Jimmy had strict instructions that the topic of Jem was off-limits, and he stuck to that. Instead the conversation stayed in the realm ofWe made a mutual decision to stop touring so Ward and Eric can spend time with their families.
Jimmy leaned forward across the desk. “Now it’s always been the three of you, right? Notjustthe three of you, but you started it, and you’ve been in it the whole time.”
River let the two of them carry this part of the interview, since the last segment focused on him.
“Yeah, we started when we were what, seventeen? So it’s been our entire adult lives.” Ward paused to take a sip of water. River fought down the urge to squeeze his shoulder; he could tell Ward was emotional as it was. “Not a lot of people get to work one job their whole life, never mind with their best friends. But it’s been difficult in recent years because we started having families, and then Eric got his diagnosis….”
They paused here to go into a little of what it had been like for Eric to play through the pain, how it had started off mild but then worsened until now he ended most shows in agony.
“And we can’t replace him,” Ward broke in. “We wouldn’t be the Flat Tires anymore.”
“Well, and also you want to spend time with your family too,” River pointed out. “I’m not going to play our songs without you.”
“So you decided to take an indefinite break. Why keep it a secret?”
Eric and Ward exchanged looks before Ward answered. “We didn’t want to drive up ticket prices. Concerts aren’t cheap to begin with, but if we started announcing ‘last chance to see the Flat Tires live, maybe forever,’ how many more scalpers would snatch up the tickets? We want to see fans at our shows—regular fans, not just the ones who can drop a thousand bucks a ticket.”
Eric picked up. “We put a maximum on how many tickets you can buy with one credit card, to try to keep things fair. It’ll be a pain if you’re in a group of more than five, but we felt like we had to.”
Finally the attention turned to River. He’d had several minutes to warm up, and he still didn’t feel ready when the host turned to him and said, “And so is that, kind of, where the solo TikTok thing started?”
Here goes nothing. River nodded. “I didn’t want to start any rumors—I know, ironic, right? But I kind of wanted to start defining a new sound, finding an audience, and TikTok was a great way to do that as long as I kept it anonymous. I actually have no idea how this leaked, because there’s no way it was Lara—she plays like every instrument I don’t plus all the ones I do, she’s actually just waiting for me on the stage—wave, Lara!”
Lara saluted him with a drumstick.
“Anyway.” He didn’t think he could get out the lie—I actually have no idea how this leaked—a second time, so he didn’t try. “Somebody figured it out, and here we are.”
“Here we are,” Jimmy agreed. “And hereyouare”—a video appeared on the screen behind him, showing the first TikTok posted from River’s solo account—“and I guess it’s not a leap to say you found your voice and your audience.”
God, was the view counter on that video live? Yep, it had just ticked up.
The worst part of the whole thing, honestly. He wished he’d posted any other song than that one. He would rather start all over again than have to play that song for the rest of his life, when the man he wrote it for turned out to be—
Just what River’d been trying to avoid when he hired him.
After an awkward moment, River realized it was his turn to talk. “Yeah, uh, the reception has been better than we could’ve hoped.” At least he could say that much. “I guess it really resonates with audiences, which is always what an artist—sorry, aband—is looking for.”
“And now you’re here to resonate with us, is that right?”
“Me and Lara,” River agreed, trying to be subtle about wiping his palms on his jeans. He’d spent half of his life on stage. But he usually had Eric on drums and Ward in front of the microphone to keep him company.
After the Flat Tires show in LA, he might never have them with him again, unless it was in the audience, like they were today.
He pushed the thought away as Jimmy announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in person—this is Road Noise with their TikTok smash hit ‘All that Glitters.’”
Lara met River’s eyes as he pulled his guitar strap over his head. She was staid, calm, unflappable. They had a couple of the set musicians backing them up, but they’d have to carry it.
They could handle this. River brushed his hair back from his face with his forearm and adjusted his earpiece.
Then he stepped back from the mic and said to Lara, over his shoulder, “Count us in?”
Lara inclined her head and did what he asked.
You don’t let people tell you that the moon don’t shine
And you’re the only one who sees it when the stars align
While they wander in the desert with their eyes on the ground
