Drummer Girl

"Hi, I'm Emma Heart." Emma held out her hand to him, pulling her sunglasses off with the other.

Trent took her hand and felt her give him a firm handshake. He returned the firm shake and smiled. "Hi, I'm Trent... come on in." He motioned for her to come into his house, where his studio was down in the basement.

"Thanks." She smiled, pulling out a pair of glasses and putting her sunglasses in their case, stepping inside and sliding her glasses on. "Um, my drums are in the back of my truck, if you want me to bring them down whenever...?" She was still holding onto the straps of her bag, looking very serious and professional.

"Oh sure. Well, I thought we'd just chat, talk about what we've been working on before we jump into playing the songs." Trent spoke.

"Okay. Should I take my shoes off or anything?" She offered, still standing on the tile by the door.

Trent looked to see she was respecting his carpet and smiled. "Oh no it's fine. Here, you want something to drink, or eat?" Trent went into his kitchen.

"Oh no, I'm fine. Thanks, though." She declined politely and followed him into the kitchen.

He was sensing she was on the defensive and it made him nervous, like she was afraid he was going to bite her or something. He was curious as to why she might seem so tense. When they talked on the phone she was very laid back, very kind. It didn't seem like she was intimidated by him, or unsure of coming to meet him and see if she's really interested in playing drums for him.

"Well um, alright. Come with me, I'll show you the studio and we can run through everything?" He turned to her and asked.

"Sure." She gave him a nod and a smile.

"Okay. This way, it's down in the basement." He led the way downstairs.

They entered the studio and Trent went to into the mixing room, where there were chairs for them to sit on.

Emma pulled her bag off of her shoulder and looked around at the setup he had. It was small but nice, walled with the best soundproofing she'd seen. He had all his guitars and basses, two drum set's set up in the two far corners of the room. Cab's and heads along with keyboards set up all over the place, each in its designated spot for ultimate sound quality.

"There are chairs in here, we can sit down and talk." Trent pulled them out from the mixing board and offered one to Emma.

"Thanks." She set her bag down against the wall on the floor and took a seat in the chair he offered, clasping her hands in her lap and waiting for him to ask/tell her what he needed too.

Trent noticed how prompt and proper she was, still feeling like something was off but taking his seat as casually as he could and turning to face her.

"Well, thanks for coming by, I really appreciate it." He gave her a tiny head bow of thanks.

"No problem, thanks for calling me." She replied with warmth in her voice.

"Alright. Well, we're going on tour in three weeks and as you know Jerome is off the bill, looking for someone to jump on tour with us. Um..." He looked at her to see her looking right back at him. "Dave told me you weren't currently working on any project's at the moment but were looking to do something?"

Emma nodded. "I left the band Valley I'm sure you wished you hadn't heard of a few months ago, realizing the people I thought were doing this for the same reasons as I were actually not. I have been playing in and out of bands all my life, that one having been the most successful and one I started with once friends of mine. I'm not just tied to one type of style, I've gone to school and graduated from First Sail University with a degree in progressive percussive styles and theory of percussion." Emma was on a role with her verbal resume to Trent. He was aware of these accomplishments but liked her stern approach towards him.

She continued, still speaking frankly with him. "I am quite an admirer of your music and from what I have gathered from various media resrouces and hear-say over the years am in agreement with you on many things in the music world today."

She looked at him and gave him a bashful smile.

"And I am so sorry I just spouted off like that but I am really nervous right now." She laughed a little and covered her face for a moment, taking a breath and then letting it out as she looked to him for reassurance.

Nervous was the last thing he thought she'd be. He was quite surprised at her confession and felt a twinge of guilt, as if he'd done something wrong.

"Oh, well... I'll admit I was a little thrown off at the stern-ness but I just assumed it was me making you feel uncomfortable." Trent chuckled lightly. "I'm sorry if I've made you feel on edge at all, I didn't mean too."

"Nonono, not at all. I... I talked to Dave on the phone before I got here and he kept making these jokes about how weird I am, and how I'll probably make you think I'm silly and I just got all tense... I'm sorry. He's an asshole and made me nervous." Emma used her hands to express her words as she spoke, seemingly embarrassed and amused at her behavior.

Trent had to laugh. Dave Grohl was one of the wackiest guys Trent knew and for Emma to think he'd be phased by anything weird was very funny to him. It showed him how much she seemed to want to be a part of Nine Inch Nails, and how much background she really did have to back her up.

"Well please, don't be nervous. To be honest, I knew most of the information you gave me already, minus the reason for your leaving of your previous band." He told her as he recovered from his laughing. He remembered her compliment about his feelings towards the state of music today. "I am also flattered you think I'm not insane in my feeling's towards the musical world, thank you."

"Not at all. I mean... I am a fan of many bands out there but I am more so just a fan of music itself." She explained. "I do enjoy pop and punk and metal and whatever, but it's because I enjoy music. But now there's nothing but kids in uniforms of un-comformity, by the millions. Making noise. It's all futile now, and I didn't realize I was a part of it because I was so eager just to be a part of something, something important to me." She confessed. "We may have made a difference in some lives but it wasn't for the better. It was just, these people so full of shit dancing around on the TV, telling kids it's okay to be insane and fucked up and emotionally damaged. Which we all are... but now I'm ranting and I'm sorry again." She stopped herself.

Trent was in awe of the anger she let surface slightly just now.

"It's okay. Don't apologize. I, find myself wondering why I do this every now and then, and I come to the conclusion that there's not a lot of people out there that can do it right." He admitted. "I'm not great, but at least it's real, you know?" He asked inadvertantly.

"I do. And that's why you are amazing, and your music is amazing." She told him. "I have always been attracted to your sound and your words because they mean something to you, therefore making it mean something to me, does that make sense?" She asked unsure if she just sounded really insane or not.

"Yeah. It's, quite flattering of you to say, thank you." He seemed to blush.

Emma smiled and felt accomplished that she made Trent Reznor blush. "Well I admire you, your very talented."

"Okay, no more, I think I might explode if you say anymore nice things. Let's go over the set up, shall we?" He charmingly changed the subject, going to grab a notepad he'd been writing on that he set on the mixing board behind him.

"Haha, alright." She loosened up quite a bit and scooted closer to go over the notes he was gathering.

They talked about what equipment he used live, what she was used to playing with, what he was using currently, etc. She was familiar with everything he brought up, so it was pretty much just left up to her to play him songs.

"Alright, well please feel free to be critical." Emma pulled her coat off and hung it over the chair as she stood up to go out to the drums. "I want to make sure I play what you need, and that it fits, that I fit."

Trent followed her out and assured her. "I really have no doubt at this point, I'm just very anxious to hear you play."

"Well awesome." She grinned and took a seat at the drums, adjusting everything to her specifications. "Are you going to run the track thru the headphones?" She asked as she gandered at the monitors set up in front of the drum set.

"Yes. I am going to start with Only, that alright?"

She nodded as she pulled the headphones on. "That's perfect."

"Okay, when your ready let me know." Trent closed the door to the mixing room and sat back down in his chair, looking out at Emma at the drums, hitting each head to make sure it was tuned well enough, and where she wanted it to be. She played a few beats before she let him know she was ready, shaking her arms out and loosening up.

"Okay." He hit play on the track, watching her eagerly.

She jumped into the song immediately and played note for note, beat for beat, as if she'd played the song a few times before.

Trent knew she was good, having listened to her in Valley. Nothing over the top, but very fluid and full of diversity. He could hear the potential in every kick of the drum, every hit on the snare. But this was remarkable, the sound he was hearing from her, the preciseness.

He sat back as she played and thought in his head about this situation:

Emma Heart. Very resourceful. Smart, with a musical education in percussion. Funny and warm, she seemed very modest and shy. She knew many people he knew, and they all seemed to like her very much. Dave had told him a story of a festival they'd played together before the break-up of Valley and how much fun Emma was. Dave talked of how she's rarely drunk but quite amusing when she is, and how much she likes to watch cartoons and loves colorful clothing and penguins.

Trent looked out at her as she played, taking her in at that moment.

She was dressed quite dark today. Gray fitting jeans, a white belt with the buckle on the back of her pants. She wore an old black t-shirt with a skull on it, a small zip up hoodie over that, black. He could see two black earrings in her right ear and one in her left. Her hair was a reddish-brown, bangs pinned back by a bobby pin and the rest pulled up into a ponytail.

She was very attractive in his opinion.

She finished the song and looked to Trent for critisims. "How was that?"

He pushed the talk-back mic button in. "Very, very much what I wanted to hear."

"Really?" She looked at him with slight disbelief. "I flubbed a bit, but I think I can get it."

"I didn't hear any flubbing. It was great." He assured her. "You want to play to 'You Know What You Are?'"

Emma smiled. "Ohh, I love that song, yeah." She adjusted her headphones.

He chuckled and qued that song next. "Haha, okay, here it is."

He was really excited to see her play this song. Dave was the only drummer that gave him flawless results on this, being the one he wrote it with and had played it on the album.

Emma blew it out of the water.

Trent was ready to tell her she needed to be his drummer or he would just stop. No more touring, because he didn't want anybody else.

She was perfect...