Strung Tight (The Road To Rocktoberfest #1) - Ann Lister Page 0,1
too, which was as helpful as it was annoying.
Chaos was in the final weeks of rehearsals in LA before the trailers would be packed with our gear and driven out to the Nevada desert where the concert was taking place. Our set needed every last bug worked out by the time we hit the road. The day before the actual show, we’d get a brief warmup on stage, which would allow us to familiarize ourselves with the setup. But the day of the event, there’d be no real time for more rehearsal as a plugged-in band beyond some finger and vocal exercises we could manage in a dressing room behind the stage area. After that, all we could do was play our asses off and hope for the best.
To say we were nervous about performing for an audience of this size was a gross understatement, especially for me. Odd choice of a career for someone with performance anxiety, but I was learning to cope. A lot was riding on this event. If we fucked up our set, it would be like disappointing Dagger and spitting on everything he'd done for our band along with the opportunities he'd provided for our exposure. Besides the fact, bombing on the same stage we’d be sharing with so many rock stars we’d idolized for such a long damn time would be a nightmare. I couldn't allow that to happen, and no one in Chaos wanted that either.
I was close with my guys before Dagger and his musical influence had entered our lives, but now we were even tighter than most families because we were together by choice. Chaos started as a trio of friends who’d known each other since we were kids: Jeff Dixon played bass guitar, Mike Emory, drums and percussion, and myself, Harrison Fletcher, aka Fletch, played various guitars and sang vocals. Then after a few years of working as three, we decided to add to our sound and invited Randy Potter, our rhythm guitarist, to join the fray. Our musical family grew a little, but for a band with just four musicians, we had a rich, solid sound, and I knew it was only a matter of getting the right ears to hear our music for us to make it big. Dagger had told us that there'd be several representatives from various record labels, agents, and managers in the audience at Rocktoberfest, so my band was going into this project with high hopes that one of them might want to sign us. Dreams did come true. I've seen it happen to others, so why not us?
Mike, our drummer, was convinced we were going to make it. I felt the same, all the way to my bones, and we believed this show was our long-awaited big break. All we had to do was hit that stage and show everyone what Chaos had in our bag of tricks and send them home , wanting to hear more. That was our main objective—leave them wanting more.
I was too anxious and couldn’t stop pacing around the rehearsal studio like a caged panther. The rest of the band was playing together in some kind of semblance, but I couldn't focus enough to join them. I needed a break and was about to tell the guys I'd be back in a few minutes when my phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw it was Dagger. After all the times I'd talked with him over the phone or in person, my heart still thumped a little harder inside my chest every damn time he called.
“Dagger's on the phone,” I hollered. “I gotta take this.”
I hurried to the door and answered the call as I jogged. “Hey, Dagger.” I started walking down the hallway.
“How's everyone doing?” he asked me in that rich, deep voice.
“I guess okay,” I said.
“That doesn't sound very convincing,” Dagger said. “It’s too early for everyone to be freaking out, so what’s going on?”
“I think it’s just me who’s freaking.”
“Why's that?”
I took the back stairs down to the rear of the building and exited into the parking lot along the side. The fresh air hitting my face felt nice, but it didn't relieve any of my anxiety. Over the last few days, about six enormous tractor-trailers had arrived in the lot, and a few roadies were beginning to load the equipment that we weren't presently using but would need for the show.
“We've never performed in front of a crowd that big.”