Under the Lights (A Brothers of Rock - GONE BY AUTUMN - Novel) by Karolyn James Page B

and don ’ t
work, ” Ryan said.
    Tanner grabbed his guitar off the
stage. He threw the strap over his shoulder and turned on his amp. He stepped
on one of the pedals in front of him. It killed the sound of the guitar and
turned on the guitar tuner. As he tuned up, he looked at Jules from the corner
of his eye.
    She was looking at him.
    “ Okay, ” Ryan said. “ I think we ’ re good on this. Try this one
slow first and then we ’ ll
run through the set list from last night. ”
    “ Let ’ s do it, ” Asher said. He grabbed his guitar, fired up the
amp, and went right into a solo.
    Asher shredded up and down the neck
a few times, smiling at Tanner as he did so.
    “ Oh,
shit, ” Blake called out. He
rushed to go behind his kit and started hitting the bass drum.
    Asher finished his solo and threw
his hands up. He looked around, gaining the attention of the backup singers. Gaining
the attention of Jules.
    Tanner stepped on his pedal and
brought his guitar back to life. He cracked all his knuckles and then stood
there, letting the guitar ring out until it was screeching feedback. Then he
went into his own solo. His fingers moving like perfect machines, his pick hand
hitting the strings, the sound blaring from his amp. Blake kept the rhythm on
the bass drum as Tanner continued to play. He ran down the neck, bent a deep
note that sounded haunting, and then hit the open string.
    He pointed to Asher.
    Asher burst out laughing and
started to solo again.
    Tanner started to play a riff over
the solo.
    They worked magic together, on
opposite ends of the stage. He knew exactly what scale and root notes Asher had
been running on, making it easy for Tanner to come up with a three chord riff.
    They traded solos on and off for a
few more minutes until they both tried soloing at the same time. It sounded
like a screeching mess of notes.
    The battle came to an end as Ryan stepped
up to the mic and said, “ Well,
screw what we had planned then. Let ’ s
just play the set. ”
    “ Hell
yeah, ” Blake called out.
    He gave a four count and the band
started to play.
    Tanner turned and leaned against
his stack of speakers, his eyes all over Jules. He wasn ’ t going to look away either. Not after letting her leave
last night. It made him feel like a fool to do so, but Sam said the backup
singers were off limits … which,
of course, made them that much more tempting.
    The entire set took an hour to
play. They figured out the best places for the singers to come in, and all
their hits came together perfectly.
    “ Let ’ s write something new, ” Tanner said. “ All of us together. To see what
kind of chemistry we have. ”
    Tanner looked at Jules as he spoke.
    “ Good
call, ” Asher said. “ What are you thinking? ”
    “ Hold
up, ” Tanner said.
    He traded his electric guitar for
his acoustic 12-string guitar.
    “ What
am I playing? ” Asher asked.
    “ Stick
with the electric. Watch the rhythm on this. You should come in and out with
one note bends on the root notes of the chords. Throw on some heavy reverb. ”
    “ Okay, ” Asher said.
    “ Blake,
feel like strumming a couple chords? ” Tanner asked.
    “ You ’ re taking Blake away from his
drums? ” Ryan asked.
    “ Yeah.
Do you have any lyrics? ”
    “ I
don ’ t know what the song is
about. Haven ’ t heard it
yet. ”
    “ You ’ ve heard it, ” Tanner said. “ It ’ s
an old one. Let ’ s fine tune
it up. ”
    “ Wait
a second, ” Asher said. “ An old 12-string song? Are you
rewriting Tragedy ? ”
    “ Christ, ” Ryan said. “ Seriously? ”
    “ Why
not? ” Tanner asked. “ We always said we ’ d write it the right way. Let ’ s do it now. ”
    “ You
had lyrics for it, ” Ryan
said. “ Sing them. ”
    “ No, ” Tanner said. “ I don ’ t …”
    “ Bullshit, ” Blake said as he strummed an
acoustic guitar. “ You
remember everything about this band. You could tell me the first meal we ate
after our first gig. ”
    “ Hell
yeah,