"Hmm, Avatar: Last Airbender Legend of Korra Metal music. I'm in to see, where sex, drugs and Rock 'n' Roll will lead them." I've got a bit of an outline and it's gonna be a bit of a trip if things go as I planned. "Step one, find some genre-fitting names for the bands. Check :)" This was actually a pain in the butt lol. I didn't want something cheesey and typical.
"Wrought Iron Machine. Due to the name I would suggest Speed or Power Metal?" I was thinking more Speed Metal/80's Hair Metal. Mostly Hair Metal like Poison or Cinderella. But I can see them doing a Battle Beast (great band btw, they're fantastic live too). "Nice choise of name for them." Thanks! In the old version of this fic, they were Iron Lotus. "Fire of Agni. Death Metal, I suggest?" I had something more like Metalcore/Post Hardcore in mind; a band like Attilla, Shoot The Girl First, or Eskimo Callboy. "Interesting choice, but fitting to let Azula do the aggressive shoutings and not Zuko." Thank you :) tbh I've always headcanoned that she would be more of a screamer in a metal band. "Angela Gossow or Alissa White-Guz, both great voices and I think you might have had Arch Enemy in your mind for this band. Or Jinjer?" When comparing vocals I was thinking a bit of Alissa but also of Candice Clot from Eths and Lauren Hart from Once Human.
"It seems, that Zuko and Azula are on their way to the top, while Kuriva's band seemed to be over their zenith." Correct. :P "The members of Wrought Iron Machine seemed to have lost some of their former spark and the hard years on stage and in studio is demanding its tribute from them. On the other side there are the fresh faces of Fire of Agni, young artists at the beginning of their careers, full of energy, who seemed to have hit the the actual taste with their sound." Granted, FoA will have their own hiccups that will be touched upon in this new chapter. "Keep on banging head with... ew sorry my fault, but why not :D Keep on banging head and having fun with your stories \m/" Thanks! I'm really thrilled to be rebooting this fic, especially now that I've been to more concerts and know the scene better.
Zuko tosses his beanie onto his night stand, nearly knocking down one of the bedside lamps, and flops onto the bed.
"Watch it Zu-Zu, I don't plan on handing the hotel any more of my money." Azula rolls her eyes. The girl is sitting before a mirror fumbling with one of the many small hoops adorning her ears. She is on the third, slowly removing them all. After which she plans on switching out her snake bites, and possibly the nose ring.
Image it is all about image, Azula decides-she has decided that back when they'd first started and it has gotten them into a hefty amount of trouble. If they are going truly make it the metal scene they will have to look the part as well. Zuko is perhaps more into that idea than she is. In addition to his single ear piercing he'd got a whole mural of tattoos up and down his arms, over his chest, and on his back. Azula has lost track of exactly what art is painted beneath his hoodie. She hadn't planned on getting any ink done herself however Zuko had insisted that she at least got their band's logo on her arm. That's how she ended up with a trial of flames coiling around her arms and a charred rose just above her waist.
At this point she may as well uphold that image.
She pulls out the final piercing.
They need this.
Everything rests on their ability to make it in the scene.
Everything.
It sends trills of anxiety through her head every time she finds herself on stage. Every time she is pulled for an interview. It worries her more so wondering if Zuko, Mai, and TyLee can maintain their image. "Where are Mai and TyLee?"
"They went to the pool." Zuko answers. "I told them to get up here soon."
"Well they better listen, we have a show tomorrow and I won't accept a performance that is anything less than perfect." Azula mutters. If she had, had her way they would have been practicing already.
"Relax, TyLee only has to pound two sticks around and I'm sure Mai is capable of playing the bass just fine no matter how tired she is."
"Right." Azula twirls her bangs around her finger. She doesn't believe him in the slightest. She has never played the drums or the bass for herself, but she can't imagine that she could be absent of mind or out of practice when doing so. Sure, she could stand on stage, highly intoxicated and dreadfully tired, and spurt out any old lyrics so long is it had melody and good sound quality. But doing so would be careless. Careless and nowhere near as noteworthy as a genuine effort. And such can be applied to the drums and the bass. They require a real effort to be worth listening to. "If they aren't up here in five minutes I'll see to it, myself, that they are."
Zuko rolls his eyes. "Why are you being such a hardass?"
Azula scowls to herself as she fusses with her nose ring. Sometimes she wonders if she is the only one who takes this seriously. If she is the only one who realizes just how much they need to win.
She looks at their finances. She is about to become a bigger hardass. "You're going to have to pass on your beer, Zuzu."
He bolts upright. "How can you say that!?"
"Because you can't drink it without completely trashing the hotel room!" Azula accuses. "Look at this." She waves the papers in his face. "We're cutting into our music video funds to cover the damages."
Zuko grumbles something to himself.
They are going to have to skip the hotel tomorrow night. Sleeping on the tour bus isn't particularly optimal, but it is quickly becoming a must.
"Where the hell are…"
The door opens and Azula hears a familiar giggle. They have barely entered the hotel room and she digs into them, "where have you been? I told you that we were going to practice at…"
"Relax." Mai mumbles.
"Come on Azula, all we ever do is practice." TyLee states. "Can't we have one day off?"
"Absolutely not." It takes a considerable effort to keep her tone level. She really is the only one who gives a damn isn't she?
"Shouldn't you rest your voice?" Mai asks. It is hard for Azula to gauge whether the question was born from true concern or of a more selfish whim. "You can't keep screaming like that every day."
She can and she will.
She has to.
"At least pick a song or two with some clean vocals." TyLee requests. It isn't as unreasonable and Azula suspects that TyLee has some genuine concern.
"We don't have any of those, Ty." Not with parts for her anyhow. Clean vocals and the acoustic guitar are Zuko's things. Her specialties are the harsh vocals and the lead guitar.
"Then write one!"
"Perhaps."
"Give yourself a guitar solo or something." Mai shrugs.
Now there is an idea she can work with. "I might be able to squeeze one in tonight." But she isn't sure if she should. Not so last minute. She needs time to finetune anything she does. "Perhaps tomorrow night…" Perhaps on the next album. The more she thinks about it, the less she fancies the idea of a random guitar solo.
Zuko rolls his eyes. "This is metal. Take a risk, people like risks."
It is one of the only good points he has made. She thinks, not fondly, of Wrought Iron Machine; they consistently played it safe and they were fading into obscurity. Azula won't let the same fate befall Fire Of Agni.
Thinking of their latest scandal, she wonders if one more risk will really matter. Their last stunt has given them a wealth of publicity. The kind that had propelled the onto the front pages of magazines and officially broke them into the scene. In retrospect it disgusts her. But it is putting their band where it needs to be and she will exploit it if need be.
"Alright, fine." Azula agrees. "I'll throw in a guitar solo."