Robin's New Best Friend

The months passed, and the Fire and Rain tour took us across the United States and through Latin America and Europe. Halfway through the tour, the drugs I was experimenting with seemed to lose their effect, so I stopped taking them. Robin was thankful, but the tour was a lot less exciting after that. After a while, spending each night in a different city was simply exhausting.

After the European tour finished, Phantom Cat wanted to continue on with an Asian tour. "We have a huge fanbase in Japan and South Korea," Byron explained. "I can't wait to meet all of them."

In all honesty, Byron seemed a little too excited for the Asian tour, but Kyle, Robin, and I weren't nearly as interested in doing more touring. "We're thinking of flying back to Los Angeles and working on our next album instead of joining you in Asia," I said to Alan on the last day of the tour in Moscow.

"That's fine," Alan said. "I've just finalized agreements with Lesbian Anglerfish and Hogwash Assassins, so I'll have one of them open for us in Asia."

The next day, Madhouse returned to Los Angeles while the members of Lesbian Anglerfish flew to Moscow to meet Phantom Cat. We spent the first week back home recovering from the tour, except for Robin, who attended a Dropkick Murphys concert on the night we got back, but after that, we returned to the studio.

When I arrived at the Revelation Records building that day, I couldn't find the other members of Madhouse. I waited for a while, but when they didn't come, I assumed that they had gone to the studio without me.

I pressed the button for the elevator, and then pressed it again when it didn't come immediately. Why did I do that? I wondered as I entered the elevator. It's not like pressing the button again will make it come faster.

I found Robin and Kyle in the studio, but I also found a third man waiting with him. The man was taller than any of us, and he had dyed black hair and pale skin. His outfit was similar to Robin's. I swore the two of them were wearing matching knockoff Doc Martens. "Who's that?" I asked Robin.

"This is Colin Newman," Robin explained. "I met him at the Dropkick Murphys concert, and he's agreed to be our bassist."

"I can't wait to work with you guys," Colin said.

"Robin, I'm the bassist," I said. "We don't need a second one."

"I thought you would be happy, Bianca," Robin said. "You don't have to play the bass and sing at the same time any more."

"I would have been happy if you hired a bassist a few years ago, but I'm used to it now," I said.

"It will still make life easier," Robin argued.

"You're treating me like I can't play bass and sing at the same time," I said.

"I know you can do it," Robin said. "I just didn't think you wanted to. Besides, it will be better to have a fourth person helping us with songwriting on this album."

"We were fine when we wrote with three people on our first album," I said.

"I know, but the more, the merrier, right?" Robin said.

"You should have at least asked me about this first," I said.

"I thought you trusted me," Robin said.

"I do trust you," I said. "I just want a say in what happens to Madhouse."

"Can we just get started?" Kyle asked. "We need to write some songs for this new album."

"That's a good idea," Colin said.

"I have a song idea," Robin said. He pulled out his guitar and started playing a few chords. Then, he started humming a tune. "I haven't quite come up with the words yet, but I've been wanting to write about anarchism for a while."

"Robin, most of our fans don't agree with your politics," I informed him.

"I think it's a good idea," Colin said. "How about we mention property destruction while we're at it?"

"I'd love to make a point about punk rock refusing to follow the rules," Robin said. "I'll get started on writing the lyrics right now."

"Robin, we're not a punk band," I said.

"We should be," Robin said. "At the very least, we should take a little more inspiration from punk. It's the most innovative and interesting style of music out there right now."

"He's right," Colin said.

"I like the idea of writing a punk song, but I was thinking of doing a concept album, and I'm not sure that your song about anarchism would fit into the story of the album," Kyle said.

"What's the concept album about?" I asked.

"I'm still trying to figure out the story, but it doesn't involve property destruction," Kyle said.

"That's a shame," Robin said. "I'll start writing the lyrics, and if it doesn't fit on the album, then we'll use it for something else."

"That works," I said.

We didn't get a lot done that day. Most of it was Robin writing angry protest songs, with Colin encouraging him. As it turned out, Colin wasn't much of a songwriter, but he was overly supportive of Robin. He almost always agreed with Robin's ideas, although he was often quite critical of Kyle and I. By the end of the first day of songwriting, I already disliked him.

A few days later, Robin called me. "Hey Bianca," he said.

"Hi Robin," I said. "What's up?"

"Jenny and Jay's tenth birthday is today, and I thought I should send them some homemade cookies," Robin said. "I need your help though."

"I can't believe they're that old already," I said. "I can help you. When do you want me to come over?"

"How about right now?" Robin said.

"That works," I said. "I'm on my way. See you soon, Robin."

I drove to Robin's apartment building and then took the elevator to the fourth floor, where his apartment was. I could tell exactly which apartment was his when I heard Against Me! blaring from one of the rooms. I knocked on his door, and Robin answered. "Hey Bianca," Robin said. "Come on in."

Robin's apartment was filled with punk memorabilia, as I expected. He had a nice view of the ocean from his window, and baking utensils were scattered around the kitchen, most of which appeared as if they had never been used. "I found a recipe for chocolate chip cookies online," Robin said. "I think it will work."

"I'm not a very good cook either, Robin," I said. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"We'll see," Robin said. He took out the recipe and began to read. "Mix sugars, butter, vanilla, and egg in a large bowl. How about you crack the eggs and I'll measure the sugar?"

"That works," I said. I took out a carton of eggs and started cracking them into the bowl. "What have you been up to this week?" I asked Robin.

"I met up with Colin yesterday," Robin said. "We wrote three new songs that we could use for the album."

I rolled my eyes. "Did you write something that actually fits our band's style?" I asked.

"Probably not," Robin admitted. He dumped sugar into the bowl and then went to get some butter.

"We can't change our sound too much," I said.

"I know," Robin said. "I'm trying to come up with some stuff that might fit the album a little better, but Colin has some good ideas."

"Colin's not helping," I said. "He's just agreeing with you on everything."

"Can we talk about this later?" Robin asked. "We need to finish these cookies."

"You're right," I said as I put the vanilla in the bowl. I then looked at the recipe and put flour, baking soda, and salt in. By the time we were done, both Robin and I were covered in flour.

Robin laughed as he said, "We're such bad cooks."

"Yeah, but you still look nice, even with flour all over you," I said before kissing him on the cheek.

All of a sudden, a notification went off on Robin's computer. "Alan's trying to Skype me," Robin explained. He opened Skype and accepted Alan's call. It took a while, but eventually Alan, Byron, and Miles appeared on Robin's computer. They appeared to be in a tour bus driving through Tokyo.

"Hey guys," Alan said as he adjusted his sunglasses. "How's it going?"

"Is that flour on you?" Byron asked.

"Yeah, we were baking cookies," Robin explained. "How's Tokyo?"

"It's amazing!" Byron exclaimed. "I'm so glad we went here."

"Where's Isaac?" I asked.

"Isaac?" Alan said. "Who's Isaac?"

"He went missing back in Shanghai," Miles explained. "We didn't have time to fly in a replacement before the show in Beijing, so we promoted one of the technicians who knew how to play the drums."

"I sure hope nothing awful happened to Isaac," Byron added. "Rex Bloodwood seems cool too though."

"Is your new drummer's name really Rex Bloodwood?" I asked. "That sounds like a name for a serial killer or something."

Miles laughed. "It does, but he seems nice," he said. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"As you can see, this tour is going horribly," Alan said. "Miles threatened to leave the band twice, Byron almost went missing in Seoul, and our old drummer is gone."

"I still think we should go on a hiatus after all of this," Miles said.

"Absolutely not!" Alan shouted.

"We should at least consider it," Miles said.

"When do you get back?" I asked.

"Two weeks from now," Byron said. "I wish it wasn't so soon. I'd stay here forever if I could!"

"We know, Byron," Miles said, rolling his eyes. "Anyways, we're almost at the venue. We'll see you guys soon."

"Bye everyone," I said.

"Sayonara!" Byron said, attempting to improve his terrible Japanese, before logging off.

Robin and I finished our cookies, and when we were done, we tasted the dough. "This tastes horrible," I said as I swallowed the cookie dough as quickly as possible.

"I think I might have put salt in there instead of sugar," Robin said. "Maybe I should just pick up some cookies from the grocery store."

"That might be a better idea," I said.

"Thanks for helping anyways," Robin said.

"No problem," I said. "It was worth it just to spend some time with you."

When I returned to my apartment, I took out my bass and wrote yet another song about Robin. Despite our troubles, I still loved him with all of my heart, and there was no better way to express that than in song.