The Biggest Fan
Demos.
“Wow, guys. That was amazing”, I said as Bert and Quinn both were done playing the acoustic version of 'Noise and Kisses'.
Now, they just sat there silent, smiling as they were absorbing my compliment.
“I’m glad you liked it. It’s been a while since we last did something acoustic. It felt good”, Bert added.
“When are we arriving shore by the way?”, he then asked, cleansing his throat after singing.
“I’m not sure. I think I read 1 pm around here somewhere in a manual or somethin´”, Quinn responded.
“Oh, okay. That’ll leave us plenty of time before the gig, then.”
“Are you gonna play in San Francisco tomorrow night?”, I asked, looking over at Bert.
“Yeah, 6:30 pm.”
“Okay, then. Could we by any chance maybe stop and buy something to read on our way there before the concert? I’d really like to get the new issue of Kerrang! or Rock Sound or Metal Hammer or something.”
“Sure, no problem. I didn’t know you read those kinds of magazines”, he said.
“Are you kidding me? They are my favorites.”
“No way? Mine too! Fuck, it’s been a while since I last bought one.”
“Yeah. In Norway, they have to ship it in from the UK, so the prize for an issue ranges from $11 to $25”, I said complaining.
“No fucking kidding? Really? That’s just fucked up! Here in the US, they only cost, like, $2. Max!”
“Yeah, so that’s the reason I’m gonna buy an issue here. I always ruin them anyway, so…”
“Why?”, Bert asked surprised, looking at me.
“I clip out most of the pictures and interviews and hang ‘em up on my wall in my bedroom. It’s covered with clip-outs and a lot of them are of you guys!”
I felt myself blushing again.
“Wow, that’s awesome! Hah, I used to do the same fuckin´ thing myself when I was younger.”
We just sat there, Bert and I, on each side of the table, smiling and realizing that we had so much more in common than we’d given ourselves credit for.
Also, it wasn’t until now I noticed that Quinn had left.
He'd probably gone into the bathroom. Poor guy, being ignored by us like that.
“It’s been quiet around you guys lately”, I added. “I mean, I haven’t seen you being featured in any magazines. The last one I remember seeing you in, I think, was in the Kerrang! issue with Aiden from The Taste of Chaos tour last year.”
“Yeah, I know”, Bert said, almost apologizing. “We’ve been touring a lot after that, being in Europe and all. But you know we released an EP this June for our last album 'Lies For the Liars', right?"
"Yeah, Shallow Believer?"
"Yep, that's the one. And also, we’re recording a new studio album these times. We got about 20 new songs ready, so we’re trying to decide which ones gonna be on the new album.”
A completely new album? That blew me away. I hadn’t heard anything about a new album, so I was totally caught off guard.
“A new album? That’s awesome! Do you have a title for it?”, I asked excited.
“No, not yet. We’ve barely even figured which songs we wanna put in it. We got a few demos around here somewhere. Wanna listen?”
“Yeah!”, I burst out, feeling embarrassed as hell for shouting that loud.
“Okay! Wait here, I’mma go get ‘em”, Bert said, jumping up from the sofa and going to the other end of the bus before he started going through some shelves.
“Hey, where’s Bert?”, Quinn suddenly asked, coming out of the bathroom.
“He’s trying to find some demos. He wanted me to listen to a couple of them. Is that okay?”
“Sure, of course. You’re one of us now, so why not?”, he replied with a smile, making me do the same.
“The demos, you know, are very different from what we’ve done before. Bert wanted to record a somewhat brutal, like, Converge influenced album since it’s his favorite band, but because of his chord surgery he had a while ago, we just couldn’t go through with it.”
“Yeah, I heard about that”, I added dismal, trying not to sound too cheesy.
“So therefore, we needed to do something a little more different this time, you know, come up with something new, something we knew the fans would like. And I think that those demos are exactly what they want”, Quinn continued, nodding his head as he smiled a smile that was hardly noticeable.
“Found ‘em!”, Bert said, holding up about 7 demo tapes in his hand.
“Where’s the tape recorder?”, he then asked, looking at Quinn.
“Over there. By your right at the top.”
As Bert took the tape recorder he walked towards us again before he crashed on the sofa.
He put one of the demos inside, but hesitated to push the ‘play’ button
“Okay, just so you know, this isn’t actually a studio recorded song yet, so be nice, okay?”
The way Bert said it made me think that he maybe was afraid of what I’d think of the song, that I almost was a reviewer and that he was afraid of what I might think of it.
“Of course. I know it’ll be good”, I said, tilting my head to the right with a smile.
He pushed the ‘play’ button with one hard push and the recorder immediately began spitting out tunes.
The song itself started with heavy guitars, then to soothe out with some soft drums.
Just the intro blew me away, it was genius.
The first verse took me a while to understand, even though Bert’s vocals were stunning.
The chorus was even better as it exploded with guitar, bass and even more drums a long with Bert’s slightly raspy voice.
“Whaddaya think?”, Bert said after pushing the red ‘stop’ button.
“It was awesome! I loved it”, I replied nodding. I really did enjoy the song.
“That’s great to hear. I was really anxious about it”, Quinn confessed, giving me a crooked smile.
“You wanna hear the rest of ‘em?”, Bert asked looking at me.
His eyes were so bright right now, almost shining from the light that was above his head.
“Sure, I’d love to”, I responded.
I felt so proud, being given the opportunity to be able to listen to The Used’s demos even before they were released as singles or whatever they decided to do with them.
So there we were; me, Quinn and Bert, all sitting in the sofa group, listening to what could be, the songs of The Used’s new album.
Even though the material was somewhat different from what I had expected it to be, the songs were still as awesome as they could be; completely The Used style.
It was perfection and I simply loved it.
Now, they just sat there silent, smiling as they were absorbing my compliment.
“I’m glad you liked it. It’s been a while since we last did something acoustic. It felt good”, Bert added.
“When are we arriving shore by the way?”, he then asked, cleansing his throat after singing.
“I’m not sure. I think I read 1 pm around here somewhere in a manual or somethin´”, Quinn responded.
“Oh, okay. That’ll leave us plenty of time before the gig, then.”
“Are you gonna play in San Francisco tomorrow night?”, I asked, looking over at Bert.
“Yeah, 6:30 pm.”
“Okay, then. Could we by any chance maybe stop and buy something to read on our way there before the concert? I’d really like to get the new issue of Kerrang! or Rock Sound or Metal Hammer or something.”
“Sure, no problem. I didn’t know you read those kinds of magazines”, he said.
“Are you kidding me? They are my favorites.”
“No way? Mine too! Fuck, it’s been a while since I last bought one.”
“Yeah. In Norway, they have to ship it in from the UK, so the prize for an issue ranges from $11 to $25”, I said complaining.
“No fucking kidding? Really? That’s just fucked up! Here in the US, they only cost, like, $2. Max!”
“Yeah, so that’s the reason I’m gonna buy an issue here. I always ruin them anyway, so…”
“Why?”, Bert asked surprised, looking at me.
“I clip out most of the pictures and interviews and hang ‘em up on my wall in my bedroom. It’s covered with clip-outs and a lot of them are of you guys!”
I felt myself blushing again.
“Wow, that’s awesome! Hah, I used to do the same fuckin´ thing myself when I was younger.”
We just sat there, Bert and I, on each side of the table, smiling and realizing that we had so much more in common than we’d given ourselves credit for.
Also, it wasn’t until now I noticed that Quinn had left.
He'd probably gone into the bathroom. Poor guy, being ignored by us like that.
“It’s been quiet around you guys lately”, I added. “I mean, I haven’t seen you being featured in any magazines. The last one I remember seeing you in, I think, was in the Kerrang! issue with Aiden from The Taste of Chaos tour last year.”
“Yeah, I know”, Bert said, almost apologizing. “We’ve been touring a lot after that, being in Europe and all. But you know we released an EP this June for our last album 'Lies For the Liars', right?"
"Yeah, Shallow Believer?"
"Yep, that's the one. And also, we’re recording a new studio album these times. We got about 20 new songs ready, so we’re trying to decide which ones gonna be on the new album.”
A completely new album? That blew me away. I hadn’t heard anything about a new album, so I was totally caught off guard.
“A new album? That’s awesome! Do you have a title for it?”, I asked excited.
“No, not yet. We’ve barely even figured which songs we wanna put in it. We got a few demos around here somewhere. Wanna listen?”
“Yeah!”, I burst out, feeling embarrassed as hell for shouting that loud.
“Okay! Wait here, I’mma go get ‘em”, Bert said, jumping up from the sofa and going to the other end of the bus before he started going through some shelves.
“Hey, where’s Bert?”, Quinn suddenly asked, coming out of the bathroom.
“He’s trying to find some demos. He wanted me to listen to a couple of them. Is that okay?”
“Sure, of course. You’re one of us now, so why not?”, he replied with a smile, making me do the same.
“The demos, you know, are very different from what we’ve done before. Bert wanted to record a somewhat brutal, like, Converge influenced album since it’s his favorite band, but because of his chord surgery he had a while ago, we just couldn’t go through with it.”
“Yeah, I heard about that”, I added dismal, trying not to sound too cheesy.
“So therefore, we needed to do something a little more different this time, you know, come up with something new, something we knew the fans would like. And I think that those demos are exactly what they want”, Quinn continued, nodding his head as he smiled a smile that was hardly noticeable.
“Found ‘em!”, Bert said, holding up about 7 demo tapes in his hand.
“Where’s the tape recorder?”, he then asked, looking at Quinn.
“Over there. By your right at the top.”
As Bert took the tape recorder he walked towards us again before he crashed on the sofa.
He put one of the demos inside, but hesitated to push the ‘play’ button
“Okay, just so you know, this isn’t actually a studio recorded song yet, so be nice, okay?”
The way Bert said it made me think that he maybe was afraid of what I’d think of the song, that I almost was a reviewer and that he was afraid of what I might think of it.
“Of course. I know it’ll be good”, I said, tilting my head to the right with a smile.
He pushed the ‘play’ button with one hard push and the recorder immediately began spitting out tunes.
The song itself started with heavy guitars, then to soothe out with some soft drums.
Just the intro blew me away, it was genius.
The first verse took me a while to understand, even though Bert’s vocals were stunning.
The chorus was even better as it exploded with guitar, bass and even more drums a long with Bert’s slightly raspy voice.
“Whaddaya think?”, Bert said after pushing the red ‘stop’ button.
“It was awesome! I loved it”, I replied nodding. I really did enjoy the song.
“That’s great to hear. I was really anxious about it”, Quinn confessed, giving me a crooked smile.
“You wanna hear the rest of ‘em?”, Bert asked looking at me.
His eyes were so bright right now, almost shining from the light that was above his head.
“Sure, I’d love to”, I responded.
I felt so proud, being given the opportunity to be able to listen to The Used’s demos even before they were released as singles or whatever they decided to do with them.
So there we were; me, Quinn and Bert, all sitting in the sofa group, listening to what could be, the songs of The Used’s new album.
Even though the material was somewhat different from what I had expected it to be, the songs were still as awesome as they could be; completely The Used style.
It was perfection and I simply loved it.
♠ ♠ ♠
okay, guys. so now i've finally been able to come upwith a system as far as my updates go.
sunday, wednesday and friday will be my update days from now on.
yep, that works best for me, i think.
well, now that that's said; what do you think about the update? (:
i'd really like to get some critics, both negative and positive.
feedback is always a good way of making the work better.
so, come on; bash me or honour me! : D
xo,
lina.