wanted dead or alive

During the months of January and February, my friends and I religiously held “band practice” for our band, the Homebodies. A couple of times a week, we would get together at Hotel Kettley, go into their theater, turn the volume up, strike our widest power stance, and jam out until nights end. Rich and Kim’s skills were obvious from the beginning. They, having previous experience with Guitar Hero and their natural musical talent and background, easily found their groove and were able to branch out to other instruments. Tyler Waldron and I had a late start in our music careers, so we were the ones holding the group back from “going big.” However, within a few short weeks of practice, with Tyler as lead vocals, myself playing lead guitar, Kim on drums, and Rich on bass guitar; we were ready for the big time. We were consistently hitting well over 90% of our notes on Hard, so you can imagine that we were feeling pretty confident.

We got a bus, a plane, completed our outfits, and hit the road. Even though we have only played a single concert, the entire experience was very euphoric. So much so, in fact, that I cannot even remember the venue in which we played, but I remember the experience. As we walked out onto the stage, the crowd started going wild. Screaming fans and fainting women jumped, cheered, and sighed. The colored lights flashed around the concert hall and I could feel the vibrations from the noise pulsing through my own body. Sure I was a little nervous, but this is what all of those long nights of band practice had been for. We were ready and we knew it.

Our opening song was to be a cover of Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive.” The lights went black and the entire venue fell silent, waiting in the darkness, for history to be written on this momentous maiden performance. You could hear the hum of the amps and then the hiss of the fog machines. Then, the spotlights slowly lit up and tracked over to Kim aka “Most Gutsy” Kettley at her place on the drum kit. As she started the beat in that song, the colored overhead lights began to flicker and pulse in time. Next, as the lights hit me, I come in, Kawika “Top Performer” Tarayao, with my opening riff. With this familiar progression, the crowd recognizes the song and goes wild, screaming with enthusiasm. They quiet down in time for Rich “Band Savior” Kettley to join in with his bass rhythm. Finally, Tyler aka “Authentic Strummer” Waldron steps out into the light with his shaved head, mustache, and Aviators and hits the first stanza, “It’s all the same, only the names will change …” as the crowd screams uncontrollably.

At our feet, we have little screens that show our Rock Band screens and behind us the screen is being projected for the fans to see. As we enter into the first chorus we all use our overdrive at the same time and hit a unison bonus. Soon thereafter, Rich gets into his Bass Groove and we are all seriously rocking out. This song goes just as rehearsed and at the end you could tell by the cheers of the crowd that we had definitely scored five stars (we had five stars a full minute before the end of the song.) As we finished our concert (yes, it was only a single song concert) and walked off the stage, our loyal fans start chanting for an encore, “Home Bodies! Home Bodies!” We listen to their chants, pumping us up even more and head back out onto the stage.

What better song to end to than an Iron Maiden cover of “Run To The Hills.” The song completely energizes the mass as we rock on. There is crowd surfing, head-banging, and rock-on signs being thrown up all over the pulsing multitude. As I am jumping, throwing scissor kicks, I see Rich shaking his guitar because the batteries must be low or loose and his guitar is not communicating with the game consol. The crowd just thinks he is getting into the song and get into it even more. Kim’s hair tosses as she feels the beat and she twirls her drum sticks in between riffs. Bras are being thrown up on stage and adrenaline courses through our bodies. As we end the song, chaos ensues. The four Homebodies members just stand there, taking it all in, knowing that tonight we made history. Tonight we were immortal. Tonight we were alive!