Chapter 210

The bar wasn’t the same japanese themed bar I had watched the Violent Hemorrhage play at last time. It was actually more like a dive bar.

 

Jeez. Were they struggling to get gigs or something?

 

I shrugged it off as I found a place to park and just settled in. Alice drove slow so I had time, which is of course when I recognized a very familiar Caliburn in the lot.

 

Smirking, I got out and headed over, to see Malcolm trying to play up his coolness by leaning against his car as some of the club goers were standing around checking out the expensive car.

 

I decided not to interrupt as he was definitely flirting with a girl right now.

 

Good luck Malcolm. I mentally offered him as I turned around.

 

I knew Hiromi would be here, with everyone as well, but it was still embarrassing to have all my chooms show up.

 

Felt like some weird school recital where your parents appeared.

 

I shook off the odd thought and instead decided to start unpacking.

 

“Hey! Motoko.” A voice I recognized called out as I grabbed my guitar out of the trunk.

 

“Hey Jared.” I greeted the other band mate. The guy was decked out in Rockerboy gear, his hair flashing in a pulse with his heartbeat and sticking up in a mohawk.

 

“You got your stuff?”

“Got it.” I offered as I hauled the Orphean out of the trunk along with my amp and gear.

 

“Preem. Come on, I’ll show you our space.” He offered and I nodded following after as he led me to the back of the bar and through an employee only door that was propped open.

 

Inside was a back room that was messy and covered in old Brosef bottles and a few Rockerboy types sitting around.

 

“Let’s get the gear checked, we’re on in thirty.” He explained and led me over to where the other member of Violent Hemorrhage was sitting next to his gear. His drums mostly put together and just waiting to be transported out onto the stage.

 

“Hey kid.”

“Klein.” I greeted back and he flashed me a smile, that was that. Now just time to wait for the big show…

 

I plopped my amp down and then put my guitar in my lap. I had played with the Deluze through the week to get a feel for it, and I couldn’t complain. She sounded preem compared to my off the shelf guitar I had bought back at the start of my musical grind.

 

Hilarious that I hadn’t even thought about upgrading. Maybe that was why I was so willing to go along with this…

Yep. That was it, definitely no other reason.

 

—–

 

“Next up is Violent Hemorrhage!” The club owner called out, and the lights went on, showing us to the club.

 

It was a dive bar. Probably slightly up scale from the Red Dirt bar I had played in before, but this certainly wasn’t a high end joint.

 

But that all went out of my mind when Alice sauntered up to the mic.

“Our first song! Bloody Cry!” She roared out and a few of the crowd cheered.

 

I shrugged and as the drums began, I looked down to the guitar in my hands and breathed in and out. Cold suffused my veins.

 

And I played. The song was scop. Repetitive noise, and shitty screams interspersed with Alice trying to sound sensual.

 

It honestly reminded me of what Evanescence would sound like if it was written by an idiot, and performed with someone that only knew how to sing through autotune.

 

But I wasn’t thinking right that minute. I was just playing, letting the song rumble through the Orphean strings.

 

It wasn’t any real effort to play, so I played, doing everything I could to keep my face away from the crowd as I just played.

 

It was practically effortless, the songs were simple, and with my chrome arms I could have played the songs forever without getting tired.

 

There just was nothing to it. But despite how nice it might be, it was also boring.

 

Repetitive music with no real soul.

 

And then after a half dozen songs it was over.

 

Alice cheered towards the crowd who clapped, Hiromi and my chooms most of all, but then it was just a casual walk off stage. Of course Rebecca was howling the loudest. Good old Rebecca, always quick to be the loudest supporter in the room.

But unlike when I played the Red Dirt, I just felt… Kinda bored.

 

Where was all the excitement? The Anxiety, the tension of playing music in front of people. I wasn’t even embarrassed, just… Bland.

 

“You did great!” Alice cheered towards us as we fell off the back stage and into the back room dropping the start of our equipment down in a pile. “We can do this without Carmen!”

 

“Do what without me? Play shit dives for the rest of your life?” A voice interrupted and I looked over and narrowed my eyes…

Yep I had no idea who that was.

 

“Carmen.” Alice hissed.

Well now I had a name… Had we met before? I ignored the back and forth just focusing on my head. I remember the name I think. Wasn’t he at Denny’s place the first time? The one that was being scoped out by some music guy or something…

 

I shrugged. Whatever, I focused back around me on the argument taking place.

 

“And you pull some bitch to take over guitar? C’mon! Don’t think I didn’t notice the girl playing my guitar as well!”

“You fucking left it after breaking it, don’t blame us for giving it away.”

“Whatever. I don’t need that scop anyways! Simon hooks me up with everything I need, and Tessa is with me!” He yelled out, and Jared I noticed looked ready to throw some hands but just looked away in the end.

 

Ah. Drama. This is what I didn’t want to deal with.

 

“Hey! I don’t know you lot, but unless you want to get up on stage and play, get out of here!” A much older guy came around the corner calling out glaring at the stand off between former bandmates.

 

I shrugged. Set was over, my gig was done. That was… Way less fun than I had kinda secretly hoped it would be? Sure, I still felt the butterflies up on stage, but even if I would never admit it, partially even to myself, it had been fun to get up on stage and sing my heart out.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

 

Violent Hemorrhage just didn’t quite reach what I was looking for.

 

“Pfft as if I’d play some shitty dive bar like this! Get a fucking clue!” Carmen threw a finger at the bar owner who looked pissed at the response.

 

“Oh get that arrogance out of here Carmen, even if you held a set here, you’d be booed off the stage before you made it to your third song! You’re a hack!” Alice cussed loudly, suddenly getting close to the bigger guy.

 

Shit. Was I gonna have to flatline this guy? I didn’t really want to, but Jun liked Alice. Ugh. Nah, looks like she was alright, Jared, and Klein were both standing beside Alice looking pissed.

 

Cool they’d take care of it, and so I turned around to pick up my stuff and get out of here. Hiromi and everyone were probably wai-

 

“Please. I just listened to your shit set, you still can’t sing. You still can’t play the drums, and that new bitch can’t play the guitar!”

 

“The fuck you say?” I asked, hissing as I turned back around.

 

Carmen, this Rocker Boy wannabe turned from Alice and gave me a once over up and down.

 

“Get lost kid. The adults are talking.”

 

Huh. I pushed down on the urge to simply flatline this gonk and go home to a nice nap.

 

I considered instead how to best roast some stupid corpo wannabe rockerboy…

 

“Go back to your studio and sing a song for Mr. Studd Ads or whatever it is you do. The real musicians are here.” The words came out of my throat raw and cold. Exactly how I wanted them.

 

From the way his jaw dropped, and even Alice turned to look at me in surprise…

 

Well it hurt my feelings when it happened, I can completely imagine how much of a burn it would be.

“You little bitch!”

 

“Yeah yeah, whatever loser. Go back to your corpo ads.” I shooed him away with a silver hand waving for him to go.

 

“Whoa!” One of the boys he’d walked in with grabbed him as he made a motion at me, and I almost wished he had missed. I’d have loved to take this guy apart.

 

Calling me a kid… Just because I was.

 

Asshole.

 

“Fuck you bitch!”

“I guess I hit the mark then. When is your Mr. Studd jingle coming out?” I asked, and Alice snorted, unable to hold it in.

 

Carmen stopped fighting against his boy and instead shifted, doing something I didn’t expect.

 

He opened up his jacket and showed off an ostentatious Malorian in his jacket.

 

It took about three seconds as he was trying to show off how cool he was to disable it. “Wow. I’m so scared. Like. Totally.” I told him flatly, just begging for him to pull on me.

 

It’d make the bullet that would go through his head super satisfying.