“Oh, now you want to do a livestream?”Jillian muttered.She sighed heavily and then said, “Maybe you should clean up your face first?”
Remi wiped his hand over his cheek, coming away with mud, blood, and beer.He chuckled.“Nah.This is rock ’n’ roll.”
Everyone headed back to the tour bus in the VIP area with the rest of the bands.While Jillian set up her tripod so the Tilted Haze logo was in the frame, Remi pulled West aside.
“You alright?”he asked.
West nodded as he wiped his face with a towel.“Yeah, I’m fine.It was just like the old days, jumping in the middle of your fights and trying to pull you out.”
Remi laughed.“Yeah, thanks for having my back, man.”
“Always,” West said.His eyes glanced over Remi’s shoulder.Skye’s pretty laugh floated from behind him.“So we’re really all good with her now?You know what you’re doing there?”
Remi couldn’t help but turn around, needing Skye in his line of sight.She was helping Liam and Ollie clean up their faces, throwing her head back to laugh at something Liam said.The tumble of her hair curled down her back.Her chest shook, and her cleavage swelled enticingly out of the top of her shirt.
“Yeah,” Remi said.“We’re all good.Better than good.Really.”They were quiet for a beat as Remi smiled like an idiot at Skye.When he finally pulled his gaze away, West was studying him.
“Just be careful, alright?”West said.
“Sure thing.”
West gave him something between a smile and a wince.“Well, I’m going back to the hotel to get some shut-eye.”
“Still not sleeping?”
West’s gaze went faraway, and he threw a dismissive hand over his shoulder.“I’m fine.Don’t worry about it.”
Remi nodded but sucked on his lip ring as his best friend walked away.West was just feeling the effects of their cross-country tour.Only a few more weeks and they’d be home.He’d just have to watch him until then.
Jillian called Remi over.She forced him into the right position in front of her tripod.
“Do you want me to prompt you with questions?”she asked.
“I’ll just talk,” Remi said.He shifted back and forth.He couldn’t blame cocaine for his awkwardness this time.What was he supposed to do with his hands anyway?Maybe he should just be holding the phone and walking, making it less of a production and more of a heartfelt discussion.
But he wasn’t a publicist, so what did he know?
“You’re live,” Jillian said, placid as she watched him through the screen.
“Hi everyone,” he said.He had no idea what was going to come out of his mouth, so he just started at the beginning.“As you know, Tilted Haze was asked to fill a slot at Metalfest when Crushing Skulls couldn’t make it.The band agreed playing this show would be out of our comfort zone, but it seemed like it’d be a fun time.The shows we got to see yesterday were amazing.Truly talented people were on those stages, and we felt lucky to be here, but something happened at our show just an hour ago that needs to be addressed.”
Remi found himself unable to hold still as his passion rose.He was leaning forward, even as Jillian gestured for him to stop and back up.
“Tilted Haze will be the first to tell you that we are all a bunch of weirdos and outcasts.That’s what rock music is, and for me, as well as West, Liam, and Ollie, we love getting beaten and bruised up in the pits as much as the next guy or gal.I mean, just look at my face”—Remi gestured to his black eye and the blood and dirt still all over him—“but what I saw at our show today wasn’t good.There was a lot of misplaced hostility due to rumors that Tilted Haze somehow got Crushing Skulls kicked out of the festival, which couldn’t be further from the truth.But what’s worse is that even if everyone in the crowd today was pissed at Tilted Haze—fine—we can take your boos, we can take your beer cans and your anger, but what was unacceptable was the way the crowd turned on each other.”
Remi ignored Jillian’s protesting squawk as he grabbed the phone off the tripod.He started walking through the field and flipped the camera angle to one of the empty stages.“See from up there, I can see everything that’s going on.I can see when ya’ll are beating the shit out of each other, when you’re stage diving and crushing people to the ground, when you’re failing to pick up the people who fall, when you fight and elbow one another to get to the front.”
Remi switched the camera around so his face filled the screen.“And I can fucking see when you guys are grabbing girls who don’t want to be touched, shoving each other, and being fucking assholes.It’s not everyone, and I’ve never seen it at a Tilted Haze concert, but the shit I saw today was terrible.I saw people getting trampled, kicked, manhandled, and roughed up.This isn’t the rock culture I grew up in, and it’s not one I want to be part of.
“Given our song lyrics, none of this should come as a surprise to our fans, but let me make something crystal clear, in case there was any doubt—Tilted Haze doesn’t play music for misogynists, racists, and homophobic pricks.If we lose fans because we don’t want to see the macho bullshit that took place today at our concerts, then so fucking be it”—he raised his middle finger to the camera—“you can fuck off if you don’t like it.”
He took a deep breath and sighed it out.“To the fans who got hurt today, please accept my apology from the bottom of my heart.What you got today was not a Tilted Haze concert.Everyone who bought a ticket to see us today will get a full refund if they so choose.That’s coming from Tilted Haze’s pocket.Me and West and Liam and Ollie.Not the festival organizers.Not our label.We’re serious about this.Message this account or email us on our website with your ticket stub, and my people will get you refunded.You deserve better.We deserve better.And we hope you give us another chance to give it to you.”
Remi nodded once to the camera, hoping he was conveying all the sincerity of his heart through his eyes.
He ended the live, and Jillian reached out a hand to take her phone back, but Remi said, “Hold on, I just want to read some of the comments.”
She sighed.“Fine.”
