In case anyone still reads this, there's been some developments in the past week.

First off, the Punk Rock band is starting to seem like a really awesome bunch, despite some differences in tastes. The other day, I sent their rhythm guitarist/singer/leader an email, and asked if I could get a copy of the tabs for some of their songs (starting with my favorites out of their repertoire), and he sent them almost right away, no questions asked. The rhythm is a bit off compared to the recordings, but I really just needed to know which chords or notes to play and in which order. I can adjust the rhythm by listening to the recordings :). I only have 3 weeks to go before I can go and rehearse with them, and so far, things are going smoothly (I already have two of their songs down. I just need to learn the solos or improvise something. Maybe I can get him to show me how to play the start of the solo to one of the songs. I like the beginning of that solo. The problem is the song lends itself to just continuing the solo all the way through to the end of the song, but on the recording, the solo ends after half a minute or so... Maybe I can convince them that the song could benefit from having the lead guitar continuing until the end? It's worth a shot.

On the other front, there's a Classic Rock/Metal band starting up. I have a badass bassist (I jammed with him back in May, and he kicked ass) and a somewhat new guitarist lined up. We just need a drummer and a singer to get that band going somewhere. The cool thing is that we seem to be into the same kind of music and have the same goals, and we're at similar levels, although the other guitarist is a bit behind. I can live with that. We've already agreed on two songs we all like, so we need to find a singer who can handle them... Those two songs are "Space Truckin'" (Deep Purple) and "Eat The Rich" (Aerosmith). Future additions may include "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)", "Run To The Hills" (Iron Maiden) or other great classics with awesome riffs. After that, we can try original stuff. On the bright side, the other guitarist suggested that we give the "performance standard" the middle finger, and split the solos evenly between us. Normally, local upcoming bands just have a designated lead guitarist and a designated rhythm guitarist. Agreeing on who takes which solos will probably be the hardest part, but I see it as more of a challenge than a problem :)

So I have 21 days left before rehearsals can become a possibility, and I have to learn 5 songs in that time. Thanksfully, they're all sort of simple, so it should be easy enough.