Inasmuch as all three members of the Black Black Black are also members of Typhoon, much of their harrowing origin has already been recorded elsewhere. That account speaks to a horrific ordeal that would be more than enough drama for any single lifetime. For Dave, Kyle and Devin, however, that journey was only the beginning.
Like all the survivors of that pilgrimage, these three were possessed of great strength, endurance and resourcefulness. Their trials were compounded, however, by a condition they all three acquired while locked in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Together they comprised one of the group’s main hunting parties. As they worked their way south through the wilderness rotating groups of hunters would break off to scout ahead and search for big game. Often gone for up to a week at a time, they would eventually link back up with the masses, hopefully with a big kill.
In the fall prior to their arrival in Salem, late in the month of October (though they had no way to mark it at the time), Kyle, Devin and Dave set off together on just such an expedition. For two days they stalked a mature male elk through the dripping mountain forest. On the third day the animal finally collapsed from exhaustion and they moved in for the kill.
Together they cleaned and portioned the carcass, drinking of the heart’s blood. It was too late to start back with their bounty so they set about making camp for the night. They found a mossy cave with a broad granite overhang and a flat, dry interior and after inspecting the site for unwanted animal inhabitants began to settle in. Devin built a fire while Dave and Kyle looked for dry wood and suitable forest debris for bedding. Soon the fire was warming the stone floor and the smell of roasting meat filled the hollow. They fell asleep warm, full and happy as they watched the full moon rise above the trees from the safety of the cave.
A few hours before dawn they were awakened suddenly by the frenzied sound of an animal feeding. They found a huge beast had entered the cave and was attempting to steal their rightful kill. At once they leapt up, shouting. Each found their wooden spear near at hand and, taking up a flaming brand from the fire, moved to drive the animal out.
Still hidden in the shadows, they could not identify the creature. They moved in concert to surround it as the dim fire light swam across its thick, black fur. Its great yellow eyes glowed with malice as they drew near.
The stolen meat forgotten, the beast rose onto its hind legs and let out a howling roar. Such movement would have suggested a bear, but the shape was all wrong. It was too lanky and the head too sharp. Undeterred by this consideration, the three advanced, brandishing their flames and thrusting with their spears.
At first the beast gave no ground, snarling as it swatted aside the sharpened sticks and smoldering branches. Its great claws raked across Dave’s right arm as he drove his spear into its haunches. It snatched a bit off of Kyle’s shoulder as he ducked to avoid a lunging bite. Devin was tossed to the ground like a doll when a massive paw caught him on the back of the head, the talons digging into his scalp.
Despite their injuries, they managed to drive the animal from the cave. Bleeding from a dozen punctures, one eye blinded by a hot ember and its nose split by a stone ax, the beast slowly retreated towards the cave entrance and then bolted into the night. It crashed through the underbrush at speed in a loping, semi-bipedal gait.
Having preserved all but one portion of the elk meat, Devin, Kyle and Dave set about rebuilding the fire, larger this time, and tending to their wounds. Once they had managed to staunch their bleeding they set a watch schedule and tried to get some more sleep.
In the morning they were surprised to find their cuts had all nearly healed, leaving behind fresh, pink scars. They struck camp, loaded up and headed off to find the others. Moving faster than they ever had, ladened as they were, they found the main group in a matter of hours.
Their return and their burden were celebrated with a feast that night. They regaled the group with their harrowing tale of survival and proudly displayed their quickly fading scars. The revelry lasted well into the night.
Some number of weeks later Devin, Kyle and Dave were out on another hunt. They had not had any luck tracking big game, so they made themselves busy setting snares for rabbit and other small game. They found a sheltered glen, the ground soft covered with grass, and started getting ready to stay several nights to give time for their traps to work.
The three were sitting silently around the fire as night fell. They munched on smoked meat strips and dried fruit bits they had brought. It had been dark for several hours when the full moon began to rise, swollen and yellow, sickly above the horizon.
Kyle was lost first, falling over sideways as his chest spasmed. The scar on his shoulder burned and he began to choke on his own bile. Soon Devin and Dave had collapsed as well, clutching themselves and weeping from the pain. The world they knew faded from their sight as their thoughts were transformed alongside their bodies.
Each mind boiled with rage as the humanity was replaced by bloodlust. The heavy winter pelts they wore were shed and replaced by dark wiry fur. Their faces distorted, elongated themselves, producing huge fangs, long red tongues and bright yellow eyes that shone in the dark.
The agonizing change seemed to take hours, but in truth it was only minutes. With the fire scattered, the three boys sat, panting, in a circle as they tried gathered their senses. It was as though their own personalities remained, forced to the edges of their thought as a new animal mind took up residence. They each in turn attempted to speak, but their throats were too different. They could not vocalize, at least not yet, but they recognized one another as though no change had occurred.
Their stupor came to a sudden end as they all three heard a distant snapping in the woods. Instinctively, they launched themselves into the trees in search of this new prey. With terrible silence they traversed the two miles to a meadow between a large river and the tree line. Stooping to nibble at the grass was a single black tailed deer; a doe. She did not hear their approach, or noticed the predators as they surrounded her. She died before she could realize the danger. Squatting around the kill, Devin, Kyle and Dave ate their fill.
For the rest of the night they ran as a pack through the woods. They woke the next morning, naked and back to normal. They were many miles from their original camp site, but they remembered what had happened well enough to find it again. Too worried to return to the main group for fear of changing again, they checked their traps and made ready for another night apart. They did not change again that night.
The next morning after some discussion and trading half remembered stories about people being turned into wolves by the full moon, they decided it would be safe to go back. They had, after all, managed to catch a few rabbits. Their arrival was not as celebrated on this occasion, but they did not mind. They became preoccupied instead with the phases of the moon.
A month later the main camp was preparing for a long stay through the winter. Concerned about a repeat of their earlier transformation, Dave, Kyle and Devin again set off on their own. They traveled as far as they could over the three days before the next full moon in order to put as much distance between their altered selves and their unsuspecting friends. Well the full moon rose, they changed again and hunted through the night.
Over the next few months they managed their lycanthropy in this manner, leaving as a hunting party a few days before each full moon. This way everyone remained safe, excepting the poor forest animals unlucky enough to be caught nearby when they changed.
When they walked in to Salem the next spring and were sent to live separately with adoptive parents, this strategy was no longer effective. They did their best to isolate themselves from their families and the community when the full moon came, but more often than not they would break out and run amok in the city. One day, while talking about their predicament together, well outside the earshot of their new parents, Kyle, Devin and Dave came to a realization. In their transformed state the music never left their minds.
Brought up the way they were, and possessed of such raw natural ability, even becoming a werewolf was not enough to drive the music away. Hatching a new plan they arranged a rehearsal space, complete with instruments and a supply of raw meat, and met the next full moon to spend the night together. Cloistered as they were in a warehouse downtown, they chained the doors shut and waited for the moon to rise.
Once the change had occurred, they struggled to control themselves. They ate what food they had brought and soon paced the room, clawing at the corners, looking for a way out. With great effort each was able to focus their animal minds on the instruments they had prepared. With the curiosity of caged animals, the approached the guitars, amps and drum kit. Despite their claws and misshapen hand, these instruments felt natural in their grip. Soon Dave and Devin were plucking out notes and Kyle was kicking a beat. They played all night long, a new brand of blistering rock they had never before indulged in. Like poison from a wound, the music drained the base aggression from their transformed bodies and kept them transfixed until morning.
This is how the Black Black Black came to be. They continue to meet every month to endure the change together through the power of music. Since some of the songs they write in their altered state are pretty damn cool, they will even perform as humans from time to time, though they’ve only ever recorded as werewolves. They sound best beneath the full moon, but there is the safety of the fans to be considered.
The Black Black Black – Old Roy
