Chapter 2 – Banding Together
It took a few days for Max to arrive as they had issues with their flights, either being cancelled, or just with weather issues. In the meantime, we kept them up to date with all the song writing we were doing, as well as managing to practice on platforms like Zoom, it felt like we were starting to create a solid setlist. Finally, they were able to confirm their flight and finally touched down in LA. We all went in Matt's car to surprise them with Wendy's nuggets and ice cream, since Max wouldn't shut up about them, so they were jumping with delight to see them. They were also excited to see us, of course, but I think they were more excited about the food.
Max and I connected over the internet. Even though we were from the same country, Max was from Portsmouth and with the bullshit the UK has with the rail system, and I couldn't afford a car, we didn't meet until that point. However, once we connected over Twitter, we couldn't stop chatting from then on. That's how Yin Yang began, especially after meeting Matt and Alyx. We came up with the name as I was the only white person in the band, and like the yin yang symbol, I was the little bit of chaos that was the other members' order. With our classic/glam rock sound, the band name fits with that aim we have as the band – to melt listener's ears off with sick riffs, realistic lyrics, and the energy that us four could bring. This was what I managed to explain to Charles in the meeting we had once Max was well rested. For his own reasoning, he decided to host the meeting in the Burgundy Rooms. Nodding, Charles took out his phone and scrolled through.
"Have you got anything I can listen to?" he said in his Australian accent. I looked over at the others, a little nervous to answer. Matt looked up and spoke.
"Nothing yet, this is unfortunately the first time that we've managed to gather together as a full group. But we have practiced a lot and pretty much have a set list together."
"Right." Charles tapped on his phone a couple of times, put it away, and looked up at us. "Then I'll see you tonight. The Viper Room, you guys opening for Over It All." Before any of us could say anything, he got up and left. We already had a gig?! And only a couple of hours to organise everything?! Well, this is the LA rock scene! After settling in what the Aussie manager said, we immediately scrabbled back to the loft to gather our instruments.
Alyx managed to find a spot for us to park close to The Viper Room, even if it meant we had to walk a bit with our equipment to the venue. We were extremely lucky that we had all our instruments, especially Max getting their drum kit through customs. Each of us pulled our weight to get the equipment inside the venue and set it all up. Charles greeted us and introduced us to the booking agent, Maya, a business savvy, and confident woman.
"Well, I have hope in you guys since no one else wanted to open for this band." She said as she shaked our hands. "Charles seems to like your pitch so this will be a test of your abilities. I'll be right here watching you guys." Maya smiled and walked backstage, though she immediately lost that smile when she walked backstage. It wasn't until we were in the middle of our soundcheck that we found out what the problem was. As we were running through one of our songs with the tech guy, Randy, I could see someone push Alyx out of the way and yank the microphone away from me.
"What the fuck?" I yelled at the man, who started screaming at Max. "excuse me, who do you think you are?"
"Excuse you!" he yelled back at me. "We're the fucking headliners! It's our soundcheck time." I could see his band behind him with their instruments coming on stage, followed by a ticked off Maya.
"Dom, you caused your band to miss their soundcheck."
"Shut up Maya, you're just the booking agent." I was stunned at this. Where's the respect anymore?
"Excuse you, she's the one that got you the gig!" Matt yelled
"Shut the fuck up and get off my stage!" this Dom guy yelled back. I just threw my hands in the air and walked off.
"Is this guy serious?!" I asked Maya and Charles as Dom's band moseyed onto stage. I could overhear them having the audacity to ask my band to use their amps and pedals.
"Why do you think it was easy for me to get you the support slot?" Charles explained. Shaking my head, I went downstairs to get a drink. I needed to escape this insanity, even for a little bit. I know this was the industry and people are like that, but that was too much too fast and too soon. I sat in a bar stool and ordered a Shirley Temple, knowing that I would need my full energy and mind on stage, especially if I had to introduce that kind of dickweed. As I sipped my drink, thinking on what the fuck I was going to do, as well as try to calm my nerves, I looked around the bar. Seeing a lot of faces having a good time socialising, I realised how alone I felt without the others in the band. I uprooted myself from my hometown, in a completely different country, to follow a dream thousands of others have and failed to achieve. I really left all my friends and family to follow the music. Who knew Shirley Temples could make you so existential!
"2 dry whiskeys, one on rocks please." Someone in the seat next to me said. I turned to see who it was, and immediately snapped my gaze away. That was Elias, the owner of Arkadian Records! I looked in my drink, hoping he didn't notice me looking his way…he did. "How can I help you, miss?" he asked. I felt a chill down my spine.
"Err, sorry, I just knew who you are, and I felt awkward if I said hi or something." I managed to muster.
"Well, hi, and hello." Elias smiled at me. "I like your shirt." I looked down, realising I was wearing a Relentless shirt. Embarrassed, I placed my hand over my face in shock.
"I'm so sorry, I was meant to change before going on stage tonight, and-"
"Oh, you're a musician?"
"Yeah, I'm in a band, we're like classic, glam rock with a hint of psychedelic." Elias nodded his head, seemingly interested. "Well, you don't hear much of that nowadays." He remarked. As he said that, another guy came up to the bar.
"Hey, came to see what's the hold up with the drinks." The guy turned to me and smiled. "Hi there." I meekly waved.
"Vic, this is…sorry, I didn't actually catch your name!"
"It's fine, I'm Carrie. Carrie Vicious." I shook his and Vic's hand.
"Nice shirt." Vic said.
"Thanks, I know, I'm a dork!" I giggled, which he did as well.
"Carrie's in a band that are performing upstairs tonight." Elias explained. Vic nodded as he took his whiskey.
"Ah yeah, I heard Maya mention about getting the support last minute. You know if they've sold a lot of tickets for it?" Vic asked.
"Not that I know of, I'm afraid." I said, grimacing. "It's our first show as well. We haven't played together live because we've lived on different sides of the world until now." Vic smiled, taking out his phone.
"Well," he started, "I don't think you should worry about that." Not sure what he meant, I looked my phone clock and downed my drink.
"Sorry guys, gotta head back up to prepare for the show." I got up off the seat. "Vic, Elias, it was nice to meet you both."
"Whatever Kevin did to my pedals, I'm definitely gonna have to take them into Guitar Center tomorrow." Matt said, annoyed. We managed to finish our own sound check, but not before having to reset our own equipment after Over It All fucked it over. Randy worked it out with us easily, so we managed to work through all the lighting cues. I went back to Alyx's car to get more of my stage look together and managed to change out of my rehearsal clothes when Maya came by me.
"Carrie, what exactly did you do when you went to get that drink?" she asked, concerned.
"Nothing really, got a Shirley Temple. Oh, I met Elias of Arkadian. A friend of his too, Vic-oh shit!" I facepalmed myself because I only realised who Vic was. "Sorry, I just realised that the Vic I met was Vic Lakota of The Relentless!" I looked down at my clothes. "And I wore a fucking Relentless shirt in front of him!" Maya just looked at me as I practically punished myself.
"You might want to check your phone, Carrie. I think Vic's done something for this gig tonight." At that, I looked at my phone and saw thousands of notifications. After opening them, I saw Vic had made a post on his social media saying he was going to our gig and asking for people to come out to support us. All our follower counts, including the band's main accounts, grew exponentially. Stunned, I looked up at Maya, who sighed. "Thanks to him, we have way more than expected trying to get tickets at the door. Good job!" She slapped my arm in a sign of good luck and left. I was still trying to process everything that was happening, almost as if I had entered a dream world. I managed to find the others and told them everything that happened. At that, they all looked at their phones and saw their social media exploding with notifications.
"Ah." Matt said as he immediately put his phone away. "Well, guess it means we'll actually have an audience tonight." Shaking his head, he picked up his guitar and jumped up and down to hype himself up. I peeked through the curtains to see a stacked crowd, including Vic and Elias at the back with some other people talking with them. At that point, I started feeling nervous. Max saw this and came behind me, rubbing my back.
"You're gonna be alright." They smiled at me. "We've performed these tunes many times. We're gonna be awesome."
"I dunno, Max." I said, my anxiety rising at that time. "I feel like, with all these people with their high expectations, we're gonna disappoint everyone out there."
"Hey," Max took me by the shoulders. "Remember that story on how everyone hated Freddie Mercury's first performance with Queen?"
"Yeah, but I doubt I have a great voice like Freddie's."
"Even so, you're gonna wow the crowd out there." Max gave me a little hug. "Trust me, it'll be fine." We smiled at each other, then they walked to get their sticks.
"Oi, miss!" I heard the Over It All drummer shout at Max. "Miss Drummer, over here! I need something!" I could see Max sigh and walk to the other drummer to see what he wanted. They had said before how they didn't want me fighting their battles for them, even when I could see injustice done on my friends, because it was their battle to fight, and it would be seen as talking over them. Still, it wasn't nice to see someone misgender my friend, which he continued to do even after Max corrected him. But as they told me, it wasn't my battle to fight, it was theirs. So, looking on and staying quiet, as much as I hated it, was all I could do.
"You ready, Carrie?" Matt said next to me, holding his guitar. I took a deep breath in and out, and nodded, giving the signal to Randy to dim the lights. It was time to perform. Let's do this.