"YOU CAN PLUG IN OVER HERE," Relly said, pointing to a bass amp all covered with stickers and spray paint.
So I unpacked the Ibanez and uncoiled my cord and got ready.
Jerod said, "It's just a tryout, OK? We're thinking about other guys too. We've got to find exactly the right one. So don't get your hopes up."
And Butt kept looking at me, staring, actually. I guess he was wondering if I had what it took. The bass player and the drummer have to be locked in like two gears in a machine. They've got to mesh and turn together perfectly. He looked at my hands, which aren't huge. And he looked at my bass, which wasn't huge or flashy either. I'd saved for two years to buy the Ibanez. Flipping burgers, "Do you want fries with that?" never getting the smell of grease out of my hair, saying "Have a nice day" to mean, huffy customers. Two years of fast-food stink so I could buy the bass. Butt looked me over and he didn't say a word.
"So what do you know?" Relly asked.
"You guys do any Zeppelin?"
Butt nodded. Relly whanged his Strat, making a big grinding chord. Jerod grabbed the mike with both hands.
"How 'bout 'Black Dog?'" I asked.
A little pause. A little gap of silence, like they were taking in a deep breath, all three of them at once. I thought maybe I'd said the wrong thing, that I'd shown myself to be a feeb and a loser.
But no, it was exactly the right choice. Did they know "Black Dog?" Oh yeah. Could they play it? Oh yes indeed.
Maybe it was all strutting showoff. Or it could have been they wanted to blow away the girl wannabe bass player. Or maybe it was meant to be. Because afterward Relly told me they'd never played like that. Butt nodded, grinning and working his kick drum pedal. And even Jerod had to admit they'd never sounded better.
We ripped into the first tune like we'd been playing together for years. Butt was heavy as ten sledgehammers. Me and Relly doubled the snakey riff, note-for-note perfect. And Jerod was on top, doing his best sexy tomcat yowls.
And the whole band seemed to lift right off the ground. I mean it: like suddenly we went from being lowly humans to brilliant angels. It was an amazing feeling, a scary, gasping buzz. My fingers moved and the logical part of my brain kind of shut down. Pure sound came roaring out. Loud and wild and relentless. And we rose, all four of us, rose up free as flames, no longer trapped, pouring ourselves up and out.