Thicker Than Water

by Krickis


2 – Creative Differences

Chapter Two
Creative Differences


It was bullshit. No matter what anyone said, that’s what it was. They had built this band together, and now Lightning Dust was just going to walk away from it? She was one of the founding members, how were they ever going to do this without her?

No one else seemed to see it that way, though. Hell, everyone continued on as if nothing was changing, save for the occasional update from Windfall when someone he’d contacted replied that they were interested in the position. Rainbow usually went silent when those updates came; there shouldn’t be a position for them, their band had always been just fine as it was.

The least she could do was the tour with them, then they could take some time off before scheduling another one to find a replacement. But no one else seemed to think that was a problem, so Rainbow held her tongue. Better to be silent than to have Fluttershy tell her off again.

Distantly she at least acknowledged that there was a lot to be said for the increased notoriety that Bitchette had achieved since releasing their first album. Sure, they weren’t selling out stadiums, but music magazines talked about them as an up and coming band worth watching, and they had songs on the radio. Along with giving them a way to make money doing what they loved, that came with certain other perks.

At the very least, they had more than one person looking to audition this time. Enough people sent videos in that they had decided to hold off on watching them, that way they could see them all at once and compare them with one another.

Meanwhile, everyone just went about recording things while the videos kept coming in. It had been almost a week and true to her word, Lightning Dust never protested no matter what they wanted to record. Rainbow kind of missed it. Sure, they didn’t always agree, but an extra opinion on the proceedings had been welcome.

It didn’t feel like it mattered that everyone else liked the new sound. Knowing that it was pushing Lightning Dust away made Rainbow want to wipe the recordings and start fresh, make something they could all get behind.

But she didn’t. She held her tongue, and let her frustration out in her recordings.

“I want to try that again,” Rainbow said after doing a third take on the lead vocals. “I feel like I can get my voice to go a little farther.”

“Okay, Dash,” Fluttershy said from her seat behind the console. “But how about first you come out and get some water? I don’t want you throwing out your voice, we have a lot to record today.”

“Yeah, alright.” Rainbow took off the headphones she was wearing and set them down, then stepped out of the soundproof booth where she recorded vocals. She grabbed a bottle of water out of a mini-fridge in the corner of the room, then collapsed into a chair.

“I think things are coming along pretty well,” Fluttershy said. “At this rate, we shouldn’t have a problem finishing on time.”

“Mmm.” Rainbow drank her water. She idly wondered what would happen if they didn’t finish on time. Would Lightning Dust stick around until they were done?

“Wanna play it back?” Windfall asked.

“Alright.” Fluttershy hit some buttons on the console and their music filled the room. They’d been working on a song called Your Impatience, and the only thing that still needed to be finalized was the vocals. Once they had Rainbow’s lead in place, they could record Windfall and Lightning’s backing vocals.

Everyone listened to the recording intently, searching for any flaws that needed to be ironed out. Everyone except Rainbow, of course. She was miles away in her head, thinking about how they only had three more weeks together.

Three weeks, then recording would be wrapped up. After that, there would be no need for Lightning to stick around, so she’d probably head back to Everton. Three weeks, and then they wouldn’t be quite the same band ever again.

She looked over at Lightning Dust, who was listening to the song as critically as the others, but who would definitely not be voicing her thoughts on the track. It was one of the songs in their new style, one of their ‘alternative’ songs as Lightning had described them.

So Rainbow tried her best to bring as much energy to the recording as she could, tried to show Lightning that they weren’t getting soft just because they wanted to try new things. She wasn’t sure how well that was working out, since Lightning never showed any signs of what she felt.

Rainbow looked away. When it came down to it, they already weren’t the same band they had been. Lightning Dust was still here, but she was acting like little more than a session musician. Sometimes Rainbow was tempted to ask her not to bother recording backing vocals for the album at all, her voice only serving as a reminder that she wasn’t really present.

But as with all things, Rainbow held her tongue. She waited for the song to end, then she said, “I don’t like my vocals.”

“Yeah, you wanted to rerecord them,” Fluttershy said. “We can do that.”

Rainbow frowned. She needed the vocals to be more raw, and she’d been pushing her voice to its limits to get it there. She was not a traditionally good singer, she knew that. But her voice was built for punk. It had an edge to it that suited the genre well. And yet, somehow it just wasn’t cutting it. Not for what she had in mind.

But she held her tongue. She would try again later, because that was all she could do.

“I liked it,” Lemon Zest said. “I think it’s fine the way it is.”

“I think so too,” Windfall said. “What are you trying to do here, Dash?”

“I don’t know,” Rainbow said. “I just don’t like it.”

“Maybe we should take a break,” Lightning Dust said. It was the first time she had suggested they do anything since she announced her departure, and she was getting them off schedule?

All eyes turned to her, but it was Windfall who spoke up. “What’s up?”

Lightning frowned. “Look, we’re ignoring it, but I’m leaving. We need to go through those videos and find a replacement, and the sooner the better.”

“We?” Rainbow said bitterly.

Lightning sighed. “I’ll stay out of it if you want, but for fuck’s sake, get a move on it.”

“We should get these recordings nailed down first,” Rainbow said.

“No, I think Dust is right,” Fluttershy said. “Even if we find someone, we still have to get them here then practice with them. The recordings are going fine, we’ll have time to make sure they’re up to speed, but only if we get them on board soon.”

Again, Rainbow held her tongue. And since no one else voiced a complaint, they all moved over to crowd around Windfall, who pulled out a laptop. Fluttershy plugged it into the studio’s speakers so that they could hear the videos in high quality, then they picked one at random to play.

They watched a guy play along with one of their songs, the sound of which came out of a CD player he had in the background. It proved a little distracting, and just made the sounds from his own bass blend in too much with Lightning Dust’s. He seemed to play the song well, but he displayed no kind of stage presence as he played.

“I think we’re all thinking pass on this one,” Lightning said.

“At least we agree on that.” Rainbow wondered what would happen if she vetoed every audition.

Next up was a girl who had the decency to play the music she was listening to on her headphones, leaving only the audio of her bass for them to judge. She was much more energetic than the guy had been, both in her playing and her movements. She jumped around the room, which might have been impressive on stage if she didn’t topple into one of the other members as she did it. To finish off her video, she took off her bass and smashed it against the floor.

“I guess she… really counted on getting the part…” Lemon Zest said.

“I’m… not sure I want to go on tour with her,” Fluttershy said.

It was one thing to smash an instrument when the label gave them cheap ones for that exact purpose, but to break her own instrument for an audition of all things… “Yeah, she looks like a liability waiting to happen,” Rainbow added. “Next.”

They sifted through several more videos. One was a fantastic audition for a funk bassist, something none of the members were really sure if they wanted. One certainly played energetically, but seemed to mute half her notes. One played an original composition with lyrics and everything, which was decent in terms of performance but frankly sucked in terms of songwriting.

There were good ones too. Most of them were decent, at least. They kind of blurred together after a while though, and it was obvious they’d need another pass after eliminating obvious failures to really compare them all.

Until there was only one left. “Saved this for last,” Windfall said. “She’s a special treat.”

“Is she good?” Lightning asked.

“She was the first person I asked for a reason.” Windfall grinned. “And she went to Cloudsdale Middle with me, Rainbow, and Fluttershy.”

“What?” Rainbow turned to Windfall, but he didn’t say anything else. Instead, he just hit play.

A tall woman with brown skin stood in what looked like a garage. She had white hair, which was frosted on the tips. Rainbow recognized her immediately.

“Holy shit, it’s Gilda,” Rainbow mumbled.

“I’m Gilda, and this is my Bitchette bassist audition,” Gilda said, then she started playing. She didn’t seem to need any music to play along with, having neither music playing that they could hear nor headphones on with her own music.

“Alright, so, stupid question,” Lemon Zest said as they watched, “but that is a bass, right?”

“Yeah, that’s a bass,” Lightning Dust said.

It wasn’t hard to see why Lemon Zest would ask that. Gilda played a five-stringed bass, and she a blistering solo on it that at times sounded more like the low notes on a guitar. It was an impressive solo, both in skill and composition, and Rainbow wondered if she had written it herself.

Gilda was also far from stationary as she played, though she kept herself well contained to one area. It was easy to see that the audience would love watching her, but that she wouldn’t get in the way of the others on stage.

Her solo came to a close, but she didn’t seem to be done. She pressed play on a CD player, and a recognizable drum pattern came on.

“Another of these,” Lemon Zest said with a frown. Of course, she recognized the drum loop immediately – she had recorded it.

But then guitars came in, and Rainbow realized something was slightly off. It was their song, but it sounded different. “This is a cover, isn’t it?” Rainbow asked.

She got her answer soon enough, as no vocals came in. There was also no bass – someone had recorded only the drums and guitars for one of their songs to serve as the backing track to this part of her bass audition.

In place of having bass on the recording, Gilda performed it herself. But rather than try to play it exactly as written, she changed it. It was still grounded in the same groove that Lightning Dust had recorded, but she made it her own. It sent a clear message – Gilda was not Lightning Dust, and if they chose her, they were taking her as she was instead of trying to mold her into something they were used to.

She stopped when the song was over and grinned. “All instruments played by yours truly. Bass is my instrument of choice, but I can play guitar and drums. I also write my own stuff, including the solo I opened with. Call me, Dash.”

Gilda reached towards the screen and shut off her video recorder, and everyone looked at one another. It was Lemon Zest that said what they were all thinking. “Wow.”

“Okay, if you don’t want her, you’re all idiots,” Lightning Dust said. “She blew away all the other auditions.”

“Yeah, she’s got my vote,” Windfall said.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you had Gilda!” Rainbow punched Windfall’s shoulder. “Having someone we already know on board makes this so much better! Right, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy was still staring at the screen, and she had a frown on her face. She didn’t respond.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow prompted.

Fluttershy blinked a few times then shook her head. “I… I never thought I’d be seeing Gilda again.”

“Pretty cool, right?” Rainbow asked with a smirk. “Wonder whatever happened to her after middle school.”

“I went to high school with her too,” Windfall said. “We kind of fell out of touch after that, though. I didn’t realize she had gotten that good since I last heard her.”

“So we all in agreement then?” Lightning Dust asked.

The idea of Lightning leaving still sucked, but Rainbow couldn’t deny that there was a silver lining now. “I think so.”

Fluttershy sighed. “I’m… well, I guess it might be okay.”

“Might be?” Rainbow asked. “She was awesome.”

“Oh, yeah, she definitely had the best audition,” Fluttershy agreed with a slight smile. It didn’t last for long, however. “But I was just thinking, well… Gilda was really mean to me back in middle school.”

“What?” Rainbow scrunched up her face. “I don’t remember anything like that.”

“No, I don’t think you ever knew about it. She… when you weren’t around, she used to make fun of me a lot.”

“Oh.” Lemon Zest frowned. “Well, fuck her then. We don’t need that kind of negativity in the band.”

Rainbow frowned for different reasons. “Shy, why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

Fluttershy looked away from Rainbow. “She was your friend. I… I didn’t really know what you’d think.”

“Didn’t know what I’d think? I would’ve kicked her ass to the curb in an instant!”

“I guess… I guess I knew that. But, uhm, I didn’t want to get in the way of you and your friend.”

“Geez, sometimes I forget how meek you used to be,” Lightning Dust said.

“Look, Gilda was going through some really bad stuff back then,” Windfall said. He wouldn’t meet their eyes. “And I knew her in high school. She turned over a new leaf, she’s not the bitch she used to be.”

“Well, sure, not to you,” Rainbow pointed out. “But we were her friends, Windfall. She was cool to us even back in middle school.”

“I’m just saying we should hear what she has to say,” Windfall said. “She’s good, Dash. She’s really good. She could be an asset to us.”

“We have to live with her,” Rainbow said irritably.

“I don’t have to live with her and I’m calling bullshit.” Lightning Dust folded her arms. “I don’t want someone like that being in the band. Shy’s the one who’ll have to deal with her crap.”

Lemon Zest nodded. “Yeah, why take the chance?”

“That’s what I’m saying, though,” Windfall said, finally looking at Rainbow. “No one has to deal with her crap, she’s changed.”

“Look, we’re done talking about this,” Rainbow said. “Sure, she’s good. That’s obvious. But we need more than good, and none of us want to give her a second chance after she blew her first one.”

“I might,” Fluttershy said. She turned to Windfall. “You really think she’s changed?”

Windfall smiled at Fluttershy. “Yeah, I do.”

“And so have I,” Fluttershy said. “I’m not the pushover I was back then. If she’s causing problems, I can tell her to get the hell out of here.”

Rainbow glared at Windfall. Why was he sticking up for her so much? “I’m not working with her. End of story. Now, let’s get back to recording.”

“Dashie…”

“Don’t ‘Dashie’ me,” Rainbow snapped. “This is for your own good, Shy. For all of our own good.” She got up and walked back to the booth, stopping at the door to turn to the others. “Now, I want to take another pass at those vocals. We’ll go through the videos again later and figure it out then.”

Without waiting for an answer, Rainbow stepped into the booth.


Days passed, and it was more of the same. They recorded, Rainbow felt like something was missing, and she didn’t say anything. She couldn’t get the vocals on Your Impatience right no matter how many ways she attempted it, and she could tell the others were frustrated of her trying. They eventually tabled that song and moved onto another.

But while the song they were recording may have changed, the recording sessions didn’t. Rainbow was dissatisfied, Lightning Dust was silent, no one else seemed to notice or care.

“Great job, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said once Rainbow had recorded her lead guitar on a song. “I think that’s a perfect take.”

Rainbow was less sure. “Well, let’s play it back then.”

Fluttershy hit a button, and the song started playing from the top. Everyone silently gave it their attention, Rainbow most of all. She wasn’t sure she liked what she heard, but she also wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“I like it,” Windfall said when it was finished.

“I don’t know,” Rainbow said. “Feels like it’s missing something…”

“Keyboards?” Lightning Dust asked with a smirk.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. Contrary to what Lightning seemed to think, they weren’t filling the album with keyboards. Like the majority of the songs they were recording, this one featured the standard guitar, bass, drums, and vocals approach.

Before anyone was able to offer any suggestions, the door opened. Rainbow turned to tell whoever it was that they were in the wrong studio, but her words fell to the ground as her jaw dropped open.

“Hey, dweeb,” Gilda said with a grin. “I hear you could use someone to fill in with your band.”

Rainbow couldn’t manage to say anything, so Lightning Dust filled in for her. “What are you doing here?”

“Not exactly the welcome I was hoping for…” Gilda said, scratching her neck as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her.

“I did warn you that they would need to be convinced,” Fluttershy said. All heads snapped towards her. She sighed softly. “I invited Gilda here. I thought it would be good for all of us to have the chance to talk things out and decide if we want to try things out together.”

“Wait… you called her without telling us?” Lemon Zest asked.

“At first I just wanted to talk to her, but then I thought it would be best if we all talked.” Fluttershy looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry, I know I should have told you all, but I just… didn’t want you to shoot it down before she was even here.”

“No way.” Rainbow narrowed her eyes at Gilda. “I don’t care if you came all the way here, Fluttershy told us what happened back in middle school.”

“Well, I want to hear her out,” Windfall said before Gilda could answer. “Gilda, why don’t you tell us your side of things?”

Gilda sighed. “My side of the story is that I was a huge bitch to Fluttershy back then. I made her my punching bag and I wouldn’t have blamed her if she wanted nothing to do with me.”

“I guess it’s good you realize you fucked up,” Lemon Zest said.

“I did fuck up, and I’m not going to fuck up again. I’m not the same bitch I was back then.”

Rainbow’s blood was boiling. She was looking at Gilda, but she was seeing someone else completely. Someone who said something similar once, someone who failed time and time again. “I don’t care. We don’t need someone around who put Shy through hell.”

“Gilda wasn’t that bad,” Fluttershy said. “I’m not a little kid anymore, Dash. I can take care of myself.”

Gilda scoffed and looked away from everyone. “Look, I don’t want to be here if you don’t want me here, RD. I just, I dunno, I thought out of everyone that you might give me the benefit of the doubt.”

“Why don’t you tell her what you told me?” Fluttershy asked.

Gilda frowned and took a seat. “Alright, guess I might as well, huh? So yeah, back in middle school, I was going through some stuff.”

“Like that’s an excuse,” Rainbow said.

“It’s not,” Gilda said. “But I’m not trying to make excuses. I’m just saying that I’m not that person anymore.”

“Let’s at least hear her out, Dash,” Lightning Dust said.

“I don’t want to hear anything from you,” Rainbow snapped, turning to glare at Lightning. “You just want to be able to leave guilt-free.”

“That’s low, Dash,” Lemon Zest said harshly. “Dust cares about us. And fine, if you need to hear it from someone else, I want to hear Gilda out. Shy invited her, after all.”

Gilda groaned. “This is stupid. She doesn’t give a shit what my reasons were.”

Fluttershy sighed. “Gilda’s parents lost their house.”

Gilda just stared off into the distance, not giving any sign that she even heard Fluttershy at all.

“That’s pretty harsh,” Lemon Zest said.

“You don’t even know if that’s true,” Rainbow pointed out. “Just because she said it, doesn’t mean it happened.”

“It happened,” Windfall said. “Remember, I knew Gilda back then, and in high school too. Her parents lost their house and they had to move into a one-bedroom apartment in a shitty part of town.”

“Tell them the rest, Gilda,” Fluttershy prompted gently.

“It’s dumb,” Gilda said. “It doesn’t change anything.”

“It changed things for me,” Fluttershy said.

Gilda groaned again and shifted positions. “I guess I kinda felt like it was my fault, you know? Like I was just a drain on their time and money and if they didn’t have a kid, they’d be able to live a better life. I even ran away from home for a while to try and make things easier for them.”

No sob story was changing things. Not for Rainbow. “So what, you want me to be so sympathetic that I forgive you for bullying my best friend behind my back?”

“No,” Fluttershy said sharply. “But I want you to think things through. Gilda had the best audition out of anyone. We all agreed on that. You were ready to give her the part before I said anything, and I’m willing to let the past go. If I’m willing to leave it behind, then why the hell aren’t you?”

Rainbow tried to come up with a response to that, but nothing came to mind.

“Besides, we only have a limited time,” Fluttershy said. “We have to be tour-ready in under two months, and that involves finishing this album and then practicing the tour setlist. We need to settle on someone soon, and Gilda is the best choice.”

“You’re sure about this, Shy?” Lemon Zest said.

“I’m sure I’d like to give it a shot,” Fluttershy said.

Lemon Zest smiled. “Then I’m willing to try as well.”

“I was with you from the beginning, Gil,” Windfall said.

Rainbow looked around at the room. As usual, Lightning Dust wasn’t weighing in, and everyone else voiced their support of Gilda. As usual, Rainbow was the only one with a problem.

So she did what she always did. She got up, and she walked away.

“Rainbow, wait,” Fluttershy said, but Rainbow was already out the door. She needed to get away, she needed to clear her head.

She left the building and looked down the sidewalk. She considered just making a run for it. She barely ever got a good workout in anymore, and there was no room for second-guessing when she was pushing herself to run as fast as she could.

Instead, she leaned against the building and waited. Fluttershy would come follow her soon, and then they’d talk about it. But this time, Rainbow wasn’t folding. They had time to find a new bassist, and if not, Lightning Dust would just have to stay.

Predictably, the door opened. “Just give it up, Shy. I’m not working with her.”

“Not quite,” Lightning Dust said. She leaned against the building with Rainbow. “So, wanna talk about what this is about?”

Rainbow scoffed. “It’s about Fluttershy. She doesn’t need someone around who hurt her!”

Lightning Dust just shrugged it off. “She doesn’t seem all that hurt, Dash.”

“You just don’t –”

“Know her like you do?” Lightning Dust quirked an eyebrow. “Maybe I know her better than you give me credit for.”

“You weren’t there when we were kids. This is how things are with us.”

“Yeah, and that’s why maybe I know her better than you do.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “Bullshit.”

“No, really. You look at her and you see whoever she was back when you were in school together. And I didn’t know her then, but I know that’s not who she is anymore. She’s a strong woman, Dash. Not a little girl who needs you to protect her.”

Rainbow shoved her hands in her pockets and kept her mouth shut.

“This isn’t about Fluttershy. This is about me.”

Rainbow gritted her teeth.

“I’m not staying. I need to do what’s right for me, you know? And when the album’s done, if you haven’t found someone, I’m still going.”

“So just fuck us then, huh!?” Rainbow pushed herself off the building and threw out her hands.

“It isn’t like that, Dash.”

“Yeah it fucking is! You’re leaving us!” Rainbow placed her hand on her chest. “You’re leaving me!”

Lightning Dust frowned but she didn’t answer.

“Alright, fine, I don’t want Gilda to replace you! Happy? That’s what this is about, you’re leaving us and it’s just… it’s really shitty.”

“Yeah,” Lightning Dust said. “Yeah, it is. I’m the bad guy here.”

Rainbow looked away. “Why don’t you just go. We have Gilda now, I guess, so why don’t you just get the hell out of here?”

“Tch.” Lightning Dust shrugged. “Is that what you want?”

Rainbow stepped closer to Lightning Dust, so that they were face to face. “What the hell do you want, Dust!? You said you’d stick around to do the album, but I could play bass on it myself if that’s all you’re here for. I want you to be a fucking member of the fucking band you helped start!”

Lightning Dust’s eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched. “You think I want to leave? No! This was my band too! And you have no idea how much it sucks to see it turning into something else without being able to do shit about it! And you, just… just what the fuck, Dash? I’ve watched you disagree with every fucking decision that’s being made and you haven’t said shit about it! You wanna act all high and mighty because you’re staying, but let’s see you show some god damn backbone for your own band! Because…” Lightning Dust tore her eyes away from Rainbow’s. “Because you’re the only one left to do it.”

The two of them stood in silence for a while, then Rainbow sighed. “You really suck, you know that?”

“Yeah, I do.” Lightning smiled. “What do you say we go back inside and show the newbie a thing or two.”

“Yeah, alright.”

Lightning opened the door for them, so Rainbow walked in. She paused before they reached their studio, however. “Hey, Dust. When you start your own band, you singing lead?”

Lightning shrugged. “Haven’t really thought about it. Why?”

Rainbow opened the door. “Just wondering.”

It looked like Windfall was talking to Gilda, but whatever conversation they were holding died as Rainbow and Lightning walked back in the room. All eyes turned to the two of them, so Rainbow decided to finally live up to her position as the band’s frontwoman.

She pointed to Gilda. “You. Watch and try to learn something.” She turned next to Fluttershy. “I don’t want to rerecord the vocals to Your Impatience.”

Fluttershy quirked her head. “Decided you’re happy with it?”

“No. Lightning Dust is gonna do it.”

“I’m gonna do what?” Lightning asked incredulously.

“Yeah, what are you talking about?” Lemon Zest said. She was sitting backwards on a chair and leaning on its headrest. “You’ve always been our singer.”

“And I think Dust can sing this one better than me.” She turned to look at Lightning Dust. “I meant what I said. If you’re not going to be a part of this band, you can just leave now. But if you’re gonna stick it out with us for one more album, then you gotta be willing to get your hands dirty.”

“By recording lead vocals?” Lightning asked.

“By giving it a shot, or at least by convincing me it’s a bad idea.” Rainbow folded her arms. “So what’s it gonna be?”

Lightning smirked. “Alright, fine. I guess if you’re really that determined to see me leave you in the dust.”

No one really seemed sure of it, but despite it being one of their alternative songs, Your Impatience was raw. Rainbow’s voice wasn’t good in a traditional way, but she’d been singing her whole life. Despite how her voice sounded, she could sing.

Lightning Dust was much rougher than Rainbow was, and that’s what the song needed. She put on the headphones and stepped up to the mic. “Ready.”

“Alright,” Fluttershy said. “Your Impatience, Lightning’s vocals, take one.”


Hey bitches, Lightning Dust here. Just recorded my first ever lead vocals today, so be ready to get blown away when the album drops! It’s gonna be INSANE!! When me and Rainbow first started this band I never thought I’d be singing lead, but I gotta say I kicked ass today.

That’s also the last lead vocal you’ll ever hear from me on a Bitchette song. Turns out this is my departure announcement. I’m recording the rest of the album with the band, then I’m hitting the road. I know everyone says creative differences in times like this, but that’s really the only way to describe what’s going on right now.

The tour’s still on, we got a replacement all lined up. I’ll let the band introduce you to her on their own when they’re ready, but she’s fucking GOOD. I want each and every one of you bitches to make it out to a show and see her yourselves because you can bet I’ll be there in the audience too.

I’ve loved being in Bitchette. I love my family that I’m leaving behind, and I know they’re going to keep kicking ass without me. I’ve also loved seeing you all when we tour, you all are what made being in this band worthwhile!

It’s been a wild ride, but for this bitch, it’s time to go out on my own. But don’t miss me too much, I’m sure I’ll be back with my own thing before too long. So keep rocking, and try to keep Rainbow from crying over me leaving! I’ll see you all around, until then, peace!