Got a Spark, Got Somewhere to Be

As it turned out the interview was just as hilarious as most that the band does and sound check was crazier than what Anna had thought it would be.

While the tech guys started setting up the stage lights and amps, Jack stole Anna – as he called it – and took her for a ride on Zack’s skateboard, pulling rope and all. It had been years since Anna had used a skateboard or even a bike. She could stand on it no problem but was having trouble keeping any speed, so Jack appeared out of nowhere with a rope, gave one end to Anna while taking the other end himself and ran as fast as he could across the venue floor. All the while as Rian and Zack took the chance to make fitting background music to Alex’s little film of them.

Zack even started strumming heavy dramatic music when both Jack and Anna almost ended up on the floor when the rope somehow got wrapped around Jack’s legs and the skateboard. Somehow, no one was really sure how, they managed not to hit the deck due to Anna’s quickness (“Holly shit, you have ninja moves woman!”) but that was when Matt took the skateboard away.

So Alex picked up the rope and started skipping with it.

Anna quickly pulled out her camera and tried to take a shoot without it blurring from the flashing stage lights. Which was a lot easier said than done, but she managed to do it. Jack snapped blurry photo on his phone too and showed her before uploading it to twitter with a headline of something like ‘warming up for the show in style’.

One of the tech crew members walked over then watching Alex quite amused for a couple of minutes before clearing his throat.

“Your mics and guitars are all ready to be set up now, so when you’re ready.”

With that he walked away again. Jack and Alex headed to the stage and with lack of anything else better to do, Anna followed sitting herself down on the edge of the stage where she hoped not to be in the way of anyone.

Watching everything being set up was quite interesting with all the cords, amps, mics, stands, sound boards and every other gadget that was needed just for the band to play music. The amount of work that needed to be done setting up and testing it all was defiantly surprising. Anna knew there would be a lot of work involved but when you actually see it up close, it’s so much different. And the fact that at every show they had to put this all together, take it apart and do it all over again the next night, was well, yeah.

As interesting as it was Anna couldn’t ever see herself doing something like this for at least nine months of the year. Her job at her Auntie’s clothing store was demanding enough seeing as she did everything that involved paper work.

Zack was the first to finish what he needed to do, that didn’t involve running though songs with the others. Anna noticed him approaching her and watched as he sat down by her side gentling holding his famous pink bass.

“Do you know how to play any interments?” He asked over the noise everyone else was making.

With a quick practiced movement Anna grabbed her notebook and pen from her pocket, flicking to a clean new page.

‘Recorder during primary school, but that’s about it. Unless you can count the whistle I use to ‘talk’ to my bird.’

“Every thought of learning anything?”

Anna stopped and thought for a moment before writing a new reply as Zack read over her shoulder.

‘I have but lack of voice would make it a little harder to learn if I was to have lessons. I’m more into other arts anyway. Writing, painting, photography etc.’

Zack, who had been nodding along as he read, visibly brightened up when photography was mentioned. There was no way he didn’t know she liked taking photos after posing for a couple already, but actually calling it photography was different, making it more than snapping random photos of the band she got to hang out with. Anna lifted up her camera, a nice small compact that took just as good photos as a professional one.

“I love photography. Can I look at some of your photos?” Zack asked with a smile that just asked ‘please?’

With a smile and a nod, Anna handed over her camera after turning it on and switching it to preview. She gestured to Zack what buttons to use and sat back letting him look. For a guy with a neutral face looking at some photos he had brighter eyes than a kid on Christmas, Anna noticed watching his reaction for a moment.

She looked away after a couple of minutes towards what she could see of the stage. Alex was playing the drums as Rian watch on and Jack was attempting to make Matt dance with him to Alex’s drumming. Anna was about to lift her pen and ask Zack if this was just a normal day for them but after a second thought, guessed that this was. After being a fan of the band so long and watching Straight To DVD, the sight on stage didn’t surprised her any. And Alex was quite good on the drums.

Jack looked her way and grinned, grabbing onto Matt’s other hand, lifting them into the air waving them around. She smiled back but turned back around when Zack tapped her arm.

“When was this taken?”

Looking down at the photo of a street during a rain shower, Anna quickly picked up her pen scrawling down an answer.

‘Today, when I was leaving my house.’

“It’s really good.”

Anna smiled, ducking her head a little mouthing a small ‘thank you’ she wasn’t sure Zack saw. He did thought, and smiled going back to flicker though more photos.

They sat there for quite a while like that; Zack looking at photos and asked questions about one every so often while the rest of the guys messed around making a whole bunch of noise. Eventually though Zack had to give Anna’s camera back so he could run though a couple of songs to finalise the sound boards.

Though the songs probably wasn’t as good played as they would be later, it was still amazing to hear them and was the first time for Anna watching the band play live. For the amount of times the band had came to Australia she had missed every show and when she finally got to go, she ended up getting to watch them side stage. Anna shook her head in disbelief wondering what she really had done to deserve this much luck.

She really couldn’t think of much.

After they played Break Your Little Heart, Alex picked up a tambourine from somewhere and his acoustic guitar. Waving Anna over to mid stage, he handed her the tambourine with a smile and placed the guitars strap around his shoulders. Anna raised an eyebrow in question.

“You’re going to help me with this song,” he grinned. “I need you to play it in this rhythm,”

Alex clapped his hands in a simple beat; tap, shake, tap, shake. Anna easily copied and Alex grinned nodding a little excitedly.

“Just like that! You don’t need to do anything for the first verse. I’ll tell you when, ‘kay?”

Anna nodded with a smile and Alex strummed the first note.

*

“Ten minutes!”

Everyone in the room looked up towards the door at the announcement only to see the tech guy’s back exit the room and a glimpse of Matt, who was standing in the hallway, before the door closed. Jack made a loud sort of whooping noise throwing his hands up into the air.

Alex walked past giving Jack a double hi-five while continuing on with his vocal warm ups.

“Has anyone seen that red singlet of mine?” Rian asked walking out of the bathroom.

With a quiet ‘yeah’ Zack rolled the said singlet into a ball and threw it over to Rian, just narrowly missing Anna’s head. She turned around and before Zack could apologise, she held up her notebook with ‘MISSED’ written in huge letters taking up a whole page. Jack burst out laughing almost falling sideway on the couch.

Anna grinned. It was surprising easy to just be herself around these guys the longer she spent with them, and it had only been two and a half hours since she walked into their hotel room. It was just like hanging out with old friends, which really wasn’t a feeling she had often.

Zack made a move to pick up a cushion from the couch he was sitting on, but Alex swooped in and threw it into Zack’s face.

“Five points for me! Direct shot!” Alex yelled running across the room diving in behind Rian.

Anna watched on amused as Rian picked up his drum sticks and started tapping them against the wall ignoring the MonkeyAlex clinging to his waist. Zack huffed but didn’t throw anything like Anna half expected him too.

The door opened and Matt poked his head around the corner.

“You guys ready?” He asked gaining a whole bunch of random yelling and cheers. “Let’s go then. And you get to stand with me, Anna. It’s the best spot to see everything and take photos; you’ll just have to put up with my crappy backup singing though.” He chuckled waving for everyone to follow.

Anna smiled nodding gently. Her heart was leaping in her chest in excitement as she locked eyes with Matt and mouthed a silent full-hearted ‘thank you’. It was still hard to believe that these guys were doing all this for her and honestly Anna was dumbfounded on how she could thank them for it all. Was it even possible to thank them for all of this?

A slow grin pulled at Matt’s lips as he tilted his head down in an old fashion ‘you’re welcome’ before he stepped back into the hallway.

The rest of the guys quickly crowded the door and Anna was the last out of the dressing room, checking to make sure she had everything; most importantly her notebook, pen, camera and the earplugs she had been given earlier. As the group made their way down the long hallway the cheers from the last band was still echoing throughout the venue though they had finished for at least ten to fifteen minutes now.

Tonight was going to be loud, that was for sure.

By the time they got somewhere close to side stage the cheering had calmed down a little but a chant of ‘All Time Low, All Time Low’ was starting to break out over the noise. It was, even for Anna, quite amazing to hear and she quickly turned towards the band and froze at what she saw.

Alex, Jack, Rian and Zack were all standing there, dull backstage lights reflecting off their faces showing wide bright eyes, huge smiles and what looked to be almost a glow around them. Anna was good at reading people’s eyes and expressions, and all four of them were looking at each other in an awe of disbelief and amazement, like; yes they’re here, this is real and fuck yes they have made it.

Anna guessed by those looks that no matter how many shows that they have done those feelings probably would never leave them and in the back of her mind she realised she felt honoured to be able to see that, because not many people would. Picking up her camera, Anna snapped a quick picture while no one noticed and made a mental note to somehow send it to them, a copy each.

Their little moment was broken though when they separated to get their interments, or in Rian’s case his spare sticks. Anna turned away walking over to where Matt was fiddling with a mic stand trying to avoid the rush of activity around her.

Someone yelled out “five minutes!” and the rush turned almost into chaos. It was easy to understand why concerts never started on time; there was just so much to do, so little time.

“Now is the best time to put the plugs in!” Matt called over the noise nodding towards the ear plugs Anna was holding.

Ripping the little plastic bag open she put them in, twitching her nose at first at the uncomfortable feeling messing with them until they fit right. She was glad she listened to Matt because the All Time Low chant suddenly got twice as loud.

“You ok?” Matt asked having to yell louder now.

Anna flashed a grin and held her thumb up ignoring that it was shaking slightly. She was nervous but the excitement thrumming through her was stronger. Easier to focus on. Matt smiled and gently gripped her wrist leading her towards the huge speaker on this side of the stage, where they stood behind it. He set his mic stand down letting go of her hand and put the microphone in place.

She looked up then noticing the crowd, or well, what she could see of them, which was about three quarters. The place was absolutely packed to the rafters, into the corners and mostly likely out into the entrance way.

And originally Anna was meant to be out in that. It was easy to say she was beyond glad not to be.

The camera screen was bright compared to the current dull lights of the venue but they happened to be bright enough for a decent picture of the moving waves made from people, at least by the looks of the small screen. Anna turned the lens towards Matt and snapped another picture while he wasn’t looking, talking into his walkie-talkie.

Whoever was calling out the countdown yelled a loud ‘one minute!’ and the odd thing about that was suddenly everything backstage went silent and still for the most part instead of total chaos as expected, like everyone froze holding their breath while watching a glass falling off a shelf hoping it wouldn’t smash.

The dull backstage lights somehow dimmed down even more and from the left Anna noticed who looked like to be Zack walk past, but disappeared as quickly as he appeared, down by the curtain edge. Matt suddenly tapped her arm for her attention; she turned around to see a bright smile as he pointed out towards the middle of the stage near the drum kit where Rian was sneaking his way behind.

Music started from the speakers once Rian was in place and Anna immanently recognised it to be ‘State of the Art’ and the fans went nuts. Anna laughed in awe at the reaction and grinned wide, waiting on her toes for the bands entrance.

Slowly, very slowly blue lights lit up the middle of the stage and all four band members popped up seeming out of nowhere from the dark areas on the stage sides. She was right about seeing Zack earlier watching him run out on stage first, closely followed by Alex and Jack. The fans got impossibly louder to the point the stage floor was vibrating slightly but as the band started playing ‘Do You Want Me Dead?’ the whole floor shook and the bass went straight into Anna’s chest though they were behind the speakers.

She glanced over at Matt where he was up close to his microphone ready for his part tapping along to the beat on his thigh.

Smiling to herself she turned back to the show before her. It was a little odd to be watching this from the side, instead of the front where the crowd is, but it made watching just that bit more interesting. She snapped another quick photo as Jack jumped up into the air, legs going in every random direction.

The moment she put her camera down Anna realised that she was right earlier about how though the guys were good during sound check, they would be so much better during the actually show. And they were, way beyond what Anna was thinking. The music was loud, the crowd was extremely energetic and the guys themselves were over the moon performance wise – and she wasn’t just saying that because she happened to love the band. Anna had been to a fair few concerts in her life and though they were only half way through the first song it was clear this will be forever in her top five. That was for sure.

It was hard to imagine how so much energy could be stuffed into one area, one building, one concert hall. It felt that strong Anna was sure she was feeling it tingle in her toes and finger tips, slowly sink under and along her skin. Any coldness of the day was gone from her bones, replaced with a warm heat that was causing her face to flush. She was glad of the flashing lights suddenly to hide her face and the constant look of awe she knew was written there.

For the first time since that first email this morning Anna let herself really feel overwhelmed in disbelief, followed by every other emotion that came from something like this, the chance she had today and was having right now.

Shaking her head, she started miming along with the words as she took the odd photo here and there. She snapped one of Rian past Matt’s shoulder when the drummer was cast in a range of blue, green and yellow lights. Instantly she knew it was going to be a good one along with the next photo she took of Alex grinning over towards Zack.

*

“You know I’ve never made out with an Aussie before.” Jack grinned, six songs into the set causing yet again another loud crowd reaction.

“Plenty to people here dude, take your pick.” Alex said off-handed swapping his green guitar over for a brown and white one.

Rian yelled out something but it was near on impossible to make out. It looked like he was mining words more than anything.

“But they’re all so pretty!” Jack whined throwing his hands out in a wild gesture of everyone in front of him. “There is no way I can choose.”

There was a loud yell from someone that sounded close to ‘pick me’; it was quickly drowned out with a whole bunch of similar screams. Anna leant against the speaker a little, looking on amused.

Alex walked past then with the new guitar and glanced up towards Anna making a face. She grinned, getting a smile back in reply before Alex reached his mic facing the crowd.

“What if I kissed you, would that make you happy?” Alex chuckled strumming a couple of notes to make sure the guitar was in tune.

“But you’re not Australian!”

“I’ll wear an Australian shirt and flip flops and one of those hats with the corks dangling from it.”

Anna snorted, shaking her head to hide a smile, besides her Matt laughed loud enough for it to echo into the microphone. Alex quickly looked around the stage at Zack but realised he was sitting on the drum lift and his eyes drifted over to Matt.

“What are you laughing at? I’d totally do it and a wear kangaroo thong.” Alex said so serious it sounded funny.

“You’d look so hot, babe.” Jack smirked wiggling his eyebrows for added effect.

Anna picked up her notebook quickly writing ‘you’re mates’ down and held it out for Matt to read. She hopped he noticed the sarcasm that was meant to be with it and guess he did when he smiled, laughing lightly.

Alex and Jack, much to everyone amusement continued on with their little Aussie theme love fest that somehow turned into other random funny stuff for a few minutes. Eventually Alex cut it off though with a loud strike to the guitar strings.

“This next song is called Weightless.”

Like so many times already tonight the fans went nuts as the song started. Anna moved back from the shaking speaker to where she was standing before bouncing on her toes a little. She loved almost all of the band’s songs but this was one of her top favourites and a song she could relate to in some ways with her own personal experiences. Somehow hearing it live made it feel just that bit more emotional for her, in a good way.

In the back of her head Anna wished she could sing along with Alex out loud despite the fact no one could possibly hear her. But mining was alright because then she could pretend she was singing along with more than movement and voices in her head. She’d take miming over nothing any day because if she hadn’t of been miming now she wouldn’t be here at all.

Remembering that sent an icy chill down her spine. Anna refocused back to the performance before her and let herself fall back into the safety of music. Music her new friends happen to be making.

*

Alex was only part way through the first verse of the first acoustic song of the night when Rian appeared at Anna’s side suddenly, almost scaring her to death. She hit him lightly on the arm when he laughed and frowned.

“Sorry,” Rian apologised a little sheepishly. “Enjoying the show so far?”

Anna nodded enthusiastically and was about to reach for her notebook when Rian skilfully but gently took her camera, stepped closer and held the lens towards the both of them. She managed to smile just as he took the photo.

“I’ve seen you take a few photos today, you can’t have any tonight without you in some,” Rian smiled handing back the camera.

“You need proof you were here.” Zack said walking past fiddling with his bass.

Showing a small smile, Anna nodded with a little shrug. It was true. She had to give the boys that.

Rian twirled one of his drum sticks around his fingers effortlessly before he placed them down into the speaker, sitting back on his heels watching the stage. Anna turned her attention back to Alex too, watching how the blue and while lights make it look like he and the guitar was glowing. It was amazing how stage lights could create so many different affects during a performance and how easy it was to get lost in them.

Suddenly somebody took both of her hands from behind, bringing them up over her head and waving them around with the music. Anna tilted her head back to see half of Jack’s face upside down, and with how his eyes were all scrunched up it was easy to guess there was a bright smile adorning his lips.

“Why, little girl, are you not dancing?” He asked in what Anna guessed was meant to be an Australian accent that turned out sounding more British than anything.

Unable to get her notebook out, she shrugged. Jack slowly turned her around until they were facing each other still holding hands. Anna raised her eyebrow in question but Jack only smiled for a moment, before letting go of one of her hands to take hold of her hip.

“Dance with me? I asked Zack but he’s a meanie and said no.” Jack pouted causing Anna to laugh lightly.

She nodded and Jack started leading them in a light sideways rocking motion that matched the beat of the song. Every few seconds Jack would let go of her hip to twirl her around by the hand with a small man style curtsey.

Anna wondered for a moment where Jack would have even learnt that, it wasn’t like they were dancing properly but it felt formal enough for a ballroom, if Alex was playing an acoustic guitar in a ballroom. From somewhere Zack popped up from the shadows and asked for the camera, Anna gave it to him and smiled.

As the camera clicked Rian and Matt managed to photo bomb a few times and Anna was so into what the group was doing that she almost missed noticing that Alex had started a new song. Jack spun her around again and accidently stood on her toes, she shook her head when he started to say sorry and carried on dancing.

A quarter way though the song, Jack slowed down to a stop with a bright grin pulling at his lips.

“I have to go otherwise I’ll miss my queue. Thanks for the dance!”

Jack turned to head around the back of the stage but hesitated before spinning back around, kissing Anna’s hand quickly – trying not to laugh – and bounded off with a leap. Anna laughed turning to face the stage and noticed Rian’s drum sticks gone, replaced by her camera. Matt was leaning against the speaker with an amused twinkle in his eyes. She ducked her head hiding a blush.

“I didn’t think Jack knew how to dance.” He called over the music.

Anna pulled her notebook out and wrote quickly as Matt moved back over to his mic.

‘Neither did I. Wonders never cease.’