Nine Hundred Nights Page 14

  "Yeah. OK. I understand."

  Within half an hour Jimmy, Tommy, Dave and Sean arrived and when all were there Ingy went through it again for them.

  After the basic questions about Kenny, Sean said "Well, unless we can find a bass player, we have to cancel the gig right now."

  "Even if we could find a bass player, I wouldn't go on without Kenny like that." Tommy said.

  Everyone agreed quickly. Sean removed a little beat-up brown leather personal address book from his pocket, removed the dirty rubber band that was around it and followed Ingy inside to make the calls to the club we were supposed to appear in and to Scott and Bobby.

  Track 15

  The New Stuff

  The following Wednesday, Kenny was back and had lots of stories to tell about the 'crazies' he'd met in the hospital. He was completely his old self and showed no sign at all of having just come from 'observation'. That worried me a bit, but it faded quickly as we had band activity to keep us busy.

  We went over and over the new songs until they were tight and ready to go. Sean had us booked into a place named 'The Underground' way the hell out on Long Island on Friday night and back at Legend on Saturday.

  The Underground turned out to be pretty much a punk club. They paid us more than our usual rate and gave up more of the door too, but the crowd really wanted to hear Dead Kennedy's, Black Flag and the like. They didn't reject us though, which surprised me and it gave us a chance to play our originals in front of an audience.

  On Saturday night, our first set was the recently released Iron Maiden album 'Piece of Mind', which we played without breaks and in its entirety. Tommy, the scamp, even imitated the part before 'Still Life' that has the backwards recording. The crowd drank this up and really loved it and it wasn't really a risk as at the time, Iron Maiden was pretty universally loved.

  We took our break and Ingy, Kenny and I went out to the bar to beg free beer. While we were there sucking on free Heineken, a girl struck up a conversation with Kenny and in less than the time it takes to say 'Kenny needs a condom.' they were in love. After the lovers had strolled away Ingy and I showed the proper resentment and tried to get some crap going between each other for amusement, but even that failed.

  Then two girls approach us, one a wholesome looking girl with long straight brown hair, wearing jean short-shorts and a T-shirt that said something too faded to read...just the unaffected way I like 'em. The other, her friend, a heavily made up dark haired girl. Let's call them Maryann and Ginger, respectively of course. Now I've ALWAYS been a Maryann fan, that girl-next-door thing just speaks to me. The Ginger type, I harbor no ill will toward, but I feel no special attraction. And wouldn't you know it, Maryann goes straight for Ingy. For a fleeting moment I thought about messing with that piece of luck by starting a whole bullshit psoriasis / skin disease thing about Ingy, ya know…a 'don't forget to wear your gloves Ingy' and all that, but the 'guys code' prevented me from doing so. To add insult to injury, as much as I didn't want Ginger, she didn't want me, and she was far less polite about it than I was.

  When Ingy and Maryann were deep in conversation, Ginger said to me with a smirk "Sorry but I have a boyfriend." and her tone was really condescending.

  I just smiled and nodded politely.

  "I just didn't want you to assume we'd be together."

  I let out just a tiny laugh.

  "I DO have a boyfriend."

  "Good for you." I said sympathetically "I think that's just great news."

  "Guys are all the same." she said, and it occurred to me that maybe she was the 'must get the last word' type so why not enjoy it.

  "Are we?" I asked.

  "Well...I should have said Losers are all the same."

  Now I have to tell you, I hadn't a clue what on earth could have brought on all of this hostility. But for the sake of comedy I could not allow it to be wasted.

  "I was thinking of you all day you know." I said seriously.

  "What?"

  "I was at the zoo."

  "Go to hell."

  "Keep talking, eventually you're bound to say something intelligent." I said with a straight face.

  "Fuck you." she threw back.

  "I'm sorry? I couldn't hear you over the boring."

  She half-yelled "I said FUCK YOU! Who do you think you're talking to?"

  "Let me guess, you rent yourself out as a guide when they need to build an idiot?"

  Well that finally did it, she stormed off and I had a good laugh...until I noticed that now, I was all alone at the bar. Gosh how I missed her.

  So Kenny got a girl, Ingy got a girl...and Nicko is solo. Well. I guess I have some time on my hands. When will those two learn...never leave me idle. I had twenty five minutes to kill.

  We had planned the second set to be the usual mix of stuff and we had the three new originals in a row as the closing part, with our first original 'Quiet Exile' as an encore. We took the stage and jumped into the first song 'Don't Hold Back' by RIOT. The timing seemed just a little bit off and for some reason we struggled through the song. When it ended Jimmy told Tommy to hold it up a minute, as he grabbed a cloth and began wiping his sticks over and over. Likewise, Ingy and Kenny were having some kind of trouble and it looked as though they were trying guitar picks and then tossing them one-by-one on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ingy and Kenny whispering to each other, then look up at me. I really tried to hold my straight face, but as it yielded to a little smile, my resistance crumbled and I laughed.

  I heard Ingy say in a voice loud enough for all to hear "You bastard!"

  Kenny took the half smoked cigarette out of his lips and expertly flicked it; it flew an incredible distance and I held my guitar up to block it, it would have hit me in the face.

  Since I had time on my hands, I had petroleum-jellied Jimmy's drum sticks and every single guitar pick that Ingy and Kenny had. It was great watching them during that first song as they tried desperately not to drop the things.

  We played two by The Scorpions, one by Accept and some Dio. After a little rap-with-the-crowd break we were ready for our originals, the closing songs of the night.

  "We have some new songs for you...this first one's called 'Rampage Sonata'!"

  Rampage Sonata was nearly an instrumental, and even though it was metal and we had no keyboard, it was soulful and had grandeur. We played the shit out of it and the response was surreal. We paused just long enough before the next two songs to mention the titles, and as good as the response to the first one was, we received the same for 'Sister Diesel' and 'Fast n Hard'. Since the crowd was really loud and feelin' it, we only made it as far as the stage door before we heard a few loud shouts of 'Exile...play Exile'. We turned and remounted our music machine.

  Tommy growled "Quiet Exiiiiiiile."

  We launched into it and had fun playing it, Ingy and I mugging and playing with the people against the stage. Lots of 'hand slapping' and head bopping with hair flying. At the end Jimmy ad libbed, drawing out the ending with some flashy and impossibly fast drum patterns. On the final beat, the lights went out and some dim spot lights came on over the crowd. We exited the stage in the dark and I have to say, Bobby-the-light-guy knew what he was doing, because it seemed to me that the crowd was cheering especially loud.

  I got a few punches on the arms for the 'greasing' but everyone was feeling so good about the reaction to the new material that all was soon forgiven. It was as loud in the dressing room as it was out in front, everyone was excited and talking over one another. I sat down and drank it all in. Ingy had a girl out front, an improvement since the Wendy situation. Kenny was back to his old self AND had a girl waiting for him. Jimmy was almost changed into 'Perfect Looking Jimmy' and April had come to the gig. Tommy was clearly in great spirits and my mind rested on the thought that he was such a good singer yet we never had an ego problem with him...a typical singer-related problem common to bands of every genre. Sean looked rested and was still seeing Sam and apparently it was go
ing well. Dave I had no idea about girl-wise, he always went his own way in that regard. We'd all see him with a girl now and then, but it was like trying to talk to a tree when it came to getting him to open up about it. Otherwise he was all smiles and jokes. And then there was me.

  I'd had intimate relations with a large number of women since we began playing clubs, yet I have to admit, it was getting old. I would never have suspected it would happen since my sex drive is fairly insatiable. If my drive was likened to a cute little chipmunk, it would be a cute little chipmunk that stood 40 feet tall and weighted 50 tons (that's 45.4 metric tons if you're reading this in Europe). Yet there was something missing. As I sat in that room with all of the noise I began to think of Venice.

  With only the last stragglers left in the place, I emerged to find Dave carrying a bag of electrical cords out to the van, it was the very last of our equipment. I began to shoot the breeze with Skip the bartender as I sipped a warmed Grand Mariner when a guy sat down on the stool next to me; it got my attention since I was the only one sitting at the bar and there were plenty of empty stools.

  "You're Nick?"

  "In here, I preferred to be called Gloria."

  He chuckled "I'm Doug Brill. 'Dave' over there mentioned you were still here." he said and offered his hand.

  We shook and I tried to size the guy up right away. He was a bit old for the place; he had to be in his early thirties and was dressed a little too well. I assumed his agenda was business.

  "I caught the show tonight."

  "Cool, thanks for coming out. Have a good time?" I asked.

  "Yeah I did, thanks." he said "You guys been together long?"

  "Two years plus."

  "You all play with other bands before this?"

  "Actually, none of us did." I said, I was curious of course as to why he wanted to know all of this stuff, but I felt confident that he'd let me know when he was ready.

  "You guys have accomplished a lot in a short time."

  "Thanks." I said and turned toward him "I never really thought about it in those terms."

  "What terms?"

  "How far versus how long." I said "For us it's more about being happy with what we're doing…I mean the way it's sounding and so forth. We tend to think of it in the moment. I don't think any of us really thinks about it terms of accomplishment. That's my impression anyway."

  "So how do you guys get along?" he asked, trying to sound uninterested "Personality I mean. It's pretty common to have friction in a band."

  I thought about that one for a minute, looking for the best way to phrase it "How did we look tonight, while we were playing? I mean did we look like we got along while we were playing?"

  "Sure."

  "It's identical off-stage. We're like a family..." I said "...and like a family there are problems that crop up from time to time, but they get handled and then everything returns to what we call 'normal'."

  "Hah, what are you implying…what's 'normal'?"

  "Nothing bad. Nothing ya know...worthy of a Felony, more in the realm of Misdemeanor." I took a sip of my drink "Let me put it this way, there's a fondness for practical jokes…stuff like that." I said "And really…that's all you want to know." I laughed.

  He got a kick out of that.

  "So are you the leader?" he asked.

  "We don't have a leader." I said immediately and he looked as though he didn't believe me "Honest, we don't have a leader. Each of us has done things when they were required, but we have no one-definitive leader."

  "Interesting. Nick I'm with Ophion Records." he said simply.

  "I was wondering how long you were going to keep it a secret." I said smiling.

  He smiled "I'd like to talk to you guys about possibly establishing a relationship with us."

  "Interesting way you phrased that." I said with raised brow.

  "Really?" he smiled "How did I phrase it?"

  I thought for a second "Carefully." which earned a smile "No worries, I think I understand what you're about at this point."

  "Really?" he said, clearly having reservations.

  "It's a business, right? So I can imagine how I'd approach it before I sunk a dime of MY money into it. Do I have the picture?"

  He turned more fully toward me "You're smart...yeah, that's just about it."

  "Best thing to do is let me arrange a meeting between you and all of us. Sean should really be doing this but I can fill him in."

  "Who's Sean?"

  "Sean O'Neil is our band manager. Great guy, you'll like him."

  "I can have my assistant set up a meal? We can talk over dinner."

  "Oh Jesus no!" I said laughing.

  "No good?"

  "It'll get in the way of everything you'll want to accomplish." I was still stifling some laughter "Oh you'll impress them, but they'll be distracted by the 'free' food, they'll steal the silverware, they'll seduce the floor staff, they'll try to impress you and in the end all you'll get out of it is a dinner check to pick up and no real sense of where everyone's head is at."

  "I have to admit, this is a first for me. Starving musicians refusing a free meal."

  "Hey, honest, if you wanna have the dinner, no problem. I'm just trying to help."

  "What do you suggest?"

  "Well, our practice studio in Jersey is up a flight of stairs from a strip club, Ray's Lounge. I'd suggest you come there, buy us a round and then when everyone's done shakin' your hand and picturing themselves on an album cover, we can go up to the studio and have the conversation."

  He handed me his business card "Can you call me by Wednesday and let me know?"

  "Done." I said "One more thing?"

  "What's that?" he said as he got to his feet.

  "Please don't tell 'em I turned down a free meal." I said smiling.

  "Our secret." he said, winked and walked off.

  I called Sean on Sunday afternoon and he was pissed at himself for not staying later. I mocked him pretty furiously about putting in TOO many hours. He hung up to call the rest of the band.

  For the next hour or so, one by one, each of the guys called me to see if there was any detail Sean neglected to pass on, and one by one I told them there wasn't. We agreed to meet on Tuesday night and talk about it amongst ourselves before having any conversation with the record company guy.

  I was thinking it through in the intervening day and a half and I wasn't as happy as I should have been. I tried to figure out why; was it doubt about Kenny's long term stability, or doubt about our ability to do it? I didn't come up with any answers.

  Tuesday came and we all met in the studio, everyone was there a few minutes early, it was a miracle!

  "Merchandizing rights. That's what it'll come down to. International Merchandizing rights." Ingy said in a funny voice as he shut the door.

  "Yeah, yeah, for this conversation can I make a suggestion?" Tommy said.

  No one replied.

  "Let's keep it serious. This is important."

  "Agreed." I said and everyone went along with it.

  Sean said "I think a good way to start is that we go around the room once to see where everyone stands." and he added "We don't need to guess about what the guy is going to say to us because we're meeting with him tomorrow night and we'll hear it then. Let's stick to how each of us feels about it."

  It was a very good point and everyone agreed. Since I was sitting next to Sean I was up first.

  "How do I feel about it? To be honest I'm not thrilled." that set something off in me that I hadn't been aware of before. I looked at Jimmy and repeated "I'm not thrilled. It's not like I'm unhappy about it, but ya know, most people would be really spun up about this and I feel…I can't find the word."

  "Conflicted?" Ingy suggested.

  I turned to look at him "Yeah. I feel conflicted. I mean I have my job which is going great and I could see working there for a long time." I said "And I absolutely know that no matter how good we are or aren't, there's a TON of risk in making it as a band.
I mean statistically the chances are really low, and so the record company's interest, while it's a positive thing…I realize it's just like…one thing going right among nine thousand other things that would have to go right to really succeed."

  After a few seconds of silence Sean asked "That it?"

  "One more thing. I'm not saying I wouldn't like to play music for the rest of my life, but I am saying, I'm not sure that I would." I looked at Ingy and Jimmy and continued "It's one thing when it's fun and takes a lot of effort but I can walk away anytime I want…it's another when it's my job and everyone's depending on me for their living and I can't walk away without really hurting them."

  Ingy was sitting next to me and he sensed that I was done.

  "I agree with everything Nick said. That's how I feel. It's exciting that the guy wants to talk to us, but at the same time I'm conflicted too. If we don't make it, it'll be much harder to get a career going at thirty than now." he looked at me "What does that mean that I'm thinking about that?"

  Ingy looked at Kenny, who was up next.

  "You guys are crazy man, a record company is interested in us, we're starting to do our own songs and a record company is interested in us. I mean, that's what I thought this was all about. Make a ton of money, get high and play music for a living. How could ANYTHING beat that?" he said with his hands out "I'm for giving that guy whatever he wants to sign us, and becoming famous."

  Kenny's silence queued Tommy's turn.

  "I can see where you guys are coming from. I understand it. But I'm with Kenny. This is THE dream man. We make a lot of cash, play to huge crowds, go into the studio and make albums. It sounds a lot more fun than painting. I know the risk is huge, but none of us knows that we'll fail either."

  After it was clear that Tommy was done, Jimmy spoke up.

  "I never thought we'd be in this situation." Jimmy said.