All the Ways to Say "With Love" (Jimohnny)

Letter Fourteen

Dear Johnny,

Auditions were today.

I didn’t want to go, but Matt came over and dragged me out of bed. Literally.

See, remember when I told you we were gonna ask Krist? He said no, because he’s already in some small, unknown band and he likes where he’s at. So we sent out a private thing, asked around, and the Berry brothers helped round up seven bassists who thought they were good enough to replace you.

So we went to the studio, sat down in the mixing room, and let them bring in the first guy.

We only actually listened to four of them. The fourth had it in the bag, and we gave it to her immediately after the third song. That’s right, I said “her.”

You’re getting replaced with a girl. And it gets worse.

Her name is Sky.

She introduced herself and I left the room. I couldn’t take it, here was someone trying to take your place in the band, and she had the only girl name you ever liked. It made me sick.

I went out the back door and tried not to cry, leaned up against the wall and pulled out a cigarette. Brian followed me out there, wondering what was wrong, why I was freaking out.

And he said something that meant a lot to me. He said, “Jimmy, if you don’t want to do this, if you’re done with the band, we can quit right now. It’s all or nothing.”

I was pretty touched that the guys would quit the band if I told them I’m out. And so suddenly, too. Because we’re all missing you, and it’s more of a struggle and a hassle to move on than it is to keep going. But I knew I couldn’t get caught up on a girl named Sky, and if she became our bassist I’d have to deal with it. So we went back in there to listen to her play.

She’s about your height, maybe just a touch shorter, with really short hair that’s been dyed bright blue. Like aquamarine or something. She was wearing a Blink-182 shirt, which isn’t quite our style, but she has a deathbat tattoo behind her ear. She’s young too, probably her early twenties, so I was getting ready for a shitty performance, ready to tell Jason to bring in the next guy.

She fucking killed it.

Her stage presence was a lot like yours, as soon as she started playing, she got really into it. She didn’t miss one note, not on Second Heartbeat, not on The Wicked End, not on Danger Line. She went to a different place when she played, and I knew we had to have her.

So, when she was done, she stood there awkwardly as we just looked at her. She looked pretty nervous.

I began clapping. I stood up and threw my arm around her shoulder and said, “Guys, this is our new bassist. She’s gotta be.”

It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. We were supposed to say “Thank you.” Then listen to the next one and decide on our own afterwards and let the winner know.

But I was determined, and the guys seemed to like her too.

So yeah, Sky’s Avenged’s new bassist. Temporarily.

She’s just recording the album with us. That’s it. Then, afterwards, if we decide we like her, she’ll become permanent and she’ll tour with us and all that stuff. Maybe even get a stage name after a while.

We’ll see how it goes. I never, not in a million years, ever thought a girl would join Avenged Sevenfold.

But then again, I never thought you’d leave us, either.

Utterly and hopelessly in love with you for the rest of my sorry days,

Jimmy