‘Yeah…’
Eason grabbed his elbow and steered him away. ‘They’re from XL Recordings but they won’t have the budgets we have at Island. They won’t give you the support you need to launch a career with a future.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘You need to think long term, Will.’ Eason sounded serious. ‘You understand?’
Will nodded. ‘Yeah.’
Eason kept him talking for ages, Matty jigging around in his peripheral vision for most of the conversation. As soon as he could, Will excused himself to go to the gents’ and Matty followed.
‘Jesus, that guy can talk,’ said Matty, taking the space beside him at the urinal. ‘XL Recordings want a meeting next week.’
Will nearly pissed on his jeans. ‘What?’ He would have to chuck two sickies. Nigel would go ballistic.
‘And there are people here from Virgin, Black Dog Music, and Flux Records!’
‘Richard Eason wants to sign us.’
Matty’s voice was high. ‘So do these guys!’
‘Eason said they won’t have big enough budgets.’
‘He would say that. Anyway, he doesn’t know what their budgets are. We should talk to everyone. Play them off each other. We’re in the perfect position to negotiate. Let’s not rush into anything.’
Will buttoned his fly and went to the sink.
‘Holy shit,’ he told his reflection.
That night they drank with Richard Eason until they got ejected from the Dublin Castle. Matty invited everyone back to his place and went ahead with some mates on the tube. Emily, Scott, and Miranda jumped in the back of the van with the gear, and Reu rode up front with Will. They stopped at a petrol station and spent a small fortune on alcohol and snacks.
As they turned onto Matty’s road, bass boomed from his flat. The party had spilled out onto the street even though his flat was on the second floor. Some of the people hadn’t even been at the gig – Matty must have picked them up along the way.
They carried the booze up the stairs, and as they entered the flat, everyone cheered. There was a lot of backslapping and congratulating as he crossed the room.
He played it down, saying,Let’s see what comes of it…It never rains, it pours, right?… Hope they don’t forget about us when they sober up.
Having been the designated driver, Will was distinctly sober, so he went straight in with whiskey. Taking a swig, he watched his friends laughing and drinking, and tried to let go of the nagging worry about what the next week would bring.
Reu was sitting on the floor in front of the stereo, surrounded by piles of CDs, creating a decent party soundtrack while simultaneously rolling a joint. That kid was always surprising him. Pretty soon everyone was dancing and singing – or moreaccurately, jumping up and down and shouting lyrics at the top of their lungs.
Being on the brink of all your dreams coming true was a thrill. It reminded Will of being a kid at Christmas with a pile of unopened presents under the tree. That was his favourite part, when you didn’t know what was underneath all that wrapping paper. Whatever it was, could never live up to that moment of not knowing, even if it was exactly what you wanted. That was how he felt now. Tomorrow was full of possibility. It might hold more than he could wish for.
Will felt slightly separate from everyone else but it was probably because he was just drunk, and they were all completely wasted. Reu played ‘Paradise City’ and Will joined the circle of bodies in the centre of the room, everyone linked with arms over shoulders: Matty spilling his drink as he pogoed, Reu moshing his ringlets around, Miranda dropping her cool to belt out the chorus, Scott breaking off to play air guitar, and Emily bent double with laughter.
He took a swig of whiskey and gave in to the excitement in his gut, allowed warm elation to spread through his body. It was happening. It was finally happening. The beat of the music reverberated through his body – booming in his chest.
And he wondered if he would ever feel this good again.
Chapter 39
April 1996
It all happened so fast.
First, Will met Richard Eason for lunch near his King’s Cross offices with Matty and Reu. It was only pizza, but it was fancy pizza. And beer, lots of beer. Eason gave them the hard sell, and it gave Will indigestion. Matty said he wasn’t offering enough. Two days later, Will and Matty met with XL Recordings at their offices in Notting Hill. Reu didn’t bother with that one. There was no food or drink on offer, and he found business talk boring. When Will and Matty left that meeting, Richard Eason was waiting in a car outside the XL building. He told them to get in. By the end of the twenty-minute drive, he agreed to beat the offer they’d just received.
Meetings with three more labels and two weeks of negotiations followed. As he lay awake at night, Will swung between fearing it would never happen and worrying about the consequences if it did.