"These guys are pretty good," Jake told Helen while the audience cheered wildly after Going Out Tonight.
"Yeah," Helen agreed, smoking one of Jake's cigarettes again. "They're much better than I thought they'd be."
The slightly masculine looking lead guitarist sang the next song. It was a moderate tempo, three chord piece that was apparently called I'm Gone. Despite her masculine looks, the guitarist possessed a sweet mezzo-soprano voice with impressive range that was capable of dipping into both the full soprano and the contralto ranges. The lyrics of the tune concerned themselves with leaving a bad relationship, just walking away without a glance backward or even explanation.
After the opening set, the band settled in for a five song stretch in which they did nothing but slow ballad pieces. The keyboardist sang two of them, the lead guitarist one, and the male rhythm guitarist one — a deeply touching love song that he dedicated to "that one special woman in my life" as he glanced toward his wife on the keyboards. As the last note faded from the love song, the band launched into a hard-driving heavy metal piece called The Streets Are Calling about the degeneracy and hopelessness that could be found in your typical inner city environment.
The most poignant and straightforward tune of the night, at least in Jake's opinion, was the one that closed out the set. The male singer introduced it as a new song, written in response to "certain hypocrites who sit on certain school boards and think that certain teachers are not fit to do their jobs because they sing about the realities of life on certain stages in the New England region". The song, he told them, was called Accusations. It was another heavy metal based tune with lots of tempo changes. The lyrics were sung with a projection of disgust and hatred toward these "certain hypocrites" that was brilliant and almost chilling in its execution. The crowd agreed with this assessment of the tune. They cheered wildly and offered a standing ovation when the song concluded.
Brainwash came back out on the stage and performed a three-song encore, with each of the singers chiming in for one song apiece. The lead guitarist sang the last tune of the night that seemed to deal with the inequality that women faced in modern society. When it was finished, they received another standing ovation, another loud call for encore, but they adhered to the cardinal rule of performing. They left with their audience wanting more.
Meyer stood up on the stage as soon as the band departed it and thanked the audience for coming. He also reminded them that the members of Brainwash would be circulating throughout the club as soon as they had a chance to cool down and change their clothes. The crowd gave one last cheer and then quieted down. A significant number of them started heading for the exits but the majority elected to stay.
"Can we go now, Jake?" Helen asked, slurring her words quite badly. "I'm getting really sleepy."
Really drunk is more like it, Jake thought but did not say. Through the course of the show, Helen had put away approximately twelve whisky sours and six beers. She had also smoked more than half of Jake's cigarettes. "In a few minutes, hon," he told her. "I'd really like to go and meet the band, if you don't mind."
"You'll make it short?" she asked.
"As short as possible," Jake said. "Come on. Here comes that Meyer character."
"I'll just stay here if it's cool," she said, signaling to Cindy for another drink.
"Suit yourself," Jake told her. He stood and met Meyer near the backstage door.
The sight, smell, and general atmosphere of the band's dressing room brought on another wave of pleasant nostalgia for Jake. Just like the accommodations at D Street West, it was cramped, poorly ventilated, and smelled of sweat and alcohol. The furniture was old and threadbare, the lighting poor. A doorway on the backside was closed but Jake knew it led to a small, cramped bathroom with a dual showerhead with pathetic water pressure and a rusty toilet. The band itself was sitting around on the furniture, still dressed in their stage clothes, drinking bottles of beer from an ice chest that had been set up on a table. Their eyes widened comically when they saw who Meyer was leading into their midst.
"Hey, guys," Meyer greeted them. "Great show tonight. You absolutely rocked. And guess what? We had a very special guest out in the audience tonight."
"Holy shit," exclaimed the male lead singer. The other members of the band all gave their own variations of this statement.
"I'm sure you all know this is Jake Kingsley of Intemperance," Meyer said. "He's in town here for the night and thought he'd come check you out."
Meyer then introduced each member of the band. The male singer and rhythm guitarist was Jim Scanlon. His wife, keyboardist and female lead singer number one, was Marcie Scanlon. Stephanie Zool was the slightly masculine looking lead guitarist and singer number three (and a lesbian, Jake remembered, at least according to Meyer). The bassist was Jeremy White. And the drummer, who seemed almost religiously awed by Jake's presence, was Rick Jackson.
Jake shook hands with each of them and then took a seat on the edge of one of the couches. When he was offered a beer, he did not turn it down. "I have to agree with Mr. Meyer," he told the band. "You guys put on a hell of a show. I was very impressed with you."
"Thank you," they all mumbled in various forms.
It was clear that they were all somewhat intimidated by his presence. They were tongue-tied and fidgety, the two women actually blushing when he praised them. But as they worked their way through the first beer and moved onto the second, and as Jake began to ask them more and more questions about the origins of their songs and the evolution of their band, they started to lighten up a little.
"Jim's the one who convinced us to start playing music together," Stephanie said as she puffed on a cigarette and sipped from her beer. "He used to be with Courage, you know."
"Yeah," Jake said. "Mr. Meyer told me that."
"So anyway, he and Marcie had already been together for almost four years at that point," Stephanie continued.
"We met in college," Marcie added, "when we were in the same classes together working on our teaching credentials."
"That was right after Aristocrat told us they weren't going to pick us up for the rest of the option periods," Jim said. "I was at about the lowest point in my life and then... well... I started dating Marcie and... things just kind of fell into place."
"That love song you wrote for her was very touching," Jake said. "It made Helen get a little weepy at the table."
"I love that song," Marcie said. "He got sooooo laid the first time he played it for me."
Everyone had a laugh over that.
"It's the power of music," Jake said. "I learned about it for the first time when I was sixteen years old and it's served me well ever since."
They took turns narrating the rest of the band's history. Since Jim was still bound by his Aristocrat Records recording contract, he was unable to perform any song in public until it expired, nor would he be allowed to perform any Courage song until 2001. This did not stop him from composing and singing for his own pleasure and for the pleasure of his friends. A big part of his attraction to Marcie was the fact that she held a deep love of music as well and she loved to compose and sing on the piano. It was truly a match made in heaven.