Best Thing In Town, chapter 2
"Caitlyn found a place we should check out today, apparently a lot of underground punks go there, and we might actually get a crowd that will listen to us this time," Jack was explaining over the phone the next day, obviously recovered from yesterday's disappointments.
"Anyway, we'll come pick you up in an hour, okay? Try to get the drums out before then, you're not really great at being on time... "
"Oh, Jack! What the hell, you know I'm reliable, okay? I'll be ready on time, I swear. This might be our big chance! I'll see yah then," I said, hanging up and running to my room to pack a bag for the day.
My room was shitty, like the rest of my house, but it was definitely the most comfortable part of it. I slept on an old mattress on the floor that I found at the dump, and I had a small dresser that I bought from a garage sale. It was covered in Green Day stickers, and had various lyrics written on all of the drawers. I had a closet, but it was mainly used for storage. Instead, all of my personal belongings were piled up on the sides of the room, and on a plastic coat rack next to the door.
My favorite part of the room was that it was covered, on the walls and ceiling, with Green Day posters, pictures, and lyrics. I had a few official posters from my parent's house on the wall above my mattress, and all the other stuff I printed off from the library's computer. My ceiling was particularly special, though, because it was the place that had all of my Tré Cool pictures. That way when I had trouble getting to sleep, I could look up and see his face, which never failed to improve my mood.
I grabbed my backpack, which was adorned by my keychain collection and countless quotes said by Green Day, and stuffed in a sweater, my iPod (my pride and joy, of course), my wallet and some Advil pills.
I then went into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, along with an apple and an old wash cloth (trust me, when you've been out in the sun all day, you can really use a "sweat towel"). I tossed my backpack onto my shoulders and hurriedly dragged my drums out the door onto the lawn, like the day before.
"Hey Erin, you're actually ready! Sorry we're late, Jack needed to stop and buy some new bass strings," Caitlyn explained apologetically, helping me load the drums back into the van. We piled ourselves into the van, this time Caitlyn at the wheel, and again, I was in the trunk. I continually failed my driver's tests, so I was yet to gain a license.
After driving for what seemed like hours, we had reached what looked like the parking lot of the local concert arena. Jack opened the trunk to let me out, and then grabbed his bass and Caitlyn's guitar and amps. We would usually find a spot to set up before taking out the drums, so I closed the trunk door and followed Jack and Caitlyn to this "amazing place" they had told me about.
We soon reached a shadowy spot up against one of the building's walls, right near the main doors to the building.
"Perfect," I said quietly, grinning at Caitlyn for her job well done. I looked around the area, and then something hit me. Tonight was the Punk Parole tour's concert in our city! I couldn't believe it, so many famous punk rock bands would be there, and that meant a lot of true punk fans for us to play for.
"Oh my fucking god, it's the PPT concert tonight!!!" I exclaimed, and was surprised to see Jack and Caitlyn exchange a devious grin. "You guys knew about this?"
"Of course! We wanted to surprise you, and I wanted to make up for making you feel bad yesterday. Seriously, you were awesome," Jack apologized shyly, smiling as I pulled him into a friendly hug.
"No sweat. This is definitely enough to make me feel better! We'll have an actual crowd of people who know what music really is!" I said excitedly as I let go, bouncing around on my toes as I waited for Caitlyn and Jack to put down their instruments.
"Okay, Erin: you get the bass, and put some cymbals on it so we can get set up faster. Jack, you get the amps, and I'll take the floor tom and throne. Keep going until all the equipment is out here, I have another surprise for you guys... " Caitlyn exclaimed, smiling slyly as Jack and I exchanged interested glances. We proceeded with unloading the van and carrying everything back to the "perfect spot" that Caitlyn had found. Once everything was on the pavement, Jack and I looked at Caitlyn impatiently.
"Well? What's this surprise you talked about?" Jack asked while putting down an amp.
"Alright, are you guys ready? Well, as it turns out, Green Day is performing tonight!" Caitlyn exclaimed excitedly, grinning at my enthusiastic expression.
"You're serious? Oh my god, that's awesome!!! But we don't have tickets, do we? Ouch... " I said, trailing off in sheer disappointment. How could we miss a Green Day concert? They had only once come to our city in the history of anything, and it was a tragedy to be missing such an amazing concert.
"I know, that's the sucky part... I debated whether I should even have told you. But then again, this does mean a chance to buy some Green Day merch, right? Right??" Caitlyn reasoned, but to no avail.
I couldn't afford anything anyway, so Green Day being here was a total heartbreak. Jack shot me a sympathetic glance; he loved Green Day as well, but he didn't know them like Caitlyn or I did. He hadn't loved them from the first grade, like we had. He hadn't grown up with Green Day. But he knew how awful Caitlyn and I felt, and I guess that that's all he could do. Sometimes a sympathetic word is the best medicine.
"Well, I guess we should finish setting up, our prime playtime is in twenty minutes," Caitlyn said quietly, unpacking her guitar before waiting for a reply. Jack turned away from me and started plugging the amps into the wall sockets. After a moment of standing there, I decided we might as well get in some good performances during prime time, and so started setting up my drum set and cymbals behind Caitlyn and Jack's guitar stands. Whenever we set up, no matter the location, we always got strange looks from passersby. They always seemed to think we were just looking for money, or that we were homeless and had stolen the instruments. This town was definitely not very trustworthy of its citizens.
We had soon finished setting up our makeshift stage, and were plugging in the instruments (for me it was a matter of sound checking the drums).
We had decided to start off with one of our darker songs, "Just Die". It was always good to have a dark impression on a bunch of punk teens, trust me on that one. A very small crowd was watching us, spread out along the sidewalk and grass, waiting to see if a new band would please their ears. With a final look back at us, Caitlyn walked up to her microphone and started off the show.
"Hey everyone, we're Haphazard. This song is called 'Just Die,'" Caitlyn said into the mic, immediately starting off with the opening chords to the song. "Your shit was in my way again, I can't wait until you're underground, dead and rotting in your grave, where you were meant to be."
Although the crowd was quiet, I could tell they were into the song. A few guys in the front were head bobbing quietly, although I'm pretty sure they all just thought Caitlyn was hot. The people on the grass looked like they were recording us with their cell phone, and a bunch of punks in a van that drove by were cheering and giving us devil horns. This was going very well so far, I could tell.
***
By the time we had finished our planned out performance, which consisted of eight songs, there was a huge crowd cheering and yelling at our feet! They were considerate enough to give us our space, but were definitely moshing as close as they could get. This was the most popular show we had ever played, and I could tell that both Jack and Caitlyn were as excited as I was.
"Thanks for listening guys, you are the best fucking crowd we've ever had!!" Caitlyn screamed into the mic, followed by a roar of approval from the crowd. After a few minutes of cheering, the crowd slowly dispersed, and it was quiet once again. There was no need for congratulatory words here; we all knew that we had finally had an amazing show.
While we were getting ready to have lunch, a tall blonde man walked up to our stage. His black leather jacket had the collar flipped up, as if in an attempt to cover his face. He wore very dark sunglasses, and long dark grey jeans with a large pair of red and black chuck taylors.
"You guys were fucking awesome!" he said, obviously trying to stay quiet even though he was excited. Despite the fact that he was trying to cover up his identity, I recognized him immediately, sending a chill down my spine.
"Holy. Mother. Fucker. I know who you are!" I exclaimed, my eyes wide, making him look nervous. "You're Mike Dirnt!"
With the shock of realization, Caitlyn was about to scream, but Jack had known her long enough to throw his hand over her mouth before she could bring more attention to us. Mike obviously hadn't thought we would recognize him so easily; he should really have thought about the fact that I could pick him out of a crowd of thousands with ease.
"How did you?.. Oh, whatever, just keep it down okay! Yes, I'm Mike, but if you can't tell I'm trying to lay low right now," he explained quietly, looking around nervously to make sure nobody was looking. "I came to ask if you guys wanted to go out for lunch with me?"
I stared at him with disbelief for a moment before I heard Caitlyn reply with, "Holy shit, are you kidding me? Of course we will! Just name a place and time!"
"Okay, meet me at the Mona Lisa in half an hour, that should give you enough time to pack up, right? When you get there just ask for 'Armstrong'. I'll see you guys there," Mike explained, and before Caitlyn could scream again, he was gone.
"Anyway, we'll come pick you up in an hour, okay? Try to get the drums out before then, you're not really great at being on time... "
"Oh, Jack! What the hell, you know I'm reliable, okay? I'll be ready on time, I swear. This might be our big chance! I'll see yah then," I said, hanging up and running to my room to pack a bag for the day.
My room was shitty, like the rest of my house, but it was definitely the most comfortable part of it. I slept on an old mattress on the floor that I found at the dump, and I had a small dresser that I bought from a garage sale. It was covered in Green Day stickers, and had various lyrics written on all of the drawers. I had a closet, but it was mainly used for storage. Instead, all of my personal belongings were piled up on the sides of the room, and on a plastic coat rack next to the door.
My favorite part of the room was that it was covered, on the walls and ceiling, with Green Day posters, pictures, and lyrics. I had a few official posters from my parent's house on the wall above my mattress, and all the other stuff I printed off from the library's computer. My ceiling was particularly special, though, because it was the place that had all of my Tré Cool pictures. That way when I had trouble getting to sleep, I could look up and see his face, which never failed to improve my mood.
I grabbed my backpack, which was adorned by my keychain collection and countless quotes said by Green Day, and stuffed in a sweater, my iPod (my pride and joy, of course), my wallet and some Advil pills.
I then went into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, along with an apple and an old wash cloth (trust me, when you've been out in the sun all day, you can really use a "sweat towel"). I tossed my backpack onto my shoulders and hurriedly dragged my drums out the door onto the lawn, like the day before.
"Hey Erin, you're actually ready! Sorry we're late, Jack needed to stop and buy some new bass strings," Caitlyn explained apologetically, helping me load the drums back into the van. We piled ourselves into the van, this time Caitlyn at the wheel, and again, I was in the trunk. I continually failed my driver's tests, so I was yet to gain a license.
After driving for what seemed like hours, we had reached what looked like the parking lot of the local concert arena. Jack opened the trunk to let me out, and then grabbed his bass and Caitlyn's guitar and amps. We would usually find a spot to set up before taking out the drums, so I closed the trunk door and followed Jack and Caitlyn to this "amazing place" they had told me about.
We soon reached a shadowy spot up against one of the building's walls, right near the main doors to the building.
"Perfect," I said quietly, grinning at Caitlyn for her job well done. I looked around the area, and then something hit me. Tonight was the Punk Parole tour's concert in our city! I couldn't believe it, so many famous punk rock bands would be there, and that meant a lot of true punk fans for us to play for.
"Oh my fucking god, it's the PPT concert tonight!!!" I exclaimed, and was surprised to see Jack and Caitlyn exchange a devious grin. "You guys knew about this?"
"Of course! We wanted to surprise you, and I wanted to make up for making you feel bad yesterday. Seriously, you were awesome," Jack apologized shyly, smiling as I pulled him into a friendly hug.
"No sweat. This is definitely enough to make me feel better! We'll have an actual crowd of people who know what music really is!" I said excitedly as I let go, bouncing around on my toes as I waited for Caitlyn and Jack to put down their instruments.
"Okay, Erin: you get the bass, and put some cymbals on it so we can get set up faster. Jack, you get the amps, and I'll take the floor tom and throne. Keep going until all the equipment is out here, I have another surprise for you guys... " Caitlyn exclaimed, smiling slyly as Jack and I exchanged interested glances. We proceeded with unloading the van and carrying everything back to the "perfect spot" that Caitlyn had found. Once everything was on the pavement, Jack and I looked at Caitlyn impatiently.
"Well? What's this surprise you talked about?" Jack asked while putting down an amp.
"Alright, are you guys ready? Well, as it turns out, Green Day is performing tonight!" Caitlyn exclaimed excitedly, grinning at my enthusiastic expression.
"You're serious? Oh my god, that's awesome!!! But we don't have tickets, do we? Ouch... " I said, trailing off in sheer disappointment. How could we miss a Green Day concert? They had only once come to our city in the history of anything, and it was a tragedy to be missing such an amazing concert.
"I know, that's the sucky part... I debated whether I should even have told you. But then again, this does mean a chance to buy some Green Day merch, right? Right??" Caitlyn reasoned, but to no avail.
I couldn't afford anything anyway, so Green Day being here was a total heartbreak. Jack shot me a sympathetic glance; he loved Green Day as well, but he didn't know them like Caitlyn or I did. He hadn't loved them from the first grade, like we had. He hadn't grown up with Green Day. But he knew how awful Caitlyn and I felt, and I guess that that's all he could do. Sometimes a sympathetic word is the best medicine.
"Well, I guess we should finish setting up, our prime playtime is in twenty minutes," Caitlyn said quietly, unpacking her guitar before waiting for a reply. Jack turned away from me and started plugging the amps into the wall sockets. After a moment of standing there, I decided we might as well get in some good performances during prime time, and so started setting up my drum set and cymbals behind Caitlyn and Jack's guitar stands. Whenever we set up, no matter the location, we always got strange looks from passersby. They always seemed to think we were just looking for money, or that we were homeless and had stolen the instruments. This town was definitely not very trustworthy of its citizens.
We had soon finished setting up our makeshift stage, and were plugging in the instruments (for me it was a matter of sound checking the drums).
We had decided to start off with one of our darker songs, "Just Die". It was always good to have a dark impression on a bunch of punk teens, trust me on that one. A very small crowd was watching us, spread out along the sidewalk and grass, waiting to see if a new band would please their ears. With a final look back at us, Caitlyn walked up to her microphone and started off the show.
"Hey everyone, we're Haphazard. This song is called 'Just Die,'" Caitlyn said into the mic, immediately starting off with the opening chords to the song. "Your shit was in my way again, I can't wait until you're underground, dead and rotting in your grave, where you were meant to be."
Although the crowd was quiet, I could tell they were into the song. A few guys in the front were head bobbing quietly, although I'm pretty sure they all just thought Caitlyn was hot. The people on the grass looked like they were recording us with their cell phone, and a bunch of punks in a van that drove by were cheering and giving us devil horns. This was going very well so far, I could tell.
***
By the time we had finished our planned out performance, which consisted of eight songs, there was a huge crowd cheering and yelling at our feet! They were considerate enough to give us our space, but were definitely moshing as close as they could get. This was the most popular show we had ever played, and I could tell that both Jack and Caitlyn were as excited as I was.
"Thanks for listening guys, you are the best fucking crowd we've ever had!!" Caitlyn screamed into the mic, followed by a roar of approval from the crowd. After a few minutes of cheering, the crowd slowly dispersed, and it was quiet once again. There was no need for congratulatory words here; we all knew that we had finally had an amazing show.
While we were getting ready to have lunch, a tall blonde man walked up to our stage. His black leather jacket had the collar flipped up, as if in an attempt to cover his face. He wore very dark sunglasses, and long dark grey jeans with a large pair of red and black chuck taylors.
"You guys were fucking awesome!" he said, obviously trying to stay quiet even though he was excited. Despite the fact that he was trying to cover up his identity, I recognized him immediately, sending a chill down my spine.
"Holy. Mother. Fucker. I know who you are!" I exclaimed, my eyes wide, making him look nervous. "You're Mike Dirnt!"
With the shock of realization, Caitlyn was about to scream, but Jack had known her long enough to throw his hand over her mouth before she could bring more attention to us. Mike obviously hadn't thought we would recognize him so easily; he should really have thought about the fact that I could pick him out of a crowd of thousands with ease.
"How did you?.. Oh, whatever, just keep it down okay! Yes, I'm Mike, but if you can't tell I'm trying to lay low right now," he explained quietly, looking around nervously to make sure nobody was looking. "I came to ask if you guys wanted to go out for lunch with me?"
I stared at him with disbelief for a moment before I heard Caitlyn reply with, "Holy shit, are you kidding me? Of course we will! Just name a place and time!"
"Okay, meet me at the Mona Lisa in half an hour, that should give you enough time to pack up, right? When you get there just ask for 'Armstrong'. I'll see you guys there," Mike explained, and before Caitlyn could scream again, he was gone.
