by Ali Parker
Each of them had a full list of tips they could study before the live interview, personalized to what I’d picked up from that particular band member during interviews before. They also each had a list of talking points for the interview, topics to avoid and how to handle it if those topics were mentioned.
I’d arranged for the hotel to have a projector ready for me and had my laptop hooked up to it. As part of our final interview prep, I was going to show the guys some of their more disastrous old videos and compare it to interviews given by other bands. In their genre. In this age. It should show them they could be all rock n’ roll and whatever and still do what I needed them to do, which was to promote and not sink this album.
“Hey, Alicia,” Dom said, opening the door to the conference room and entering first. Caleb and Matt came in after him. Glancing at my watch, I was surprised to see they were right on time.
“Hi, guys.” I motioned to the round conference table, gathered up the folders I made, and handed them to the boys as they passed me. “Have a seat anywhere. Thanks for being on time.”
“No worries,” Jared piped up cheerfully, walking into the conference room not a second after the rest. He kicked out a chair beside the one my folder and pencil case were resting in front of, sinking into it as if he hadn’t noticed, even though he immediately grabbed one of my pens and started sketching on the front page of the folder I handed him.
Dom opened his, paging through the information inside with keen interest. He was generally the most serious of them all, but this was the first time I’d seen him as focused. Caleb flicked through his, too, which was a little more surprising since he usually just asked what he wanted to know.
Even Matt seemed more focused tonight, though, turning my laptop toward him to scroll through the videos I had lined up. He grimaced, telling me he remembered some of what they were about to watch and flipped open his folder.
“Anyone seen Nick?” I asked, eager to get going while I had their attention on the work to be done. For the most part, anyway. Jared was still sketching, but he was also skimming through his tip page.
“Not since we got here,” Dom offered, looking around at others. They shrugged and nodded in agreement.
“Only one no-show,” I noted. “I’m impressed, but I’m going to have to go get him before we get started.”
“Gerry not joining us?” Caleb asked absently, still reading whichever of the documents he had open in front of him.
“Not tonight. He’s going over some last-minute details on his end,” I told him, digging my phone out of my purse in case it rang while I went up to Nick’s room. The thing had been going off every few minutes since we’d arrived in New York.
Word was leaking that the band was here, and everyone wanted a piece of them. It started buzzing in my hand as I was thinking about how busy it’d been, but I silenced it. I had a band member missing in action and this wasn’t a meeting I was letting any of them off the hook for.
“I’ll be right back. Please keep reading through the information I gave you, and whatever you do, don’t leave. The hotel will be sending in drinks and snacks in a minute.”
Jared pushed his chair out and stood before I could get to the door. “I’m coming with you. Might help.”
He didn’t say anything more but closed the conference room door behind him and gestured for me to lead the way down the hall and to the elevators. He walked close to my side, smelling like man and soap with just a hint of beer.
“Thanks for offering to come with me, but I’ll be fine. You could’ve just waited with the others.”
“Figured reinforcements wouldn’t hurt.” He shrugged, his tone more crisp than it usually was when he spoke to me.
“No joke about coming with me?” Arching my brow as we walked, I lifted my gaze to his and punched the button for the elevator when we got to it. Thankfully, I knew which rooms they were all staying in since I’d checked them in earlier.
Lifting his shoulder in another shrug, Jared looked up at the white-blue numbers above the elevator doors counting down the floors to us. “Too obvious.”
A bright digital ding ran out, signaling the arrival of our elevator car. The doors slid open soundlessly, and Jared followed me in. “You’ve never been one to shy away from making the obvious puns.”
“Fine. Then maybe I’m just not in the mood.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared straight ahead. I didn’t understand it, but he was being standoffish with me. Flirty, borderline warm Jared I was getting to know was nowhere to be found.
I wondered why, but I didn’t question it. The elevator car rose fast and didn’t stop once. Before I knew it, another ding sounded, and we were deposited on Nick’s floor. The guys had identical suites on a couple of the upper floors. I walked to Nick’s door, which I knew sat right beneath Jared’s and knocked loudly.
Muted music was playing through the door, and I knocked again, even louder this time. In the middle of one of my knocks, the door swung open. A half-naked girl stared at me from inside, irritation flaring in her eyes until she noticed who was standing next to me. “Jared! Oh my god! I was, like, just telling Nick how much I love your band.”
Nick came up behind the girl, shirtless and with a drink hanging from his thumb and index fingers. “What’s up, guys?”
“Getting started into New York early, I see,” Jared remarked, surprising me when his eyes stayed on his friend instead of the half-naked girl in front of him.
“Yeah.” Nick grinned, his own clear blue eyes surveying the girl’s behind before lifting back to Jared. “I’m not going to make it to the meeting. Thought I’d make it in time, but still busy.”
“I’m sorry Nick, but—” I began, but Jared took a small step forward and pushed the door all the way open.
“Get your shit and meet us down there,” he told Nick, leaving him no space to argue. “The girl can wait. This is important.”
I blinked, my eyes widening when I realized what had just happened. Jared was being assertive for me. It was hot as hell.
And just a little bit confusing, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Squaring my shoulders, I grinned sweetly at Nick. “What he said.”
When we got back to the conference room, a grumbling Nick in tow, the others were still focused and ready to work. Jared and Nick took their seats, and I kicked right off with what they could and couldn’t do in a live interview.
Nick scowled all the way through the meeting, but even he seemed to be paying attention to what I was saying. I played them the videos, pausing at times to point out things they had done that they shouldn’t have and making sure to point out what they’d done right too.
The guys laughed but one by one started asking to borrow pens to make notes. Encouraged, I kept my pointers short and to the point before I lost this rare chance of the band cooperating and turned the lights back on when I was done.
“Remember, you’ll only get one shot at this. There will be no repeat performance and no second takes, so keep the future of the band in mind before you answer any questions. At the end of the interview, you’ll play your one song and that will be it. Everyone clear?”
“We’re clear,” Caleb said, looking around the table and glaring at Jared in particular. “We’ll be on our best behaviors, you have my word.”
13
Jared
Dom inspected his drum kit as diligently as a man about to blow his entire savings on a used vehicle. If the kit had tires, I had no doubt he would have kicked them. Apparently satisfied, he gave a curt nod and lifted his grey eyes to mine. "You ready for this?"
"Born ready." Not the most original of answers, but it was true. Nervous energy, the good kind that kept you on your toes, thrummed through me. I was ready to kick this interview's ass.
Crew members swarmed around us, loud in their organized chaos. I'd learned over the years that these setups could get noisy, hectic, and generally seem like no one knew what either they or the person next to them were doing
.
What was really happening, though, was sort of like what I imagined happened in a beehive. Everyone knew exactly which part was theirs to play, and it all came together seamlessly in the end.
We were at the studio where the interview was taking place, about to perform our sound check for the song we would be doing after it was over. A multicolored kilim carpet was rolled out across a part of the interviewer's studio and would be our stage for the day.
Dom's kit was set up at the back with Matt next to him. Caleb and Nick were set up to flank me, center stage and a few steps ahead of them.
While they messed around with their instruments, tuning and checking their babies were okay after the trip out here, I saw Alicia walking up to me. Wearing a killer skirt that hugged her hips and thighs like it had been stitched onto her and skimmed the tops of her knees with a formal jacket, she looked every bit the cool professional she was.
Her hair was pinned up and her makeup minimal. The look screamed, “You can look, but you can never touch.”
Except I could touch her, and I honestly couldn't wait to be the one to watch her shed her business layers later, until she was writhing underneath me and begging for more. I smirked as she approached, giving her a long once-over Caleb definitely wouldn't have approved of.
Luckily, my dear worry wart of a brother was too immersed in his guitar to pay attention to any inappropriate places my eyes were lingering. Alicia's eyes darted from one of my bandmates to the next, silently checking up on each one. She came to a stop next to me and flashed me a tight smile.
"Everything okay here?"
"We're good. Ready to rock this joint. They’re not going to know what hit them." The song we'd chosen to play today was one of our new ones, and it was the first time we'd be putting it out there into the world.
One of the more recent ones I'd written, it was about losing your childhood home but was open to interpretation. No doubt a lot of people would speculate that it was about losing your first love. That was the thing about music, it could be about and mean different things to different people, and that was okay with me.
Alicia's lips curled into an encouraging smile, her expression softer now. "Good to hear. You're going to be great, I know it. Just be yourself, well, a toned-down version of yourself, but yourself nonetheless."
I couldn't stop my mouth from curving upward as I hiked an eyebrow. "A toned-down version of myself, huh?"
Pursing her lips, I could see she was trying her best not to laugh. "Exactly, like the Emperor in standard definition instead of HD. A little less sharp around the edges."
"I'm all me, all the time." I winked, holding back a chuckle.
"That's what I'm worried about," Alicia told me, sounding like she was only half joking.
Putting my hand on her shoulder, I squeezed lightly. "Don't worry. I know what needs to be done."
"Break a leg," she told me. Gerry called her name from somewhere in the throng of people around us, and she hurried away.
Our sound check went off without a hitch, a good sign for the day as far as I was concerned. Before I knew it, we were prepped and ready, and the interview was underway.
The interviewers were two young guys with spiked hair, casually dressed in jeans and band shirts. Mike and Andy, the supposedly dynamic duo who hosted Entertainment Talk Today, were laughing with us and looked like they were getting a kick out of hearing our tamer stories from the last tour.
I was damn proud of us so far. The interview was going well, and if we could keep it up, we actually just might get through this one unscathed. Hell, if we kept it up, the show could have Alicia's intended consequence of amping up the hype around the new album even more.
Nick, Dom, and I were grouped together on one couch too small to fit all three of us while Caleb and Matt were on another.
The show was set up to look like a bunch of people talking in a living room. If your living room had bright, hot lights, a studio audience of one hundred of your closest friends, and cameras recording your every move.
We stuck to the safer topics Alicia outlined for us, but I couldn't relax despite how smoothly things were going. Mike and Andy took turns questioning us, making sure they got answers from all of us.
“So gentlemen, we like to play a little game on this show called Quickfire. We ask questions our viewers submitted, and you have to answer with the first thing that comes to mind. No discussing it or thinking.”
Alicia had prepared us for this game. Apparently designed to elicit a few laughs, set the interview subjects at ease, and give fans a chance to feel involved cause it was their questions being asked, I knew it usually preceded the heavier questions from the interviewers.
Mike tapped on the screen on the tablet he was holding, smirked, and asked the first question. “Who is the most difficult when you’re recording?”
“Dom,” Nick, Matt, and I said immediately.
I elbowed him, and Dom gave a sly smile. “I’ll take it, but personally, I would’ve said it was Jared.”
Caleb lifted his fist for a bump, and Dom indulged him. Laughter came from the audience as Andy took the next question. “Who’s usually the neatest person on your tour bus?”
None of us had an answer to that. With all five of us in a space that small for extended periods of time, shit got messy quickly. Matt finally raised his hand. “I’ve been known to wash a mug or two.”
Caleb rolled his eyes. “It was one time.”
More laughter from the audience.
The game continued, as did our banter and newfound easygoing ways in an interview. As soon as the game ended, I braced myself. If their usual pattern stuck, the next few questions would be the ones that would threaten to derail us.
The first curveball came when Mike, the blond interviewer, leaned forward and checked something on the tablet he was holding.
"I must say, you guys have surprised me so far."
Matt frowned, sitting back and folding his arms. "How is that?"
"You guys have a bit of a reputation as troublemakers, but so far, I'm not seeing that. Unless one of you put a whoopee cushion somewhere I've yet to see it." He laughed, but it didn't lighten the mood in the room suddenly.
I could feel every one of my bandmates tense. Not because we were ashamed of our past or because we were into being known for getting into trouble, but because this was what Alicia and Gerry warned us about.
Keep your cool, guys, I urged silently.
"No whoopee cushions today," Dom assured the interviewer, his jaw clenching.
Andy, the other interviewer, sat forward with a smile that didn't seem as friendly to me as before. "But seriously, guys, you've gotten into some bad spots. Arrests, fights with journalists and other celebs, rumors of parties so out of control you've been kicked out of even the hotels best equipped for famous clientele."
"Is there a question in there?" Nick bit out from beside me. I'd known the guy a long time, and while he and I were the last ones who ever apologized for our ways, I knew he was getting riled up from Andy's condescending tone.
The interviewer shrugged, exchanging a glance with his co-presenter. "Sure. Drama has always followed you around, but these days there's been nothing but good press and clear skies. Can we expect your old antics to return when you get back on the road?"
Nick bristled, opening his mouth to give some kind of snappy retort. Reigning in my own frustration with the interviewers, I jammed my toes into his heel and spoke over him before he could say something that could ruin this for us.
"We're turning over a new leaf. Music is what is and always will be important to us. That's what we're focusing on right now." Would we change our ways? Fuck, no, but I was doing my job and answering the question in a way that couldn't be perceived as wrong.
Alicia would be proud.
"We're looking forward to seeing and hearing what that focus brings," Mike said sincerely and then grinned into a camera. "Speaking of which, the boys from Destitute visiting us here on Ent
ertainment Talk Today have agreed to play us a song off their highly anticipated new album. Stay tuned for this exclusive sneak peek."
The interview mellowed out again, and a couple of minutes later, it was time for us to play. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief as I took my place behind the microphone, I gave myself a mental pat on the back for disrupting Nick's explosion and got ready to do what I did best.
Caleb led us in with a guitar intro he'd fine-tuned to an art and made the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand at attention. I fell in exactly on cue, and the rest of the band joined in.
Throughout our performance, I couldn't stop myself from looking at Alicia from time to time. She stood in the wings right across the stage from me, her relief clear in her wide blue eyes even from this distance.
Swaying along to the song, she didn't take her eyes off me once while I sang. For some reason, her attention energized me, spurred me on, and made me deliver the song with more feeling than I'd ever been able to muster.
When the last notes of the song faded, there was silence in the audience for a minute before they broke out in loud applause and whistling. Mike and Andy appeared by my side, as enthusiastic as anyone in the crowd. "That was fantastic!"
"Absolutely incredible," Mike agreed, smiling into another camera. "You heard it here first. Great song, great guys, and I'm sure you'll all be with me when I wish them the very best of luck for their upcoming album."
The audience was still cheering when Andy spoke into a camera. "Let's all thank the guys from Destitute for being here today and remember to tune in next week."
Someone yelled, "We're out," and easy as that, we'd rocked our first live interview for this album. I couldn't lie. It felt fucking good.
14
Alicia
"You guys did great," I gushed, beaming at the boys of Destitute. I didn't even care that I looked and sounded like just another fangirl.