Little Drummer Dog. (11)

By Wolfie Steel.

A new morning dawns and again there are many furs gathering in the hotel restaurant for their breakfast, most of which are not exactly rushing to finish. I look around the restaurant and I can see that sat two tables away from us is Aerosmith, the band members all dressed in their usual attire, between us though sits the band of Sound as a Hound.

Suddenly I lose my appetite and I stand from my seat and head into the foyer to wait for the rest of the band, it seems that my absence from the table has not gone un-noticed as I am joined a moment later by Steve Tyler from Aerosmith.

"A little birdie has told me that there is a little bit of friction between Jacks and Aces Wild and Sound as a Hound, let me tell you this Sam, I was in the audience yesterday watching how things played out, now I notice things when I'm on the sidelines and not actually performing, Sound as a Hound deserved their tenth place because let's face it they did just enough to stay in the competition, you guys came in sixth, now me personally I would have rated you at least fourth. What I am saying here Sam is that you guys in my view will always blow Sound as a Hound away, in fact you got my vote yesterday, so just keep doing what you are doing and you will end up in the final"

I thank the Pit Bull for his kind words and he just smiles and heads towards the rest of the members of his band. Seconds later I am joined by the rest of Jacks and Aces wild, again we all head out to the bus and again we are met by a smirking Shaun.

"It's going to be a long day today, we have the rest of the bands to listen to and then you and I will go head to head again, and let me tell you, the metaphorical gloves are off, we have stepped up our game and will take you down, Sam, you and Jacks and Aces wild will not last the day out"

At this Eldon stands behind the Husky and then takes him in a headlock.

"If I were you Husky I would worry about my own bands performance before Jacks and Aces wild, I heard what you performed yesterday and I'll tell you this, my fucking five year old Colt could have done better, on his fucking own"

With that Eldon releases Shaun from the headlock and then clambers back on board the bus, Shaun just snorts loudly and walks off towards his own band members, I look over at Shaun and I can see that there is now a heated argument going on between him and Lee Gold, a Fox who is the keyboard player from Sound as a Hound, I giggle a little as I wish that I could be a fly on the wall so that I can hear what is being said, but I will be happy in the knowledge that it seems that Sound as a Hound is starting to rip itself apart from the inside.

Steve now leads us all aboard the bus and we again make our way to the arena, for the first part of the day we will be in the audience listening to the rest of the qualifying bands as they play.

I look at my watch and see that it is now 2pm, the final ten bands have now been decided and I'm both happy and nervous, because one of the bands to make it through is none other than Aerosmith, I now know that should we get into the final that we will be fighting for honours with Steve Tyler.

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Thursday morning arrives and the remaining bands are sat in the arena checking out how each of the bands have placed, at the moment the top two spots are taken up by Def Leopard and Aerosmith, Jacks and Aces wild currently hold third while biting at our heals in fourth is Sound as a Hound.

Steve leans over the table and asks us all to do the same so that we can have a secret meeting.

"Guys, I don't mind telling you this, but the fact that Sound as a Hound are so close to us has got me a little on edge, I mean shit there is just twenty points between us, I know that for this round we were going to perform Absolute Beginners, but with us being so close, I think we should perform You Came instead, because that will give us chance to use our trump card, Sam. We have to get out from under Shaun's paws"

For us it is now all or nothing, we desperately need to be in tomorrow's semi finals with a healthy lead over Shaun and his band, we all nod our heads in agreement and then lean back in our seats waiting for our bands name to be called.

At 5pm we get what we see as a bad omen handed to us as Shaun's band gets called to perform before us, we sit there through their performance and even I can now see that Shaun has thrown one of his best poker hands in, the song that they perform is none other than Lost In Your Eyes, the very song that we were working on when AJ and I were kicked out of the band.

I can feel my blood beginning to boil as I hear the song that I was in part responsible for now being used against me. The song comes to an end and Shaun and the band step down from the stage, even from where we are sat I am positive that I can see a shit eating grin plastered all over the Husky's muzzle.

Steve can see my look of disgust and stands from his seat and then kneels down by my side.

"Sam, what is it, you look as though you have swallowed a wasp"

A tear trickles down my cheek.

"The bastard has done it to me"

A look of confusion hits Steve's muzzle.

"I don't understand sweets, what are you talking about?"

I compose myself a little.

"Fucking Shaun, the song that they have just performed was the one that we were working on when Shaun kicked me and AJ out; I helped write the damn song"

Steve gently rubs my thigh with his paw.

"Let's blow the fucker's tail off"

The host for the day now takes to the stage.

"Okay guys, the next band to take to the stage is Jacks and Aces Wild"

Steve leads us all to the stage; I take my position at the drum kit, the song that we are about to play is running through my mind, I'm trying to make sure that I don't fluff any changes in the beat, which for any song is a must, with this song however it is imperative, because the original song was played using an electronic drum kit.

Suddenly I hear the synthesiser as it begins the intro of the song, now I count down to the start of my performance and I realise that there is now no turning back. Halfway through the song and the sweat is already streaming off my forehead and muzzle and down my back, over the top of the music I can hear whistles and screams, but I can't tell whether they are whistles and screams of joy or whistles and screams of pain.

The most demanding part of the song, the end, arrives and I put everything I have into hopefully nailing it. Finally the song comes to an end and I realise that we can now do no more, if we are still those dreaded twenty points or less away from Sound as a Hound I know that Steve will probably take it as a failure, we have to begin to get some air between us.

We all head back to our table and I look over towards where Shaun and the guys are sitting, it is then that I get that look from him that tells me that he knows that we have just kicked his sorry Husky ass. We all sit down at the table and take massive gulps from our drinks to try and cool down; we are the final band to perform today so now we have the agonising wait to see if we have done enough to rub Shaun's nose in the dirt.

Finally the scores are announced, Jacks and Aces Wild now has a healthier lead over Sound as a Hound at fifty points, but we know as a band that we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. There is a slight buzz as we head back to the bus for our journey back to the hotel, but we also know that we have just put our all into today's performance, to get through the semi finals tomorrow we have to find something special, something extra.