“Humor me. If we have enough other material, we can cut it. Deal?”
I vowed to make sure we had enough material, but overall, we agreed and picked that one up. It was one of our most popular songs, after all. Only this time, it was different because of Pierce. He stepped up and took the lead. And he knew every word. It was almost like he’d come with the intention of auditioning. Well, as far as I was concerned, he had the job.
By the end of the day, we had both of those songs recorded. We might have to remix it some but they both sounded incredible. AndPine Boxhad great potential; it might turn into a hit.
And it looked like we had a new lead singer. I was beyond happy about it. Pierce was a bit of a jerk, but he sang like the star Bramble Punk needed.
Waiting to call Don was not happening; I was too excited not to talk about it. When he answered, I didn’t give him a chance to say hello. “You’re never going to believe what happened today. This is like too fucking cool, man.”
“Don’t make me guess, Kay.”
“Pierce Lawrence.”
“Pierce? He’s the pain in the ass that gave Hunt such a hard time on that fucking song.”
“Well, yes, but this is different.”
“What is?”
“He’s going to sing with us. I think. We recorded two songs together.”
“Oh, no…”
“Oh, yes. Don’t be like that, Donny. We sounded fantastic, and this isn’t like Midnight Hunt’s experience. He’s not a guest on our record; he’s joining the fucking band. At least I hope so.”
“So you don’t have to be frontman? That sounds like a concession.”
“No. Well, yes. But you didn’t hear it.”
Don groaned, and I pictured him covering his face with his hands. He was thinking about legalities, paperwork, and contracts. I was thinking about headlining tours. “I’ll have to get Wolf to send you the recordings we did today. Don’t bitch until you hear them.”
“I want to be happy for you, but Pierce Lawrence? Really? He has a reputation. It’s called pain. In. The. Ass.”
“This is different. Pretty sure the Midnight Hunt guys are talking to him about it, and he can be an ass, like you said, but we need this. It’s like the missing piece finally fits.”
“I’ll be happy for you then. I want you to be happy. You know that, right?”
“Of course.”
“I mean for everything. Even if you find someone…”
It was my turn to get growly. “You’re talking about finding daddies. I don’t have time to look and have no clue where I’d find one anyway.”
Don sighed, killing my earlier excitement. It was hard to stay pumped with his attitude. “I don’t have time either, I’m not actively looking, that’s not what I’m saying.”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now, though.”
“Fine. Go home and get some rest, Kay. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
It wasn’t the response I’d wanted. Don worried too much sometimes. Especially since that was my job.
After spending too much time digging up lyrics and pieces of lyrics from old notebooks the night before, I went into the studio early to get a jump on things. There was a little fragment about fast cars that needed to be reworked, and if we laid down some riffs, it might inspire me to come up with more words. Before grabbing my ax, I needed more coffee. The breakroom was quiet, but Dave stood in front of the coffee maker, watching it brew.
“What are you doing, man?” I pulled out one of the big white mugs the guys kept around from the cupboard.
“Need coffee. It’s not fast enough.”
“Haven’t you heard the watched pot scenario? Same thing here, dude.” I dumped sugar into my empty mug. When he didn’t move, I changed the subject. “I think I have another song for us.”
