Page 32 of The Devil's Tattoo
The support was a local indie outfit called Damages. Apparently, they had a song that had just been picked up by Absolute, the radio station that was first to pick up ours. I hadn’t had a chance to hear it yet, so I was looking forward to them playing it in their settonight.
When they finished, I noticed two of the guys talking to each other furiously, and then they glanced over at me. A moment later, one of them jumped down from the stage and began to walk over. He looked younger than I was—maybe about twenty—tall and wiry with dark shaggy hair. He looked a bit nervous, staring at the ground rather than looking where he was going. It was a move I was wellaquatintedwith.
“Hey,” he said as he stopped by me, and I knew he was nervous. Totally didn’t havetobe.
“Hi,” I said with a smile, knowing exactly how he felt. “I’mZoe.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said with a laugh. “I’m Max. I play guitar and do vocals inDamages.”
“I saw you guys sound check. You’reprettygood.”
“Wow, really?Thanks.”
“Noproblem.”
“I don’t know if you do this, but we’d be stoked if you would sing a song with ustonight.”
“Oh,” I said, blinking in surprise. “What song? I guess it depends if Iknowit.”
He smiled obviously pleased I was considering it. “‘Future Starts Slow’ by The Kills. We’ve done it a couple of times, and people seem to like it, but I reckon it would sound better with a female vocal. Man and if you sang it with us…” He stopped mid-sentence, realizing he’d beenbabbling.
I was taken aback by how much he seemed to respect me. I mean, he wasn’t trying to crack onto me in the slightest. He was intomyband.
“Sure.” I laughed, instantly liking him. “It’ll begreat.”
“Yeah?” he exclaimed, eyesbright.
“Yeah. When do you do it inyourset?”
“Second to last,” he said. “We had a single picked up on the radio that’s doing well, so we playthatlast.”
“Good call,” Iagreed.
“We don’t do anything to change the tempo or key. It’s pretty faithful to the original. Will you be okay without rehearsing? I mean, it’s different with another band… I mean…Shitonit.”
I let out a loud laugh and shook my head. “I’m not offended. I don’t know how long you’ve been playing together, but we’re new at this, too. I love the song, so if you stick to it pretty faithfully as you said, it’ll be fine. I canwingit.”
He laughed, smacking his forehead with his palm. “God, I’m such an idiot. I just really admire the way you play,isall.”
“Wow. No, really, wow. Thanks. I’m going to watch your set anyway, so just gimmeacue.”
“Now you’re justflatteringme.”
A loud booming voice echoed over the sound system then, making us look around. “Zoooooeeeeee.”
I smiled and glanced up at Dee, who was on stage waving me over. “I better go,” I saidtoMax.
“Sure and thanks again. It’s going tobeace.”
Giving him a small smile, I made my way to the stage where Dee gave mealook.
“What?” Iasked.
“Flirting with the support, Zo? Are you on operation drive indie bass players bananasstill?”
I rolled my eyes. “Shut up, Dee. I’m not trying to piss off anyone. They asked me to do a song with them tonight, and Isaidyeah.”
He let out a slow whistle. “Zoe Granger, branching out. Never thought I’d seetheday.”
