Zombie Josh and Everything Except Bandom
A Brief History of Zombie Josh
Spencer meets Pete Wentz at a house party in Chicago. It's smoky and loud, and he can't hear a word Pete's saying, but that's not the point - he's meeting Pete Wentz, this is the moment he's been waiting for ever since Marc sat him down and forced him to listen to Take This To Your Grave in its entirety. Pete's gesturing, making ridiculous faces, and Spencer isn't quite sure if he's exaggerating something or if this is how he actually talks, but half an hour later when Pete's strolling out the back door he's newly equipped with a rumpled piece of paper with Pete's name and an email address on it.
He is totally not freaking out.
A month later, he finally gets up the courage to email Pete (without telling the rest of the band about it, of course), and gets an email back almost immediately with a date, time, and the name of a coffeehouse on the edge of town. Still not freaking out, Spencer sends a very calm reply, turns the laptop off, and walks very slowly down the stairs to the kitchen, where he shoves enough Kleenex in his mouth that he doesn't actually make a sound when he screams. Spencer Kidd is not a girl.
He has coffee with Pete, and then lunch, and then Pete's asking him about his band - "Zombie Josh, yeah? I've heard your EP, it's good" - and they're making a date for Pete to meet with the band. Properly. As a record company exec and prospective record-makers.
This time, Spencer doesn't even wait until he's alone to freak out.
The rest of the band have various reactions. Victor is calm enough, but Spencer has known him for long enough to tell that he's excited. Marc, on the other hand, has more of a freak out than Spencer - but that's probably more to do with the fact that Marc has this little hero worship thing going on with Fall Out Boy. Heather shrieks, "you've been dating Pete Wentz?" into the phone, and Spencer has to wait ten minutes for her to stop hyperventilating before he can explain that they weren't dates, and by that time he's gone through everything he's heard about Pete Wentz and realises that, yes, they were. Which makes him freak out even more.
So Pete meets with the band, and they play him parts of Vicky Valentine and The Last Long Goodbye, and two weeks later they're signed to DecayDANCE. Six months, and they've recorded and released their debut album.
Gainsville doesn't propel them to instant Fall Out Boy level fame - it's not like a Panic! At The Disco success story happens every day - but it does enough. It gets three K's from Kerrang!, although they do get accused of being "Just another FOB carbon copy"; Alternative Press love them (although that was predictable, Alternative Press think that everything Pete Wentz touches turns to gold); and they even get a brief article in Rolling Stone, which Spencer's mother cuts out and frames and hangs in the hallway next to his Sophomore class photo.
Then, Pete invites them on his latest project: the Clandestine Everything Except Bandom Tour 2010. The way he explains it in the email, it's a "warped-like tour of epic proportions!! everything the fans want!!" and Spencer and co. are sold. "This tour," Heather announces dramatically one night, "will make us or break us." A few minutes of thoughtful silence later, she adds, "And we'll get to meet William Beckett."
He is totally not freaking out.
A month later, he finally gets up the courage to email Pete (without telling the rest of the band about it, of course), and gets an email back almost immediately with a date, time, and the name of a coffeehouse on the edge of town. Still not freaking out, Spencer sends a very calm reply, turns the laptop off, and walks very slowly down the stairs to the kitchen, where he shoves enough Kleenex in his mouth that he doesn't actually make a sound when he screams. Spencer Kidd is not a girl.
He has coffee with Pete, and then lunch, and then Pete's asking him about his band - "Zombie Josh, yeah? I've heard your EP, it's good" - and they're making a date for Pete to meet with the band. Properly. As a record company exec and prospective record-makers.
This time, Spencer doesn't even wait until he's alone to freak out.
The rest of the band have various reactions. Victor is calm enough, but Spencer has known him for long enough to tell that he's excited. Marc, on the other hand, has more of a freak out than Spencer - but that's probably more to do with the fact that Marc has this little hero worship thing going on with Fall Out Boy. Heather shrieks, "you've been dating Pete Wentz?" into the phone, and Spencer has to wait ten minutes for her to stop hyperventilating before he can explain that they weren't dates, and by that time he's gone through everything he's heard about Pete Wentz and realises that, yes, they were. Which makes him freak out even more.
So Pete meets with the band, and they play him parts of Vicky Valentine and The Last Long Goodbye, and two weeks later they're signed to DecayDANCE. Six months, and they've recorded and released their debut album.
Gainsville doesn't propel them to instant Fall Out Boy level fame - it's not like a Panic! At The Disco success story happens every day - but it does enough. It gets three K's from Kerrang!, although they do get accused of being "Just another FOB carbon copy"; Alternative Press love them (although that was predictable, Alternative Press think that everything Pete Wentz touches turns to gold); and they even get a brief article in Rolling Stone, which Spencer's mother cuts out and frames and hangs in the hallway next to his Sophomore class photo.
Then, Pete invites them on his latest project: the Clandestine Everything Except Bandom Tour 2010. The way he explains it in the email, it's a "warped-like tour of epic proportions!! everything the fans want!!" and Spencer and co. are sold. "This tour," Heather announces dramatically one night, "will make us or break us." A few minutes of thoughtful silence later, she adds, "And we'll get to meet William Beckett."
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Crosspostedddd. Comments? Constructive criticism? Alliteration!