Opposites Attract
What is the right path in life?
A question such as this is usually asked rhetorically, but for Daniel LaBeck, this question was the motto he chose to live by. It was, so to say, never to be chained down to any specific path, but to always explore the wide slew of opportunities that's available to him. This approach started early in his life and proceeded through his numerous travails.
Born to a family of two other siblings, his mother and father separated early. He later found out that it was because his father had had an affair and he happened to be the product of the said sin. His brother and sister never looked at him as their real sibling and partially blamed him for the destruction of their family unit. It was a hard blow for a kid of his age to take, especially since he couldn't really be held responsible for his father's infidelity. Due to these events, his mother claimed custody of his brother and sister while he remained with his dad, who never actually got together with his biological mother. The truth was that he never even knew his biological mother and that never really hit him until he became older and started to realize the exact impact of that fact.
His father was not an easy man to live with. He was a blue collar worker and was very serious about everything he did. Besides the fact that he was unfaithful to his wife, Dan never saw the man do anything else unethical, but that could have partially been because he felt he needed to atone for his previous indiscretions.
They lived in a very decently sized house in a very nice neighborhood, which was a bit surprising to Dan, since he was sure that his father couldn't have made that good of money. Yet Dan was never spoiled or even treated to the riches that his father seemed to have. He lived a very underprivileged lifestyle, with not many possessions. It was only after his first fateful concert that he became extremely enamored in the prospect of becoming a musician. To some people, becoming an astronaut or a fireman was what they imagined in their early life, but Dan never looked had those aspirations.
He was always interested in music in general, but it was during his first year of high school that he got out to his first concert, which was more of a small time gig at a local nightclub. The performers at this gig were nothing but a cover band, but they were very much a punk style band. It was Dan's first exposure to music of the Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols and a slew of others. He was well aware of the other bands that were popular at the time, but this was his first look at what started that movement initially. This was where it began for him, his love for music and his interest in playing it.
There was no way he could convince his father to buy him any instruments so Dan had to do it by himself, by getting various part time jobs. He worked hard and for about six months, before he eventually could afford one of the cheapest Les Paul guitars he could find, which still cost him a pretty penny. It was a Goldtop Gibson and it became his most treasured possession. His dad was not pleased about this new love in Dan's life and expected the boy to concentrate on his studies only, but this was no longer possible.
Dan began learning the instrument by himself. Never learning notes or the proper way of music, he only practiced based on sound and what he could imitate. At first, it sounded awful, but with time and his great attention to detail, he began to develop into a great guitarist, knowing exactly which chords he needed to hit to produce the sound he was looking for.
He couldn't practice at home because his father wouldn't permit it, so he would usually go out and just sit on street corners or in parks, practicing his craft. And this was how he eventually met Matt Meizer, who just happened to be passing by on one fateful night, with a girl on each arm.
Matt was a "player", as it was generally known in common nomenclature. He was a popular kid in school and was always with one female or another, but he had something more. He was a musician behind the facade as well. Matt performed with a few different bands that were just doing random gigs at small clubs around the town they were in. He was mainly vocalist, but could play some bass as well, so he knew a bit about sound. When he happened upon Dan, in the street, he immediately recognized the possibilities.
The two became quick friends and the idea of forming a band was something that Matt had already had on his mind. So finding a good guitarist was a sure sign for him that it was time to give it a shot. While Matt was socially outgoing and quick to mingle with everyone under the sun, Dan was the complete opposite at first; very timid. It was the perfect pairing of opposites and it didn't take them long to find a few more people willing to join a band. Not for the money or recognition, but for the glory and the girls, above all. They were teens after all and what do teens think about?
This was how they met Keith Landon and Jeff Soho. Both not truly musicians, but played well enough to do the whole high school rock band thing. Keith played the bass, while Jeff was the drummer. They were all now sophomores in the same school and became band mates. This was the initial formation of "Black Iris", a name crafted by Matt of course. While Keith, Jeff, and Matt mainly did this for the "chicks", Dan was the only one that really took it seriously. He was still in the process of perfecting his skills and while the band played mainly covers of different types of music, Dan was writing his own songs. Obviously, he didn't know how to compose, considering he didn't know the theory behind notes, but with the sound he created just using his guitar, he recorded many of his melodies and also tried writing his own lyrics. However, due to his shy personality, he was not able to really share this with the rest of his band mates, for he felt he'd be too embarrassed and they wouldn't take his music seriously.
As time in high school quickly passed them by, his music library was becoming a bit more immense. Both the stuff he listened to and the things he wrote himself. By senior year of school, the four of them really did become a lot closer and by this point, Dan finally shared his music with his mates, even if it was partially against his own will. To his surprise, they were actually very intrigued by his sound and decided that they really should try to play some of it to breakaway from the common mold of their type of bands. They began performing songs at different parties and small club venues and their music seemed to get a small cult following. It was a very punk sound, reminiscent of bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, and others. This was only natural, considering Dan had begun to really idolize what that sound and image really stood for. The only thing that seemed a bit unnatural was Matt's vocals to this music. They were too clear-cut, too smooth, while the singing demanded a more menacing, rawer sound.
Dan never felt like becoming the front man or vocalist for the band, but there were points at which Matt insisted that he join into the singing. Dan began writing music that would compliment two vocalists. He tried to write things that Matt could sing in his style, while Dan could bring his own charisma to the second part of the music. This gained them even more of a following and eased away some of Dan's initial timidity.
Naturally, one would expect that this couldn't go on forever. School was still in session, so to say. While the others began really concentrating on making it to one college or another, Dan really didn't feel like doing it and continued playing his music. And so, as the senior year was coming to conclusion, one by one the band mates were starting to separate. First Keith left, citing studies. Then it was Jeff's turn. And eventually Matt decided that the band thing was fun, but had to be over because there was so little of a chance to make it in the industry that an education would be more than required.
The band played their last gig a month before graduation and then it was over. Dan didn't feel betrayed, but he felt as though this was the only thing he could ever be good at. As such, he suddenly felt extremely alone and as could only be expected, he turned to drugs to ease away some of this feeling. It was nothing hard, just some "Mary Jane" once in a while, but it was enough to calm his tension and also helped him stay creative as he continued to write his music.
Due to his involvement with the band during his high school years Dan gained some popularity with the opposite gender as well, and had gone through a couple of girlfriends in that three year period, but they as well weren't staying in this little town forever, they had to move on. Everyone was passing Dan by. A sense of isolation settled over him.
At this point, during his period of "separation" from the rest of his band mates and other friends, his father added to it, by kicking him out of the house. He was now forced to fend for himself and began taking on all sorts of jobs. Dan would take whatever was available to him. He would work nights, days, weekends, doing whatever he could to get by. He got his own apartment, though it was quite the shithole. It was a one bedroom place with a bathroom and no real kitchen. There were cockroaches and other vermin all over the place and his only window didn't have the best of views. These were not ideal times for Dan and he started delving a bit deeper into drugs. He had graduated from the gateway drugs and was starting to do things that were a bit harder.
He gained more connections through playing gigs for different bands. They definitely recognized his talent and charisma and he was welcomed to most all performances. This also meant that he met some shady characters. As he continued to do more drugs, his sound was starting to become more menacing than anything he originally expected. Instead of creativity, his music became about confusion and uncontrollable rage. It wasn't something that he was realizing, but something that the people around him really started noticing. It was still brilliant, but it was evil. It wasn't what Dan was.
During one summer, a couple of years after their high school graduation, at points where Dan felt his life couldn't get any worse, his old time high school buddy, Matt, came back to town to check out how things had turned out. Dan was completely unaware of his friend's visit and only happened to realize it after he saw him out of the corner of his eye in the audience during one of his random gigs. After the performance, the two of them got together to grab a few beers at a local bar. It was at this point that Matt had showed some concern over what he saw in Dan. At first, Dan vehemently denied his friend's allegations, but eventually he became aware that Matt's words were true and this brought about the end of his first stint with drugs. It wasn't at all easy, but it had to be done and it was there that Dan finally figured out that he wasn't all alone. It was also at this time that Matt revealed to Dan his plan to go abroad and offered to Dan, that if he ever wanted to come wherever Matt may settle, he would be welcome.
A few more years passed. Dan was clean again and his creativity was back to its old shining self. He became a sought after guitarist by many different bands in his little town. It was a good sign for the young man, but to him, he felt he had reached a dead-end. Relations with his father had not gotten any better over those years. He hadn't spoken to the man since his high school graduation and it appeared their relations would be severed forever. Dan hadn't seen his siblings or mother in years either. Since Matt had kept in touch, Dan was aware that his friend had settled down in Japan and with all of those factors lining up, he knew he had to take the opportunity to leave everything behind and start anew. This was his opportunity to get out of the United States.
* * *
"Sure must be nice to sleep so peacefully while the people around you are gathering up to do whatever it is that you have planned." Matt told Dan quietly, as the other one started opening his eyes. It hadn't been long since they had made the decision of gathering up a band to perform at the "Battle of the Bands" event that was being sponsored by Saikou Records. Dan had asked his friend to see if he could convince the drummer that Matt knew, to perform with them and Matt kept to his word, by calling up Kikuchi Takamura, a man he'd made friends with a few years prior. It didn't take much convincing on Matt's part, as Kikuchi was in fact looking to start performing again. And so, the band was assembled, but due to Dan's jet lag, it seemed that he was still getting adjusted to the time difference between Tokyo and US.
"Dan, this is Kikuchi Takamura. He's the drummer I was telling you about before. So enough with the sleeping and let's talk about what exactly we're planning to do."
"Hello, I'm Kikuchi Takamura, good to meet you, Dan san." Kikuchi politely said, in a not-so-fluid English. "I hope we can have a good partnership here."
"Umm.. yeah, nice to meet you Kikuchi. As long as you can keep up on drums, I think we won't fail." Dan replied.
"Dan... that was a little rude, man!" Matt chimed in. "Also, we need to discuss how we're going to play the band... I haven't actually played an instrument in a while and while I can carry a bit of a bass line right now, I can't exactly play guitar so much anymore. So while we know for sure that Takamura san will be a drummer, how are we going to do the rest of the arrangements?"
Dan hadn't really thought on the matter so much, but as he told them the plan that he was coming up with for their performance, he could see that Matt was feeling a bit uncomfortable with certain
aspects of it. "Well, if you feel that way then you can do the bass line and I'll just do the guitar, but do you want to sing or should I?" Dan inquired.
"If you're really planning what you're saying, I can't see how we're going to get out of there unscathed... So I'm definitely not doing the vocals, that's all you." Matt replied apprehensively. "Besides, I haven't actually sung in over four years, while you've still been doing the whole band thing by yourself."
"Alright then, it's decided. Everything sounds okay to you then, Kiku, Matt?"
"Kiku?" Kikuchi seemed a bit perplexed by the new nickname that Dan had bestowed upon him.
(Just bare with him, Takamura san, Dan doesn't have any manners to speak of.) Matt reassured their new drummer. Dan scratched his head as he didn't understand what Matt had spoken.
"Alright, that settles that matter, now for the other matter. What are we gonna call our band?"
Dan chuckled to himself a bit, "I've been thinking, since we're going with this theme for our performance anyway, why don't we make our name true to the theme as well."
"What did you have in mind?" asked Kikuchi, who was becoming less reserved around Dan now.
"I was thinking of the name, Pretty Vacant." Dan declared. Matt rolled his eyes a bit, since he kind of knew what Dan was alluding to.
"I'm not sure I understand, Dan san." Kikuchi replied.
"First off, drop the san stuff, I'm not used to it and since we're band mates, we're practically like brothers, so no need for the honorifics. I don't know if you've ever listened to the Pistols or not, but you will before we start working on our routine." Dan answered. "Speaking of which, Matt, did you find out if there were any specific rules or limitations to our routine?"
"Yeah, I looked into it a bit and seems that each band is performing two songs and based on that the winner will be decided. They also say that props and other things are allowed, so I suppose they won't be a hindrance to your plan. And before you ask the next question, yeah, I already sent in our registration."
"Excellent.. then all that's left for us to do is start practicing and getting ready for the event. Honestly, I don't really care if we win the competition. My main goal here is to get our names out there and after this performance, I bet we'll be the talk of the town." Dan stated, a bit exaggerated and Matt rolled his eyes again while Kikuchi laughed out loud.
They were now ready and going to go for it all, though they didn't know what lay in wait for them. So without much opposition, Pretty Vacant was officially formed.
