RacerPeng
04 February 2008, 12:03 AM
Lindsey/Revenge has inspired me to actually write a story myself. I began this in January, and am still working on it. The story is entitled "We Are SNOT" It follows the lives of four teenage boys at a rock music summer camp/contest. It is written as a comedy, so it's a bit of a challenge for me (in terms of adding jokes and humour to it). I've also never been good at making my chapters semi-long, but here I feel I am succeeding.
For Lindsey :]
Prologue
The crowd screamed as punk band SNOT took the stage. They were dressed in their signature green suits and masks. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Nathan Adams stepped up to the microphone and the crowd hushed. The lights turned green as he began to speak.
“We are SNOT, and this is how we do it!”, He shrieked, as he began strumming power chords violently. Another light shone as lead guitarist Sam Bailey stepped forward and joined in. His guitar-playing had the crowd stunned. Next came their third guitarist, Ozzy Matthews. He began to play a low riff, and while it was so different it fit right in with Sam and Nathan. Then, the final light shone on drummer Travis Kupfer. He began to drum roll.
A huge light swept across the entire stage, and the band broke into an aggressive punk rock instrumental, accompanied by Nathan's constant “Hey's” and gargles. The crowd began to shake and bounce along with the band, and Sam started playing an amazingly fast guitar solo. The crowd went wild. Some of them tried to hop up on stage, but the bouncers stopped them. Fans shook their fists and put up the rock sign everywhere.
Nathan then tossed his guitar into the crowd and dove in. The other band members proceeded to do the same thing...
Chapter 1
It was June twenty-sixth, one day before the Enarjee Records' Rock Summer Camp began. Enarjee Records was an Indie record company located in the city of Gradenburg. It was considered one of the best indie record companies in the city. One of the bands that had signed onto it had gone on to sign a recording contract with Interscope records. Enarjee held Rock Summer Camp every year for young rock bands, with all members between the ages of twelve and sixteen. The competition had been held since three years before. This year, the members of the band who had won the first year would be judging the competition as well as some of the employees at Enarjee Records.
The contest worked like this. A band goes to audition for the contest at the Enarjee Records studio. They play two of their own songs, and then the judges pick out ten bands to go to Rock Camp. At rock camp they would play four songs, one per week. There would be a different theme every week and the bands would have the time in between shows to come up with a song that would fit the theme. After the band had performed four songs over a course of four weeks, they would have to perform a concert. They would get two week's preparation for this and a maximum of three hours in the auditorium to practice. Bands would have to play four songs. These songs could be ones they had played before, or completely new ones. The concert would be judged on three things, performance, stage presence, and level of entertainment. The marks were given out of ten. The most possible points a band could get was thirty. Ten could be awarded for their concert performance, and ten for each of their best two song performances. The winning band would get four thousand dollars and a recording contract with Enarjee Records. The runner-up got one thousand dollars.
Now for what happened this particular summer. It was a Monday morning, and school had let out the week before. The members of punk band SNOT were in the basement of singer and rhythm guitarist Nathan Adams.
Nathan was fifteen, and the oldest member of the band. He was six feet tall, with blond hair and green eyes. He took pride in owning the most expensive and fancy guitar of all the members of the band. It was a black Fender Telecaster which he had since he was thirteen. He had been saving up since he was nine to buy the guitar. He had a low singing voice, but often changed it during songs. He sang in a goofy accent. “It gives our music character and an edge”, he had said once. He often used other strange vocal techniques in their songs, such as gargling, bobbling, grunting, and occasionally shrieking. He was arguably what made the band what it was.
Then there was lead guitarist Sam Bailey, who was the youngest member of the group. He had just turned fourteen in May, and was also the shortest at five foot four. His eyes were blue, and he wore his brown hair in a Beatles-style haircut. He used a black Epiphone Les Paul Special. His philosophy was that “It's all in the player, not the instrument”. Sam had had the guitar since he was twelve and because of his philosophy he didn't bother to get a new one. “The guitar is decent” he had said. “It's not like I bought it from Sears”. His solos were often very simple, but very catchy. “I'm capable of way more”, he would say “but I can never seem to fit it in with any of our songs”. He was known for his smart and clever additude.
Osmund “Ozzy” Matthews was the most unique member of the band. He played guitar as well, but the way he played is really hard to categorize. He had played guitar since he was ten, and when the other members told him to play bass a year before, he refused. He told them he'd rather just play low notes on a real guitar. The rest of the band was fine with that, and he stuck with it. Ozzy was fourteen, like Sam, but was way taller. He was five foot nine, and on the heavy side as well. This made him the group's weapon. Whenever someone bothered them, he'd come right along and tell them to back off. He had a witty and sarcastic sense of humor and always kept the band laughing. Whenever they got into fights, he cooled them down, and told them to take it easy. He played a light-green Squier Stratocaster, which he had received as a Christmas gift when he was ten, and he had the same philosophy as Sam. “I couldn't do it without this baby”, he always said.
Last but not least, there was drummer Travis Kupfer. He was only two months younger than Nathan, and only started playing drums because Nathan told him that he needed a drummer to form a band. Since Travis had a job stocking shelves at the grocery store, he had saved up enough money to buy himself a simple Ludwig junior drum set. It wasn't a very fancy drum set but Travis stated that “punk music is not supposed to be fancy”. He didn't feel like taking lessons so he bought a “Teach Yourself Drums” lesson book.
SNOT wasn't an extremely talented band, but they were good enough that they had quite a few of their own songs mastered. They had never played a gig, but looked forward to it. They always wore their signature green camouflage suits with green masks. They were called SNOT because of their names. Sam Nathan Ozzy Travis.
“I'm so stoked about camp!”, Nathan exclaimed. He was strumming along with “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones on his prized Fender. “This year we actually get to go. How many bands tried out?”.
“Twenty-one”, Sam said blankly. “Hey, are we gonna sit around or are we gonna jam? We have to perform a song for the introduction thingy.”
“We're not being judged on our introduction performance. It's just so everyone knows what kind of music we play. The judges already saw our two songs when we auditioned.”, offered Ozzy.
“I'm with Sam on this one”, Travis decided. “We want to look good in front of all those other bands. We want to be taken seriously, don't we?”
“Yeah, but we're pretty good at those songs, aren't we?” Ozzy asked.
“We haven't practiced them since the beginning of this month. We need a warm-up, some refreshment.” Sam answered. He picked up his guitar and plugged it into his practice amp. “Come one, we've got nothing better to do.” Travis followed along. He sat down on his drum stool and began hammer out a simple beat. He closed his eyes and stuck his tongue out.
Ozzy and Nathan looked at each other. Their eyes seemed to say “Why not?”. Almost simultaneously they got up and put on their masks and grabbed their guitars.
“Let's do 'Punk Rock Hero'!” shouted Nathan, the only one who wasn't wearing a mask. The band got into position, waiting for him to give the signal. “One, Two, Three!”, shrieked Nathan, and with that the band started playing their favorite song. Ten seconds into the song Nathan began to sing in his goofy accent.
“I got a guitar, I'm gonna go far, and I'm gonna take you with me!”. The band was playing almost perfectly.
“Well, I can't play, but that's okay, it'll work out wait and see! I called up my boys, our instruments are toys, but that's okay with me!”. Nathan was really giving the song gusto and energy, even more than he usually did.
At this point Sam and Ozzy broke into a guitar duel, with Sam playing high notes, and Ozzy playing low notes. Travis was drumming eighth notes gently, so that the two guitarists could be heard easily. Nathan played low-volume, highly muffled power chords, to keep the rhythm going. The guitar solo soon finished and Nathan began to sing the last three verses of the song.
“In my line of work, everyone's a jerk, never act professionally! Our music sounds funny, but it makes us tons of money, to help pay all the fees! From one place to the next, we always give our best, which is far, far less than satisfactory”. The band slowed down on the last word. Travis drum rolled, and Sam played a scale, while Nathan shrieked “I'm a punk rock hero!” and with a crash of the symbols and the last strum of a of power chord, the band stopped playing.
There was a silence in the room, that seemed to say “We were awesome”. Ozzy was the first one to break the silence.
“What was the other song we were going to play?”
For Lindsey :]
Prologue
The crowd screamed as punk band SNOT took the stage. They were dressed in their signature green suits and masks. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Nathan Adams stepped up to the microphone and the crowd hushed. The lights turned green as he began to speak.
“We are SNOT, and this is how we do it!”, He shrieked, as he began strumming power chords violently. Another light shone as lead guitarist Sam Bailey stepped forward and joined in. His guitar-playing had the crowd stunned. Next came their third guitarist, Ozzy Matthews. He began to play a low riff, and while it was so different it fit right in with Sam and Nathan. Then, the final light shone on drummer Travis Kupfer. He began to drum roll.
A huge light swept across the entire stage, and the band broke into an aggressive punk rock instrumental, accompanied by Nathan's constant “Hey's” and gargles. The crowd began to shake and bounce along with the band, and Sam started playing an amazingly fast guitar solo. The crowd went wild. Some of them tried to hop up on stage, but the bouncers stopped them. Fans shook their fists and put up the rock sign everywhere.
Nathan then tossed his guitar into the crowd and dove in. The other band members proceeded to do the same thing...
Chapter 1
It was June twenty-sixth, one day before the Enarjee Records' Rock Summer Camp began. Enarjee Records was an Indie record company located in the city of Gradenburg. It was considered one of the best indie record companies in the city. One of the bands that had signed onto it had gone on to sign a recording contract with Interscope records. Enarjee held Rock Summer Camp every year for young rock bands, with all members between the ages of twelve and sixteen. The competition had been held since three years before. This year, the members of the band who had won the first year would be judging the competition as well as some of the employees at Enarjee Records.
The contest worked like this. A band goes to audition for the contest at the Enarjee Records studio. They play two of their own songs, and then the judges pick out ten bands to go to Rock Camp. At rock camp they would play four songs, one per week. There would be a different theme every week and the bands would have the time in between shows to come up with a song that would fit the theme. After the band had performed four songs over a course of four weeks, they would have to perform a concert. They would get two week's preparation for this and a maximum of three hours in the auditorium to practice. Bands would have to play four songs. These songs could be ones they had played before, or completely new ones. The concert would be judged on three things, performance, stage presence, and level of entertainment. The marks were given out of ten. The most possible points a band could get was thirty. Ten could be awarded for their concert performance, and ten for each of their best two song performances. The winning band would get four thousand dollars and a recording contract with Enarjee Records. The runner-up got one thousand dollars.
Now for what happened this particular summer. It was a Monday morning, and school had let out the week before. The members of punk band SNOT were in the basement of singer and rhythm guitarist Nathan Adams.
Nathan was fifteen, and the oldest member of the band. He was six feet tall, with blond hair and green eyes. He took pride in owning the most expensive and fancy guitar of all the members of the band. It was a black Fender Telecaster which he had since he was thirteen. He had been saving up since he was nine to buy the guitar. He had a low singing voice, but often changed it during songs. He sang in a goofy accent. “It gives our music character and an edge”, he had said once. He often used other strange vocal techniques in their songs, such as gargling, bobbling, grunting, and occasionally shrieking. He was arguably what made the band what it was.
Then there was lead guitarist Sam Bailey, who was the youngest member of the group. He had just turned fourteen in May, and was also the shortest at five foot four. His eyes were blue, and he wore his brown hair in a Beatles-style haircut. He used a black Epiphone Les Paul Special. His philosophy was that “It's all in the player, not the instrument”. Sam had had the guitar since he was twelve and because of his philosophy he didn't bother to get a new one. “The guitar is decent” he had said. “It's not like I bought it from Sears”. His solos were often very simple, but very catchy. “I'm capable of way more”, he would say “but I can never seem to fit it in with any of our songs”. He was known for his smart and clever additude.
Osmund “Ozzy” Matthews was the most unique member of the band. He played guitar as well, but the way he played is really hard to categorize. He had played guitar since he was ten, and when the other members told him to play bass a year before, he refused. He told them he'd rather just play low notes on a real guitar. The rest of the band was fine with that, and he stuck with it. Ozzy was fourteen, like Sam, but was way taller. He was five foot nine, and on the heavy side as well. This made him the group's weapon. Whenever someone bothered them, he'd come right along and tell them to back off. He had a witty and sarcastic sense of humor and always kept the band laughing. Whenever they got into fights, he cooled them down, and told them to take it easy. He played a light-green Squier Stratocaster, which he had received as a Christmas gift when he was ten, and he had the same philosophy as Sam. “I couldn't do it without this baby”, he always said.
Last but not least, there was drummer Travis Kupfer. He was only two months younger than Nathan, and only started playing drums because Nathan told him that he needed a drummer to form a band. Since Travis had a job stocking shelves at the grocery store, he had saved up enough money to buy himself a simple Ludwig junior drum set. It wasn't a very fancy drum set but Travis stated that “punk music is not supposed to be fancy”. He didn't feel like taking lessons so he bought a “Teach Yourself Drums” lesson book.
SNOT wasn't an extremely talented band, but they were good enough that they had quite a few of their own songs mastered. They had never played a gig, but looked forward to it. They always wore their signature green camouflage suits with green masks. They were called SNOT because of their names. Sam Nathan Ozzy Travis.
“I'm so stoked about camp!”, Nathan exclaimed. He was strumming along with “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones on his prized Fender. “This year we actually get to go. How many bands tried out?”.
“Twenty-one”, Sam said blankly. “Hey, are we gonna sit around or are we gonna jam? We have to perform a song for the introduction thingy.”
“We're not being judged on our introduction performance. It's just so everyone knows what kind of music we play. The judges already saw our two songs when we auditioned.”, offered Ozzy.
“I'm with Sam on this one”, Travis decided. “We want to look good in front of all those other bands. We want to be taken seriously, don't we?”
“Yeah, but we're pretty good at those songs, aren't we?” Ozzy asked.
“We haven't practiced them since the beginning of this month. We need a warm-up, some refreshment.” Sam answered. He picked up his guitar and plugged it into his practice amp. “Come one, we've got nothing better to do.” Travis followed along. He sat down on his drum stool and began hammer out a simple beat. He closed his eyes and stuck his tongue out.
Ozzy and Nathan looked at each other. Their eyes seemed to say “Why not?”. Almost simultaneously they got up and put on their masks and grabbed their guitars.
“Let's do 'Punk Rock Hero'!” shouted Nathan, the only one who wasn't wearing a mask. The band got into position, waiting for him to give the signal. “One, Two, Three!”, shrieked Nathan, and with that the band started playing their favorite song. Ten seconds into the song Nathan began to sing in his goofy accent.
“I got a guitar, I'm gonna go far, and I'm gonna take you with me!”. The band was playing almost perfectly.
“Well, I can't play, but that's okay, it'll work out wait and see! I called up my boys, our instruments are toys, but that's okay with me!”. Nathan was really giving the song gusto and energy, even more than he usually did.
At this point Sam and Ozzy broke into a guitar duel, with Sam playing high notes, and Ozzy playing low notes. Travis was drumming eighth notes gently, so that the two guitarists could be heard easily. Nathan played low-volume, highly muffled power chords, to keep the rhythm going. The guitar solo soon finished and Nathan began to sing the last three verses of the song.
“In my line of work, everyone's a jerk, never act professionally! Our music sounds funny, but it makes us tons of money, to help pay all the fees! From one place to the next, we always give our best, which is far, far less than satisfactory”. The band slowed down on the last word. Travis drum rolled, and Sam played a scale, while Nathan shrieked “I'm a punk rock hero!” and with a crash of the symbols and the last strum of a of power chord, the band stopped playing.
There was a silence in the room, that seemed to say “We were awesome”. Ozzy was the first one to break the silence.
“What was the other song we were going to play?”