Madelynne Ellis - Come Together

‘That still doesn’t give you the right to employ a drummer. We’re a band. It should have gone to a vote.’

‘True,’ Ash admitted. He released his hold on Xane and pushed his hands into his pockets. ‘But everyone’s so stressed out, I thought I’d cut the preamble. It’s not as if there’s an actual discussion to have. Give it one song and you’ll be agreeing with me. The balance is wrong without live drums, and no, the sound guys can’t fix it, because if they amplify it, the track just ends up drowning out everything else. Xane, those recordings were never intended for this sort of thing. Please. I know why we said we didn’t want to employ anyone, but we have to.’

Xane willed his fists to unclench. He wasn’t so big a dick that he couldn’t comprehend what Ash was saying, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Even contemplating slotting someone into Steve’s place felt sacrilegious. The truth was, he wanted to see this new drummer off with a sledgehammer, but he also knew he’d ultimately go with what was right for the band.

He folded his arms across his stomach, suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of nausea. Steve’s loss remained an open wound. They might have buried him, but he didn’t know if he’d ever truly manage to lay him to rest.

Where in the hell was Dani? He needed her here.

‘This is for the best, Xane.’ Ash spoke slowly, with as much calm as he could muster. Mediation wasn’t his usual role. Normally it was Spook trying to smooth things out.

‘Who is he?’ Xane asked distrustfully, suspicious of where Ash had magicked someone from, given that decent rock drummers were few and far between. The last thing they needed was a feud developing because they’d poached some other group’s drum fiend. They had enough axes hanging over them as it was.

‘It’s Iain,’ Ash replied, as if that were supposed to mean something.

‘Who?’ He’d met numerous Iains, but none who was particularly known for playing drums.

‘Iain Willows.’

It took a moment for the name to click. ‘Ash, you have to be effing kidding me. Is this a joke?’ It had to be. ‘The guy hates my guts. He’s done nothing but badmouth me for years.’

‘Bit of friendly rivalry, that’s all,’ Ash reassured him. He flicked his swathe of black hair from his eyes. ‘You know how it is. The punters love a good feud. Come on, Xane. We’ve all thrown a few crass remarks about at some point. Besides, he’s a decent drummer, he’s knows our stuff and he’s available for the whole tour. We’re not going to find anyone else of similar calibre that just happens to have a six-month opening on their calendar, starting today.’

Yeah, so how come Mr Willows did?

Xane shook his head. ‘You should have discussed this. Springing him on us like this is wrong.’

‘It’s only what you’re planning to do with Dani. Besides, if I’d brought it up sooner, you’d simply have vetoed the idea, and then where would we be?’

‘What do you mean, this is what I’m doing with Dani? She’s not joining the band.’

‘She’s as good as. However, in the interests of democracy, why don’t we vote on it? Iain, I mean. Not Dani. I’m happy for her to be around if it keeps you sweet. Guys! Over here a minute.’

The rest of the band slowly sloped over, Elspeth and Rock Giant first, then Spook, with his purple Washburn guitar suspended from its strap and his fingers still dancing over the strings in a repetitive cycle.

‘What’s the verdict, then?’ Rock Giant asked. Rather than flick his gaze over to their prospective drummer, he looked up towards the sound booth in the rafters. ‘Are we set for this soundcheck or what? If we don’t get our butts in gear soon, Ulf’s going to go all Captain Caveman on us.’

‘We’re having a vote,’ Ash explained.

Xane rubbed his brow in despair. ‘Ash wants us to take on a new drummer.’

‘Figured. Didn’t think he was sitting there just for show. Does he come with an explanation?’

‘The backing track sucks,’ Ash responded. ‘And even if it didn’t, personally, I don’t want to play exactly the same set every gig for thirty-odd stops. We’ve always swapped things about, it helps keep it fresh.’

‘What’s your opinion, Spook?’ Xane crossed his fingers that Mr Mortensen had more sense than to blindly agree to this.

Spook stopped playing to take a look at the guy behind the drums. ‘I say give him a trial. See how he handles those sticks. If he works out, then sure, fine. If we need somebody, we need somebody.’

‘Elspeth?’ As if he needed to ask to know her opinion. She looked right through him, focusing instead on something in the middle distance, making him wonder how many times she’d wished he’d been the one whose nose had been broken instead of Steve. Still, he’d take that over the withering glare she cast their wannabe drummer.

‘Why are you even asking me? Of course I don’t want him here. We’re doing this tour for Steve. What does it say about his memory if we’ve already replaced him?’

‘That’s not what we’re doing.’ Ash reached out to her, but she backed away like a startled cat. ‘Elspeth, please. I know this is hard. Steve meant a lot to all of us, but we need a new drummer now. We don’t have the luxury to wait. The tour kicks off tonight.’

‘Well, I don’t see what was wrong with what we had planned.’

Ash shoved his hands into his hair despairingly. ‘Open your ears and listen, woman.’

‘Hey, go easy on her,’ Rock Giant warned.

Ash sighed. ‘Elspeth, we’re not replacing Steve. This isn’t about taking on a new permanent member. It’s about getting through the tour.’

‘For God’s sake, just have your vote, Ash,’ Xane said. The sooner this was over with the better.

‘Ayes?’

Ash raised his hand, so too did Rock Giant. Elspeth shook her head violently even before Ash asked for the nays. Making it two for and two against with Xane’s vote. He wasn’t taking on anyone without hearing them play first. That left Spook with the decider.

Spook stood quietly for a moment, with his fingers flat against the strings of his guitar. ‘I don’t want to replace Steve, but there’s no denying that we need a drummer. The mix isn’t right at the moment, which you’re going to realise the minute you start singing,’ he said looking at Xane. ‘Sorry but –’ he hunched his shoulders apologetically ‘– I guess that makes me a yes. Let’s see what he can do, eh?’

‘Two to three carries it,’ Ash called the vote. ‘He’s in for tonight at least. OK, people, let’s get on with this soundcheck.’

‘“Ripped”,’ Xane announced, making an impromptu change to the set. He needed the release he got from belting out the chorus of this song. ‘He’d better be good,’ he mouthed to Ash, who started strumming the intro. ‘And you better not have stolen him from anybody.’

‘Actually, you stole me off him.’

Xane rolled his eyes. He didn’t know what the hell that meant, and wasn’t sure he wanted to.

No way! He couldn’t fucking well believe it. Luthor kicked the roll of tape he’d been using and sent it slamming into a nearby wall. This could not be happening. He thought the day sucked enough when he’d been sent to collect Xane’s girlfriend and he’d discovered that not only was she hot and cute, she was nice too, which put a massive damper on his plans to seduce the guy again. And now his sticks weren’t going to see any action.

‘Easy, lad,’ Ulf muttered, but that was because he was looking out for his equipment. He didn’t give a fig about Luthor’s dreams being crushed.

‘Just wait, you said,’ Luthor hissed in accusation. ‘They’ll be begging for a drummer. Well, that was shit advice.’ Sitting on their arses meant Black Halo had found someone else.