Page 78 of Shame Me
What gave away that we were no longer kids was how tired we all looked, even after almost two weeks of rest. And I would have sworn we appeared to be much older than we’d looked when we’d first left home—we looked thirty rather than barely over twenty.
We’d barely eaten a slice apiece when Mick joined the Zoom call. His full face looked a little less tense than the last time I’d seen him. At least his rest had seemed to do him some good. Of course, he’d been a tour manager for longer than we’d been a band—he was far more used to this life.
“How’s the gang?” he asked.
We all answered with various forms ofokay…because we were. We’d made it through the gauntlet and had survived, even if we were a little worse for the wear.
“That’s good—because the label has lined up another leg of your tour.” My insides shriveled as I wondered if we could handle it. And the rest of the guys must have had similar expressions because Mick followed up with some reassurances, likely anticipating our hesitation. “But the good news is you’ll have more days to rest and you’ll be returning again to some of your favorite cities—but to bigger arenas.”
The four of us looked at each other. Could it be possible?
Cy said, “Still as openers, though, right?”
“Well, yeah. You guys are still supporting your first album. But do you wanna know who the headliner is?”
We’d already been impressed by Last Five Seconds and Name of My Killer. Who the hell else could he throw at us? Maybe Fully Automatic? Or Kyle Summers’s band? Or—
“Bleak Viper.”
Holy shit. Bleak Viper was old school, starting out in the late 80s, barely having survived the transition from hair metal to grunge, but they managed to land in the Nu Metal arena in the 90s and cranked out a few hit albums after that. They hadn’t released anything new in over a decade, but I knew as well as the guys that their cred would pull in huge audiences.
In other words, we were all in without any more coaxing.
“This leg is gonna be longer. You’ll start on January 13 and we’re heading back to Chicago for that first one. This leg ends at the beginning of March in Salt Lake City—and, like I said, it’s not gonna be as brutal. The last week in January, Ashen Retribution will join the lineup.” They were a newer band, but they had about three albums out, so I already knew that meant we’d still be the opening act.
“But here’s the best news. I personally haven’t seen the numbers, but the label is very happy with the results so far—which is why they want you on the road again supporting this album. Every show has resulted in spikes of album sales, so they want you to keep pushing.”
Suddenly, it was as if we’d been inflated like a balloon—knowing that we really were gaining real fans and that the tour was making a difference made us far more willing to endure the hardships of the road.
But Mick wasn’t done. “And on the second night of the tour, you’ll be in Detroit, and we’ll be filming ‘You’ll Never Get the Best of Me’ as your next video.”
Zack said, “Wait…are you tellin’ me we have a second single?”
Mick grinned. “Actually, kid, this is yourthird. The label released a lyric video last month for ‘Morning Light.’ Sorry I forgot to tell you that.”
It was just a testament to how isolated we’d felt during the first two legs of the tour. I hadn’t even been checking our socialsanymore—it was too overwhelming and, for once, I was glad the label had all that covered. Obviously, none of us had even been online. We’d all been sleeping a lot and spending time with family.
“So rest up. We’ll be heading out in less than two weeks.” We were starting to say goodbye when he added, “Oh, and you might go shopping if you want to wear something different for your video.”
After the call, we all celebrated with a bottle of beer…because no matter how tired we still felt, we knew we had finally arrived.
When we wentto Chicago again, we were in a completely different venue. It wasn’t much bigger than any of the other places we’d played before in the Windy City, but it felt…slicker, for lack of a better word. It wasn’t as raw or gritty as many of the venues we’d played in the past. And even though it wasn’t the biggest place we’d ever played it, it definitely wasn’t the smallest.
And the energy…it was amazing.
Our new crew had a lot to learn, though—and I hoped they got it together sooner rather than later. They’d placed my mic at the drum kit in the completely wrong place, so I had to move it between the first and second song.
Still, I could feel the good vibes among all of us as we absorbed the feel of this place, knowing now that we really were rock stars.
The crowd ate it up, and while I banged out the beats, I wondered how many of the people in the audience had already heard our first—and now second—single or if they’d heard our song on a radio station or online. How many of them alreadyowned our album or had purchased a t-shirt before finding their places in the arena?
And we had people moshing.
We had definitely arrived.
So when our set was over, we were feeling excited. We waved our thanks at the crowd, and I knew Bleak Viper was going to be glad we’d warmed them up so well. Zack once again said into the mic, “Chicago, we fuckin’ love your city, and you guys have been amazing. We can’t wait to come back here!”
And that was true.
