Tig Ripley Rock n Roll Rebel friend Sam so Will and Tig usually ended up elbow to elbow Um 1960 called she said They want their male chauvinism back What you think girls aren’t strong enough to beat two puny little sticks against a circle Or we’re afraid we might break a nail Will scoffed It’s not an issue of physical strength It’s an issue of leadership Drummers set the pace The whole band depends on them for the beat You’re actually saying a girl couldn’t lead a band Tig asked The truth hurts For your information if you can learn how to play the drums it can’t be that hard I could probably get in a band before you could Maybe he said trying to sound like he wasn’t riled It’s good business to throw a good-looking chick in a rock band Probably get more gigs that way Although Tig was a little thrown by the good looking chick comment did Will think she was 4
Chapter One good-looking she was more focused on his ridic ulous arrogance Like he knew anything about business or gigs Did he not realize he was thirteen like nearly everyone else in their class I suppose you’re speaking from your vast gigging experience in the band room playing snare with a metronome Haters gonna hate he said And furthermore you assume that bands are made up of guys They are Ever hear of the Go-Go’s I think you just made my point The only girl band you can think of is from like thirty years ago And besides the only reason you know who they are is because you saw their documentary on VH1 about how they crashed and burned Girl bands are gimmicks They don’t work How would you know Because girls can’t get along period much less keep a band together Girls are too jealous of other girls They can’t trust one another 5
Tig Ripley Rock n Roll Rebel Will you’re such a doofus said Kyra who’d been half listening while drinking her water Somebody else at the table changed the subject and that was that Except that it wasn’t Because when Tig got home she called Big Daddy I want to learn how to play the drums she told him 6
Chapter Two Back in the sixties Tig’s grandfather had been a drummer in a band called the Orbits It was Big Daddy and his best friend Jerry and a couple of other guys The lead singer had been a guy named Danny Speed Big Daddy swore that was the singer’s real name even though it sounded made-up The Orbits had broken up when Big Daddy and Jerry had enlisted in the navy and nobody knew what happened to Danny Speed though Tig liked to think he’d been really handsome and had moved to somewhere cool like California In any case Big Daddy hadn’t played drums in 7
