Rock All Night

28




Once breakfast was over, Killian went to another bedroom in the penthouse, apparently to get dressed. Ryan fiddled with the wires to all the instruments and microphones sitting out in the middle of the penthouse. Derek came back from Riley’s bedroom dripping wet.

“Be back in a minute,” he said, and left the penthouse.

Ten minutes later, Killian was back outside in his customary black shirt, black pants, and black shoes – and with a freshly-lit joint. Ryan was warming up on his bass. And Derek walked in wearing a dry outfit.

As they all took their places, Riley shuffled out in soccer shorts and a wifebeater, her face freshly scrubbed and pink. Without the fright mask of mascara, it was a lot easier to see how pretty her features actually were. All the dried styling gunk was gone from her mohawk, too, leaving her hair a limp, wet mass hanging down one side of her head.

“You guys suck,” she grumbled as she sat down at her drums and picked up her drumsticks, but that was all she said.

For the next two hours, I got a peek behind the curtain of one of the world’s most famous bands.

It started off with Ryan. He played a slapping kind of beat on his bass, and Killian suggested, “How about this?” and dropped in a chugging guitar riff. Riley joined in on the drums – not loud or overpowering, just counting out time and throwing in a combination of snares and cymbals here and there. Derek pulled out a notebook and made some marks in it, then interrupted. “Yeah, when you did that – ” here he sang a few wordless notes – “I was thinking of dropping in, ‘I’m over what you told me when you told me it was through.’”

My mind raced – Is he talking about us? – but within seconds it was past, and they were onto something else.

It continued like that, with them going back and forth with suggestions and additions, until finally Ryan asked, “Should we try it?”

Derek nodded, and Riley counted it out on her drumsticks, click click click click –

And over the next three minutes, a new Bigger song unfolded – one that no one else in the world had ever heard before.

I was the first.

The song was good – definitely rough, but good. I was enjoying it by the midpoint, and was disappointed when it ended.

“Well, that sucked,” Riley muttered after it was all over.

That shocked me.

“No, it was good,” I burst out.

The entire group turned around and looked at me. Apparently they’d forgotten I was even there.

“You liked it?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah.”

“Which part?”

“Well – all of it. I mean… I don’t know… I didn’t like the middle part as much, where it slows down and Derek sings about walking away?”

“The bridge,” Ryan said.

“Is that what it’s called?”

“Yeah, the bridge.”

“I told you,” Killian said. “B minor and faster.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay, okay,” Ryan said grudgingly.

“I didn’t say it was bad, it just – it didn’t click for me.”

“What else?”

“Um…” I looked over hesitantly at Derek. “I didn’t like the second and third verses as much as the first.”

His face darkened a little.

“It’s just the first verse is really strong, that’s all,” I added quickly.

“Yeah, the rest was f*ckin’ weak,” Riley taunted him.

“F*ck you,” Derek snapped.

“Ha haaaaa,” she jeered back at him.

“But you liked it overall?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah, it was good.”

“How good?”

I shrugged. “Solidly in the middle of everything you’ve ever done.”

Ryan cringed. “That’s it?”

I stared at him. “That’s the first time you ever played it, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“And all the other songs you’ve done, you did a ton more work on them before you recorded them, right?”

He sighed. “Yeah…”

Then he turned to the rest of the group. “Let’s put it on the back burner for now. Killian, come up with some new ideas for the bridge. Derek – ”

“Yeah, yeah,” he growled. “If we’re through getting reviews on our shit before it’s even halfway finished, can we get back to work?”

Ouch.

I sat down and crossed my arms.

“It’s good to hear from people,” Ryan protested, giving me a sideways glance to make sure I wasn’t taking it too hard. “It’s good to get feedback.”

“Yeah, well, now you’ve got it. Let’s work on ‘Gold And Diamonds.’”

“Okay…”

Ryan gave me a sympathetic look, and then he turned back to the band.

“For the bass line, I was thinking of changing it from what I played you guys last time to…”