Page 80 of Shame Me
Zack sat up, getting ready to respond, when the big beefy asshole roadie walked in. “What the fuck do you guys think you’re doing?” Several other Bleak Viper roadies piled in behind him.
Zack frowned. “We’re chillin’. What’s it look like?”
“Let me ask again. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
It gave me chills how all three of the male members in my band stood up, detecting the threat in that guy’s voice. And why was he such an asshole?
Cy said, “Are you deaf? Zack just told you.”
“All this shit in here belongs to Don and the boys. It’s part of their rider. This shit doesn’t belong to you.” He turned to the roadies behind him. “And yet these green little kiddies thought they could just come in and act like they owned the place.”
One of the other roadies, a guy with greasy blond hair and a beard that wouldn’t quite fill out, said, “Yeah. Did you guys specifically ask for Fiji water and organic Gala apples?”
Although I couldn’t see Zack’s face, I could sense his anger. We had just as much right to be in the green room as anyone else—and even though we’d made the mistake of taking food that didn’t belong to us, these guys didn’t have to be such dicks about it. Dropping the bottle so it fell to the rug on the floor, Zack said,“My bad.” Surprisingly, the bottle didn’t break, but what little beer was left drained into the rug. Without even turning, he said, “Let’s go, guys. We don’t want to stay where we’re not welcome.”
I didn’t quite have the nerve to drop the unopened bottle of water in my hand but Braden did and his water mixed with Zack’s beer. I placed my bottle on the coffee table and hurried to follow Zack out of the room. I was shocked that the roadies just let him walk on by. Braden and Cy were right behind him and I took up the rear. The big roadie started barking orders at the others toclean up this messand Cy slapped the half-eaten apple into one of the guys’ hands as we exited the room.
It wasn’t until we all congregated in the guys’ dressing room that we started laughing—and I breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re so lucky those guys didn’t beat you up.”
Zack shook his head. “You think they’d be stupid enough to do that? They might think they’re hot shit just ‘cause they’re working for Bleak Viper, but give it a few years, and they could be working forus.”
“Why were they such dicks?” Braden asked.
“Because of Bleak Viper.”
Cy added, “I’m guessing Bleak Viper is full of themselves. I’ve read that online. They think they’re God’s gift to music.”
“I’m telling you they arenot,” I said. “They’re phoning it in just to rake in more cash. I don’t know why the audience is acting like they’re so great. I’d be pissed if I came to watch them, thinking I’d be getting a good show like when they were younger, but they weren’t even breaking a sweat. And I’d be embarrassed to get up on stage and not make an effort.”
Zack said, “As long as crowds keep paying them and cheering, they’ll keep doing it.”
“They’re probably one of those bands that sounded good in the studio and shitty on the road,” Cy said, leaning against a counter.
“And that’s why we practiced our asses off. Like Dani said, these people are paying good money and they deserve a good show.”
I said, “At least we gave them their money’s worth.”
“Damn straight.”
CHAPTER 24
For the rest of that tour, we continued giving it our all to make up for Bleak Viper’s bleak performances. At least their name warned the crowd.
But their roadies left us alone from that point on—and good thing, because we had an even bigger problem when the newer band, Ashen Retribution, a bunch of guys from Alabama with three albums under their belt, joined the tour after almost two weeks near the end of January. We would remain as the opening act, but I was thrilled that we’d at least been in a huge venue in D.C. before they joined.
Again, we were coming off a huge high, having played to one of our biggest crowds to date. We’d settled in and kept to ourselves—and I suspected Mick had had a word with BV’s roadies, but I didn’t know for sure. We wound up avoiding the green rooms in venues altogether unless there was a party or something else going on so we wouldn’t be singled out.
And we were doing fine. After the first worrisome leg of the tour and the second exhausting one, this leg felt like a reward.
Except for the other bands.
At least Bleak Viper was just full of themselves. Ashen Retribution was something else entirely.
But we didn’t know that at first. We’d passed them by during soundcheck for the show in Charlotte, North Carolina, but they were busy talking amongst themselves and messing around. It wasn’t until after the show later that night that we got to find out what they were all about.
As Zack approached them, the rest of us following behind, he said, “It’s an honor to be playing some shows with you guys.”
Their lead guitarist, a guy with long brown hair and dark eyes, just nodded. Their vocalist, who didn’t look much different, said, “You guys got a good first album—but it’s all about the second. Can you do it again? Can you give the fans what they want the next time?”
