A/N: Hey there. Thanks for clicking this to everyone, whether it was from an alert email, from Twitter, or from the SVM fic main page. Let me start this by explaining a bit about this story. I like music (who doesn't) and I'm going to a show where Sick Puppies will be playing next month. So in my research on them, I discovered that their bassist is female. Her name is Emma Anzai, and she's pretty badass. So I got to thinking (which is always a dangerous endeavor), realizing that while there are a few stories out there that have Sookie singing in some way shape or form, few have her as a badass rocker chick, so that's where this comes in.

Also, there are/will be a lot of rock/music references, so I'll try and explain some at the bottom. Any more questions, feel free to ask.

Disclaimer: I don't own the SVM characters, or any songs that will be mentioned in this story.

Special thanks to the ladies on Twitter.

For those about to rock, we salute you. And I give you…Backbeat.

Chapter One- I Get Off

It's a give and take kind of love we make
When a line gets crossed, I get off
-Halestorm, "I Get Off"

EPOV

I sat at the round, wooden table, drumming my fingers against the resin veneer. The girl on stage was singing about getting off and while I should have been devising a way to get to her after her performance, I was desperately trying to tune her out and not break something. I was more successful at tuning out whatever the hell it was that my friend and fellow drummer, Tray, was talking about.

"Eric, man?" Looking up at him, I could tell that this wasn't the first time he had addressed me with that phrase. I nodded to signal that he had my attention. "I was trying to ask you if you knew where Bill went."

I shrugged; I really had no idea where that fuckwad had gone. I also had no idea why he was even in the band in the first place. Maybe it was because he played guitar like Slash…maybe it was because he was Sophie's best friend…yeah, probably that.

But now both Sophie, our second guitarist, and Andre, our bassist and second vocalist, had skipped out on us to 'go solo'. With each other. Mostly likely in the back of Andre's van. Which leads me to our third problem: lack of equipment transportation. A second guitar we could take or leave, but being sans bassist, male vocals and a way of hauling equipment? Absolutely not.

So here Tray and I sat, in The Social, at a radio station-sponsored Battle of the Bands. Why we came is beyond me, I think Bill suggested it, but we were currently listening to the winning band. Naturally, not being able to compete was enough to set me off, but it was who won rather than the fact that we didn't. We could have blown the Rock 'n' Roll Spice Girls right off the fucking stage.

The band that won was none other than Hadley's Comet (clever, I know…), the only other band from my hometown of Daytona Beach. Tray lived there too, but he was currently between bands. He tagged along to see if anyone was in need of a new drummer. It was a shame he couldn't play anything with strings…he was a hell of a drummer.

The sound of raging applause was my signal that Hadley and her harem were finished with their victory song. It was also my beacon to Bill, who had made his way to the stage (an impressive feat), only to catch a girl flinging herself off of it. Why anyone would fling themselves at Bill was beyond me, but it definitely made sense why he wanted to come now. It seemed that Hadley's Comet managed to recruit a Lzzy Hale Spice, only blonder. I was busy studying the intricacies of the red and black mini dress she was wearing when I noticed Bill was leading her over to our table.

"Eric. I have someone I want you to meet. This is Sookie Stackhouse, the bassist I was telling you about." Oh yeah, her.

"Sookie 'stellar bassist' Stackhouse? Yeah, you mentioned her. And like I said when you did, there's no room in our band for girls and their girly shit drama." Rude? Definitely. Immature? Most likely. I really didn't care either way; after Sophiegate I was over chick rockers and I didn't care who knew. Even if Bassist Sookie was easy on the eyes.

"Pam's a girl and you're okay with her." Bill. So observant. Bastard.

"Pam gets more pussy than you do, Compton." I glanced over at Sookie, who was trying her damnedest not to look appalled at my frank statement. The corner of my mouth turned up in a smirk. "Regardless, no more girls," I continued. Standing up, I looked over Bill's head (not a hard thing to do) to find Hadley's hot little frontwoman, Dahlia.

"Well, it's been real, Bill. If Sticks gets his head out of his ass anytime soon, you know where to find me," said Sookie, giving Bill a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. She nodded to Dahlia before disappearing in the throng of people. Sticks, huh?

Bitch.

Admittedly horny, however. Interesting.

Ah, Dahlia.

I slipped my arm around the redhead's bare shoulders. "I'm not making concessions for some chick you're banging, Bill," I said, turning to him. "Find me a real bassist." I saw him nod as I lead Dahlia towards the door.

---

SPOV

Winning felt fantastic. Even Sticks couldn't fuck that up. And he was a douche. A big one.

Find him a real bassist. Psh. So he didn't think I was good enough. Fine, he could wallow in bassist-less agony for the rest of his band's existence, which wasn't looking like too much longer now that they were down two people. At least that's what Bill told me. He's pretty upset about it.

I couldn't find a redeeming quality in Eric the entire time I endured his girl-hating monologue. Everything he said was a big load of shit, except that part about Bill's lack-o-pussy. That part was pretty much on the money. Only I was pretty sure Eric didn't know why.

Bill's my best friend. He's also gay. Severely in the closet, but gay. I was the only one who knew. I even offered to be his beard once, but he declined. Most people thought we were together anyway. It was pretty evident that it was Eric thought.

And that brings me back to Eric. Damn it. Him and his precious band.

I remember the first time I saw Area Five play. I was a senior in high school. Bill had been part of the band since its inception, but wouldn't let me come see him play until they had an "actual gig". So I waited.

Watching Area Five was actually what inspired me to start playing. Bill told me that they were called Area Five because there were five of them, but I was convinced that it was because of their diversity. They were a nice blend of five genres: alternative, metal, ska, a little bit of pop-rock, and a blend of hard rock. It was like listening to an iPod on shuffle.

They were also a little bit like Guitar Hero in that they had two singers: a male and a female. Some songs were male-driven, some female, and some were duets. It set them apart. I wondered how they were going to handle the loss of the man part of that.

I wandered around, finding Hadley manning her band's merch table. She was surrounded by a group of giggly scene girls who were buying the newest neon t-shirts. There was also a buttload of other people around the table, so I ducked around a few to emerge on the other side.

"Hey, cuz. Why you still slumming' with us? Thought Bill was inducting you into Area Five or some shit." Hadley smiled at me. Even though the two bands were die-hard rivals, she was happy that I'd have the chance to actually join a band, instead of just filling in for Tara when her mom got especially drunk.

"Negatory," I replied. "Eric decided to live up to his douche bag reputation rather than save his band from the seemingly inevitable breakup." I wasn't tooting my own horn, I was just going on what Bill had told me. No bass/guitar/vocals meant no gigs, no gigs meant no band.

"Asshat," Arlene, the fiery little guitarist, piped up as she handed someone change. "His loss." I smiled and nodded at her.

We continued selling things for a few comfortable, silent minutes. I had just handed off a pair of CDs to a couple when Hadley spoke again. "Have you seen Dahlia? I haven't seen her since the show, and she's supposed to be helping."

"She left with Eric shortly after he blew me off." I rolled my eyes. I had nothing against Dahlia, she was a lot of fun, she just thought with the wrong head…err, or whatever the female equivalent of that was. She was a lot like my brother in that regard. Speaking of…

"Hey sis, hey Had. Sook, I was just getting ready to take off, that little redheaded singer of Had's still around?" Oh, Jason. When will you ever learn?

"She left…with Eric," Hadley cut in. "But it's not as if she'd be leaving with you." She snorted. It was true, Dahlia was the one female that wouldn't give Jason the time of day. Jason didn't get it though; he'd keep always finding some excuse to 'happen to be' at practices.

Thankfully, Bill chose that moment to pop up and save me. I didn't want to be around for the argument that was sure to break out between the two of them. It always happened.

"Sook, ready to go?" Bill asked, sliding around the like, five people remaining around the table.

"Never readier," I responded, grabbing my jacket from the chair where I left it before the show. "Bye Hadley, Arlene. Jason, go home."

Arlene pulled her attention from the impending Stackhouse family fight to look my way. "Bye, Sook. Oh, hey! Are we still on for our thing tomorrow night?"

"Definitely." I waived at her and started walking away with Bill. I looked over at him. "Are you going to be able to come?"

"Yeah. Eric cancelled yet another practice to 'talent scout'," said Bill, air quotes and all. "He'll probably end up coming with me. Sorry."

"Don't be. It'll just be another chance for me to rub in how fucking fantastic I am." I shot a sideways smile at Bill and he laughed.

"God, I wouldn't miss that for the world."

So there's chapter one. A short little ditty, but it just didn't feel right getting into the next day in this chapter.

So let me know what you think.

Oh, and I drank the Twitter Kool-Aid, something I never, ever thought I'd do. So if you want to get to know me, or just hang out with the lovely ladies that write/read the fics on here, add me, I'm chiisai_kitty (shocking, right?).

Rock-tionary:

Slash: Guns and Roses guitarist. He's pretty famous, but I thought I'd put that out there.

Lzzy Hale: Frontwoman of Halestorm, recently voted the "Sexiest Woman in Metal", who sings the song, "I Get Off", where the title comes from. It's also the song that Hadley's Comet performs at the opening of the chapter. I also don't own it.

The playlist for Backbeat can be found here: http://www . play list . com/playlist/19369853707