What should have taken no more than an afternoon's worth of work stretched out for the better part of three sessions with absolutely nothing being accomplished but more animosity and bad feelings. Matt would reject every suggestion that Jake would make about how to start the song, how to end it, how to lead into the bridge. Jake would similarly reject every suggestion that Matt made. There was no middle ground sought, no compromise suggested. Jake wanted to do things his way and Matt wanted to do things his way.
Everybody, including the two main combatants, knew that the real issue was not a minor difference in musical philosophies on minor parts of a song. No, the real issue was a struggle for control — a dick contest, as Coop would have put it. Matt wanted to assert that, despite being overruled and forced to cave on the Darren vs. Charlie issue, he was still the leader of the band and not simply a figurehead as Jake had suggested during the heat of that battle. Jake, in response, wanted Matt to know that he was not going to be pushed around just so he, Matt, could make some sort of a point. Cut Me Loose was Jake's song. He had written it, composed it, and introduced it, and he would be goddamned if he was going to let a foul-tempered guitar player tweak it around just to say he could. Also, Jake knew if he gave in on this issue, Matt would only be worse when there was something else, something major that needed to be decided.
On and on the fighting went, with the shouting and profanity and insults getting worse by the hour. Matt threatened violence multiple times. Several times Jake actually offered to take him up on his challenge to fight it out. Once they got as far as walking to the center of the warehouse and squaring off at each other before the other band members managed to break them up and drag them off in separate directions.
Interestingly enough, it was during the hottest part of the battle of wills, when the accusations and angry profanity were flying back and forth like gunfire in South Central LA, that an actual accord was reached. It was during the latest argument over the bridge intro to Cut Me, shortly after Matt and Jake had been dragged away from each other, when it happened.
"There is no fucking way," Jake screamed at Matt — not yelled, not raised his voice, but actually screamed with an angry finger pointed at Matt's chest — "that I'm gonna allow a fucking two-chord step-down between the goddamn chorus and the bridge! You want to destroy a song with some gay fucking shit like that, do it to one of your own songs, not one of mine!"
"Oh that's right," Matt returned, his vocal decibel level nicely in the same range as Jake's. "It's your fucking song. It's not an Intemperance song at all. It's a Jake fucking Kingsley solo effort! Well, by all fucking means, Massa Kingsley, let's do it your way. It'd only be right, suh! You jist tells me exactly how you wants it played, suh, and I plays it like a good nigga!"
Jake opened his mouth to retort — something on the order of if Matt got any more melodramatic he should go on the fucking Phil Donahue Show — but Nerdly spoke first. "Actually," he interjected, holding up a hand to silence Jake, "if I may?"
"Oh, now the massa's fucking lapdog chimes in," Matt said with disgust. "This should be pretty fuckin' rich."
Nerdly let the insult roll off his back. He was pretty good at that. "Actually, Matt," he said, "I think you may have just unwittingly suggested an acceptable solution to this dilemma."
"What?" Matt asked. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"The suggestion you just made," Nerdly said. "I think it's a valid course of action."
"You mean play exactly like Mr. Prima Donna Rimjobbing fuckin' Felcher wants me to?" Matt asked. "You must be out of your fucking mind. Don't you know fucking sarcasm when you hear it?"
"I have been known to miss that particular nuance of human communication from time to time," Nerdly admitted. "But in this case, I did not. I understood that you were speaking in jest. Jest or not, however, I am of the opinion that the suggestion in question can stand on its own merits."
"Forget it, Nerdly," Matt said. "There ain't no way in hell I'm letting anyone dictate to me like I'm a fucking studio hacker."
"I'll agree it is not an optimum solution," Nerdly said. "I do fear, however, that it is the only solution we have at this point in time. We have spent twenty-six point three hours now trying to compose and perfect a mere thirty seconds worth of music and we have accomplished exactly nothing. We have eleven more complete songs to work out in addition to this one. Something has to give, Matt. Cut Me Loose is a song of Jake's conception. Would it be all that bad to simply perform the chorus/bridge transition in the manner that Jake suggests?"
Matt opened his mouth, undoubtedly to give yet another acrid and angry reply, but this time Coop beat him to it. "He does have a point there, Matt," Coop said. "We could be done with this fuckin' thing and working on something else in an hour or so."
"And now the fuckin' traitor gives his two cents worth," Matt said. "Did Jake pull you aside last night and feed his position to you like he did over Freakboy? Did you let Freakboy stick his cock up your ass while you were selling me out?"
"No," Coop said slowly, angrily, "but I'm about to stick a couple of fuckin' drumsticks and a cymbal stand up your ass if you don't watch how the fuck you're talking to me."
"You think you can take me, you fuckin' fag lover?" Matt said, standing up and facing the drummer. "I'll wipe up this whole fuckin' warehouse with your two-faced, dick-sucking, head!"
Coop stood up, throwing his drumsticks to the ground. "You think so, motherfucker?" he demanded. "Let's fuckin' go! You need a fuckin' ass-kicking and I'm the motherfucker who's gonna give it to you."
"Bring it on!" Matt said. "Right here and right now!"
Charlie and Nerdly both grabbed Coop before he could make it two steps away from his drum set. Jake put his hand on Matt's shoulder. Matt tensed up and it looked like he was going to change his target and take a swing at Jake instead — after all, they'd been on the brink of that just fifteen minutes ago.
"This ain't solving anything," Jake said softly. "We can all kick each other's ass and end up in the fuckin' hospital but we ain't gonna be any closer to a solution when we get out. So why don't we just skip that part?"
Matt slowly unclenched his fists. He shot one last look at Coop and then sat back down in his chair. Coop continued to glare as well but shook off Nerdly and Charlie's hands and resumed his own seat.
"I'll play it your way, Jake," Matt finally said. "Just tell me how you want it done."
"All right then," Jake said. "Let's do it."
"But if you start barking orders at me and treating me like a studio hacker, I'm gonna fuckin' hit you! That's a motherfuckin' promise!"
"I won't treat you like a studio hacker," Jake promised.
Chapter 16b
They finished up the basic composition of the song. It actually took about two hours to do. Jake was allowed to dictate how the intro would be performed, how the chorus to bridge section would be played, and how the final ending would occur. The other musicians played as Jake wanted them to play, with only Nerdly making a few minor suggestions that had to do with tempo changes and timing. Matt kept his comments to himself and played his guitar expertly, just as he always had.
"You see?" Nerdly asked them when they had finally finished, written down their changes on the music sheets, and successfully run through the piece twice. "It is possible to work together despite the recent clash of egos and hard feelings."