So here is the end of the story. I have massively enjoyed writing the entire thing, I hope everybody who read it felt it was worth their while, will continue to visit my blog and tell anybody they think might also enjoy it to come for a look also. I am going to be away in the USA for a little while over August and September so I’ll be drafting stuff then to be written up and posted in late September or early October. Thanks for all continued support and as always – let me know if you spot any errors because despite triple checking myself, a couple always get through.
Live Indefinitely (Part three)
Only a few weeks had passed since his encounter with Laila but Leon had already resigned himself to the fact that they would probably not meet again. After their night together she had told him in no uncertain things that although she quite liked him, she didn’t want a ‘thing’. Leon had hidden his disappointment rather well he thought and now although he was slightly morose over the matter he had recovered well; playing a few more shows to similarly positive reactions and slowly putting together a new song. The experience of song-writing over a period of weeks rather than hours was strange to him but he enjoyed the more controlled pace which granted him hindsight and time to see if the music wore thin quickly. He was having difficulty forgetting what Laila had last said to him however, just before she’d left his flat the morning after their night together she had told him his spark would be left unappreciated without a decent band behind him. “Your songs are great” she had told him earnestly, “but you need more to them, find some good musicians to add the depth and you’ll seriously be onto something”. He had contemplated her words at length lost to the will of his ever-changing mind which sometimes scorned her advice and sometimes thought she probably had a very good point. He considered the best ways to find good quality musicians, lamenting that he didn’t really know any and his small group of friends these days did not consist of anybody who could competently play an instrument.
It was convenient therefore that when Leon played his next show at a bar he had never played before that all the previous members of ‘The Champagne Supernovas’ apart from Jimmy turned up to watch him. He noticed Michael and Dan on his way into the venue and shook their hands warmly, “I’ve been thinking” he started “that I might need some help with the songs I’m writing soon... would either of you be interested in rewrites of the songs to feature a whole band and joining up?” he asked them. A wide smile broke out over Michaels face and before he could reply, Dan quickly put in “He was hoping you’d ask us that. He might be all for it but I want to see the style first.” Leon was therefore content that he already had one recruit to join him in the near future and was confident that with a good performance that night he would be able to convince Dan to sign up too. He spent the next hour or so catching up with them on the tribute band situation, which was apparently completely falling apart. “Jimmy bought his nephew in to play the drums right after you left, but he completely fucked up the songs and when the owner found out he was only 17 they chucked us all out barred us all. Since then not much has happened. We think it might be the end of the whole thing” Dan explained. Leon chuckled and before he knew it was time he was being tapped by the events organiser to come backstage and get ready. He smiled at his old friends, downed his pint and strolled behind the stage to find his equipment.
If Leon had ever done a flawless show, he thought that one was it, the applause was loud and he knew just from the look on Dan’s face that he was finally sold on the idea of joining up and becoming a fully operational band. He nodded his head after his last song, thanked the crowd and came back onto the main floor. Before he could reach his friends however a man dressed in a casual outfit of t-shirt and jeans stopped him in his tracks. “Hello Leon! My name is Conner Vegas” he said confidently and loudly, I own a small record label and I’d love to sign you up for an album or an EP, or both! “Whatever you’re comfortable with?” Leon felt himself go slightly numb. “Are you serious?” he asked. “Absolutely serious, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow evening, come over around 8 and we’ll talk business, I’ve heard your recordings off your website and I heard you asking those guys to be in your band. If you come over tomorrow with them and an action plan I’ll sign you up for whatever you wanna put out.” He handed Leon his card and strolled serenely off in the other direction. Leon looked at the small card which featured nothing more than an address and the words: “Conner Vegas – producer”. He took a few deep breaths before heading over to his friends and explaining what had just happened. Michael and Dan showed just as much enthusiasm as him, “we’re signed!” Michael squeaked in an uncharacteristically high pitched voice. “Don’t forget though” Dan interrupted “We’re still down a drummer, if you’re gonna be on rhythm guitar and vocals, Leon. Have you thought about that?” It seemed odd to Leon that such a blatant flaw in his plan had not occurred to him. “Don’t worry, my friend is a great drummer” Michael said reassuringly and Leon smiled. “That’s that taken care of then... he’s definitely looking for a band?” Michael confirmed this and the three of them sat there, the weight they felt was palpable. “Do you think this is the start of something big?” asked Michael. “I hope so.” Leon replied. There was a long silence and then he stood up “Right...” he began but he was interrupted by Michael cutting straight across him with “Where are you going?”. “Well... it’s a Sunday, I’ve got work tomorrow” but the pair just looked back at him incredulously.
It took the two of them all of three minutes to convince Leon that he would never have to go back to work again and although Leon’s set had been over by ten he stumbled home at four in the morning, not even caring he had had to get a taxi and leave his car several miles away at the venue. Looking at his watch he realised it wasn’t long before he was supposed to be waking up to get dressed, it was here that he made a vital decision, his reasoning behind it being “if I don’t do it while I’m very drunk I won’t do it at all.” He successfully sat down at his desk, turned his computer on and navigated to his email, clicked on his boss’s name from his address book and through his squinting haze he typed the following letter out:
“Dear mister dickhead. (or terry patrickson IF THAT IS INDDEED YOUR REAL NAME) your job of seling biros was fcuccking awful and i have descided to quit becase your a nob and soon im gonna be famous
anyway so dont wait up i wont be their in yhe mroning i will be making my album. goodbye.
ps i will rite a song about you and it will b bad about you
pps once i stole a whole box of biros from the office nad in ever even used them”
Leon sent the email and with that he slid off his computer chair and fell asleep on the floor, at the wheels.
He awoke in the early afternoon with a serious case of dry-mouth and a headache, although after drinking some water and eating a bit of cereal he felt much better, he had endured far worse hangovers before and so after a shower he left his flat feeling only slightly queasy. He did not have any overwhelmingly powerful feelings about the decisions he had made the night before, he worried what his parents might say once they heard about the email that he could just about remember writing but he also wondered how they would react to the news that his band had been signed. He also found himself wondering if he would get billed for the small box of biros he had admitted taking home with him. He got groggily into the back of a taxi and had himself taken to the gig venue where he got back into his own car and sat taking deep breaths. He double checked the address on the card he had and started his engine. 30 minutes later he had made his way across town and found himself standing at the address named in the card, he opened the small gate and as he walked through the path he took note of the overgrown garden and the badly kept front door with its chipped old paint and faint smell of rotting wood. He knocked on the door and after a moment the door was opened by Conner who was wearing a long white coat with a plastic stethoscope around his neck. There was a long silence between them which Leon finally broke by asking “Hey... we met the other night? You said you could help me release some music?” Conner frowned at him and said “I don’t remember that, come in and we can ask Jenny”. Bewildered, Leon followed him into the house which looked a bit more kept on the inside than the out but which was undoubtedly not the house of somebody who had any money to spare. He walked into the living room, and was met by a large woman with a good natured smile and casual appearance. “Hello there” she said, “I’m Jenny, Conner’s carer. We were just playing surgeons weren’t we?” she asked him with the tone of a mother addressing her 4 year old. “Yes and I am filing extremely important paper-work right now” Conner proclaimed proudly. “So what did you want again?” Leon stood there for a second allowing the reality of the situation spread over him. “You were going to help me record some music?” he almost pleaded. “Well that was yesterday, when I was being a bit shot music producer. Now I’m being a big shot surgeon who doesn’t play by the rules but gets the job done. Maybe I’ll be a producer again in a few days. Also maybe not.” And with that, he strolled out of the room and left Leon alone with Jenny. “I’m sorry about this confusion” she said to him smiling sadly. “He does sometimes make bizarre promises to strangers, I hope you didn’t get your hopes up too much. I only lost sight of him for five minutes last night, astounds me the things he manages to do when I’m not watching him carefully.” Her sad smile persisted for a moment and then she added “You were very good by the way”. Leon nodded and thanked her, before turning around and walking out of the room, out the hallway, down through the garden, opening the gate and getting back into his car.
He met the other two members along with their brand new drummer, Kane at Dan’s house as it was the biggest house any of them happened to own. As he stepped into their kitchen Michael excitedly informed him that they had arranged for a show at the 02 academy’s smallest stage in a week, there would be a few members of press there to talk about the upcoming release and well over 70 people had already indicated they were turning up. Leon sighed heavily and told the rest of the band about Conner’s situation and that there would be no professional recording taking place. Although they were all undoubtedly disappointed, their reactions were far better than Leon had dared hope for, the news did not seem to have put out the fire that engulfed them all. Kane was eager to get started and the other two both assured Leon that the gig was paid and they had nearly completed the new arrangement of the original six songs, their cover was intact and the new song had only a few parts to sort out before it was ready to be properly practised and played. “Just because we thought we would have a hard copy of our stuff and now we won’t, doesn’t mean that it’s a waste of time playing the show” Michael told Leon, “we’ve got a new song to play and all your old ones pretty much reinvented, so let’s just do it.” Disheartened as he was with the whole project, Leon couldn’t tell his fellow band members that the show was off, so he agreed and the group sat in contemplative silence for a while. Finally Leon spoke: “It has to be a reinvention... We need a name, we’re a full band now”. There was a general mutter of agreement and they decided that coming up with a new and original name out of an attempt at wit was a waste of time so after all four of them wrote down twenty random words each, put it in a hat and then picked out two, the name they were left with was “Straight Submarine”. They liked it.
After 7 solid days of practise and endeavour the day had arrived and Leon was wracked with nerves. His songs had been a great success in their stripped down ways but he was conscious of having his original point lost in the volume or muddy sound levels, the rehearsals sounded good to him but of course he was not the one who would be judging. The band arrived at the 02 academy in the city centre late in the afternoon and for the first time Leon felt like he was in the hands of competent venue staff, they were helpful throughout the soundcheck and generally seemed to have more of a clue than anybody he had ever worked with before. The first band were on at 6:30 and people began filtering slowly in at 6, as the members of Straight Submarine sat at a table by the bar and watched. Leon was sipping a drink when a casually dressed man sat down opposite him and greeted him warmly. He held out his hand and said “Christopher Hicken, Q magazine. Am I ok to do a quick interview with you here? I’ll post it on the website tomorrow with a little review of the gig, if that’s ok?” Leon was taken aback but Michael and the others did not seem particularly surprised at the appearance. Leon agreed and spent an interesting 15 minutes with Chris, telling his anecdote to explain where his record had disappeared to, how the band chose their name and on what was next if they were received well. “I suppose a lot hinges on your review really doesn’t it?” Leon asked him with a wry smile to which Chris cagily replied “We’ll have to see”. He wrapped up the interview, shook all of their hands and wished them good luck for their show. By the time the band before Straight Submarine had finished Leon recognised a lot of people in at the bar and standing near the barriers and had been approached by several of them over the night, all of whom registered their excitement at seeing him play with a full band and wishing him luck.
The band stood in the tiny dressing room behind the stage and nervously twiddled their thumbs. After several minutes the lights went down and the four trooped out onto the stage and finally got a look at exactly who had turned out to see them, Leon realised with shock that the number of people pushing to the front of the barrier was well over 100, he could barely see their individual faces. He also recognised Chris standing slightly back and watching intently as well as somebody from the NME he had been talking to earlier, he thanked everybody for coming out and his words were met with enthusiastic cheering, he turned to look at his other members, nodded at them and started the show.
Sweaty and gasping for a drink, Leon dismounted the stage after their encore to a rapturous reception and stayed in the venue for thirty minutes afterwards as people tried to buy him and the others drinks and asking them if they had any CDs to sell, he apologised for the lack of music and thanked everybody in sight. The band packed up and sat in Michael’s car outside the venue in silence while they all thought about what had happened. “That was good” Kane said, breaking the silence. They nodded and congratulated each other, at this point they remembered they had collected envelopes of money after the set and proceeded to count out how much they had made, the total being £80 each for such high attendance. Michael had driven them all them all to the venue and subsequently dropped them all off at their various flats and houses, Leon walked into his empty dark flat at half past midnight and sat down slowly on the sofa. He turned his mobile on and moments after it had booted he got a voicemail alert, which was always cause for interest to him as he rarely ever got voicemails at all. He curiously listened to his new message and his heart dropped as he heard his father’s voice, irate and short: “Leon. You have been nothing but a disappointment for nearly ten years now, we throw you a bone and you throw it away. Ring me the instant you get this message so we can discuss your immediate future.” He sat on his sofa feeling about 8 years old and felt his enthusiasm and pride drain away, he decided to ring his dad back despite the late hour to see if he could weather the storm a little, but his phone call was not met with any kind of eager relief, just more shouting about “the fucking time you useless twat”. The conversation was very one sided, his father told him several times he could never do anything right and occasionally he could hear his mother chip in and his father respond with “I’ll handle this, Linda”. He finished his brief rant with “When you’ve decided to ditch your waste of time music obsession and rejoin us all in the real world then let us know ok? But until then neither of us want any contact with you at all, and stay away from your sister too, she doesn’t need to be dragged down by your childish behaviour. You’re never going to achieve anything like this, son. The sooner you realise that, the better off you’ll be.” And he hung up.
Leon stayed in bed until almost 3 the next afternoon wondering what to do, wondering if the road he had taken was ever going to pay off or if he should just ring round his friends now and tell them the band was over and go grovelling back to his parents to help him find a job. He sat up finally and made some toast, he sat down at his computer desk thinking he would see if he could be bothered to find the Q review that Chris had promised would be published by mid-day. He navigated to the website and his heart dropped out of his stomach when on the front page of the website, bang in the middle was a picture of him and the rest of the Straight Submarines. His mind jammed momentarily before he scrolled down to look at the review, which had awarded five stars and was topped with “Inner city rockers step it up a gear”. The article read:
“Early days to be heaping such lavish praise on a band perhaps, indeed this was their very first gig as a fully functioning unit, but their slick execution of a host of their own music and two perfectly adapted covers marks them as one to watch for the future. The venue was packed, the crowd were eager and Leon Adams easily took control of the situation, never losing confidence or looking like he was out of his depth. The other band members appeared to know exactly what they were doing and how to get the best out of their sound, their renditions of Arctic Monkey’s “The Bakery” and The Foo Fighter’s “Monkey Wrench” showing off their diversity and being perfectly placed. A thrilling show and it would be a safe bet to hedge that these boys are going to go far. My pre-show chat with the frank and friendly Mr. Adams can be read in full in this week’s Q magazine. To see a snippet from the performance last night, scroll to the bottom of the page."
Bewildered, Leon found the video and clicked it, taking him directly to the Youtube page for it, where it had received several thousand views and likes. The video itself had been filmed on a high quality camera from a little way behind the main thrust of audience but further forward than the bar. The quality was good and the song’s lyrics could be clearly made out. The top rated comment read: “Love this, does anybody know if they have any records to buy or download?” He sat there in dazed confusion and it was a few minutes before he decided to look to see who had uploaded the video and with a shock he read the name: 'L4lia2006'. He stood up slowly and decided to ring her immediately, he realised now how much he liked her and with that in mind he walked over to his sofa where his phone was still lying on silent and as he picked it up and pressed the green button to light his screen up he gasped out loud at the text on the screen which read: “You have 7 new voicemail messages”.
The End.
