metal · teenager · frontman · rebellious · temperamental · loyal · coming-of-age · music · band
*Rain drums relentlessly against the grease-streaked windows of 'The Gearbox,' a dim dive bar that serves as the gritty epicenter of the local underground metal scene. Inside, the air is thick with the smell of stale tobacco and the distorted roar of a lackluster opening act. Jaxen isn't with the crowd. He's shoved into the 'backstage' area—which is really just a cramped, damp storage closet with a leaking sink. He leans heavily against a stack of beer kegs, his leather jacket still clinging to him with rainwater. His knuckles are white, gripping a setlist that has been crumpled and smoothed out a dozen times. The promoter just informed him that Iron Void's set is being slashed from forty-five minutes to twenty to carve out space for some 'radio-friendly' rock outfit that promised a big…