Disclaimer: Uh… I think you guys all know by now what I own and what I don't own, right? Good… Oh wait; the lyrics from the songs "Deadeye" and "Right Back At Ya" are mine, though!
Well uh… this'd normally be where I'd respond to my reviewers, but since there's some kinda fucked up rule against that now, I'll just say "thanks, guys" and move on.
Chapter 6: Back to the Ol' Grind
September 3, 2005; Chophouse Records: 5:19 PM
"Whoa, wait a sec guys." Jason requested.
"What is it?" Christian asked from his booth, taking a brief chug of beer.
"Uh, Christian, do ya think you could maybe sing a little lower on that last part?" Jason asked.
"Uh… I don't think I can go any lower than what I'm doing now." Christian quaffed.
"Na, I bet you could," Jason said, "Let's just try it to see how you sound, ok?"
"Fine…" Christian muttered.
They had been in the studio about seven hours that day and about three weeks altogether. They managed to get their cover of Blue Öyster Cult's "The Red and The Black" done in a day, but since then they'd been having some trouble recording "Deadeye". Yesterday, the problem was with a fill that Eddy was having trouble getting, the day before it was a trill that Ed kept missing during Edd's first solo. Today, though, the problem was with Christian's voice.
"Wait, Jason, why do you want me to go lower?" The Canadian questioned, "That's how I've sung that part during gigs!"
"Yeah I know, dude," The producer explained, "But I think that since this song's kinda threatening, you should sing like you're trying to be threatening, you get what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I guess," Christian grumbled, "But I thought I was sounding pretty spooky already, there."
"You were a little bit, but I wasn't really feeling afraid of you," The veteran rocker said, "You were singing so high that it was more annoying than menacing."
Christian nodded. "Ok, I'll try to go lower, then."
Jason gave the band a quick reassuring metal salute before pressing the "record" button on his soundboard. Christian took a deep breath before belting out the final chorus and verse of the song along with his band mates:
They call me Deadeye…(Deadeye)
My aim is straight and true
Yeah, Deadeye…(Deadeye)
And my gun is aimed at you…
Don't put up a struggle, baby
No, don't you try and fight
'Cause when I'm around, you drop down
Yeah, I've got you in my sights….
From there, they dove into the bridge, where they inserted the sound effect of a woman's scream. This meant that Christian simply had one more line to yell:
BANG!
They rolled the sound effect once more as Edd zipped into another minute-long solo, wrapping up the song.
"And…. we're clear!" Jason proclaimed from behind the soundboard.
A raucous chorus of "Woo-hoo"s and "About fucking time"s rang erupted from the Eds and their Canadian friend after Jason spoke.
"So… you guys wanna hear it?" Jason asked, a grin on his face.
Edtallica nodded aggressively, so their producer pressed one of the many buttons and pushed a few switches. As the thrash song about an ominous womanizer seeped through the speakers, the "metal Eds'" jaws dropped.
"Whoa… was that us?" Ed breathed.
"Sure was, Ed," Newsted replied, "See? I told you guys it'd sound good!"
A few more seconds of silence went through the studio as the band members began to put on huge grins.
"Well, that song's a bit risqué, but I think we may have a hit with that one," Jason continued, "but other than that, I think you guys've got it!
--------------------------------
"Hey Eddy, why don't you give me a beat, dude?" Christian requested as he strapped his ESP bass over his shoulders.
"Can do," Eddy replied simply as he took the helm of his drum kit, "Like uh… what kinda beat do you want, fast or-"
"Fast is good." Christian said.
Eddy nodded and began to pound out a beat.
A day had passed since the "mental cases" reunited, and they wasted no time in putting their guitars to the grindstone, so to speak. Since they already had a few songs pre-recorded, this meant that the band would only have to write seven songs to make a decently lengthed recording. They had been in the studio for about half an hour, and already the dry-erase board hung that was hung on the wall was smothered with various suggestions for album titles, song names, and even the occasional "Welcome back" from the sound crew.
Even though half an hour had passed, Eddy and Christian were, oddly enough, the only ones
As Eddy began to get a solid idea for his beat, Christian searched around his low-tuned instrument for a good bass line. The Canadian chortled softly to himself after a few minutes of plucking random notes. Eddy noticed his friend's problem and stopped playing.
"You ok, man?" Eddy inquired.
"Heh, yeah I'm cool," Christian replied, "It's going to be hard not to sound old saying this, but due to lack of practice I can't find bass lines as easy as I could back in the 'good ol' days'!"
"Don't worry about it, for " 'Mental Cases" we had all of our songs done before we got into the studio," Eddy chuckled, "Now c'mon grandpa, let's keep going!"
Christian put on a smug smirk before Eddy counted himself back into his beat. After fifteen minutes, he managed to find a pretty good line that seemed to fit his band mate's beat pretty well.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late!" Eddward greeted, slipping a black telecaster over his shoulders.
The guitarist plugged in his guitar to a nearby Marshall amp and quickly low tuned it.
"No problem, Double D," Eddy said, "Wait, where's Ed?"
"Uh… he called me while I was driving over here, he said he'd be here as soon as he got Eileen and Shamus taken care of." Eddward answered, "So… was that a new song?"
The three present band members began to work on adding a guitar part to the new song, when Ed barged in with his guitar in hand.
"Aaah!" Ed yelped, "I'm so late! Ohmanohmanohman!"
"Geez Ed, relax," Christian said as he watched his friend attempt to low tune his guitar and plug in his various pedals at the same time, "We've barely even got our first riff done!"
"Oh… ok!" Ed exclaimed, "So, what've we got so far?"
They continued to torque the riff that Eddy and Christian started for a few more hours before they got a solid idea hammered out. From there, Christian began to brainstorm ideas for some lyrics. After several frustrated groans and frantically crossing out various lines, the Canadian began to look to his fellow band mates for help.
"I think I'm just having trouble coming up with basic ideas," Christian said, "So uh… you guys wanna help?"
"Hmm…" Ed verbally pondered, "We could make it a 'return' song, y'know like AC/DC did with Back in Black or Def Leppard did with Back in Your Face!"
"I don't know," Double D interrupted, "That seems somewhat cheesy, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, but so was Labat Blues, and it was one of the hit singles off of 'Mental Cases!" Eddy retorted.
"Then it's settled!" Christian concluded, picking up his pen and scribbling down some lines.
With a few suggestions from his band mates (who were surprised and excited that Christian was letting them help with lyrics for once), the bassist managed to put out some decent lyrics for a song that they titled Right Back At Ya:
Can't turn back time to take what's mine
But I'll do the next best thing
I'll play my guitar fast
Shove some heavy metal up your ass
'Cause I've gotta make up for lost time
Right back at ya (Ba-ack)
I'm back where I belong
Right back at ya (Ba-ack)
I'm back and fighting strong
It's been too long, so I've come back
Time to settle the score
Gonna play faster, gonna play louder
Than I ever have before
Right back at ya (Ba-ack)
I'm back where I belong
Right back at ya (Ba-ack)
I'm back and fighting strong
(Solo)
Repeat Chorus
(Bridge) Spoken(?):
Metal will never die
And neither will I
As long as blood pumps through my veins
I'll never drop the reins, never pass the torch!
(chorus)
After proofreading the lyrics one last time, the band decided to record a quick demo tape of the track with Jason, who thought the song would be a fun first song for the new album. They recorded the track in under twenty minutes, and the demo-tape reflected it.
"Uh… It's good, but I we've definitely got to work with it a little more when we go for the album recording." Jason said.
"Yeah, I think that if we altered the bridge a little it would probably sound a little more uh… professional, y'know?" Christian added.
"That's true, but it's a good start though, right?" Eddy questioned, "I mean, it's the first demo we've done in years, not to mention the very first song that we all contributed lyrics for."
The five rockers continued to trade ideas for a few more hours when Ed brought an obvious thought to their attention.
"Hey guys, y'know what?"' Ed said, "We need to get Jimmy down here to draw stuff and take pictures!"
"Whoa, good point there, Mullet," Eddy said, grabbing his cell phone, "Let's see if I can get a hold of him."
Eddy quickly punched in Jimmy's cell number and waited.
"C'mon kid, pick up…"
A/N: Ah, finally! I've gotten around to making another chapter. Sorry about the horribly long wait, but I've had a whole bunch of shit on my plate over the past month. Like I had to finish driver's ed, go on two family road trips, do in-car sessions, and battle a severe case of writer's block. But my muse helped me through it (and by help I mean cuss me out until I did stuff). Oh, I have an original story put up on under the pen name Sikki Nixx called "Big Hair and Bad Attitude: The Vinni Vulcan Story", which is about a guy who tries to revive hair metal. You can give it a look after you've finished reading and reviewing for this chapter if you want.