It’s three bands per venue in ten venues every night until the end of June I think.’
‘And we got the first day, great.’ Chris sighed.
‘Are you ready to ra-ock!’ Sang the presenter, causing the crowd to cheer wildly. We were on a bench behind the stage at a safe distance from the other bands. It was strange, I suppose we all thought that all the bands entering would be in their teens or early twenties like us, but it seems we were the youngest out of the three. One of the bands were dressed in leather pants and new romance white shirts, there were four of them like us. Judging by their crows feet, their dated fashion sense and the mullets, I’d say they were in their early forty’s, at least. The other band seemed to be in their late twenties but wore what most sixteen year old guys in Sullaby wore nowadays; skinny jeans, open checked shirt over band shirt and converses. There were six of them and their hair ranged from Justin Bieber look a likes to large scene do’s.
‘Then welcome on to the stage, our first band…’ The presenter continued, ‘Our Royal Pain!’ Cheers erupted again and the wannabe teenagers walked onto the stage.
‘Hello…’ Said Bieber hair number one, ‘we’re playing a song we made for all the beautiful ladies out there… Kiss me or Kill me…’
Strings brows jumped sarcastically but very soon they stayed up like all of ours were. I suppose it was the hair that had convinced me they’d be more pop than rock, so who’d thought they’d have more of a grunge style about them? After a few sweetly sang verses combined with a chorus that was belted out to the audience, the song was finally finished.
Strings gulped, ‘T-they’re not bad…’ He managed as they passed us to sit back down on their bench.
‘Next we have…’ the presenter said over the audience’s claps and cheers. ‘The Penguin Legion!’ A cheer came, but not as big as the last one, with a few gasps and giggles as the men appeared on stage.
‘This is called, The One-Eyed Horseman.’ We stared wide-eyed as they began. It was like Meat Loaf meets The Cure and we couldn’t decide whether that was a good combination or a bad one. But judging by the cheers that followed them as they walked off stage, I guess it was a good one.
‘Now to wrap things up we have a band called…’ we all breathed in, ‘Lazer Graffiti!’ Cheers came and we walked on stage. Poor Chris tripped over a wire but managed to steady herself.
I took a look at the audience, most of the people at the front were teens and at the back were people in their twenties- our kinda audience. I sat on the stool, sticks ready in hands and feet on the pedals. Chris and Red found their places on the stage, in front of each other’s amplifiers so they wouldn’t get reverb from their own. Strings stood behind the mic with guitar in hand.
‘Hello, there.’ He said winking at the girls down in front who swooned and giggled. I could see that most of the girls in the room were checking all us out, but the majority was on Chris. I wanted to laugh.
‘Okay this song is called Trigger…’ Strings said quickly, that was my cue.
Right foot down on the pedal and I broke the silence with a loud thud of the bass drum. Four times I did this before the rest of them came in very evenly. It’s funny a way a band works. You may be good at what you play alone, but you have to rely on someone else in the band when your playing together, a part from the singer. I suppose that’s why singers are often seen as the leader of the band. Red relied on my drumming to keep him in time with his bass. I had to rely on Chris to know when to switch beats. Me and Red could start off alright while opening the song, but in the end you always had to rely on someone. Chris relied on what Strings was singing to know when to switch. While Strings was alright as the singer, he also played rhythm guitar so he ended up relying on Chris to know when to switch too. I never understood why amazing bands broke up; if they fell out with each other why not just put up with one another for the music’s sake? But when I joined The Blue Eyed Crafters, I got my answer. You have to trust and rely on each to make good music; if you can’t trust them then it shows up as mistakes.
I listened for Chris to do that weird up and downy, pin to the guitar and strum thing. When he did, I brought and end to the song with a couple of whacks at the right and left tom, one on the snare and a crash of the cymbal. The audience cheered.
Screw modesty, it was kinda obvious we would win that round. I’m not the type to go on about how crap I am when I know how good I really am. If that sounds selfish I don’t really care, I prefer to be honest. When the judge called "Lazer Graffiti" and the crowd cheered, Chris, Red and Strings were ecstatic. I smiled and jumped to my feet with them, but I couldn’t really say I was excited or even happy at that moment. Midway through our song, I made eye contact Sailor.
I waited behind as the rest of them left, said I had stuff to do, which I did. Once everybody cleared out and the alleyway was dark enough for him to take shelter- he never really did like public confrontations.
‘Nice beats.’ He hissed, walking over to me. I just leant against the wall, I suppose he wanted me to get angry like I used to.
‘I know you don’t mean that.’ I said, quietly.
He sniggered briefly and came to a stop a breath away from me.
‘Whadya want?’
‘I felt like we should catch up.’
I raised an eyebrow, ‘Meaning…?’
‘Meaning like I thought I should tell you we’re rivals.’
‘…Meaning?’
‘Meaning Rosetta’s Thorns are in the competition too. Our gigs tomorrow.’
I made it look like I didn’t care, but it did make me feel anxious. Losing alone would suck. Losing to him would be the end of me.
‘And another thing…’
‘What?’
He smiled softly, the way he used to back when we were friends. ‘I’ve got Crystal.’
I stumbled to the side a bit and looked at him angrily. ‘What? Are you gonna try and frame me or somin’? Or drug me?’
‘What are you on about?’
‘You just said you’ve got crystal.’
‘Yeah- Sparrow, not meth, you retard.’ I just rolled my eyes, he could have been clearer.
‘Wait- what do you mean you’ve got her?’ I thought about Chris, did he- she know him personally?
‘I’ve been out with her a few times now…’ The way he looked to the floor… I didn’t like what it suggested.
‘What?’ I laughed in disbelief, ‘You go on about me betraying Ray and you’ve got your eyes set on the love of his life?’
‘It’s not like that!’ He retorted, ‘I didn’t know who she was when I first met her, I just- just saw and I knew she was the girl for me- besides why do I have to explain myself to you!?’
‘Stay away from Crystal.’ I snapped. Dammit, I could feel my muscles twitching now, my mouth drying up and my fists clenching. Control yourself!
‘No. You stay away. Besides I think he’d want her in safe hands- being looked after and loved by the only friend who was loyal to him ‘til the end and beyond that!’
‘Loyal? You left the band and now you’re after his girl, how is that loyal?’
He clenched his teeth tightly together. I smugly smiled inside believing I had won this little feud he started. I should have known better.
‘At least I didn’t kill him, murderer.’
I tried to swallow whatever it was in my throat- shame, guilt? But what he said made things worse, made my muscles spasm, made my nostrils flare, made my eyes turn red with hatred and my blood turn cold. I could feel my hands shake before I saw one tightened into a fist and the other around his neck pinning him to the wall. I froze my fist inches away from his face and felt my all my muscles relax as I stared into his face, frowning but his eyes were smiling as if saying, "I told you so". I let him go and ran like hell until I reached a deserted street in the middle of nowhere. I fell and curled up into a ball. I knew he was right.
Trigger by Eric Kasey and Chris Parlour
I wasn’t expecting life to be perfect…
No, in fact, I wasn’t expecting much…
But now getting up in the morning just ain’t worth it,
Now that my whole life is fucking up.
Cause I’m the invisible one in an invisible crowd,
And I’m stuck inside a world of my own.
And now I’m done with trying to make everybody proud,
Now that I’m all alone…
With you…
Why don’t you just kill me?
Put a bullet through my head,
Turn up the heat and serve me dead…
Oh, baby, just kill me!
Stab that knife right in my back,
I’m your piñata c’mon take a whack,
Cause I’m too- weak- to pull the trigger.
I wasn’t expecting life to be fair…
No, I knew, I was always gonna get the short straw.
But now I’ve had much more than I can bear,
When I’m put in jail for you breaking the law.
Why don’t you just kill me?
Put a bullet through my head,
Turn up the heat and serve me dead…
Oh, baby, just kill me!
Stab that knife right in my back,
I’m your piñata c’mon take a whack,
Cause I’m too- weak- to pull the trigger.
At Russian roulette, I win all the time.
So why am I such a loser in life?
Come on and pucker up, my Valentine.
Cause roses are red and I am blue,
And if you’re up for it- I am too,
And if you won’t do it,
Direct me to someone who would…
Oh why don’t you just kill me?
Put a bullet through my head,
Turn up the heat and serve me dead…
Oh baby just kill me!
Stab that knife right in my back,
I’m your piñata c’mon take a whack,
Cause I’m too- weak- to pull the
Why don’t you just kill me?
Shoot that thing right through my brain,
If I’m still alive, then shoot again!
Oh, baby, just kill me!
Cause this is more than I can take-
Stuck with you, of course I’d break-
Now I’m too- weak- to pull the trigger.
Too- weak- to pull the trigger
Too- weak- to pull the trigger
Too- weak- to pull the trigger
Shoot me down.