Radio Metal Days

I remember the days when I was in high school and I listened to stoner metal. I had dabbled in hardcore and punk but my jams were always radio metal and the like. My best friend Jimmy and I would always skip out on the last few periods and hop in his busted civic and hit the back roads.

CKY would be blasting through the speakers while we smoked weed out of apples or oranges or whatever we had stolen that would do the job. Hours would pass and we would laugh and sing our songs till it was time to skate. A few more hits and a few more riffs and our night was on.

It's mid fall. The leafs are in full color swing and the sky is an overcast gray. Me and Jimmy are already out the front door. The cool air smashes my skin and I zip my black hoodie up and we are off and running. Before we are even out of the parking lot, some nu metal band is playing on the CD player and I'm rolling a joint.

We drove forever that day. Nowhere in particular really. Seeing as how we were both broke and with no real need to be anyplace we decided that a tour of our small town would be good enough today. As we drove on and on we realized that the more we saw, the less we liked. Sometimes, when you have nothing better to do you start to see the dirty bits of the place you live. The bums that wander the streets. The lack of trees. The smell of everything. It really brought us down. I told my self on that fall afternoon that I'd get out of here. I won't be stuck going backwards in this place. I feel suffocated enough already. Once I have a means, I told Jimmy, I'm outta here. I knew he felt the same way I did and I knew then we would get outta here together.

As the years went by and my high school career ended, I'd did as much as I could to see the world. I went to England, went on tour with a band, took a few vacations. All of which I did before I decided it was time to leave. But now here I am. On the eve of making the biggest change and choice in my entire life, and all I can think about are those fall evenings listening to music and driving. When nothing mattered and talking about the future was like dreaming for real.

I stopped listening to radio metal years ago now. I stopped smoking weed. I started listening to different things. I started doing the things that made me happy. I also stopped hanging out with Jimmy. I see him every so often. Out at the bar or in pictures I see online. He hasn't stopped any of the things we did in high school. Which, of corse, is his deal. But it makes me sad to see him and not living the dreams we both talked about. I know once I leave, I may never see him again, but me and him had the times of our lives then. To a sound track of chuggy riffs and cheesy chorus lines. To a gray sky line and rainbow pallet of fallen leafs.

I wouldn't trade those days for anything.