Hello readers, here is the next chapter of the story of finding peace. In this chapter, we see the first gig of the 3 members and then see the final member of the band as well as some more development between characters. Also expect more swearing in the chapters due to the content of some songs' lyrics. Hope you enjoy it.
"Is he coming soon Linc"
"He said 3:00, so any minute."
Lincoln and Anthony were warming up inside Anthony's garage, getting ready for their first jam with Chris. When Lincoln asked Chris if he wanted to be the singer at Emily's party, Chris was hesitant at first. But after talking it through more with Lincoln and seeing what Luan thought, he agreed to do a jam session. After trading contacts, Lincoln made a group chat that included Lincoln, Chris, and Anthony. They all immediately hit it off, sharing their musical interests with each other and finding out they had a lot in common. They all shared some genres that the others didn't know much about. Turns out that Chris was really into death metal. He showed the 2 other boy bands like Death, Obituary, Gojira, Carcass, and many other classics. Anthony revealed that he was actually a huge black metal fan, sharing bands like Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, and Gorgoroth. They all texted each other about music and also planned for what songs they would play.
When Lincoln returned to school that Monday, he walked in to make amends with his old friend group. Maybe they reconsidered what they said. But that was quickly distinguished when lunch period hit. Zack, the one person who wasn't there during the whole argument. Approached Lincoln during lunch when he was eating with Anthony. Zack told him that he was informed of what happened between the friend group and was disappointed with what happened. Lincoln was hoping he was implying that he talked some sense into the others. But this was quickly debunked once Zack said he talked with the others and convinced them to give him a "Second Chance", as he called it and to come back to them. Lincoln responded with a rude gesture that everyone in middle school used, and told him that he was perfectly happy with his current friends. To which Zach turned around and walked back to the table looking sad, to which everyone at the table glared at Lincoln. Anthony was confused about what happened and Lincoln had to explain. He made sure that Anthony understood it wasn't his fault.
A school week had passed and the day of the jam session finally arrived. The two boys continued warming up until they saw a car pull into the driveway. They saw Chris hop out and grab a speaker and microphone from the backseat along with a mic stand, and then walked towards the garage as the car pulled out of the driveway and left.
"Hey guys, sorry i'm a few min late. My dad ran into something at work and arrived home late."
"It's no biggie Chris" Lincoln responded as he continued warming up.
"You must be Anthony, it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." Chris said, walking towards the drumset where Anthony was sitting.
"It's great to finally meet you Chris." Anthony said as the two shook hands
Chris got to work setting up the equipment and in not time. The microphone was plugged in and set up on the mic stand.
"Alright, you guys ready" Chris asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice
"I'm good, how about you Lincoln"
"I'm all set"
"Alright you guys, let's do the first song."
Anthony hit his drumsticks 4 times and then Lincoln and Anthony started playing in coordination with each other. When it was time for Chris to come in, he gripped the microphone and the stand and started.
Late at night all systems go
You have come to see the show
We do our best you're the rest
You make it real you know
There is a feeling deep inside
That drives you fuckin' mad
A feeling of a hammerhead
You need it oh so bad
Adrenalin starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash
Bang your head against the stage
Like you never did before
Make it ring make it bleed
Make it really sore
In a frenzied madness
With your leathers and your spikes
Heads are bobbing around
It is hot as hell tonight
Adrenalin starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash
Here on stage the marshall noise
Is piercing through your ears
It kicks your ass, kicks your face
Exploding feeling nears
Now is the time to let it rip
To let it fuckin' loose
We are gathered here to maim and kill
Cause this is what we choose
Adrenalin starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash
The show is through the metal is gone
It is the time to hit the road
Another time another gig
Again we will explode
Hotel rooms and motorways
Life out here is raw
But we will never stop
We will never quit
Cause we are Metallica
Adrenalin starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash
All 3 of the boys stopped after Chris yelled the last whiplash. They all were panting, a bit tired from the song.
"So, how did I do" Chris asked
Lincoln composed himself and stopped panting, "You did great dude, loved the energy. Lets keep going."
"Yeah dude, you got me amped up" Anthony said as he started twirling a drumstick in his right hand. "We don't have a Cliff or Kirk, but with what we have. We did great".
Chris smiled at what the two boys said.
"Alright then, lets keep going"
And so they did keep going, for hours and hours the three boys continued playing heavy metal. Lincoln and Anthony had the set list for the jam to be a little difficult to test to see how good Chris as a vocalist could be. They included songs that had really loud screaming along with some growling and Chris was able to do it all. He could scream on Angel of Death, get really growly with Symphony of Destruction, some more breathy vocals like Deftones. He even was able to do some Lamb of God which they were shocked by. Seeing Chris pull the microphone off the stand and move his head down, growling like Randy Blye was such an awesome experience. MRS. Russo even came in after they were done and asked Chris if he was feeling okay and if he needed some medicine. To which all 3 boys burst out laughing.
Night time befell the sky as all 3 boys were exhausted. They were currently standing by Mr Russo's car, waiting for them as he offered to give Chris and Lincoln rides home.
"So guys, what did you think of my singing" Chris asked turning to the two boys
"Oh dude, you were incredible, we definitely want you to be our singer. Anthony stated
"Yeah, I agree, if you want to, you're in."
Chris was shocked by this
"Wow guys, thanks. That means a lot to me. I'm looking forward to playing with you guys more"
They all gave each other fistbumps. Anthony's dad came out and drove both boys home.
Scene Change:
2 weeks passed and Chris had become a consistent member of the meetups; all of the singing started to really take a toll on his voice though. He would wake up sometimes and not be able to speak because he lost his voice. But it would come back, he quickly realized he needed to make sure not to go overboard if he didn't want his voice to become shot. He started eating certain foods and drinking more water to make his throat feel better. This worked as he made sure not to go overboard when rehearsing. The 3 of them formed a tight knit grip, only one problem. They didn't have a bass player. That changed the one day they didn't play at Anthony house. On Saturday October 14th, Anthony's house was under construction due to a leak in the roof and his parents didn't want him playing music when the construction guys were over. So Lincoln's dad offered to let them jam in the garage, Luna let them use her drumkit which wasn't as big as Anthony's kit, but was still very much usable. Luan was at a standup gig so she didn't see Chris. They were all warming up when Lori marched inside the garage.
"Hey Twerp" she yelled covering her ears
All 3 boys stopped
"Yes Lori"
"I got some friends coming over in a little bit so don't play anything too crazy" she asked annoyed
"Sure" Lincoln replied with his eyes rolling
As if one queue, a couple cars pulled up and multiple teenagers got out of them. Lori immediately ran over and started chatting with them. Lincoln recognized a few of them from other times when Lori's friend had come over. One person stuck out to him though, it was a boy. He was tall and had brown short hair and kept looking at the three boys in the garage. Lincoln awkwardly waved at him and he waved back. All the friends walked inside the house leaving the 3 boys.
"That was weird" Chris said
"Yeah that guy was just staring at us." Anthony added
"Whatever guys, my sister said she wanted less intense songs so lets play something a bit more basic,"
"How about walk, I gotta work on my low growls" Chris said
"Yeah lets do it" both Anthony and Lincoln said together
Lincoln got into the respective tuning for the song and started playing the classic riff. SOon they were into the song and Chris started headbanging and removed the mic from the stand as he sang.
Can't you see I'm easily bothered by persistence
One step from lashing out at you
You want in, to get under my skin and call yourself a friend
I've got more friends like you, what do I do?
Is there no standard anymore?
What it takes, who I am, where I've been belong
You can't be something you're not
Be yourself, by yourself, stay away from me
A lesson learned in life
Known from the dawn of time
Respect, walk, what did you say?
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
Run your mouth when I'm not around, it's easy to achieve
You cry to weak friends that sympathize
Can you hear the violins playing your song?
Those same friends tell me your every word
Is there no standard anymore?
What it takes, who I am, where I've been belong
You can't be something you're not
Be yourself, by yourself, stay away from me
A lesson learned in life
Known from the dawn of time
Respect, walk, what did you say?
Respect, walk, are you talkin' to me?
Respect, walk, what did you say?
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
No way, punk
Respect, walk, what did you say?
Respect, walk, are you talkin' to me?
Respect, walk, what did you say?
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
Walk on home, boy
They finished playing and stopped the instruments.
"Hey Linc, can you get me some water my throat is a bit dry" Anthony asked
"Yeah, can you get me one too" Chris said
"Sure" Lincoln said as he dashed inside the house and into the kitchen. He quickly grabbed 3 waterbottes. Lincoln walked through the living room where Lori and her friends were carrying the water bottles. They were all sitting around chatting individually. Lincoln then noticed that the boy that was staring at him before was sitting on the far end of the coach right near him. The boy turned and realized who it was.
"Hey, your Loris brother. Lincoln right"
"Yeah" Lincoln responded
"Names Max Walker, I wanted to ask. Were you guys playing Walk by Pantera just a few min ago"
Lincoln was shocked; a friend of Loris knew who Pantera was. "You know Pantera"
The rest of Lori's friends including Lori turned to see what was going on.
"Do I know Pantera? ' Max stated before pulling up the sleeve of his shirt on the right side. Lincoln was shocked to see a tattoo on the side of the shoulder with the Pantera Logo and the snake from The Great Southern Trendkill underneath it. Loris' friends were also shocked when they saw it.
"OMG max, you have a tattoo" one of them said
"Those are so disgusting, why would you literally get that." Lori stated
Max turned to look at the group, "Me and my older brother loved them growing up. He took me to a tattoo shop on my 16th birthday and we both got the tattoo."
"Aww, that's so cute." one of the friends said
Lincoln couldn't help but snicker at the fact that the word cute was used involving Pantera.
Max rolled down his sleeve, "Anyway, you guys were awesome. I saw your set up pulling in. Although I noticed you guys don't have a bass player."
Lincoln sighed, "yeah, we're having some trouble finding a bass player."
"Well I can play bass"
Lincoln looked at Max shocked, "Really"
"Yeah, I've been playing for years. I was in a band with my brother before he went to college. I got my bass in my car."
"Well you wanna go jam for a bit."
"Sure" Max stated jumping up from the coach onto his feet
The two walked towards the door and noticed Lori glaring daggers at him. Lincoln simply shrugged his shoulders.
Max went to his car and retrieved his bass and a few distortion pedals. It was a 4 string simple black Warwick bass.
They both headed into the garage where Chris and Anthony were hanging out. They immediately noticed Max when they walked in.
"Your the guy that was staring at us" Anthony stated
"Yeah, sorry about that. I was just surprised" Max said scratching the back of his head
"Nevermind, guys this is Max. He plays bass and wants to jam for a bit" Lincoln said
"What really, awesome lets go" Chris said
Luna already had some extra amps in the garage, and luckily one of them was a bass amp. Max plugged in his bass and started warming up, he added the distortion and did some simple bass riffs as well as slapping the bass. All 3 of them could tell he was really good.
"Alright guys I think I'm ready, what song do you guys want to play." Max asked
A few of them threw out suggestions but Lincoln had the best idea. They wanted to do Korn for so long, but didn't have enough people. Now they do.
"Guys guys, let's do Falling Away From me."
Max raised an eyebrow, "Sure, I can do Fieldy with just a 4 string bass. Are you gonna be good with only a 6 string?"
"Yeah I'll be fine"
All 4 agreed on the song as Lincoln and Max tuned their instruments to the song.
Lincoln did the first few notes before the song blasted with the bass and drums. Chris started singing.
Hey, I'm feeling tired
My time has gone today
You flirt with suicide
Sometimes that's okay
Do what others say
I'm here standing hollow
Falling away from me
Falling away from me
Day is here fading
That's when I'm insane
I flirt with suicide
Sometimes kill the pain
I can't always say
"It's gonna be better tomorrow"
Falling away from me
Falling away from me
Beating me down!
Beating me, beating me
Down, down
Into the ground!
Screaming some sound!
Beating me, beating me
Down, down
Into the ground!
Falling away from me
It's spinning round and round
Falling away from me
It's lost and can't be found
Falling away from me
It's spinning round and round
Falling away from me
Throw it down
Beating me down!
Beating me, beating me
Down, down
Into the ground!
Screaming some sound!
Beating me, beating me
Down, down
Into the ground!
Twisting me!
They won't go away!
So I pray!
Go away!
Life's falling away from me
It's falling away from me
Life's falling away from me
Fuck!
Beating me down!
Beating me, beating me
Down, down
Into the ground!
Screaming some sound!
Beating me, beating me
Down, down
Into the ground!
Beating me down!
Beating me, beating me
Down, down
Into the ground!
Screaming some sound!
Beating me, beating me
Down, down
Into the ground!
They finished the song as they all let the last note play out.
"Max that was great" Lincoln said
"Yeah dude, you can really play bass" Anthony said smiling
"Awesome work dude" Chris said giving a thumbs up
Max smiled, "Thanks guys so am I in?"
"Huh" they all asked
"I mean, am I in the band"
"Wait you wanna be in our band" Anthony said shocked
"Yeah, you guys seem cool and I've been meaning to get back into playing bass."
All 3 boys turned at each other as they all gave the nod of approval.
Lincoln cleared his throat and spoke. "Max Walker, you are the bassist in our band."
There ends the newest chapter of Finding Peace. The band has officially been formed and you know what that means. GIGS