You Can't Spell Star Without A&R

He was thinking. This was not unusual, in fact he thought quite a lot, what was unusual however was how long he spent thinking about someone else’s band. The smooth cold plastic under his hands drew his attention away from his thoughts and back to the album cover that stared up from his hands. It looked like a random picture, this black and white thin line drawing of what could have been any street in any city in the world. There was nothing really in the street though, he noticed the building, old sandstone three stories high and left to rot. Plants had taken hold in the walls there were trees reclaiming the urban landscape, thin spindly branches broke though the cracked brick work putting the fabric of the buildings itself in danger. There was what once looked like shops; the painted façades of the ground floor had pealed away exposing the brick word underneath leaving a patchwork of white brick and black paint. A few of the Windows had been boarded up and covered in graffiti the rest of them shattered or half bricked up to stop people gaining entry. The street makings on the cobbled streets were worn down potholes and all filled with water after what looked like a torrential downpour. There was a bus stop on the middle of the street, just a pole with an old half attached sign to the top of it and three none descript people penned in below it. It could have been any derelict backstreet anywhere in the world but it was the care and detail in the drawing that made him think that whoever had drawn the picture knew the place well or cared a great deal for it.

The name had his attention the first time he had bought the CD as well; ‘Dreich and Drookit.’ He didn’t know what it meant (he had to google it) but apparently it was some Glasgow slang for the weather being crap. In all fairness he could believe that, the few times he had passed though the small country it was raining. “Land of rain, sheep and haggis” as someone had once so nicely described the place, it was green though…he’d give them that at least. There was something about the music that had caught his attention, just the whole persona, something so fiercely angry and hopeful at the same time about them. Yet he worried about them, why, because of the phone call Jules had gotten when he was talking to her, it had cut their conversation short and he had a list of questions that he had wanted to ask her. Mostly he wanted to try and work out how that head on her shoulders worked, how she managed to capture pictures in her mind and put them to music. He should have understood, he didn’t even understand how his own head worked, music was just something he did, it just happened inside his head and he didn’t understand it either. Than again that didn’t give him great hope for understand how it worked in her’s did it? No.

There was one thing he did hate, it was watching people being taken advantage off. It was always tricky with bands, some of them had no idea what the fuck they were doing. They were too young, or too naive, or just didn’t understand how the business worked well enough. There were some bands that started off, not as bands per say, but just people playing music and suddenly everything took off. Like Double Jeopardy. They were the ones that he thought were the most vulnerable, you suddenly had everyone clawing at you, and labels all over your ass wanting to sign you…so you agreed. After all. What would you do? What would you say? ‘Here’s your chance to be a star kid?’ Would you take it or leave it? He couldn’t fault them, not in the slightest after all chances like that didn’t come around all the time, you didn’t waste a chance like that. Sometimes it turned out to be the best thing you ever did with your life, and sometimes it turned out to be your worst nightmare. Green Day had been lucky, they had never really had major trouble with a label and they wouldn’t let themselves be fucked around by suits. Saying that though, he knew how terrifying this was, how it made your spine go cold and just how terrifying it was when you were thrown in to the deep end of this.

Billie Joe had been pondering on one idea in his head, signing the band himself, they were good…other wise he wouldn’t have considered it in the first place. He just had to be sure, still he couldn’t shake that feeling in his gut that said; jump. The irrational part of his mind that told him to do just that, told him to sign this band and give them a chance. The thing was he could do that, he could waltz over and sign them to his label with the click of a finger. Well not quite that simply but he was the one that had the final say, he had talked it over with the partners, Adrienne and Jim and they had said yes. Almost instantly they had liked the band, Adrienne had liked them, and so had Jim. They had three ‘yes’s they didn’t need anymore…he just needed to think about how the hell he was going to go about this? It wasn’t like he could just waltz up to them and go ‘by the way, care to sign your souls away to my record label please?’ Yeah because that was going to work, actually that might have worked but it wasn’t exactly the phrase he wanted to use. Though Billie Joe decided he might just wing it, he might just turn up at he bands bus and go “please sign to my label” however he wasn’t too sure what their reaction might be.

That was something that was going to have to wait, he didn’t like the thought of just turning up and throwing it upon them after all they had probably had enough crap thrown at them lately he didn’t want to make it worse. There was something he had noted in his own mind, watching her in the radio interview, the way she had just behaved tipped him off. It was the way she had shrank back in the interview as if she instantly thought that was her place that bugged him. Again he could only wonder why she thought that way, wonder about the way her head worked then it brought him back to the beginning. Why the hell was he so caught up in trying to understand this piece of work, maybe it wasn’t meant to be understood…that thought had never come in to his head.

A voice jolted Billie Joe out his thoughts, his head snapped around to spot Mike who just raised one eyebrow and looked at him perplexed for a moment.
“You still thinking about that band?” Mike asked sitting down and pinching the CD case out of Billie Joe’s hands. He looked over it mulling over the design for a few moments, he had of course been made to listen to them and had been pleasantly surprised by them. “So, are you signing them?” The question fell from Mike’s lips as he glanced up at Billie and then back down at the CD case reading the song titles.
“Yeah…”
“Good…so you broke the news to them yet or are you just sittin’ around doin’ nothing?” Mike watched Billie sigh and shake his head. “Come on, just go put them out their misery.” There was an almost insistent tone to his voice as he sat the case down on the table and smiled slightly. “If what you told me about their label is true they will be worried sick about it.” They were, that was one thing Billie knew for a fact he was pretty good at reading people and he could tell simply by Jules behaviour when she had taken off.
“I’d better go find them right?” He just had to find them, which was better said than done at a place like this, he really wished he had asked her for her number while they had been talking but that had slipped his mind.
“Start with the beer tent it’s always a safe bet.” Mike advised with a grin on his face before getting up and heading towards the back of the bus, “anyway, you seen my blue jacket?”

“Nope, bye.” Leaving his own jacket behind Billie Joe decided it was far too hot even by his Californian standards. Of course he should have gone with Mike’s tip and checked the beer tent first but he wasn’t one for listing to people. It took him almost an hour and a half to find them, he managed to track down their bus only to find it empty, apart from their manager who was also looking for them. Of course he had this rather surprised expression to find out Billie Joe was looking for them, not that he let anything slip within meeting the man for a full thirty seconds he already decided he didn’t like him. Of course after wondering around he managed to find them, drinking in the beer tent as Mike has suggested, Billie Joe just came to the conclusion that he needed the time to figure out what he was going to tell them…not that he had figured that out either. His eyes eventually found the three of them sat around a plastic table on the white plastic garden chairs that made the make shift establishment look like something from a middle school bake sale. He could hear them laughing a mile off, he watched Jules smack one of them playfully on the shoulder before dropping her head on to the table in a fit of giggles.

He walked over slowly hoping that they would notice him, hoping that this wouldn’t be awkward but he didn’t know how else it would be. They were too busy, talking among themselves to notice him, he tapped her gently on the shoulder she jumped about a food in the air and Billie made a hasty apology.
“I’m sorry didn’t mean to surprise you…we’ll I did but not to that extent.” He had that cheeky grin on his face, the one that got him out of trouble…most of the time.
“Jesus Billie Joe, what the hell you doin’ sneakin’ up on people and shit!” She replied, a surprised and yet happy tone in her voice as she looked around. “Well don’t stand there steal a chair and sit down.” Jules always got a bit more confident with a few more drinks in her system, “and Chase will go get another round in.” Well she was right he would do and almost on queue Chase got up from the table and looked at Billie Joe for a moment before looking down at Jules.
“You both want the same again?” Two nods from his fellow band mates before he looked at Billie Joe. “What you drinkin’?” He asked it took Billie a few seconds to figure out what it was he had asked in that Scottish accent.
“Just a beer thanks.” A smile as he sat down and gave the fellow guitarist a smile, “well you look a lot happier than the last time I saw you.” He was right, as Chase fought against the line at the bar he settled in.

Jules brushed a bang of dark hair out of her eyes before smiling at him before shrugging and smiling lightly.
“We came up with a plan.” She told him, with a cheeky little smile before she high fived Mattie, both of them sat there like little children with big smirks on their faces before Billie had the courage to ask what this plan was.
“You going to let me in on it?” A raised eyebrow as he asked the question, he actually did want to know it was something that was going to bug him if he didn’t find out what it was. He watched Jules and Mattie trade looks before Mattie realised who the hell was sat at the table with them.
“More importantly how the fuck do you two know each other?” Almost as if the question was stupid pulled a face before looking at Billie Joe and then back to Mattie again,
“oh him?” She stated as if he we’re an old friend. “We met in an interview the other day.” Jules then proceeded to finish her drink as if it had been the most normal event in the world. “Anyway, yeah the plan we’re going to do something.” That was all she was giving away of that one, hell she wasn’t going to tell a living soul what they were up to.

There was a chink of glass as Chase returned holding the drinks, he sat them down in the middle of the table and three hands shot out calming what was theirs before the conversation proceeded.
“Well, would you mind if I threw a spanner in the works?” The question left the three bandmates looking a little confused before Chase spoke up.
“Depends on what the spanner is.” He stated before taking a mouthful of his own beer and looked at him, some what warily as he sat it down on the plastic table.
“Depends how big the spanner is.” Mattie joined in before Jules rolled her eyes at the two boys, they couldn’t answer a question straight. Ever.
“You’re both spanners you tools.” She told them before grinning slightly, “what is this…spanner and how do you plan on throwing it?” In the moments silence that followed Billie Joe shifted in his seat before looked at the three of them.
“I want to sign you to my label.”