“Time to get inside, boys,” called out Jethro. “You’ve a show to prepare for!”
With a final wave to the Silver Lakers, the band followed their manager into the venue. Once inside, the Silver Lake “machine” swung into action as familiar routines fell naturally into place. Press commitments had been kept to a minimum in an effort to keep them focussed on the show. As a band, they gave one interview to a major rock UK magazine, chatting to the journalist over coffee and filled bagels. Talking about Rich, the plans for the show and the future was tough on all of them. Out of the three of them, Jake found it the hardest to answer the questions and he failed to hide his relief from the journalist when the interview concluded.
When they returned to the dressing room, Jake was pleased to see that Lori and the kids had arrived, along with Kola and the girls plus Maddy and the twins. Leaving Wren and Hayden in Lori’s care, Maddy went off in search of the promoter, clutching her pre-show checklist. Even Grey’s mother, Annie, had made the trip to Baltimore. Having family around helped to calm the band’s nerves.
“Five minutes till soundcheck,” called out Jethro loudly. “Mr Power, please don’t be late.”
Sound checking without Rich barking orders at the sound engineer and at them was an emotional and surreal experience for Jake and the others. Sticking with his tried and tested routine, Jake ran through a couple of his solos, checked and re-checked all his settings, fussed over his acoustic settings then suggested that they run through a couple of the songs in full. Behind him, Paul was having a few setup issues with his drumkit but, amid a cloud of profanity, he worked with his new drum tech to sort out his set up.
Just as they were finishing up After Life arrived ready to run through the songs their various members were due to guest on. Rehearsing his duet with Ellen brought back old memories for Jake and they all fell about laughing when Grey referred to her as “Witchy Woo.” The laughter broke some of the tension hanging in the air, sprinkling some much-needed light relief on proceedings.
A few of their guests hadn’t been able to make it to Baltimore in time for the soundcheck. Silver Lake had had to quietly accept this and trust that it would all work out alright during the show.
Only one act had been booked as support for the evening and, as Silver Lake wound things up, they arrived at the side of the stage ready to set up for their own soundcheck. They were an up and coming band from Baltimore that Jethro had handpicked, claiming they reminded him of Silver Lake.
“I was at college with their frontman,” revealed Todd as Silver Lake headed back to the dressing rooms. “They played a few shows while I was there.”
“Any good?” quizzed Grey.
“Yeah, they are,” replied Todd. “Check them out later if you get time.”
“As long as the audience like them,” muttered Paul, his own pre-show nerves beginning to creep in, making him short-tempered.
“Time will tell,” sighed Jake. “Let’s just focus on the fans liking us tonight.”
“Going to be a shit load of emotion out there,” mused Grey.
“Sure is,” agreed Jake quietly. “Just hope we… I mean I…hold it together out there.”
Hanging out backstage with their families kept the various members of the band relaxed, keeping their mind off the show itself. Keeping all six kids entertained proved to be a challenge. They were all overexcited at being there. With a smile, Jake noticed that Melody had gradually gravitated towards Todd and was begging to be allowed to play his guitar. Jake’s former protégé hadn’t heard the little girl play and, at Jake’s suggestion, reluctantly handed over his guitar to the five-year-old. Grinning up at Todd, Melody ran through the various exercises she had been working on.
“Daddy,” she called out as Todd accepted his guitar back from her some twenty minutes later. “Why does it sound different?”
“Different tuning,” replied Jake calmly. “Your guitar is in standard tuning. Todd’s is in drop D.”
The little girl looked puzzled.
“Todd’s top string is tuned to D. Yours is tuned to E,” explained Jake as Todd demonstrated.
“Why?”
“A lot of our music was written with the guitars in drop D. It gets kind of technical, Miss M,” began Jake, reluctant to get into a music lesson in the dressing room. “Remind me tomorrow when we get home to show you. We can play about in the basement. Maybe Todd will come over and help.”
Knowing how much the little girl adored him, Todd nodded, “Sure. Happy to help our young musician here.”
“When can I get an electric guitar?” asked the little girl, running her hand lovingly over the charcoal grey body of Todd’s guitar.
“Soon,” promised Jake, checking the time. “Right, I’d better go and warm up. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
In a small room, little bigger than a broom closet, Jake relished the solitude as he methodically worked through his vocal warm-up routine. A small voice in his head was casting doubts in his mind as to whether his voice would hold out for the whole show. It was a regular fear for the first show of a tour and, coupled with the emotions surrounding this show, Jake struggled to get his vocal cords relaxed. He paused his routine to focus on some breathing exercises then refocused his attention on the warm-up.
From down the hallway, he could hear voices and recognised both Garrett and Mikey’s dulcet tones. Knowing that their guests had arrived helped a little to settle his nerves.
As he walked back down the hallway to join the others shortly before eight, Jake could hear the support band out on stage. Curiosity got the better of him
