My Piece of the Action

The New Drummer

Raven filed into Guns N' Roses' grimy recording studio a little late, to be met with a wall of noise that could only be a drum beat. It was the day after Rob Gardner had left for good. The guitars began as she stepped over the threshold. Sitting behind the drumset was a mass of bouncy blonde hair atop a short 5'7" body. He was bouncing around in his seat, hair flying in all directions. Raven smiled lightly. She knew it was him. She had seen too many photos and live videos to be mistaken. Raven was about to meet the one and only Steven Adler, she flopped onto the little couch, listening.  Frowning, she realised that Steven was misjudging his beats; he was hitting his drums a bit too much. He sounded good, yes, but he was over powering the other instruments. 

Raven rested her chin in her palm, waiting for the band to finish the song. As Slash played out the final note, she watched Duff and Izzy exchange glances. Steven grinned at Axl.

"Did I do good?" He asked. Axl just looked at him blankly. Steven's grin faltered. Slash piped up.

"You're pretty great, man." He smiled.

Steven smiled at Slash.

"Ugh... I just gotta go to the bathroom, okay, I'll be back. Then we'll play shadow of your love, like you wanted, Axl." He got up and left the room.

Duff approached the drumset and lifted one of the bass drums up and took it out to another room, Izzy followed suit, he grabbed a few rack toms, and Duff came back and nicked off with a floor tom. They then grabbed hold of their own instruments again.

After a few more moments, Steven opened the door, sat down behind the drums and began counting in the next song before he noticed anything. He stopped, looking about the room.

"Hey, where's my other bass drum, I came here with two?!" He asked, looking around as if he'd dropped it on the way to the bathroom or something.  "And my other drums?" He added.

"Don't worry about it, man, you don't need them. Just count off the song." Izzy responded. Steven frowned a little, but began to count them in all the same. Raven listened and began to nod along. It was spot on! Steven was perfectly matched to everyone else.

After that song, Axl approached Raven.

"How do you like the new drummer?" She smiled, raising her eyebrow.

"You were right. He's the man." Axl said, seeming amazed at this.

They played some more songs, and taught Steven their chosen set songs.

After the loss of those drums, Steven turned into a straight ahead 4/4 rock n roll drummer, which complemented and easily locked in with Duff's bass style, while allowing Izzy and Slash the freedom to mesh blues driven rock n roll with edgy first generation punk rock.

After practise, Axl stopped the band.

"Alright, that's enough, everyone. Steven, do you think you've got everything?" He asked.

"Yeah, man! I got this." He responded, Axl smiled.

"Okay, we leave for the tour the moment we get transport, so rest up, cause we could leave tomorrow." Axl told everyone. They all said goodnight and Axl smiled, falling onto the couch beside Raven,

"That was so cool!" Raven grinned.

"That was epic. I think we're ready to get this show on the road!" He said, excited. "You gonna join us on the tour?" He asked,

"Hell yes!" She grinned at him. He smiled back.

"Then you  should rest up too." Was his response. They said their goodbyes, and Raven exited the building, happiness giving her a spring in every step. Guns was locked and loaded. All it needed now was Geffen records. Raven smirked. It was a reckless road ahead, and she couldn't wait to be part of it.