Dissonance - Chapter 15

We made good time to Nashville. Brent still wasn’t answering his phone, but we were only a few hours out from the show and would have to start setting up soon anyway, so I had Hanna drop me off at the club before the rest of them went to check into the motel. I assumed I would have to wait around until either Brent showed up or the guys got back and we had to start getting ready for the show.

I was wrong. I found Brent standing outside the managers office, except he wasn’t talking to the club manager. He was talking to my father.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying extremely hard to keep my temper under control.

“I’ve been bored out of my mind just sitting around the trailer all week while your mother was working, so I called up your manager Kent and found out where you were playing tonight. I figured I could hear you play in person and see exactly how far you came. I stumbled into Brent here and we got to talking. He has some exciting things to say about your future and his plans for you.”

“I’ll bet,” I said, and then took a deep breath. “Can you give me and Brent a few minutes alone, Dad? I’ll come and find you and we can talk after that, I promise.”

While Dad being here was an unwelcome surprise, it wasn’t something I needed to deal with this second. Dad was bored, and his wanting to come see me play wasn’t unreasonable, although I’d have to nip his trying to be involved with my managers in the bud. No, at the moment, Brent was the bigger problem. Between saddling us with an opening act that cleared the place out before we played to trying to get me to drop out of school and extend the tour into the school year, he was actively making things worse, and needed to be stopped before he could do any more damage.

“If you’re mother and I are going to manage your career, we need to be involved in these conversation,” Dad said.

He was joking! I trusted Mom, which is why she’d been put as the head of the company we’d formed to manage my earnings from the record deal. Dad showed up like three days ago, and here he was talking about managing my career.

“Dad, we can talk about that in a little bit. I promise I’ll tell you what’s going on; but for now, could you please give me a few minutes with Brent,” I said, barely keeping the rage out of my voice.

I could see he wanted to argue more, but surprisingly, he stopped himself and instead said, “Sure, I guess. I think I saw a green room back that way. I’ll wait for you there.”

“Thanks,” I said, and turned back to Brent as he walked off.

“Where’s everyone else?” Brent asked, having stood by quietly watching the byplay between Dad and I.

“Checking into the hotel. I had them drop me off early so you and I could talk.”

“Well, this will probably need everyone else, but I’m glad you’re here anyway. I was just telling your dad, I’ve got some exciting news. I’ve talked to some clubs through the Midwest and even out as far as Nevada about booking you guys, and I think I can keep you working solidly until at least Thanksgiving. So far, you’re only getting real play on the east coast, so this could be a good chance for you to break out.”

“I can’t play until November, I have school. We talked about this and it was pretty clear in my contract, that I could only tour in the summer, over winter break, and maybe at spring break.”

“Yeah, but that was before we knew it was possible. You’d be crazy to give up this opportunity.”

“No, I’d be crazy to drop out of school, especially before my first record releases and we find out if the MAC is going to keep me around or not.”

“Look, kid, I know being up on stage and having this kind of deal can make you feel like you know what’s going on, but you’re still a kid. It’s why your parents, Kent, and I are all here, in charge of your career. We’ve all been around long enough to know what’s what. If you’re smart, you’ll listen to the adults.”

“Smart?” I said, finally raising my voice. “Smart like setting us up an opening act in a small club where we don’t need one? Or smart like having that opening act be on the down side of their career and sucking so hard that they clear out two-thirds of the audience before we ever went up. That kind of smart had us selling no merch and having to split part of the gig fee for the pleasure.”

“Hey, eventually you’re going to be playing bigger venues and will need an opening act. My goal was to start working through some other bands and find ones that fit with you the best.”

“So you picked a group that plays metal, which really doesn’t work for our music, and have been around for years without really making it? I guess it’s just a coincidence that you’re also managing them, right?”

“I’m not sure I like what you’re implying.”

“I’m not implying anything. I’m flat out saying you’re using gigs you set up for us, as an agent for our label, to help another group you manage that isn’t on that label. I might be a kid and so maybe I don’t know anything, but I’m pretty sure that’s not something MAC would approve of. You’re right, I am young, so maybe I shouldn’t be trying to figure this out on my own. I guess I should call Kent or someone else at the label and get their perspective on this.”

To his credit, he held it together pretty well. Although I actually didn’t know for a fact the group that opened for us was still his client or if he was getting some kind of kick-back off of it; but his reaction suggested that was all true.

“Charlie, I’d never break my obligations to your and your band. I apologize. If you feel like I’ve somehow set up to sabotage your tour, than I clearly haven’t been doing a good enough job. I will do what I can to make you feel more comfortable with the decisions for your tour going forward. Hopefully, my working to get you more gigs set up going through the fall should be good proof that I am working hard to make you a success. However, if you feel you must call Kent and tell him you feel like I’m damaging your tour, then by all means, do so, although you should be careful. I like you Charlie, and I don’t want you to make a mistake that could harm your career, because you could go really far in this business. Like you said, you’re still new to this whole thing and the label is using this tour to evaluate what they can expect from you. You don’t want to become known as a primadona this early. If they feel you’re too much trouble for what they think they can make off you, they’ll cut you loose. Which would be a shame.”

I knew what he was trying to do, and I’d half expected it when I decided to confront him, but he also wasn’t wrong. Dad had a contract and lost it, and so had a lot of the other people I’d met back stage traveling with him as a kid. Some of them had been really good, but that hadn’t been enough to keep their contract alive. People who got huge could afford to be difficult, because they produced enough money to make it worth it. I definitely wasn’t in that category.

“Just … don’t chose openers like that without telling us about it first; and do notset up any gigs once we finish what we already decided on. If you find something in driving distance on weekends, fine; but I am not dropping out of school, nor getting a GED, so I can play through the fall. I don’t want to hear about it again.”

“You’re making a big mistake on that, but you’re the boss. You should talk to your parents though. Your dad thought it was a good idea and from what he was saying, he’s got a lot more experience with this than you do.”

“I’ll deal with him. Please just do what I’m asking. No midwestern tour this fall.”

“Fine, Fine,” he said, holding up his hands defensively.

“Good,” I said, turning around and leaving him to whatever he needed to do.

I knew he wasn’t done with this whole thing, but at least he’d heard me out, and hadn’t rejected me out of hand. Right now, I had bigger fish to fry.

The green room was surprisingly big for a club this size, and it even had a full couch in it. This was better than the store rooms most of the clubs had us wait in until we were set to go up. Dad was sitting in the middle of the couch, his arms spread wide across it’s back, looking like he owned the place.

“Did y’all figure it out? He sounded like he had some really good ideas for your future.”

I took a deep breath and tried to keep myself calm. I couldn’t blame him for being here. He’d loved this life and he backed off as soon as I’d asked him. Chef was right, I was being mad before he’d done anything to be mad about.

“Hopefully, although I don’t think his idea of dropping out of school is a good one. When I started playing in front of people, I promised Mom I wouldn’t let it interfere with my schooling. Also, I’d go to college.”

“You’re almost a man now. Don’t let you’re mother sidetrack you dreams. She loves you and she means well, but she gets stuck in these ideas that we should be like everyone else. If I’d listened to her, I’d be spending my life sitting in some office, wearing a tie, complaining it was monday or some shit. If you’re going to follow in my footsteps, you can’t let her hold you back.”

The fact that he thought that was an argument, was astounding, considering he’d just gotten out of prison after a lifetime of barely keeping us fed, rambling from crap gig to crap gig.

“I’m not trying to follow anyone’s footsteps, yours or hers. I’m doing it for me, and I want to finish school. If this works out for me, great, but I’ve already seen that this business is a lot more than just being able to play well. If I’m going to make it, I need to be smart about it.”

Surprisingly, he didn’t argue or push back.

“Hey, you’ve gotten pretty far on your own, so I’m not going to get in your way. If you want to slow things down and stay in school, I’m not gonna stop you. I think you’re making a mistake and you’d should think twice about it, but it’s your decision.”

“Thank you.”

We talked for a little bit after that until the band showed up. It was all superficial and mostly about what the shows before this had been like, but it wasn’t as confrontational as I’d been worried that it would be. It was still uncomfortable and I wished he’d stayed home, but maybe this was a step towards us finding a way to live together, at least semi-peacefully.

The guys showed up and I introduced them to Dad. I’d never really talked about him much to the band, so they thought it was cool he was there to support me. I had no doubt in my mind he hadn’t driven all this way to just support me. I was sure he was instead looking to relive his glory days, or maybe even find a way to restart his failed career. However, I didn’t need to air out my family drama in front of everyone.

Hanna and Kat, who I had told about him, were more guarded. I think Hanna recognized what his actual motives were, but they both took their cues off me, mostly staying quiet and out of the way.

The gig itself was, thankfully, much better than the last one. It was a Friday night, so the place was full, and we didn’t have an opener chasing everyone away. Dad sat in the wings for most of it, listening to us play, and even helped out at the merch table, which made Hanna all kinds of nervous, but she let him.

We sold through enough merch here to make up for some of the last show. If it wasn’t for all of the drama with Brent and my father, this would have actually been a good show. Even though it was late, Dad headed back home. Surprisingly, he hadn’t had a drink all night and was dead sober. So, at least there was that, although it was a long drive back.

Before we got on the road the next morning, everyone headed to breakfast while I stayed at hotel to make a call. I knew Rowan usually stayed up pretty late and slept in when he wasn’t in the studio, but I wanted to get some advice and I didn’t want to do it in front of the rest of the band.

“Hello,” a sleepy voice said when he answered.

“Hey, it’s Charlie. I’m sorry I woke you up, but I need some help.”

“Sure,” he said, the sound of rustling coming from around him, presumably as he was getting up. “What’s going on?”

“I’m running into some problems with Brent and I’m not to sure what to do about it. He’s been pushing me to drop out of school so I can, as he puts it,  ‘strike while the iron’s hot.’ When I told him no, he continued to talk to venues about us playing well into the fall. He also booked a band to open for us at a small club that we wouldn’t normally have an opening act. He said it’s because he was trying to find us openers for when we get bigger, but they are also signed under him, and from what I can tell, they aren’t doing well. I think he was having trouble getting gigs for them, and so he used us to get them work. They sucked, and emptied the place out. We ended up playing to an empty house.”

“Have you talked to him about it?”

“Yes, and he blew me off. He made it sound as if I was overacting to normal stuff, but that he’d try to keep me informed better. I made noise about maybe having to go to Kent about finding a new agent, and he basically said we were new and if we started making waves, they’d decide we were too much trouble to put effort into and drop us. It sounded like ass-covering bullshit, but, we arenew and I don’t want to be seen as a prima donna.”

“You aren’t. He’s gaslighting you a bit. At some smaller labels like some Death Valley Records or Nine-Mil Productions, where the manager is also an owner, sure that might happen, but MAC is a corporation. In the end, all that matters to them is the bottom line, and the board of directors could care less about internal squabbling. Unless you’re out in the public eye causing a ‘brand name’ problem for them, you’re whose making them money. This means you rank a lot higher than a tour manager, whose an expendable line item. If he was well connected enough in the company to cause you problems, he wouldn’t still be a tour manager. If you’re not happy with him, call Kent and tell him Brent isn’t working out.”

“Won’t that mess with the tour? I was thinking if he continued, I’d do that, but I was going to wait at least until the tour was over.”

“Nah. The deals are with the label, not Brent directly. I’m pretty sure he didn’t get assigned to you until after the tour was already set up. Either way, the deal is with the label and not with Brent.”

“So get rid of him,” I said, more as a statement than a question.

“That’s up to you, but if he really is trying to force other bands he’s having trouble getting gigs for into your shows, then I would.”

“Okay. Thanks, man. Sorry to wake you up.”

“No problem. Let me know if you run into any other problems.”

***

The next morning, before everyone piled into our respective vehicles, I waved them all into the room I’d been sharing with Seth and Marco.

“Before we get on the road, I have something I want to talk to you guys about,” I said, pausing for a second to make sure I had their attention. “I think I’m going to call Kent and ask for us to be assigned a new tour manager.”

Hanna and Kat gave each other side glances, which meant it was a good bet that Hanna had also told Kat what had been going on. Seth, Marco and Lyla, on the other hand, all seemed pretty surprised.

“What?” Seth said. “Why?”

“He’s been making decisions that aren’t in our best interest. The biggest one being when he set us up with that opener that cleared out that last venue. Hanna found out that he’s their tour manager as well, and there are indications that they haven’t been booking shows well. He used us to give them a gig, even though they didn’t fit our sound.”

“And they sucked,” Lyla said.

“Not to mention that.”

“What did Brent say?” Marco asked.

“That he’s trying to find openers for some of the larger venues he’s been talking to for a fall tour for us, which is another problem.”

“How’s that another problem?” Marco asked.

“Because I can’t do a fall tour, I’ll be in school. I thought we could do some weekend shows in nearby cities, but I made it clear in the contract, that I still had school as my focus.”

“You’re being stupid,” Marcus said, under his breath but loud enough for all of us to hear.

“For not wanting to be a high school drop out?”

“Yes,” Marcus said, at first confident, but losing some of that confidence when Lyla and Seth didn’t immediately back him up. “We have a real shot right now and if we’re going to get big, we need to really push every opportunity we get. I’ve been in bands a long time and I’ve seen bands pass up their chance and never get another one. You won’t need high school once we make it. You’d be surprised how many big names were drop outs, because they decided to focus on their abilities and take the chances they were given, instead of being stuck trying to reach some arbitrary goal.”

“Do you know how many musicians on the back end of their career I’ve seen traveling with my dad, or more guys who never really made it to begin with? Just because we have a deal doesn’t mean we’re going to get huge. Besides, school isn’t just a ‘back up plan.’ The bigger we get, the less this will be about the music and the more time we’re going to have to spend on business dealings. That’s where education matters. Even we are now, we’ve had to start talking to investors, dealing with merch, contract requirements, managers. I don’t want to go into that handicapped, just because I thought playing a few more shows in the Midwest was going to be the thing that made my career.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lyla said. “We knew the deal when we all signed on. Charlie’s been clear what his limitations were, and made sure we all knew it. And remember, they didn’t make a deal with us, they made a deal with him. He was good enough to make sure we all got equal shares and were a part of this; but without him, we have nothing. So maybe don’t bitch so much.”

In my disagreements with Marco, Lyla had had my back in the past, but never so forcefully. Seth, who was closer friends with Marco than the rest of us, was kind of sitting it out, which was smart of him, although it also meant I didn’t know if he shared Marco’s feelings about the direction of the band.

“So you don’t care if we give up this opportunity?”

“We don’t know what will happen. Our record comes out in September, which is why we’re doing the tour now, to build word of mouth and let people know who we are. By the time of this fall tour, we would have done that and the record would be out. Besides, I’m not sure how much we can really get from local shows. A hundred people seeing us play at their local club or bar isn’t going to make or break our record sales. They said they’re going to get us on radio and call into some morning shows, and those have thousands of listeners. Best case, these shows give us some short term cash, which is what Brent is really after.”

“Cash isn’t a terrible thing,” Seth said.

“No, but it’s the only thing that he’s after,” Lyla said. “More than these extra shows, the thing we should be paying attention to, is his saddling us with that opening band. Even if they didn’t suck, and how could he not know how bad they were, they didn’t match our sound and were not right for us. If he did that just to make some money, and keep them afloat; then he isn’t working in our best interest, only for his own. Is that who we want for our manager?”

“No,” Seth said, when Marco didn’t answer.

“I agree,” I said. “I want to make it clear. I’m not against us getting gigs through the fall, and even doing short week long tours when I have breaks over Thanksgiving, spring break, or the winter break. What I don’t want is a manger who makes those decisions for us, without talking to anyone first. I’m also concerned about future gigs. Right now, we’re playing places the studio set up for us, before Brent was assigned. What happens when it’s his turn to get us gigs? Will we play at the places that give us the most exposure, or places that might give him the largest personal reward.”

“You think he’d do that?” Marco asked.

“After that band he set us up with? No doubt about it!”

“I think these are all good points, and I agree with them,” Lyla said.

“So, do you all agree that we should change up management? Someone whose job it is to do the best they can for us?”

Lyla and Seth agreed immediately.

After a moment, Marco shrugged and said, “Sure.”

“Good. I’ll take care of it. I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.”