Page 12 of Tangled Weeds

“Sorry, man, the time got away from us,” Ray said.

“That’s it! I’m calling Tanner and having him get his ass over here. If you are not with the band one hundred percent, I want to know, and I want to know it now. We’ve worked too fucking hard to throw it all away,” I said as I dialed Tanner. Being ourmanager it was his job to deal with this shit, not mine, and I was damn tired of babysitting adults who chose not to take anything seriously.

“Johnny, what’s going on,” he said, his voice low and calm.

“I need you to get to the jam room,” I said and once again tried to rein in my anger. I hung up before he had a chance to answer and stood to face the guys. Jeremy stood from the drums and walked over to me.

“Can you two not take a few days off from getting fucked up?” he asked them as they snickered.

“Here’s the thing, if you can’t commit to be at practice on time and sober then we’ll replace you,” I said, and hoped they didn’t walk because if they did, we were screwed. I hurried outside, unable to stay in the same room with them, and tried not to tear my hair out while I waited for Tanner to arrive. He’d taken a big chance on us too. He was a very successful manager that had helped multiple local bands, and when he approached me about managing Anchor Grey I didn’t have to think twice.

“This could be my only chance.” I kicked at a rock and thought of all the bullshit I’d dealt with over the past ten years and the years before that when I was a teenager obsessed with singing and playing any instrument I could get my hands on. From trying to find good musicians, to finding out they weren’t serious and finding someone else to replace them.

“Johnny? I got here as soon as I could. What’s going on?” Tanner said as he slammed the door to his car.

“Josh and Ray are fucked up. I’m really starting to doubt we’ll be able to play in Vegas.” Saying it out loud was way harder than I expected and pissed me off a whole lot more. Tanner was calm and nodded his head while resting his hands on his hips.

“This is an important gig. Blinding Light are about to start the second leg of their tour and they’re the perfect band for Anchor Grey to open for,” he said, always very professional and to the point.

“We haven’t had one practice in the last week where they haven’t either been late, fucked up, or left early,” I said and hoped he had a solution beyond kicking their asses out.

“They also signed contracts. If they are in breach, there are consequences. Come on, let’s go see what they have to say,” he said and led the way back to the jam room.

“How’s practice?” Tanner said when he walked in. Ray and Josh were laughing their asses off and still hadn’t bothered to pick up their instruments. Mateo was plucking at the strings of his bass while Jeremy was tapping on the snare.

“Oh shit,” Ray said, and wiped the smile off his face while Josh was still folded in half laughing.

“Have you two been drinking?” Tanner asked as he stepped close enough to smell their breath.

“Not for the past hour. We were out partying last night, and I guess we never stopped,” Josh managed to say while trying to get himself under control.

“Did you by any chance read the contract you signed when you joined the band and agreed to let me manage you?” Tanner folded his arms and didn’t step back from where he stood just close enough to make it uncomfortable for them.

A look passed between the two of them and they tried to gain enough control to have an actual conversation about something more than which girl was hot. “No, I didn’t,” Josh said.

“And you?” he asked Ray.

“Nope,” he said and once again had to control his laughter.

Tanner took out his phone and opened something before moving closer to the two of them. “It says right here if you do not conduct yourself in a professional manner or show up to anything work related under the influence of either alcohol or drugs, management can fire you at their discretion. Do you understand what that means?” he asked and stared at the two of them until they looked away. “That means I can fire you anytime I want. Anchor Grey has promise, and I won’t see everyone else blamed for your behavior. Now, I’d appreciate if you packed up your equipment and left. You’re done here.” Both of them blinked a few times before realizing he wasn’t joking. They were done. I had mixed feelings about it. They had both been nothing but trouble, but they were good musicians.

“Don’t worry,” Tanner said as he watched them pack their shit, “I have someone else lined up”.

Eleven

Devon

“Hey, man, I hope you don’t have plans this week because I want us to get in a practice session every day until we leave for Vegas at the ass crack of dawn Thursday,” Easy said, when I walked into the practice room for the second time this week. Yesterday we’d practiced until Rory finally complained he might die of starvation, which I was thankful for, but nothing was going to make me say it.

“That’s cool. I want to make sure I know all the songs. Did you plan on any new songs in Vegas?” I asked and hoped they didn’t.

“No, we’re working on two new songs for Rocktoberfest. But we’re not playing anything new before then. We’ll be practicing them as soon as they’re done. One is close,” Rory said when he walked in with another guy I hadn’t seen before, but until yesterday I didn’t hang around with their band. “This is Kai Marshall. He runs the band’s website, and he’s the love of my life.” Kai rolled his eyes before leaning into Rory.

“Hi, Devon,” Kai said and held out his hand.

“Nice to meet you,” I said and tried not to stare at him.

“Babe, go ahead and work in the office. We’re not practicing as long today as we did yesterday, and Easy said he’s ordering food for us all,” Rory said, staring at Easy the whole time.

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