by Palladian
“Nice eye,” she said, still smiling as Kate laughed. “So, are we going to be able to get back to recording again?”
Chapter 30: Musical
As Kate had predicted, it didn’t take long before the group got back to their normal routine. The first few days had seen an explosion of creativity from the group, and they’d practiced and recorded a few more new songs and finally decided they had enough for the new CD.
Lex sat with the rest of the group while they mixed it down, Victor doing a lot of the mixing board and after effects work and the rest of the band pitching in to be sure everything sounded as they’d intended. At one point, while taking a break, Casey came out of the kitchen to sit by Lou. She looked excited as she started talking.
“Hey, everyone, I just got a call from Laura in L.A.. Victor, Kate, I know you didn’t meet them, but they’re members of a band out there, End of the Road. We met them when we toured last time. They and another band, Jacob’s Hammer, have been setting up tour dates for the next three months. Since it’s going to happen over the wintertime, they’re planning to stick to the south, mostly California. They called because they’d set it all up with a third band who pulled out at the last minute. Anyway, it’s supposed to start in three weeks, so I wanted to ask you guys if you think we could be ready for another tour by then. What do you think?”
Lex looked at Casey and smiled, then looked at Riss and Lou, who both seemed happy as well. Victor and Kate appeared to be having a conference by telepathy, so the rest waited until they’d finished.
“I really liked them, and I think the kind of music they played will fit well with what we do,” Lex finally said, looking at everyone in turn as she spoke. “But Kate should probably be the deciding factor,” she finished, glancing at her friend.
When she felt everyone’s eyes on her a moment later, Kate covered her face. “You guys!” she laughed, finally peeking out by widening her fingers. “I’m fine now. I was still kind of tired for the first week after, but I feel pretty much normal now. I haven’t met your friends yet, but if you like them, I’m sure it’ll be fine to go on tour with them. What do you think, Victor?”
He nodded in response. “I’m up for it. I have a few things I’ve been working on that might help during the tour, so maybe we can test them out before we go.”
Lex found herself nodding, wondering what he’d come up with.
“I’m in,” Riss said, nodding at Casey and then looking at Lou.
“Sounds good to me,” he replied, leaning to hold hands with Casey. “They seem like some good people, and three months on the road doesn’t sound too bad, as long as we aren’t too tightly booked. Did they send you a schedule?”
Casey shook her head. “No, she wanted me to ask everyone first to see if anyone was interested. I’ll give her a call back to let her know we’re in, and we can all look at the schedule together.”
Lou nodded and Lex could see Casey give her boyfriend’s hand a squeeze before she went to call the other band with the news.
Riss turned to the group of them, the tiny smile she sometimes wore on her face. “Do you want to finish mixing this one down and then take a break? I had an idea for the cover art, but I’ll need Kate’s help.”
Kate turned and nodded. “Sure. Let’s finish this song, then.”
The next few weeks were busy as they practiced and prepared for the upcoming tour. Victor had come up with a tiny amplifier with a lot of power that they could use in case they were playing at venues larger than they’d previously been used to, and as a result they ended up shopping for a couple of new speakers. A few days after she’d talked about it, Riss presented everyone with a sample of the cover art she’d created: a close photograph of Kate’s new eye. The color looked stunning, and the band members all agreed that’s what they should use.
One day, they decided they needed to spice up Kate’s wardrobe for the tour, so everyone went shopping. Lou and Lex got a bunch of new t-shirts, although Lou’s taste swung more towards rock-band tour shirts while Lex got a few more anime shirts as well as one with a skull with crossed cutlasses underneath.
“I figure I could match Casey’s,” she said with a smile as she modeled it.
Casey, Riss, and Victor all got a few new pairs of jeans; Casey favored the standard cut blue jeans (which she always seemed to have to buy in men’s sizes), but both Riss and Victor got a couple of pairs of skinny black jeans. When the both of them saw what the other had chosen, they shared one of the silent, secret smiles they’d sometimes give one another. It always made Lex grin that somehow they seemed to be alike enough that they didn’t have to talk to understand each other’s thoughts.
Kate bought a good number of things, since the few clothes that she owned looked old or worn down. The crowning piece seemed to be a leather top: not exactly a corset since it had elastic in the back, but it looked like one, although instead of ties in the front it zipped up with a heavy metal zipper. She laughed at the expression on Lex’s face when she emerged from the dressing room.
“What?” Kate asked with a laugh. “Maybe more people will come to see us play if I wear this,” she finished, still laughing.
Lex laughed in return. “Probably. You definitely have more guts than I do, though!”
As they broke the shopping spree to have a snack, Kate disappeared. “I just thought of something else I want to do while we’re out,” she said, smiling secretively. “I’ll be back. This shouldn’t take too long.”
Kate came back as the rest of the group finished eating and spun in a circle for everyone to see. “How does it look?” she asked, smiling as if she’d put a joke over on everyone.
Her new haircut seemed shorter than the fairly conventional looking bob she’d had before. She’d gotten an uneven, bold cut that highlighted her angular face and interesting features. She also held out a container of hair coloring.
“I figured I should join the rest of you in getting some cooler, colored hair,” Kate explained, smiling at Casey and Lex.
“Well,” Lex replied, running her hands through her own hair as she looked in a mirror across the way, “I think I need to touch up my color, too.”
“Come on, everybody,” Casey said as she stood up with a smile. “Let’s go home.”
They dyed Casey’s first, since the color needed to sit in her hair for a while, and then they did Kate’s and Lex’s. Casey’s hair came out as black as ever, but they were both surprised when they looked at Kate’s new color. It seemed to be black at first, but as you looked at it in the light, the sheen of her hair appeared green.
“Well, I thought it would go with the one eye, anyway,” she laughed.
As practice runs for performing out, the band did a couple of shows in town. Lex had been worried at first that Kate would have trouble performing on stage, but as it turned out, her friend took to it like a pro.
“My parents always liked me to be in chorus and in school plays and things,” Kate mentioned with a shrug afterward. “I got used to performing at a young age.”
A couple of weeks before the next tour started, Riss called everyone to sit around the table.
“Just a few things everyone should know,” she said, gazing around to look everyone in the eye. “First, thank you for your confidence in letting me take care of all of our money. I appreciate your trust in me, and I’ve been trying to make sure to live up to it.”
She passed out a sheet of paper to everyone and continued. “As you can see from the top section, since Kate and Victor have joined us, I’ve been able to recover $600,000 of their money from MSI. Like before, I invested half of it and put half in our joint account. What we’ve been getting in the increase in our investments has been keeping pace with our spending. I wanted to point out one more thing, however.”
Again, Riss looked at everyone before continuing. “Our CD sales keep going up. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been making a couple hundred dollars a week.”
Casey beamed at the news. “How come yo
u didn’t mention this before?”
Riss shrugged. “I thought that everyone would have figured it out by now because of how many CDs we’ve had to make, but I guess you lose track when it becomes a normal part of the schedule. We’ve been averaging about 35 CDs sold a week recently. We’ll be gone for 12 weeks, so it’ll be over 400 CDs during that time if it holds steady. Since we’re also going to be selling them on the road, I’d recommend we have a run of 1,000 made for both of our CDs. We haven’t started selling the new ones yet, so I’m not sure how much they’ll sell, but I figure it’s better to have more than run out,” she added, giving Casey a glance with a raised eyebrow.
“You aren’t the ones who have to deal with all of the disappointed people who can’t get a CD. Some of them can get really angry,” Casey replied, crossing her arms over her chest.
“So you’ve said,” Riss replied, her ghost of a smile evident. “So, what does everyone else think? I’ve found a place that’ll do a run of 1,000 for us for a dollar a CD, and they can have them back to us before we leave.”
After discussion, everyone agreed on the idea. Riss nodded, then added one more thing before the group broke up. “I forgot to mention about our digital sales. The payment cycles don’t seem regular, but we usually get something from some of the services every month. For the past few months, it’s been somewhere around $500.”
Silence fell around the table as Lex, Lou, and Casey exchanged glances, then looked back at Riss. She still had a grin on her face, but Kate smiled wider. “I guess I’m getting involved with a successful band, then,” she exclaimed, thumping one of Lex’s shoulders.
The appointed day dawned sooner than Lex had expected, and although they had less room in the van due to the addition of two more people and their gear, everyone had enough to be comfortable. Lex appreciated the clear and sunny day and the bit of fall chill in the air, and everyone seemed to warm up as they packed all of the instruments and bags on board. Lou took the first driving shift, so Casey sat in back, resting on her backpack. Riss took the front seat with Lex, Kate, and Victor sitting in the middle seats of the van.
“Is everyone ready?” Casey called from the back. Lex giggled and Riss smiled as she turned her head in that direction. Kate called back, “Hell yes! It’s about time we went on tour, so let’s get to it!”
The drive took around six hours, but between the chats, the breaks, and the singing contest that Kate had insisted on, the hours seemed to fly by. They still had an hour or two of sunlight by the time they reached the hotel they’d chosen (near to Laura and Eddie’s house, of course), and they all grabbed their clothes and miscellaneous things to move into their rooms.
Since they’d been invited over to Eddie and Laura’s house for dinner that evening, after about an hour the group got back on the road. All six of them filed through their friends’ front door some time later, Casey carrying bags from a nearby grocery store piled with sodas, corn chips, and some other odds and ends for dinner. Laura came running up and hugged everyone, even Kate and Victor. A petite bundle of energy, her curly hair bounced with her as she moved from person to person.
“It’s so nice to have you here,” she said with a wide smile. “You’re such angels for agreeing to do this! We’d been trying to set this tour up for months and then Fractal Page pulled out on us at the last moment. We thought we were screwed.”
Lex introduced Kate and Victor as Laura nodded. “I think we said something to you guys about getting a guitar player the last time you were here, so I’m glad you took our advice,” Laura added, bumping her hip into Lex, who jumped and laughed. “And a sound man! That’s excellent! We may have to ask your help on the road; I hope you don’t mind.”
Victor gave a polite grin in response. “Not at all. I’d be glad to help out.”
“Well, come on in!” Laura finally exclaimed, beaming at them. “I’ll introduce everyone since Kate and Victor haven’t met the rest of the gang yet.”
They all made their way into the kitchen and watched as Laura began pointing people out. “Over here in the corner is my brother Hal—he’s the drummer for End of the Road,” Laura said as she gestured towards where he sat at the kitchen table. He gave a wave and a good-natured smile. “Eddie here is my husband and plays guitar for End of the Road,” Laura mentioned as she leaned into his side. Lex noted that he’d dyed his short spiky hair a deep blue, and she watched him smile at the group as he slipped his arm around Laura’s waist.
“It’s really good to see all of you again, and I’m glad to hear you have some new members,” Eddie added, nodding at Kate and Victor. “Thanks a lot for agreeing to fill in on this tour with us. You really saved our asses.”
“It’s to our benefit, really,” Casey replied with a smile. “I usually have to put in a lot of work to get a tour set up, like the last one we did. This was a lot easier to deal with. Unless you need help with the arrangements along the way, all I’ll have to do is sell CDs, deal with the fans, and enjoy the music.”
Laura looked at Casey thoughtfully and shrugged. “We’ve been working with a guy here in town. He’s sort of an agent, I guess, but we’ve really only had him book shows for us and that sort of thing. I’ll give you his card and you can talk to him to see if anything needs to be done while we’re on the road.”
Casey nodded as Laura continued with the introductions. “This is our roommate Jack, who’s in the other band we’ll be touring with, Jacob’s Hammer. He’s the bass player and shares lead singer duties for the band.” The man she gestured to stood with a hip rested against the kitchen counter, his physique somewhere between lean and muscular. His brown hair curled at his collar, and Lex appreciated the frank look in his green eyes as well as his strong jawline. Lex couldn’t help but smile as she glanced to the side to see Kate checking him out. Jack appeared to have noticed as well, and smiled lazily in response as he gave Kate the once over.
“Very nice to meet you all,” he said, continuing to smile and look straight at Kate.
Laura raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment further, instead pointing to the pots on the stove. “In honor of you guys coming over I cooked two pots of chili—the veggie chili is on the right. You can put some of the soda in the fridge if you want, and beer is in the cooler in the corner. The other two members of Jacob’s Hammer are around here somewhere, Sarah and Rachel, and our other roommate, Luke, is probably up in his room, but feel free to introduce yourselves when you see him. So, dig in and make yourselves comfortable,” she finished, pulling some bowls out of one of the cupboards.
Lex wandered from room to room, listening in on the conversations going on, occasionally joining in but mostly appreciating just being there. She saw Casey and Eddie on the couch in the living room in deep conversation about some of the business end of being a touring band, learning that Eddie handled most of that for End of the Road as well as some of the business for Jacob’s Hammer when Jack asked. Jack returned the favor by working on Laura and Eddie’s touring van.
“How’s he going to have time to tour with us if he’s working as a mechanic?” Casey asked.
Eddie shook his head. “I guess he’s the best they have because the garage he’s at now just gives him the time off. He worked at a couple of other places before that gave him shit about going on tour, so he just quit and went. He’s good enough where he doesn’t have trouble getting another job once he gets back in town, either.”
Lex moved back into the kitchen to find Laura and Lou talking about the bass and their love of the instrument. Lex smiled as she listened to Lou’s story about playing the bass for the past fifteen years. He’d begun when he’d found a bass in someone’s trash waiting to be picked up by the garbage truck. Lou had grabbed the instrument, taken it home, and figured out how to fix it. Since then, Lou mentioned he never liked to be without a bass and had been in a few different types of bands over the years, mostly with people who liked to play for fun. Laura listened intently, then revealed that she’d only been playing for five
or six years, having taken it up in high school. Her father had been a guitar player and had offered to buy her an instrument, but when they’d got to the music store, Laura had fallen in love with the way the basses sounded and insisted on one instead.
Lex nodded to the two of them as she pulled back from the conversation, then filled her plate again before moving on. She spotted Kate and Jack talking together in a corner of the hallway just outside the living room and waved as she moved downstairs. Kate smiled at her wickedly and Jack raised his hand in response just before Lex passed out of sight.
Lex found two women downstairs playing some sort of sci-fishooting video game, which they paused as they saw her.
“We’re really glad you guys could make it after those other bastards quit at the last minute,” said the woman who’d introduced herself as Rachel. Lex noted a short, stocky blonde, her hair in a sculptured cut that framed her face but didn’t fall all the way to her collar, which lent her a mischievous air. Smiling, she shook Lex’s hand and turned to the other woman in the room, introducing her as Sarah.
Sarah held her hand out and smiled gently as Lex took it. “So nice to meet you,” she added quietly. Sarah’s curly red hair reminded Lex of Serena’s, but the tint looked darker and the length only fell to her shoulders. Sarah had the coloring of someone who spent a lot of time indoors, stood about a head taller than Rachel, and moved her thin limbs with grace.
“I play keyboards for Alexander’s Army and sing,” Lex offered, sitting down on the couch with them when the other two women sat back down.
“Well, I’m the guitar player,” Rachel said, then nodded at Sarah. “Sarah here is our synthesist—she plays the keys and rhythm as well, and sometimes sings leads. She and Jack tend to switch back and forth, depending on the song.”
“Cool,” Lex replied, smiling again. “I look forward to hearing you play live.”
“Do you sing the leads for the band?” Sarah asked quietly. “We heard the CD you left with Laura and Eddie, and we both really liked the voice work.”
