Johnny Clarkson is your typical rock-and-roller by night, session musician/producer/engineer by day. He and his band have gotten quite a sizable following in their city, but when an all-girl band covers one of their songs...
I do not own (or know) t...
Those are the first words we hear upon entering the bar. Yikes! Looks like someone lit Vince's fuse again! We shrugged it off and I called Vince. He turns to us, his angry expression replaced with a genuine smile.
"Ah, boys, right on time, as always!" He says as he shakes our hands. "Sorry you had to see that, some rat was stealing from the bar, so we had to let his sorry ass go."
Ohh. So that's why he's been pissed off. No wonder.
"Anyway," Vince continues, "you boys tear the roof off this joint, like always!"
"You can count on it, sir!"
He chuckled then left. We went back outside to the van to retrieve our gear. On the way out, we encounter Braun Strowman, the bar's bouncer, and one of our good friends.
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"Evening, fellas," he greets us, his voice booming.
"Hiya, Braun," Seth smiles. "Start of tonight's shift, yeah?"
"Yep, till 2 in the morning. By the way, haven't you heard the news from Vince?"
"What news?"
"A new band's coming here!" He says.
We look at each other in surprise. A new band? Wow!
"Any idea who they are?" Roman asks.
"Nothing much, just that they're an all-female band."
This piques our interest even more. An all-female band? Holy shit! Awesome!
"Thanks for the heads-up, Braun."
"No problem, man," Braun says as we walk back inside. "Oh, and Johnny..."
"Yeah?" I turn back to him.
"I hear their lead singer is a... Goddess. Try not to fall hard for her, yeah?" Braun laughs heartily, as do the rest of the band. I glare at Braun and playfully give him the finger. We get back inside to finish setting up and prepare for soundcheck.
a few minutes later...
Our gear's all set up, and we are ready for soundcheck. Our setlist for tonight is as follows, excluding any requests or spur-of-the-moment additions:
- I Saw Her Standing There (originally by The Beatles) - Don't Stop (originally by 5 Seconds of Summer) - Rockin' All Over The World (Status Quo) - Caroline (Status Quo) - Gloria (Them) - Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix Experience) - Strangers In the Rain --- Acoustic set [Dean plays guitar, Roman plays percussion, Miz and Dolph sing harmony/lead]: - A Horse With No Name (America) - When I'm Dead and Gone (McGuinness-Flint) - Two Steps Behind (Def Leppard) - New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Bee Gees) - Massachusetts (Bee Gees) - Teach Your Children (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) --- - Neon Girl - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones) - Helter Skelter (The Beatles) - Shake It Up (The Cars) - Steady, As She Goes (The Raconteurs) - Break on Through (To The Other Side) (The Doors) --- Johnny and Seth's dual lead guitar solo/battle Dean's bass solo Miz and Dolph's piano/keyboards solo/battle Roman's drum solo (whole band plays introduction then leaves) --- - My Sharona (The Knack) - Oh, Pretty Woman (with jams) (Roy Orbison) - Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin) [Johnny switches to drums, Roman on rhythm guitar] ---
8:45 p.m.
All of our instruments are ready to go, and we have just finished soundcheck. This gives us 15 more minutes before the show starts. We go into one of the spare rooms backstage to relax and hang out some more. All of us have a beer in our hands, though we limit our alcohol intake so that we could still show up on stage and not pass out.
DA: So, Johnny...
JC: Yeah?
DA: You got anything to do tomorrow?
JC: Yeah, remember that Jackson guitar we saw at the guitar store a couple of days ago?
SR: The one with the Floyd Rose? Oh, man, that's one sexy axe!
JC: Yep, I'm buying it tomorrow!
DA: Sweet! Can I come? I wanna buy a new bass amp as well.
SR: Me too, man, I'll be buying some new strings too.
JC: You got it! After lunch tomorrow?
DA and SR: YEAH!
JC: How about you, Miz? Dolph?
MM: You guys remember my upright piano?
DA: Yeah, what about it?
MM: I'm thinking of spray-painting something on it!
SR: Ooh, nice! What's it gonna be?
MM: [pretending to think] I can't tell you, but it's gonna be AWESOME!
We laugh and talk some more, until we hear a knock on the door. "5 minutes!" A voice called out. We change into our usual stage attire: a black shirt, black pants, and a vest with a radio in it (functional, as will be seen later). We test our radios and then lay our hands on top of each other:
"Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta... SHIELD!"
We come out of the room and into the stage. The club's MC, Ric "The Nature Boy" Flair (who is also a radio DJ), is currently hyping up the audience and ready to introduce us. The bar is nearly full, and people are having a good time. It's a sight I've loved seeing for 4 years, 2 to 3 nights a week, and I don't see us stopping anytime soon.
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"GOOD EVENING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! ARE WE FEELING GOOD TONIGHT?!!" Ric yells into the microphone, with the audience responding in cheers. "WOOOO! That's what I like to hear. Now, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, here they are: Johnny, Roman, Seth, Dean, Dolph and the Miz, THE SHIELD!" The crowd erupts in applause, cheers, and whistles. We all say our hellos to Ric as he leaves, but before he does, he pulls me aside.
"Johnny!"
"Yeah, Ric?"
"Tune into my program later, I've got a surprise I'm sure you'll like!" He says, with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Got it, Ric!" I smile.
"Attaboy. Now, go ahead and kick ass out there!" He pats my shoulder. I run back into the microphone.
"WHAT IS UP, VINNY M'S?!!!" Roman hits the drums as I speak, which makes the crowd go wild. I turn to the rest of the band and mouth out, "Ready?". They nod, and I yell out, "1, 2, 3, 4!!", as we launch into I Saw Her Standing There.
