Ripping Wounds [James Hetfield]

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏

December 21, 1982
Whiskey a Go Go, Los Angeles

The weather in Los Angeles tonight was better than the days before. This was a busy night at Whiskey a Go Go. The noise of people chatting, the clink of beer bottles, bands performance, and some wasted people adorn the atmosphere.

"He fucking left the band!" Said a dark brown shoulder-length hair boy with Danish accent while sitting on a bar stools and holding a bottle of beer.

Another boy with long blonde hair that sits beside him said, "Yeah, he said Dave won't cooperate with him so he left." He sips his beer.

Several minutes later, four guys appeared on the small stage in front of them and a guy with dark hair sat behind the drum kit. Without saying much, the drummer hit the snare drum, followed by the guitarist and bassist. In the middle of the song, some people started to notice the bassist headbanging intensely and even some of them start headbanging too.

"Holy shit! James, look at the bassist," said the Danish boy while nudging his blonde friend called James with one hand and the other hand pointing at that bassist he was referring to. Both of his eyes were bulging out of its place.

"Stop punching my arm, you dick," James said, pushing his friend's elbow away from his thin but muscular arm. His face was definitely annoyed and didn't bother to hide it at all.

They both looked on the stage and their eyes lit up as the bassist moved his head following every beats. They'd never seen someone headbanging while playing bass like that before.

"Woah did you hear that solo? That's an awesome shredding," said the Danish boy without turning his gaze to the band on the stage.

James nodded but he didn't say anything and still adoring the band. While the solo was still going, James noticed something odd. He'd noticed that the solo didn't come from the guitarist, but-

"That's not the lead guitarist, it's the bass player. He's using a wah pedal," James said while pointing at the pedal he referred to and tapped his friend's shoulder.

The Danish boy narrowed his eyes to the bassist' foot and his eyeballs were, one more time, almost fall out of its place, "He's using a fucking pedal for his bass?!" he said loudly and couldn't even hide the amazement from his face.

After playing a few songs, the frontman said thank you and explained that they're a band from San Francisco. Then they go to the backstage. Everyone in the bar seems pretty satisfied with their performance.

The excitement still on everyone's face. They're all waiting for another band that's going to perform. Meanwhile, the two boys were still talking about the bassist and they're planning to get him in their band.

"Let's go to the backstage, then! We have to talk to him," the Danish boy stood up from his seat and beckoned to James.

James was just about to stand up, but then he heard someone's hitting the snare drum on the stage. Their attention moved towards the stage, even the Danish boy back to his seat (i wonder what's this danish boy called).

Everyone was cheering like crazy, some of them clapped their hands, but there were also a few people had no idea what's going on. The band hadn't even started, they're just standing on the stage while adjusting their instrument.

A few seconds later, a young woman wearing black Queen logo muscle tee and black ripped jeans talked through the mic, "Woah you guys sound excited tonight," she said softly with a small grin in her face. Almost everyone said 'yeah' and cheered again.

A rather thin shirtless guys with blonde long hair who was sitting in the shadow behind his drums, still checking his drum kit by hitting the snare drums several times. While waiting for the drummer, the girl who seemed to be their frontman, strummed some chords with her guitar and talked to the audience again.