Rock Revenge: Alex's Story

Fabian flushed. Good. I hoped he felt bad. I wanted him to feel bad. He’d fucked up and I was in no mood for dealing with his shit.

“I had car trouble…”

“And phone trouble?”

He shrugged. That just made me angry. I had no sympathy for his “car trouble”. If he couldn’t be professional, I’d get another bass player. I didn’t need him.

“I said I was sorry.”

“Don’t apologise, just don’t do it again. If you aren’t invested in this band then tell me now. I don’t have time for screwing around.”

I really didn’t need this kind of pressure when we were so close to being picked up by a label. But then it was terrible timing to look for a new bass player too. Annoyance buzzed within me like a hive of bees and, while I knew it wasn’t all about Fabian, I needed him to stop fucking up.

“Sorry,” he said again.

I glared at him. The apologies just annoyed me more.

“Let’s get started,” I said, picking up my guitar.

We got through the first song okay but, when I decided I wanted to go through a few newer songs, Hedley seemed to be a beat behind.

“What’s with you today?” I snapped.

“Huh?”

“You’re the drummer. You are meant to have rhythm. In this life, that is the one and only thing you need to do. Surely you can manage that.”

It went on like that for the best part of an hour. I wasn’t sure if they were purposely trying to test me or just if I’d reached the limit of their competence.

“Look, if the material is too hard for you, just say.”

I wondered if I should throw a few solo numbers into the set. That would be a chance to spotlight my talent without them ruining it for me. Hell, if I got signed, I’d dump these guys as fast as I could if it meant getting to the next level. When I’d played with my old band, things had just clicked. There was no need to go into lengthy explanations about how I wanted the song played or any of that. We rehearsed, we had a laugh, and things came together.

Maybe Pete would be interested in joining me. I had no idea what Dee’s intentions were with her band but, if I had a solid contract and festival dates, he’d dump her in a heartbeat.

Only that would make her hate me even more. Hell, I’d do it in an instant to any other person in this business without the slightest qualm but she was the one person I couldn’t screw over.

“Okay, let’s do a run through of the set list for Saturday night and leave it at that.”

“How long will it take?” asked Hedley. “I’ve got to babysit my niece after rehearsal and I don’t want to be late.”

“Well, stop making mistakes and we’ll get through it faster.”

I could feel the resentment radiating in the room but figured it was better to let them look inside themselves to work out their issues than to say anymore.

When we were done, I packed up and got out of there, less than happy with the session.

“What’s up his arse?” I heard Fabian say as I left the room.

“Woman trouble, mate. It has to be.”

Dee

You’d think playing the club a second time would be less nerve-racking than the first. But you’d be wrong. The first time we’d played, we were the openers and no one was there to watch us. Now, we were top billing and, even though it was a Wednesday night, that was scary as hell. The pressure was on, too. Alex was generous and had laid it all on for us but that only went so far. If we hadn’t built a bit of a following after the four weeks, we’d have to pack up and go home. He’d made it clear that he expected to make a profit out of this.

“We need to do t-shirts,” said Pete. “Other bands have t-shirts. It’d make us more money.”

“Who’d buy them? And who’d front up the cash?” asked Ferdie.

“Well, I would. Since I’m the one with a job.”

I turned away. I’d meant to look for a job but we had enough money to be getting along on and it hadn’t seemed that urgent but Pete’s words pretty much implied that we were lazy bastards. He had regular shifts at the bar now and the two of us did nothing.

“If you want to organise it, then go ahead.” Ferdie was always happy to coast along.