That’s rock ’n’ roll.

But I’ll say, my opinion, the only real thing was Lita Ford and she had no hope, havin’ a vagina and a guitar. But if you asked me, hair bands shoulda meant women rockers because there were some chicks who could seriously play that no one knows now, you know?

Lita is one of them.

But us, back then?

We’d been together awhile. We had Preach and his looks and his guitar, his voice, his songs. We had Dave, and that man was mean with a backbeat, guy had Bonham-style licks, and first thing he did was set himself up a cowbell. Now that’s rock ’n’ roll. [Smirks] Tim gettin’ older, comin’ into his own. Nick had that Italian stallion thing goin’ on, that is, he had it if you asked him.

And I could play bass. Nothin’ to look at, but, I mean, now people talk about Flea. Back then it was Geddy Lee, Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, Chris Squire, John Paul Jones, and of course, McCartney.

And there’s me.

I could play, I was in a rock band, I didn’t have to be good-lookin’. Rock’s all about that.

Mick Jagger?

Point made.

So, you know, we’re good to go. Toss off those graduation robes and hit the fuckin’ road, Springsteen-style.

Then…

[Trails off]

It’s not a surprise, or at least I thought at first it wasn’t a surprise, how Mom and my sisters took to Preacher.

He had it.

For women, they couldn’t fight it, he was that guy.

He banged Heidi’s ballbuster sister the whole time since I met him to when we hit the road.

And anyone he wanted whenever, wherever.

And I heard Heidi’s sister lost it when he took off and left her behind.

But my sisters? My mom?

Especially my mom.

Not like that, of course.

It was later, when it went down, I realized how different it was.

It took Preacher a while to share with me, yeah? I mean, you could listen to his music and know he did not grow up with the Nelsons. But he didn’t share at first.

But my mom was a mom.

She knew without him having to say dick.

Preach started havin’ dinner with us after practice and before he’d take a girl out on a date because no one said no to my mom, but also because she needed to do that, you know?

Be a mother to a motherless son.

Instant she knew he was adrift, she dragged him in.

And Preach was also that guy. Especially with certain women.

He knew she needed it way more than he needed it.

So, he gave it to her.

I’ll tell you something about Preacher McCade you might not know.

If you were a woman, and you meant something to him, he’d twist himself into knots to give you what you needed.