When I enter Rick’s office again, I watch as Jace takes the girl over to Rick and they begin talking. All the guys are looking on curiously from across the room. They aren’t exactly being inconspicuous with their obvious gawking at her either. When they all happen to get a look at me, my wet hair and clothes, they sputter out laughs. “What the hell happened to you? Toilet explosion or some shit?” Henley asks making the rest laugh harder.
“No,” I grumble refusing to answer.
As I turn to look at her along with the rest of them, my eyes roam from her face down her curvy body. The girl is a knock out I’ll give her that. She’s got piles of dark hair, eyes that match, and don’t even get me started on that ass. Delicious. “She’s fucking hot,” Nixon mutters under his breath and the other guys murmur their agreement.
For some reason this annoys me. “She’s okay.” I say and they all look at me like I’m crazy. “What? I just have a feeling she’s probably a total psycho bitch.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Nixon asks me disbelievingly. Yeah sure, I’m usually eager to join in their evaluation of any woman, but not this time. I look away and ignore his question.
“I wonder who the other girl is with her?” Rocco says curiously.
“Probably just moral support or something,” Henley says.
Jace says something that makes Rick laugh, look at me, then say something to her. When she replies, Rick and Jace laugh loudly which makes her smile. If the sighs and groans next to me are any indication, I’m not the only one that finds the sight favorable. Yeah, no way she’s going to join our band. I don’t even need to hear her sing to know that much.
They all turn and move to us, I cross my arms over my chest and scowl at their arrival. All the other guys stand expectantly. “Guys,” Rick says, “this is the last singer of the day. If I do say so myself, I think we saved the best for the last. Please meet Sailor Blue.”
Rocco immediately stretches a hand toward her, “Hi, Sailor, I’m Rocco,” she nods and I’m positive she already knows who each of us are. I mean, who doesn’t, but she’s kind enough not to say so. “And that’s Henley,” Jace says gesturing to him. Henley says, “Hey,” with a smile. “That’s Nixon,” Jace points and Nixon shakes her hand too, “Nice to meet you,” he says with a smile that she returns. “And that’s-”
“We’ve met,” I cut him off staring at Sailor.
“Yeah, he thought she was the secretary, demanded water from her, and so she uh… gave it to him,” Jace says, and he and Rick laugh. All the guys look at my saturated shirt and me again, then back at Sailor. When they all break out into laughter, I give them all the finger, because I’m classy like that.
“We didn’t meet officially,” she says to me and her voice is low and husky. I like it, but I don’t want to. Fuck. “So, hello,” she says.
“Sailor Blue, huh? Is that like a stripper stage name or something?” I ask her. All the guys look at me in shock and annoyance, but I ignore them. I have no idea why I just said that, but I’m not about to back down and take it back.
“Oh, come on. The name’s not familiar? I’m named after your mom’s porn movie, Sailor Blew.”
“Ohhh!” Henley busts a gut laughing, Rocco bends over at the waist howling and even Nixon, Rick and Jace are amused. Sailor has a smirk on her lips and her friend puts her hand over her mouth and tries unsuccessfully to cover her smile. “She gave it to you!” Rocco says. “I don’t need to hear a note, she’s in as long as she keeps talking to him like that,” Nixon says. Fucking stooges. All of them.
“Clever,” I tell her and she shrugs. “Where did you find this one? Another demo? A local band? Jail?” I ask Rick.
“Enough,” Rick says not amused with my attitude, and I zip it, because I know I’m pushing my luck. We’re here mostly because of me. Acting out like this will only dig my grave a bit deeper, and I should know better, but I can’t seem to help myself.
“I’m Britt,” the girl with Sailor says suddenly interrupting the silence. “I’m Sailor’s best friend. It’s nice to meet everyone,” she says with a smile at the guys, then looks at me, “Except you. You, I’m not sure I like,” she says and I almost laugh. Who the hell are these women?
“Before we talk about where we found Sailor, how about we hear her sing? You ready?” Rick asks her and she smiles and nods.
“Follow me,” Jace says and leads the way out of Rick’s large office. Next door, we walk into a large room that has sound equipment and our instruments set up. “What are you going to sing?” Jace asks Sailor. She gives him the songs and my eyebrows raise at her selection. She’s brave, I’ll give her that. Those are hard songs to replicate vocally in my opinion.
“Can you boys handle that?” Rick asks as the guys move to their instruments. I stay back since Henley has the guitar covered and cross my arms, ready to see if she’s any good. The eager look on Jace’s face tells me that he sure as hell thinks she is, but I’ll reserve judgment for myself.
Henley has his guitar in his hands and he starts plucking at the strings while he waits for Rocco to get situated behind the drums. Nixon is taking the keyboard. He moves from bass to keyboard depending on the song. I play guitar on some songs, and Henley can play guitar and bass, so it’s a nice mix we have being able to move from instrument to instrument depending on what the song needs. I’m the lead vocalist, but we all sing. It dawns on me once again that basically this means that our band is just fine on its own and adding Sailor, or any other woman is downright asinine, but no one cares what the hell I think.
Sailor moves behind the microphone stand and removes it, opting to hold it in her hand instead of keeping it idle. Her friend Britt takes a seat directly in front of her across the room, and I see Sailor look at her and Britt nods her head. Silent communication of encouragement is clearly occurring between them. Rick and Jace have their heads together talking about god knows what, until Jace says, “All set?”
“Yep,” Sailor says with a smile. Then she looks back at the guys and says, “On three?” They all nod and smile, the traitors, and she gives the count, and they’re off.
She immediately sings, there’s no musical introduction to this song and from the first sentence, I’m stunned immobile. Her complete disposition changes – it’s like she becomes the notes she’s singing. She must be a magician because her voice is filling the room with magic. She clearly doesn’t just sing the words; she feels the lyrics she’s singing. Her body moves with the notes, her hands make gestures in the air as if they assist her in hitting the high notes. She stares ahead, but it’s clear she’s lost in the music. I don’t want to take my eyes off of her, but I do and look at the guys in the band and they’re all staring at her with varying looks of surprise.
Swinging my gaze back to her, I watch as she finishes the song, and feel the silence as the music ends. It’s quiet, and the room feels heavy – as if it weeps at the loss of her voice.
Britt is smiling ear to ear and Jace and Rick are smiling and nodding. Sailor looks around the room and appears unsure of what to do or say. I remain still, unsure of what to do with the whirling emotions inside of me. I don’t like the fact that there’s a stirring of excitement deep within me at the thought of singing with someone who has a voice like hers. That throaty gravel sound that I love when she speaks, converts into her singing voice, that and the range she reaches – well she’s incredible. However, I realize there is no way I’m going to reveal my initial impression.
“Sing the other one,” Jace instructs.
“Okay,” Sailor says and she tells the band the name of the song once more and they nod knowing the tune. Rocco starts the short drum intro before Sailor starts singing. I wouldn’t exactly call the song a ballad, but the tempo is a bit slower than the first and it definitely shows off her vocal range once again. How she’s not already singing with her own band, or has her own solo career with a ton of hits, is beyond me. She’s that good. And I feel both perturbed by this fact and pleased.
Despite my desire to feel otherwise, I’m transfixed watching her. She moves from side to side and it’s clear she can’t help but move when she sings – the music clearly speaks to her – wants her to dance with it. Her face has character, she doesn’t just sing the notes, she performs them. I think that’s what was missing from the other women we watched tonight. It was almost as if they were going through the motions. No doubt they were nervous, and they all had great voices too, but with Sailor, it seems everything else falls away and it’s just her and the music. There’s no room for doubt – she’s completely taken over- she’s passionate. Something within me aches at the sight, remembering how it was to feel that way myself. It’s been buried underneath the emotions of all this other shit, but watching her, feeling moved by her voice, I almost have hope of finding it again.
When the song ends, the room is silent once more, but this time, I don’t remain quiet. “Do you know any of our songs?” I ask her. Let’s see how well she’s done her homework. Also, everyone knows that most voices – even good ones - are generally not able to fit with more than one or two music styles. So, she sang those tunes, doesn’t mean she could do ours.
“Yes,” she replies simply.
“How about our song, ‘Pray’. Do you know that one?”
“I do,” she says.
“Great,” I say and move toward the guys and grab my guitar. When I do so, Henley exchanges his guitar for the bass and swings the strap over his body. “Let’s sing it. You start and I’ll pick a place to join in.” She nods, and I do the count in. She starts right where she’s supposed to and she’s not lying, she knows each note and every word. When she hits the chorus, I harmonize with her blending our voices together. The guys sing back up in the appropriate places. We sound good together, really fucking good. Damn it! I guess I’m surprised – and not too happy – well mostly. Many soloists just can’t help taking over when placed in a group. And often, their voice, the vibrato, the tone, is just not meant to part of a group. But not hers. It’s then I realize that Jace is looking in my direction, requesting non-verbal feedback. Looking over at Jace, I give him a nod while simultaneously frowning, letting him know that while I approve of her sound, I’m not sold that she’s my choice. He nods back and says something to Rick who is already nodding his head clearly liking the way we sound together as well. Despite having agreed to this, I was silently hoping the auditions would prove Rick wrong and that he’d come to his senses. That was almost accomplished – until Sailor. Unfortunately, I think this could work and I know by the look on their faces that Rick, Jace and the guys think so too. I have no intent to change my position, as I’m still not thrilled about any of it. Yet. If we have to do it, we may as well make sure we get the best singer and make the most of it. I have no doubt we could get some good songs out of making the best of this situation.
When the song ends, Nixon suggests another one of ours and when Sailor knows that one too, we go right into it. I find that I’m enjoying myself the longer we sing, but desperately try to hide it. Truth is, the sound does feel new, fresh, and despite my resistance, there’s a feeling of excitement rolling in my belly again. This time when the song ends, we don’t suggest another one. Sailor puts the microphone back in the stand and moves next to her friend, who excitedly puts her arm through Sailor’s and says something in her ear making Sailor smile. God, that smile again.
Clearing my throat I put my guitar in the stand and look at the guys. Their decision is clear on their face. Bastards – they’ve given in so easily. Luckily, I know we’ll talk this out as a group and I have at least one more chance to plead my case. Rick can’t finalize anything before we have a chance to talk. Plus, it will take some time to get our contract revised and ironed out so I still have a chance to turn all of this around.
Immediately my brain is telling me that there isn’t a chance in hell of that happening. Not now that she’s auditioned and after the way we sounded together. As I wrestle with this likely reality, that feeling in my gut erupts yet again. I stifle that, trying to process the many ways I could cause her distress so she wouldn’t last long if she receives this opportunity. I’m not giving up quite as easy as they all may think.
“Sailor, thank you so much for coming in,” Rick says walking to her and taking her hands in his. “You are wonderful.”
“You never said where you happened to find her?” Henley asks and I look at Rick curious myself.
Jace smiles and laughs, “A friend of mine has been talking about this place I needed to check out for a while, The Hook. He told me it’s a great place for drinks and that they do karaoke on the weekends. He said it’s a fun atmosphere with a great bartender and an even better singer. He said a girl was creating quite the stir there with her voice and I needed to go check her out because she was blowing people away with her pipes. I didn’t realize the bartender and the singer, were one and the same.”
I look at Sailor in disbelief. A bar? They found her at a bar? Clearly she has no professional experience. I could crack her. Singing at some karaoke night does not qualify her for this gig. Regardless of her voice, I’m disappointed that Jace would think otherwise. And Rick. I mean what’s the chance that someone found in that situation would be up for a professional life?
“Anyway, Rick and I went and checked it out. Figured we had nothing to lose. We asked Sailor that night to get in touch with us about auditioning.”
“I can see why,” Rocco says. “Amazing someone else hasn’t swept her up already.”
I want to throw a muzzle over Rocco’s mouth.
“My thoughts exactly,” Rick says and I can just see the wheels turning in his head. Sailor has no clue, but if Rick has his way he’ll figure out a way to sign her and try to make some money from her talent if he can – no matter what we decide. Perhaps that’s the solution. Lucky for her, he’s legit and a good guy. She’s lucky he is the one that discovered her first.
“We need to talk some things over Sailor, but we will be in touch with you and let you know what we decide either way. Does that sound okay?” Rick asks.
“Yes, thank you very much for the opportunity,” she says kindly. Jace and Rick shake her hand and she turns around to us waves and says, “Bye.” All of the guys respond and then she’s out the door. I stay silent.
Turning to the guys, I raise my brows, “Let’s not jump to a decision. I think there’s a few items to discuss and more to learn before we just pick someone who appeared out of the blue. I mean she doesn’t have any experience. She’s not a professional. It sounds like she can’t bring us more listeners. Her only fan base is a group of drunks at a bar.” Everyone looks at me as if my head just spun all the way around on my shoulders and I spewed vomit all over the walls. Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but I get the message loud and clear. “Ok, so she had a good voice. I admit that. She also knew a couple of our tunes.”
“And she blended with us in an amazing way – the sound seems to be exactly what we’d want in adding a female voice to the mix,” Rocco states matter-of-factly.
Everyone nods in agreement.
I see this isn’t going to be easy.
“She’s not the right one…if you’re stupid,” Nixon says adding a deep sigh to punctuate his comment. “I’m pretty sure the rest of us are all on the Sailor train.”
“Yea, she’s great,” Rocco says reemphasizing his previous opinion. “Her range is insane, her sound is crystal clear and bold. Her voice blended well with ours, she has the right look, I mean, why would you have a question?”
“Well I can tell you I’m not letting a talent like that walk away,” Rick says making it clear my thoughts earlier were on target. “So if you boys decide you want to keep looking, then we can, but there may be a chance for a collaboration down the line assuming I can get her to sign with me. She’s amazing.”
“She is,” Jace agrees to my chagrin. I throw him a quick grimace, a reminder that his job is to represent our opinion and decisions. “You guys sound
ed great together,” he continues, ignoring my silent message. “Really. I’m not just saying that because I want to be done with this search and get on with all of this either. Although the sooner we find someone the sooner we can get started on new material and finish up tour plans.”
“I have to admit, I didn’t think you would be easy to convince,” Rick says to me and thankfully while I know the other guys agree with him they stay quiet. “It’s imperative you are in agreement – the decision and future is far too important. So, while I know this isn’t what you would prefer – likely any of you – she certainly was our best candidate tonight.” Rick pauses and takes a moment to look at all of us in the eye before continuing. “I’m just going to say it, hopefully clearer this time, I’m making an executive decision - one that’s right for the company and everyone else that’s involved with making Graffiti a success. We will add a female to the group. It’s going to happen. Or you will not continue with this label. What’s been going on… it’s not fair to any party and so things are going to change. You’re better than this, and all I want is your continued success. Furthermore, because I want to make sure you’re aware of what’s being said within the industry, should you choose to leave here, I can’t be sure that other labels are eager to pick you up. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I tell him and the others echo the same response. When we do so I swear Jace seems to breathe easier.
“Alright then, it’s been a long day and I’ll let you all go, but I’d like to meet back here in two days to go over your new contracts. Regardless of who joins the group, revisions are needed. I’ll send amendments to Jace by the end of business tomorrow so you all can discuss a day before we meet. Any opposition? Ok, hearing none, that’s the plan. Questions?”
Broken Melody (Graffiti On Tour Series) Page 5