The Darkness Inside

Ch:20

Since I was a light sleeper I woke up when I heard one of the guys go into the kitchen. I looked to see who was still sleeping in the livingroom. Josh was sleeping on the floor which looked very uncomfortable. Devin, Ryan, and Ricky were all piled on the couch. So I guess Brandon was the one that woke up.

I looked back and seen that Chris was still sleeping. I slowly crawled out from under his arm then I got off of the couch. I quietly walked into the kitchen and seen Brandon sitting at the table. I said "hey". He looked over and said "hey". I asked "you ok"? He said "yeah, just nervous about the concert".

I said "you guys will be awesome". He said "I know, but ever since our friend Angelo left the band I got the drums. All the guys hold me up to this high expectation because Angelo was an amazing drummer. I'm not nearly as good as Angelo".

He picked his hair back in frustration. I asked "If you were to go down and play right now would the guys hear it from upstairs"? He said "not if I shut the door, the basements almost a sound proof room". I said "get up, we're going downstairs".

We got up and we walked over to the basement door. I opened it and I walked down the steps. Brandon shut the door behind his and we followed me down the steps. I stood bt the drums and I said "when my brother was in like 9th grade he and a group of his friends were in a band. He was the drummer, so I can help you out a bit. I had to help my brother practice almost everyday after school".

Brandon handed me all of the mucis sheets for the notes. I pulled up a chair and I said "ok first of let's start with America". I snapped my finger 3 times then he started to play. I listened to his play, but I focused more on his notes

After he finished playing I told him where he needed to improve. I would sing the lyrics, not as awesome as Chris, while Brandon played the drums in the sections that he needed to work on. I stopped singing and I told him "I feel like your rushing, take your time to hit each note, listen to the lyrics and follow along with the rythem of the drums".

Brandon nodded and I got up. I plugged in the mic and I pretended to be Chris. I started to snap my fingers and after the 3rd snap he started to play. I went along then I started to sing. He kept up with me and he did awesome this time.

When the song ended I clapped and I said "now that was perfect, probably better then Angelo". He smiled and said "thanks". I said "dont thank me yet, that was just one song". I flipped to the next song. I said "next is Immaculate Misconceptions". I snapped my finger then he played after the 3rd snap.

I got up to the mic and I sang making him keep up with me. I stopped singing and I said "stop". He stopped and asked "what did I do wrong"? I said "you forgot to press down on the foot pedel, you need to hit it 10 times not 9". He said "oh my god, I cant believe I forgot that". I said "and thats a key part of the song, if they dont hear the music right on the 10th time pressing down on the pedel that could make them all mess up, you need to make sure that your careful because one mistake could mess up the whole song".

I said "again" and I snapped my fingers 3 times. I got up to the mic and I started to sing. I listened in the one part to make sure he pressed down on the foot pedel 10 times. He did, and that made the music sound complete. When we stopped singing and playing I clapped again and I said "your getting pretty awesome at this, just dont make silly mistakes like that".

There was one more song on the sheet. It was called "Ghost In The Mirror". I said "ok now lets do ghost". He said "this is the hardest one, so I'll really need your help on this song". I smiled and I said "I'm here for you, I will make you a master at this song before noon, I promise". He smiled and said "ok I'm ready to epically fail". I said "I wont sing the first time, I just want to listen to you play be yourself".