Chapter 682: Club TRIC - The First Show
Monday, March 13th, Afternoon
Something told him he should've stayed away. They covered a period when he thought he had left it all behind. He was the oldest of the original members of High-Performance Heart Attack, but he left for the Navy. He came home and started his life, and started playing music again.
Psycho looked over to where Arne Jared and Kat Hartmann sat. It was something he did, following his old bandmates and learning about Kat's and Brian's band. He was home after his time in the Navy and met with Kat to catch up. That led to his current job, playing bass and some vocals for Nordwind.
The redhead, Gabi's mom? He thought that was who was on the screen. "I believe it was a Halloween Dance Party at Club TRIC," the older woman said.
Yeah, that was their first professional gig. They dressed in horror punk-themed costumes, and he sat behind his drum kit, banging away on the drums. The kids loved it all, dancing and screaming; they loved Brian on the microphone, especially the girls. It was fun while it lasted.
That was one of their better payouts when he was with HPHA. For a seventeen-year-old, it was good money. They played many more dates at Club TRIC, plus a partial tour supporting Brian's Mom's return to music. That was a good payout, but Hawley, Brian, and Kat started fighting over the band's direction. He was glad he was leaving the band; he didn't want to deal with the child-like behavior.
Psycho looked over to see where his replacement was sitting in the crowd. Lucan was a good drummer and a friend of Kat's. The guy was sitting there, and the world seemed to have crushed Lucan. Psycho knew that Lucan still played; he did studio work and stayed out of the public spotlight.
Psycho looked over to the stage. His last show with HPHA was Halloween at Club TRIC. A year apart, a nice bookend to his career with Hawley's band of gypsies. Well, it was what it was.
On the screen was Mags, the only bartender at Club TRIC. "When Peyton decided to go with an untried band for Halloween, I thought she had lost her mind. Brian and HPHA proved me wrong. Brian delivered the goods, you could tell they were green, but they rocked," Mags said.
Psycho leaned back and shook his head. What did Brian tell him about that first show, that Halloween show? Psycho looked at the screen to see his own face.
"After that show, we were practicing, and during a break, Brian and I were having some water. Brian looked at me, shook his head, and then told me about this girl he met at the show. It turned out that the girl he met turned out to be Gabi," Psycho said.
The redhead returned to the screen. "Gabi went as Avril Lavigne; she always liked punk music," the older redhead said.
Psycho nodded and looked at the images that appeared on the screen. Many of them were from the band's practice sessions. Psycho saw his old bandmates, Hawley, Hewston, Kat, and Brian, frozen in time when they were babies. In many images, Psycho could see Gabi, always hanging out in the background, staying out of the way.
The series of images changed from the band practice space to the high school. There you could see the band members with their extended friend groups. Brian was usually with the basketball team or with his cousins, Kay and Ellie, plus Trin and Gabi.
Psycho thought about his senior year and how it became defined by things that started on that night on Halloween. There are worse things that could define your last year of high school. Psycho smiled and looked at the big screen.
On the screen, Trin appeared. "That night was amazing, I knew Brian was in a band, but I never knew he was that good," Trin said.
Next up on the screen was Ellie. Psycho saw Ellie sitting in the back of the bookstore, The First Story. "That night was full of many firsts. It was mine, Kay, and Trin's first time at a club. It was technically my first date with Mark. But the biggest first was centered around Brian that night; he rocked the club that night," Ellie said.
The screen changed from Ellie in the bookstore to an old video, done on tape that was later digitized. It showed Brian hopping onto the stage at Club TRIC; he talked to Hawley and Kat. Brian walked to the microphone and spoke to the crowd.
"This is November's Fire, one…two…three…four," Brian said.
On four, Hawley hit the first guitar string, and Brian stood waiting and feeling the music. When the queue hit, Brian started to sing. Brian was belting out lyrics and looking out over the crowd. Psycho suddenly noticed, maybe for the first time, Brian locking eyes with someone in the crowd. It made sense since Psycho was behind the drum kit, so he didn't see it. According to Hawley, this was the song where Brian developed his stage presence. While moving about the stage, Brian kept eye contact with the same person in the crowd.
Psycho knew this was a short song. The footage focused on Brian putting the microphone on the mic stand. Brian was smiling; Psycho felt a chill as he saw that smile, an evil grin. Psycho had to agree that this was showmanship. At the end of the video, Brian turned and looked at Kat and Hawley.
The screen changed, and the redhead appeared. Psycho studied the older redhead and didn't know who she was, but Psycho thought that she looked a lot like Gabi.
"Years later, I was talking to Gabi about that night. Come to find out, it was the first time Gabi and Brian kissed, and it was their first kiss," the redhead said.
More images appeared on the screen. Many of the images were old stills from that night of the show. TRIC must have provided them. Psycho looked over to Chase as she ran Club TRIC and probably had access to Peyton's archives from the various shows.
One of the images on the screen was a young couple. They were dressed as late 1970s punks. Psycho thought about it; they dressed as Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, the famous doomed couple that involved the bass player from the English punk band The Sex Pistols.
The images stopped, and they returned to the old video of HPHA's first show. Brian had put his guitar down and pulled the microphone off the stand. He looked to Hawley, the younger version of Psycho, and finally to Kat. They each nodded to Brian. That was when Brian spoke.
"Hey everyone, you've been a great crowd. We're High-Performance Heart Attack. Before we do our last song, I'd like to introduce the band, on guitar is Hawley. The blonde on bass is Kat, and behind the drum kit is Psycho. You guys can call me Brian. Now this is Halloween…one…two…three…four!" Brian yelled out.
Psycho just nodded.