Drake was in the local venue behind the scenes tuning his favorite guitar he called The Queen. She was his parts-o-caster tele. He hand wired the filtertron pickup she had, and found all the parts. She had his blood and sweat in her. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes when he was finished and whipped out his zippo and lit up taking a long drag filling his lungs with the sweet poison before puffing it out in the innocent air. He made his way to the front of the stage to rig up his Orange amps and make sure his whole rig was set and ready. He had asked his manager to book this venue for months and they had finally gotten it after all the begging. He looked out into the open wooden floor that would hopefully be filled in a matter of 30 minutes. This was going to be one of the shows to remember. And hopefully sell enough of their homemade t-shirts to get some gas money to get back home. He felt a smirk grow on his face just looking at the surroundings getting himself overwhelmed with excitement.

So much grams, unzip the bag
Dip in my hand, then I palm trees
So when you throw shade, it could never harm me.

As the music blasted from her ear buds, Ana shifted her weight back and forth between her two feet, her eyes closed tight as she took a puff from her joint. She wasn't nervous one bit, just slowly trying to get herself into the groove of being back on Earth for a moment. It was a miracle in the first place that their manager had booked this gig, let alone been the headliner. Ana stopped moving as her dark eyes opened, adjusting to the surroundings again. "Alright. Alright." she spoke out loud, to no one in particular as she began moving her drum set onto the stage, joint hanging out out the side of her soft pink lips.

Many a time her band mates offered to give her a hand with moving her equipment, but she always declined. If you chose the instrument, it made sense that you had to be the one to take care of it. She wouldn't dream of touching anyone's instrument unless she wanted to lose a hand, so she found pride in moving the pieces all by herself. She took the joint from her lips after putting down the various cymbals, and giving a satisfying cough. She made a mental note to toss the thing when she went back outside to her drumsticks that she had abandoned on the seat she had slept in on the way over.

Tossing the bud on the ground she crushed it into pavement with the toe of her flip flop. Sliding the van door open she crawled in and snatched up her drumsticks, and returned back to the building.

KJ plugged "Thunder" into an amp and began tuning it up. He sat on a stool that faced house left stage right and looked out at the vacant club. It didn't matter to KJ if there were a thousand there that night or a few dozen. This was the place where he and his band mates showed what they were made of.

Not a lot of band mates came up to KJ while he was tuning up, and if they did they said nothing more than "hey" or "hi." KJ would acknowledge them with a nod and a "sup." This was a time when he and Thunder would firm up their connection to one another. KJ would treat this instrument like it was the Holy Grail and he was a Knight who had just found it. This was more than just a musical instrument to him. To KJ this was an extension of himself his being his soul. The others in the band cared for their instruments and KJ respected them for that, because it was this way of looking at how they felt about their instruments was how they felt about what they did. By nature KJ didn't say too much, but he lived for that moment after they were introduced, the crowd came to life, and Nicky would count it out, "1,2,3,4!" In that moment KJ would feel enough energy and spark in him that could light up the Vegas strip. KJ admired and respected his band mates to the highest degree, and to him they were all the family he had.

There was one person in the band that he really liked and that was Ana. He had worked at the restaurant owned by her parents for the last two years washing dishes. KJ kind of took it upon himself to watch over Ana and made sure that no one hurt her. KJ also admired Ana because she was one helluva drummer, and insisted on pulling her own weight when it came to her equipment. Seeing her take her seat behind that kit always made KJ smile.

Once Thunder was tuned and KJ felt in sync with it he set it on his stand. KJ went over into a darkened corner of the backstage area as was his custom. He knelt down said a silent prayer and crossed himself. Once he was done he sprung up as though he had been shot out of a cannon, threw a few punches like he was entering the ring, and said, "All-right let's rock it!" KJ made his way back to the stage area ready to lay it down with Thunder.

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Valerie's pre-show mantra had to be done in a certain order and had to begin early in the day. First, when she woke up that morning, she would tune her violin and practice the set pieces for one hour. While it would be poorly played due to her groggy state, it'd give her a chance to at least have another shot at practicing. Next would be a shower. Luke-warm. Breakfast. One glass of orange juice and a bagel. Then it would be out for a thirty minute run.

The rest of the day, if she had no work to do or classes to attend, it would be practice, practice, practice. It made perfect after all, and she had to do just that. Be perfect. She knew her band mates would be trying their hardest, but it would slip every now and again:

"You guys can not do less than perfect."

That never went over very well.

Her last part of her ritual was her current one. Taking some distance from the rest of the band and doing some quick meditation. It was weird to have a violinist in a band, not less two of them, and Valerie knew that. To keep up with Russell, she needed as much mental security as possible. Every once in a while she'd let out a hum that sounded similar to some of the notes she'd play at the show.

James was setting up his gear in one of the back corners of the stage, sitting on a bench in front of the small folding table where he had set down his laptop and his synthesizer. It took several checks, but he finally was sure that his audio set up was correct, he was feeding the synth's audio into his computer, which let him control the volume or add software effects more easily. After that, he tried out the knobs and buttons to make sure he had assigned them all to the right controls in Ableton, also making sure to test his footpedal and the Akai he used for versatility. When he was satisfied that his controllers all functioned properly, he looked over the set list and his notes on which patches and effects chains he needed for each song. It saddened him a little to see that none of their most experimental songs had made the cut, but James understood that it probably wasn't the best idea to launch an assault of avant-garde noise in this venue.

The others seemed excited, especially KJ, but it didn't matter that much to James. Making music was what he enjoyed, and he didn't care who bothered to listen. Before putting on his headphones to do a final audio check, he asked the others a question. "Are we just playing all of these straight, or can we embellish a little? Heck, we could even add some time for some full fledged improvising."

In everything a band does, the most odd is always the set up. Each and every piece of the machine goes off and does whatever feels right to them, both calming their nerves and doing everything within their power to make sure nothing blows out or breaks. Russel was no different. He sat on the edge of the stage, eyes closed and ears focused into his headphones that were plugged into his electric violin. To anyone listening in all they heard was the muted sounds of his playing, but what he heard was nothing short of of ear catching. A mix of classical sheet music played with a couple filters, giving it more of that guitar solo pulse then a opera house tear jerkier.

With his fingers all warmed up he put his headphones back into the violin case and took his peddle from his back pack. Any on lookers would find it weird how complicated a simple instrument like the violin could become, but Russ knew what he was doing. The peddle allowed him to match the tone of the song better, and combined with the violin itself it could make a sound he would otherwise need a whole computer for.

With that he was ready and rearing to go, and started playing some nursery rhymes to liven up the mood, the volume loud enough to be heard but soft enough not to disturb his fellow band members.

"Depends on the room I say. But we want to leave an impression right, otherwise why did we tail it all the way out here," he said answering James' question while making his way center stage. "How much extra time do we have or did we pack it full?"

Nicky walked down the street with a burning cigarette in her mouth, her large headphones covering her ears, Patrick Stickles screaming into her ears:

Soon you'll be burning orphanages down
Watching ashes scattering all over town
And when the smoke gets too close to the ground
You'll see blue trampling over gray and green over brown

She was wearing a blue dress with floral print, she seemed to think it at least somewhat ironic, a punk like her wearing a dress like that, but she wore a leather jacket over it to keep some of her cred. Her shoes were her normal bright red Chuck Taylors that were pretty well worn in by this point. She closed in on the venue and brushed some of the hair from her face before tossing her cig into the street behind her. She knew it wasn't good for her voice but she was young, she'd quit later. She blew out the last bit of smoke from her mouth and made her way into the venue.

She realized she was a bit late but it wasn't that big a deal, sound check wasn't even done yet. She got up on stage in front of the microphone, cleared her voice and said the word "Check." Her voice didn't seem right, and the sound engineer seemed to realize that so he attempted to fix it. "Check 1, 2." It sounded even worse and Nicky was starting to get a little angry. The sound engineer tried to fix it once again. "Check." It sounded better than the first time but it still wasn't any good still. She started to say something to the engineer, her voice audibly angry, "Listen, I understand you're trying to do your best here but if the few people that come here to see us play can't hear us properly, you and I are both going to have a problem." The sound engineer looked a little stressed as he attempted to fix his mistakes again. "Check." It finally didn't sound terrible, Nicky smiled sarcastically at the engineer, hoping that no problems plague her during the show.

Drake just stared at this band they had created. Almost nothing melts together except for in the music. We have a miss perfect, silent synth, singer who seems to be a musical prodigy, a mental recording drummer, a model violinist, and he could forget himself the British loner. It's kinda strange but you know what who cares. He played a few chords through his amp to verify the sound was right. He didn't like micing his amps while they were on stage too much. He preferred to have it facing a tad bit away from the audience so they could get the true sound. Anyways he could already see an argument possibly happening. One definitely wants this show perfect and another wants to improvise. Drake loved to improvise and even stretch out his solos on stage. "i'm all for improvising I mean whats the fun of a live show if you just watch a cd" he said laughing.

He soon walked over to Ana "So whats up beat girl? Ready to pound it tonight?" he said laughing with a wink. Drake was mainly joking. He flirted a lot but was never really serious. I mean his apartment was practically made out of balsa wood. Nobody would want to go with him there...ever. He sighed in his thoughts before spinning back to reality. He started putting up the stage light he had rigged to a guitar pedal he made. When everything was set up he made his way over to the merch booth.

Analise took a spot in her stool just as James spoke, she nodded, agreeing with most of what the others had chirped in replies. "Agreed. Remember that one gig we did at Franchesca's? The crowd ate up the on the spot dueling violin action like a fat kid after a weekend at camp." her pink lips turned up in a smile, before letting out a hearty laugh. It wasn't even funny, but she often found the hilarity in even the smallest things. She did the classic end of a joke sound on her drums for final measure, before composing herself.

Drake approached her not too long after, she looked up at him with a grin as he talked, "Damn straight! I'm ready to pound this thing till we're both breathless." she cooed, twiddling the sticks between her fingers, tilting her shoulder forward in a flirtatious sense. She wasn't necessarily into Drake, she just liked messing with the guy. He got too much of a kick with flirting with every girl in a 10 mile radius, and Ana had too much fun seeing his pant grow tighter.

"You tell em' girl!" Ana called from behind her encouraging the violent behavior from Nicky with a smirk. Analise had liked Nicky the moment she had met her. She was kind of like the older sister she never had, besides Valerie. Valerie had also been like a big sister to her, but in the total different retrospect. Nicky would hold her hair while she was vomiting, while Valerie would tell her how much damage she did to her liver as well as the several wrong things she was doing in her life.

Things were starting to pick up. Everyone was going through rituals and the nervous energy was on a steady climb. Nicky was letting the sounds guys know about their less than outstanding work. Nicky was perfectionist but that kind of drive and focus was something that the band fed off of. She was the lead singer the voice that people recognized in the band. She was putting herself out there and had every right to expect things to be just so. KJ at first didn't know how someone would last like that in a band, and now KJ wondered how they could ever survive without her.

Drake did the usual pre-game flirt with Ana. Yeah KJ wanted to keep an eye out for Ana, but Drake flirted with every girl at some point and besides if he was gonna do something he would've done it by now. Drake though when it was show time was all business, and ready to give everything he had to the crowd and expected no less from everyone in the band.

KJ heard James' question as well and replied, "I say we live for the moment and live to the fullest." James was a solid musician and when he improvised that was when James was at his best sometimes. He'd do something in a concert that none of them had heard, and it would take the song to another level. James was rarely off his game when he improvised, and he never did at the expense of the others.

Russell and Valerie the two violinists in the band. If you had told KJ that there would be even one violinist in this band much less two; he would've asked what you were smoking and could he have some. However the two of them complemented one another very nicely and helped give the band a unique sound. It seemed like to KJ sometimes that they had a friendly rivalry, but it never was personal and never came at the expense of the band. One was the cool voice of reason and the other could be a bit bossy at times. Frankly KJ wouldn't have it any other way.

Yes this unique gathering KJ viewed as his family, and he would do anything for any of them at anytime. How long would this family go on and stay together? KJ had no clue, but one thing was for sure KJ was gonna enjoy this ride as long as he could. Now it was time for his own thing as he walked over to Ana. KJ looked her straight in the eye and said while smiling at her, "It's time to hit it hard and fast and leave 'em crying for more." Out of all the people in the band KJ felt closest to Ana mainly because they were not only the same age, but they spent a lot of time together outside of the band. Yeah mainly it was at work, but Ana was someone KJ felt like he could trust. Not to mention she had an outgoing personality, and that personality helped KJ lighten up and show a bit more of his every now and then.

Like clockwork the seriousness faded and the jocularity came in. The band liked not only to talk big, but dream big as well. Some of them practiced day and night, some of them had natural talent that you don’t see too often. Together they were likely the strangest band for at least three counties, but people liked that. No matter what business this place had normally, Out of Thin Air was bound to bring in some fans. To Russ it was all fun and games, trying something new and deciding on then next move. It had seemed like they were on a winning streak lately, and the mood was good.

"I'd be game for round eight of "Dueling Violins," he commented, winking at Valerie. "She's up four to three, lest you wanna retire a winner Val." Russel would have never thought that routine would be that popular. What originally started as him stepping on her toes so to say turned into a neat little act, classic versus modern. It turns out most people didn't even know violins had gone electric, and apparently the score shows that you can't beat the original, even though he planed to change that.

Lola, one of the groups groupies found her way inside through the back entrance so that the security in front wouldn't catch her tripping off her feet. She wipes some white powder off her nose with her silk jacket before making her way to the bar. Looking through the list of toxic beverages she points out one of them with fever calories. She leans forward against the bar carrying. She looks around finding herself sitting quite alone as the rest was staring to surround the stage. She couldn't believe it, her favorite band was about to leave the underground and do something great. She was happy for them but at the same time she knew she couldn't have them for herself anymore. She turned around on the bar stool spotting her beauties on the stage with a slight grin.

Nicky took a breath to calm herself, not wanting to get worked up too much before the show. She smiled at Ana who seemed to be cheering her on. She enjoyed Ana's company a lot and really liked talking and hanging out with her. Sure there were probably some bad choices that Nicky helped Ana take but she did care for her very deeply. She loved this whole group a lot actually, most people she felt pretty neutral towards at the best of times, but this group was something that felt special to her. They'd come a long way from shittily playing open mic nights and were finally on there way to maybe, possibly doing something big. Though Nicky would never admit it out loud, this prospect made her very excited.

She heard the conversation about improvisation and decided to add her two cents in. "I feel improv can be alright if we don't overdo it. Like people come here to watch us play, not perform a free-form jazz odyssey. As long as we get in what people want to hear, experimentation is fine." She said as she recalled a scene from one of her favourite movies, This Is Spinal Tap. She had always been less for experimentation in a live setting, though she didn't want to bring anyone down. In the studio setting she thought it was fine, if someone wanted to do a song with a ton of distortion and barely audible vocals over walls of noise she would be all for it, but she felt if someone was going to see them live the band should give them what they want without stalling. Sure they could be strange by adding in songs from old albums but change too much and the audience may not warm up to it.

James liked the enthusiasm that everyone had, even if he was more reserved. This concert evidently meant a lot to them, but for James it was just another show. He didn't have any dreams of fame or living a rock and roll lifestyle, he just wanted to make some music. Heck, if this band ever got too big, he might just want to go back to his old life.

It was neat to see that some of the others wanted to improvise too. He thought for a moment about his plan for the concert, what patches to use for what songs. KJ liked to keep the low end to himself, and two violins was plenty for the highs. He'd stick to sounds that were more in the midrange, trying not to conflict with the guitar. Of course, he'd venture all around the audio spectrum, but it helped to get make sure that no frequencies got cluttered and muddy. When playing with a group, he was also careful to leave the job of keeping up the beat to the drums, occasionally he'd add in some sampled percussion, but too much would be confusing and hard to follow.

After hearing what everyone else had to say, he put on his headphones and flipped down his visor, ready to play. Until the show started, he kept the volume low, so he could hear any last minute instructions.

Drake sees the doors start to open. "Oh shit guys looks like it time to get the show going." He said light his cigarette for the show. Drake took a deep drag to calm himself a bit. He then threw his guitar on and stood in his place on the stage getting ready for everyone else before he started the opening riff. His eyes looked down at his tele and smiled. "Alright Queen time to show them why your the monarch of guitars" he laughed rubbing the body. Drake started to tap his foot feeling the excitement boil inside of him.

Whatever the show would bring, Russ knew the songs they were going to go through at least. Music is an art that lives an breaths with the crowd, if they wanted something, the band had to give it to them. To Russ that was the most exiting part. As he watched everyone flow into the establishment, he could see all kinds. Teenagers, housewives, men to tired to stand up but wanted to party anyway, this is what the music was all about. Philosophers can easily talk your ear off about the subject, but to Russ it was plain and simple, music hits the soul.

Taking his mark he plucked a few more tunes until it was time to turn up the amp. Looking out he could see a few people he recognized, and waved to them in kind. Turning to his band he gave them the thumbs down, his personal way of saying break a leg. He wasn't one for superstitions, he simply did it because he found it funny. By far the most fidgety one now was Drake, lord knows that he put a lot of time into getting this show rolling, and here it came to fruition. Russ was ready to please.

KJ took his mark and looked out into the crowd he could feel the energy on stage and in the crowd. It had an almost tangible quality to it and KJ used it to help him "lay down the thunder". This though was the time that always made him most nervous just prior to the show getting underway. This was the moment that if something was going to go wrong it would. During the show KJ knew that they had each other's back and it was nothing to see someone jump in and help out if something went wrong. However this empty space just after all the checks were done, and Nicky stepping to the mic was a killer.

KJ put Thunder around his neck, ran his left finger tips up and down the strings feeling each one as though he was expecting them to say "ready", he picked up a pic in his right hand looked at it and smiled. He gave off one last nod with a smile that said, "let's rock their world!"

"It's time to hit it hard and fast and leave 'em crying for more."

The words rung in Analise's ears as she gave KJ a grin. "You know it babe, let's do this!" she chirped. adjusting on her stool and gazing around the band as they gave their words of encouragement as well as their opinion of direction that tonight's show was going to be going. Ana didn't really mind, she was there to keep the time for everyone as they did their thing. She didn't mind not being in the starlight, she liked blending into the background even though she was a loud individual.

Ana looked into the crowd and quickly spotted Lola. That girl knew how to party! Ana grinned, trying to wave to the familiar girl realizing that it would be almost impossible for her to know that the gesture was directed towards her; with the incoming crowd that filled the venue. It always amazed Ana how diverse the crowd they pulled was. Perhaps it was because of how diverse the band was, people could probably some relate-able trait in everyone. They worked like a puzzle, every piece so different, but able to form into one big picture: success.

"I'm ready." Ana called, nodding as she started off the beat of their first song quietly.

Lola smiled at the bartender. "Another one please." She had lost track of how much she'd been drinking tonight. The world was spinning and people looked way hotter than when she first came to the club. She twirled around on the barstool with a drink in her hand watching the bartender pour more tequilas. She glanced towards the stage seeing Analise in the corner of her eyes waving. She was unsure of whom she waved to but any attention from the band was good attention. She smiled, trying to somewhat look seductive but after all the booze intake it probably looked clumsy. She stumbled off the chair, although managed to land on her feet pretending it was her intention to randomly slide off the chair. She added a twirl making it look like a ridiculous dance move.

She swung the tequila shot back and squinted her eyes shut. "Finally... The band is about to start." Considering herself number one fan she elbowed herself to the front of the crowd making sure she could get eye contact with the band members - if she was sober enough that is.