Daydream Believer

lxxxvii. rock concerts and demons

lxxxvii. rock concerts and demons

I felt so out of place here. Aaron and I decided to go to Justin’s concert, but it still didn’t feel right. We were supporting our friend, but all of the other fans scared me. There were a lot of them, and they were a lot older than us. They all had piercings and tattoos and looked like the sort of people you wouldn’t want to mess with. I tried to stay close to Aaron until we got into the building. To pass the time, I listened to some of the other peoples’ conversations.

 

“Why can’t we go listen to an actually good band?” one girl asked.

 

“They are good! They’re the freaking Flaming Zombie Heads!” someone else said.

 

“You’re only saying that because they’re the only real rock band around here.”

 

“Well, yeah. What are we going to do, go to the dorkestra concert? Besides, I heard they got a new guitarist.”

 

“And that’s going to make them better?”

 

“Hopefully.”

 

Aaron and I finally managed to get into the building. I looked up onto the stage. There were four guys on the stage other than Justin. They all kind of looked the same to me. The other fans seemed to be chatting amongst themselves. I found a corner and stayed there. Hopefully nobody would notice me.

The band started playing a few minutes later. Everyone else started jumping around and screaming, but I stayed put. I didn’t even know what everyone liked about this band. All of their songs sounded exactly the same. A typical Flaming Zombie Heads song went something like this. First, it would start with three guitar chords repeated over and over and over again. Then, the lead singer would come in. I’m not even sure you could call him a singer. He really just screamed everything. Then, there was some drums and guitar and then more screaming. Occasionally, Justin would have a guitar solo, but that was rare.

 

The really surprising thing was the fans’ reaction. I liked listening in on their conversations. These people fascinated me in a way.

 

“How do you even like this?” the same girl from before asked.

 

“It’s good. I don’t like the new guitarist though,” her friend said.

 

This surprised me. Justin seemed to be the only good member of the band. The drums and the guitars were never in line, and the lead singer just screamed. “Why?” the girl asked.

 

“He’s just a kid.”

 

“So? I bet he’s just the little brother of one of the band members or something. Stop being so hard on him.”

 

“That’s not possible. He’s black.”

 

“And you’re racist.”

 

That managed to shut him up. I stuck to my corner and tried to keep my ears from exploding. I was glad when the concert was finally over.

 

“Let’s go see Justin backstage,” Aaron said. Aaron’s sense of direction was better than mine, so I followed him. When we got there, Justin and the lead singer were already in the middle of a conversation.

 

“Wait, what?!?” Justin shouted.

 

“I’m sorry, kid,” the lead singer said. “We just can’t have you in the band anymore.”

 

“Why?” Justin asked.

 

“Let’s face it. You’re ruining our image. Nobody wants to see a nerdy little black kid in a heavy metal band.”

 

“Fine!” Justin shouted. “Hey. Thanks for coming,” Justin said to us.

 

“No problem. It was a great show,” I lied.

 

“Did you just get kicked out of the band?” Aaron asked.

 

“Yep,” Justin said. He adjusted his glasses. “It’s not that big of a deal. Let’s go.”

 

So we left. We tried to stay away from the huge crowd of heavy metal fans, but that was a bit difficult. Nevertheless, that was the day Justin swore that he would never again join a heavy metal band, especially one with a stupid name like The Flaming Zombie Heads.