WECOME TO THE YEAR 2000. ( volumehq season 2 world premiere )
The members of Runaway Yesterday stand before a meager crowd, instruments in hand. They’re stuck within that brief moment where your ears fill with white noise, you can feel your heart in your throat, and everything else is a blur. After all, this is their first real gig – and it’s at the fucking Battle of the Bands.
“One, two, and a one, two, three, four!”
The countdown rings out, KC’s drumsticks tapping together in a quick count of the beat and then the rest is all noise. There’s nothing left to rely on except the practice sessions and hard work they’ve poured into the last couple of weeks, hoping that autopilot will override the nerves. It’s a short set, considering they only have so much material pulled together, but when Ethan looks up after the first song, the crowd looks . . . bigger, somehow. And no one is booing or throwing tomatoes, they’re actually cheering. He beams.
“Do you want another one?” Nisa calls into the mic, and the response isn’t booming or anything, it’s still the smallest stage at the venue, but there are actual cheers. Audible sounds of enjoyment, and the energy is good. The members of Runaway Yesterday can feel this in their veins, the palatable roar of the crowd, the excitement of connecting with the crowd over music that they’re playing. When they finish their set, they can hear people chanting their band’s name.
“What’re they doing?” Josie asks, peering out from backstage.
“Guys…” KC’s eyes widen, a slow smile spreading across his features. “I think they’re calling for an encore.”
With a slough of talented bands in the lineup, no one’s surprised when Runaway Yesterday doesn’t clinch first, second, or even third. No placement at all, actually, but spirits aren’t low when they’re packing up their stuff. Why? They weren’t bad. Sure, they weren’t fine-tuned perfection, but the crowd had liked them. They’d done an encore. And they’d had fun. Not bad for a first gig, especially with such stakes involved. Not bad at all.
“Hello? I’m looking for the manager of Runaway Yesterday?” He’s a tall, thin man with a bolo tie and spiked hair, like Billy Idol meets Bob Dylan. It’s a weird clash of aesthetics, but this guy makes it work in an eccentric sort of way. Trip lives up to his name by stumbling over Nisa’s bass on his way to greet them, “Yeah, that’s me!”
He holds out his hand to shake, which the man takes, introducing himself, “John Corrigan,” he states, getting a good look at all of the members with his sweeping gaze. “I’m a producer, used to work alongside Butch Vig on a few projects, but…I’m starting my own label.” Ethan’s eyebrows arch in surprise, leaning in to make sure he heard that right. The Butch Vig? Of Nirvana? He stands up a little straighter, quits slouching.
“You guys are good. A little rough, maybe, but it’s the sound I’ve been looking for. I think you’ve got potential,” he says, an encouraging grin spreading across his features. He passes Trip a business card from his wallet. “Keep me updated on what you’re working on, give me a call when you’ve got a few more singles, send me a demo when you’ve got one . . . I’m thinking maybe we can work together.”
His offer is conditional, of course, requires that they keep up the momentum of what they’ve started and really blow him out of the water with their next singles and a badass demo, but it’s an open door. They just can’t drop the ball now.
In high spirits, the crew returns back to Woodstock late in the night. High Volume isn’t directly on the way back to Ethan’s house, but they cut through the center of town to get a good look at it anyway. The van stops short in front of the door.
“Holy shit, is that – does that say ‘RE-OPENING SOON’?”
PORTLAND, OREGON.
( DEPRESSION TW )
Jennifer Gordon left town when she was eighteen years old, pregnant and on her own, she kept her secrets and moved to Portland, Oregon to start anew. She didn’t keep in contact with anyone, even her younger brother Jerry. A Woodstock loser and pariah, she rebuilt her life, met and married a man and started living with a white picket fence, went to PTA meetings and pilates classes, living the perfect suburban life that she had always dreamed about. When she heard of Jerry’s passing, she was sad, but she hadn’t spoken to her brother in many years. He was young, though, and apparently not the most responsible of people. She shouldn’t have been too surprised that he didn’t keep a proper will.
As his only surviving relative on legal record, she inherited pretty much everything he had. Jenny didn’t really have time for all of that – she had a good life in Portland, a husband and two beautiful children, why would she ever go back to Woodstock? She just put Jerry’s house and store up for sale and tried to make it as easy for herself as possible. Until, over Christmas, she was blindsided by the fact that her husband had been cheating on her for years with a coworker and was finally leaving her. First, she fell into a deep depression, and didn't leave bed for weeks on end until her children convinced her otherwise. They were worried. Jenny had almost forgotten about all of Jerry’s property until one of her children pulled the paperwork out of a drawer while helping her clean the house. And so, in the midst of what one could call a midlife crisis, Jenny packed her things – and decided to move her life back to Woodstock for a fresh start all over again. Her children came with her, obligated to at least help their mother get on her feet after they saw her nearly starve herself to death out of sadness.
Jerry didn’t keep great books, but Jenny made an attempt to contact his old employees, asking if they’d like to be interviewed again for their jobs. Jenny never knew the record store when Jerry started it, but there’s something about it that feels very much like home to her. She plays Joni Mitchell loudly on the stereo and dances around the back room, feeling like a kid again. Woodstock still holds this soft, nostalgic quality for her, reminds her of her childhood and all of that possibility. When everything felt dark, cleaning house in the back of the record store made Jenny feel alive again.
Jennifer Gordon will run a tighter ship than Jerry did, but in some ways, that could be a positive thing. The crumbling record store could probably benefit from some real management. However, Jennifer knows little about the mess that Jerry left behind. She’s wholly unprepared for the drug operation that will start to launder money under her nose, or the way former enemies of Jerry’s might come out of the woodwork to apply for positions at the store, hell bent on getting revenge for the gang members that were sent to jail.
Is she really prepared to clean up the mess that her brother left behind?
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
Woodstock itself doesn’t have any holding cells for serious prisons. It’s too small – so, let’s take a moment to visit the Cook County Department of Corrections in Chicago, where some of the state’s biggest offenders are awaiting their court dates. Terry Carter and James Coughlan are among these, two men from Woodstock who used to operate a gambling ring outside of the Mean-Eyed Cat. Until Jerry Gordon racked up a little too much money and things got out of hand. Yeah, way out of hand. Terry’s wracked with guilt – after all, to him, they just meant to scare the guy. He feels terrible. James is trying to keep him together, because he lives on the other end of the spectrum : he’s PISSED.
After all, he’s fairly certain they never would’ve been caught at all if it wasn’t for all of those meddling employees over at High Volume, the ones who couldn’t keep their mouths shut or their noses out of the investigation. And James wants revenge. So, when his best friend and former gang member comes to visit, they hatch a plan. If he can’t exonerate himself, he’ll bring others down with him.
“What if I can’t find anything that connects them to the case?”
“Well, then I guess we’ll just have to make something that does.”
Yep, that’s right, High Volume is reopening under new management!
Muses can reapply for their jobs, pretty much, and I will be posting a task for you to fill out that allows for your muse to meet Jennifer – it’s basically a revamp of the original application, so a refresh. It’ll be fun to look back at your muse then and now.
Please let me know if you have any questions! I feel like the first season centered very much around Jerry missing, but this plot has a few moving parts, think of it as having a few different pieces that are connected by a thread. I’m always here to help clarify where you might need it, or even bounce around some ideas.