You Can't Spell Star Without A&R

Hands circled the hot plastic coffee cup in her hands; she watched the steam rise from it and wondered just how the hell she was sitting here. How she was several thousand miles from home, with her two best friends playing music to thousands of people. How the hell had that even happened? How had these three somewhat ostracized and weird kids gone from Scotland ended up here? Three years ago they had spent a summer hauled up in each others houses, playing music, playing covers and some how that had evolved in to writing their own material… it had never started with a conscious decision to start a band. It had just happened, it wasn’t as if they had sat there and gone ‘lets start a band’ and gone about it like that…sometimes Jules got confused about why she was here. Though she was more confused as to why she was sat across the table from Billie Joe Armstrong, she wasn’t used to…almost being included by other bands. Double Jeopardy were always that small band that were kicked to the side and they were ignored almost, they were invisible and here was Billie Joe Fucking Armstrong complementing her band! How on earth did that happen!

Ripping open a packet of sugar Jules dumped the contents in to the drink and that was swiftly followed by two more, she noticed the expression on his face a raised eyebrow and a half smile.
“Sugar and caffeine my drugs of choice, I couldn’t get though a day without a coffee with enough sugar to send you in to a diabetic coma.” He laughed, Jules was just glad he wasn’t insulting her, she half expected him to come out and tell her that they should just give up and go back to Britain. That wasn’t what he was going to say though; he was interested in something else. Leaning forwards he folded his arms on the table and watched her for a moment stirring her coffee before she looked up and it was her turn to look a bit perplexed. “You know where I come from staring is considered rude.” Jules stated as she glanced back down at her coffee, her mood went up and down more often than a yoyo, even more so when she was hung over, tired and jet lagged.
“Sorry I was thinking…”
“Thinking?” She asked almost right away without missing a beat as she waited for the hot coffee to cool down, she didn’t feel like burning her mouth off.
“Well, I was wondering about your new album?” He picked up his own coffee and took a drink, leaving her a moment to think about the answer. Personally he had a theory, he had been in the business long enough to know what label politics was like. A small band like Double Jeopardy were only dealt with when the label had a bit of spare cash, which now was very uncommon, when they sold extraordinarily well without much promo which nearly never happened and they were the first ones to go when the label got in trouble.

In all honesty Jules was struggling to answer the question she shifted in the chair nervously for a moment before sighing and shrugging.
“No idea, I mean we have new material and it got a good response on the UK tour but we haven’t recorded anything yet.” She was trying to dance under the question mark, skirt around the question like she would in an interview except she wasn’t talking to a journalist, she was talking to a musician who knew how it worked.
“Right…” he sounded thoroughly unconvinced, the thing she should have learned by now was never ever underestimate something with children, they had all the tricks you see. They knew how to make you talk, they knew how to get the facts out of you and worst of all they were probably better at dancing under that question mark then you were. “Is that the excuse you’re telling everyone?” Jules looked at him shocked for a moment Billie Joe watched her carefully the way she looked away, then up at the inside of the white canvas make shift room.
“Truthfully?”
“Truthfully.” He repeated. There was a long silence and Jules had no idea how to answer him, she was just stalling for time. What the hell was she meant to tell him? ‘Oh yeah you might fucking like our last album but it didn’t sell as much as the label wanted it too.’ She couldn’t tell him that!

There was an awkward silence, she was hiding something they both knew it, they both knew that something was wrong, not that she wanted to admit you. You never wanted to admit that something was wrong, the band convinced themselves that they had this happy little set up at least that was how they tried to make it look. The reality behind the screens of bands was very different there was the industry politics, the band being pulled in two hundred different directions. It was the way he looked at her that prompted her to speak, like he was waiting for something, waiting for her to come out with something profound maybe? No he was just waiting for her to come out with what he suspected, that yet again an act that was more than capable of being something more was sidelined in favour of some fucking awful rap act by the label. He knew what label they were on, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t done a little bit of research any band you were interested in you had to do a bit of googling about.
“The last album didn’t…live up to expectations.” Another pause, and she figured what was the fucking point in sugar coating it. “It didn’t sell, the labels pissed we don’t have the funds to record and I’m pretty sure the labels about to ditch us.” There she had said it, Jules could feel her stomach turn a little…this wasn’t the way she had imagined it to be.

He recognised that look, they were idealistic and young with no idea of what they had gotten themselves in to. Billie Joe knew bits about the band, they were from Scotland and they were talented. He knew the latter one out of instinct alone, he had been driving along listing to the radio and one of their tracks had come on. The mix of some what angry stomping chords with this melodic bass line laced though and this loud and that obnoxious drum beat that just demanded your attention. The vocals had so much energy in them, this presence that just came though the speakers and bitch slapped you across the face. He liked that, he liked their almost arrogant and brattish lyrics and the attitude they projected. What he didn’t want, was to see another talented band end up pushed out of the industry because some mother fucker in an office somewhere looking at numbers decided that they weren’t performing. That wasn’t the case, he’d watched the band from the wings of stage, watched the woman in front of him throw herself around that stage hammering her heart our on her bass. Watched the wood fly from the drummers stocks and utter conviction in their voices, if there was any band worth supporting in his eyes…it was this one.

“What label are you on?” That was a strange, almost nosey question and she had no idea why, she supposed maybe it was just what they talked about…she didn’t fucking know. Jules was far out of her league here. Coughing slightly she shifted nervously before considering her answer carefully, it wasn’t like the label Double Jeopardy were exactly praised for their artistic relations.
“Universal Island…” She noted the look on his face and nodded a nervous laugh coated her voice. “Yeah that was a mistake from day one, fucking arseholes.” Picking up the coffee she at least tried to attempt to look casual about it, even though it was something that got her. Jules wasn’t sure where she had got the disillusioned opinion that it was all about the music for them, it had never been about the music. They took you out for lunch and told you how much they believed in you and you discovered, fuck it, they never believed in you…all you were was a money making machine for them. “Plus I think our manager kinda wishes he wasn’t working with us you know, we’re more hassle then we’re worth.” Still Jules couldn’t get her head around the surreal component to her life and she laughed a little shook her head. Her elbows landed on the table in front of her and she propped her head up on her hands.

Billie Joe was about to reply to her comment, though he had to agree he did thing they were a shower of ‘arseholes’ as she so finely put it but before he could open his mouth a song filled the air. He vaguely recognised it, took him a few bars to identify the band as Joy Division but he didn’t quite get the song before it was silenced.
“Sorry.” Jules apologised as she ignored the call flashing at her from her hitting the red reject button and telling her band mate Chase to effetely ‘piss off.’ A smile across her face as she looked up at Billie Joe “Can’t get a moments…” Her phone rang again, a heavy sigh as she picked the phone up for a moment and decided it would be best to answer the thing. “What?” She snapped down the phone as she answered it rolling her eyes. Then she paused.
“Dude…emergency. Huge fucking emergency.” She hoped to god he wasn’t over exaggerating as usual. Chase had a habit of being a drama queen, or king as he preferred it, but still he over did the story.
“Emergency? Like the time to stuck the knife in the toaster and electrocuted yourself?” The memory was a fond one.
“No as in emergency. I just got back to the bus right, and I hear Maxwell on the phone with the label.” There was a pause, Maxwell was their manager, a guy that the three respected and he was the only one who held some form of authority over them. They did as he asked, not what he told them too, but they took his advice seriously, in a industry where everyone fucked over everyone else you needed someone to trust.
“And? Chase what the fuck is going on?”
“He told the label we we’re ‘unsellable’ here.”

Silence, the atmosphere around Jules switched in a fraction of a second and Billie Joe picked it up. He watched her for a moment, trying to piece together the half of the conversation he could hear.
“He did what?” She asked, her voice quiet now, shocked and stunned.
“I know, Jules…we’re gonna be dropped faster than fucking lead.” He was right, Jules nodded as if he could see him, then she remembered she was on the phone.
“Get Mattie, I’ll meet you on the bus and we’ll figure something out…anything out ok.” She waited for a small reply a simple
“Ok,” from Chase before the call was ended and she shot Billie Joe a half smile. It was strange, she had managed to met the one person who she had looked up to most in her life, he had just told her that their album was great, that he liked her band. Yet they were stuck in this label politics circle of bullshit more bullshit lies and double crossing bastards. She wasn’t sure how she was going to explain it, the truth, it would get out eventually she was willing to bet within the week they would be on a plane on the way home. At least she hoped they got to play their set tomorrow night, they were headlining one of the small side stages of the festival on closing night and she had been looking forward to it.

“Thank you for the coffee, really…” Good way to start off right? “I have to go, have a great summer…not sure how much longer we’ll be out here.” That shocked him, maybe mostly because he kinda didn’t want her to leave…or rather it was the sudden prospect of that meaning something else.
“Jules, what just happened?” He asked as Jules slipped her phone in to her pocket and looked at him for a moment, before she laughed and shacked her head a little.
“Our label is about to drop us, looks like we’re gonna be on a plane home before the end of the week. It was really great talking to you, and I meant what I said yesterday…I really do think you’re band is awesome.” Standing up she picked up the empty coffee cup ready to dump it in the first bin she came across. Billie Joe looked up at her, there was an expression on his face that she couldn’t quite put her finger on a mix between mild shock and concern.
“You ok?” Honestly she didn’t know the answer Jules shrugged her shoulders a little and took a deep breath.
“We will be, crisis talks are about to start though, gonna go figure a way to save ourselves from label vultures. I’ll see you around hopefully.”

Jules smiled and walked off, deflated she let the smile fall from her lips as the cup was tossed in to the bin with mild aggravation. However, Billie Joe would gladly sit and watch the their label jump ship and escape what they thought was unworkable…he wouldn’t let them sink it though.