‘Steady there, sailor,’ she grinned, breaking off. ‘Not before the big match.’
‘I think you’re thinking of boxers there.’ Alex smiled.
‘Same deal,’ said Emma, jumping up and pulling his hand. ‘Now come on, stud, let’s show all those screaming fans what you can do.’
Three hours later, Alex was ready to kill someone. Red-faced and sweaty, the band clattered off stage, cramming into the tiny backstage changing room. Outside, they could still hear the cheering demands for an encore, but Alex could not enjoy the ecstatic reception they had received.
‘You fucking wanker!’ he yelled, kicking out at a wooden bench. ‘What the hell was that about?’
Jez sauntered down the steps. ‘What?’ He smiled. ‘Can’t take the fact that the girls are more interested in me?’
Alex lunged at him, but Gav and Pete caught him first.
‘Al, it’s not worth it.’
But they looked as angry as Alex felt.
‘You really are a prick sometimes, Jez,’ said Pete, glaring at him. ‘This is a band, you know; we’re not your fucking backing group.’
But Jez just laughed at him. ‘Well that crowd out there seemed to enjoy themselves. Doesn’t matter who they’re looking at if they’re enjoying the music, does it?’
‘But you screwed with the music too, you dick!’ yelled Alex. ‘You could barely hear the melody over your bellowing!’
‘Ah, you’re just jealous,’ hissed Jez.
‘No, Jez, I am not jealous,’ snapped Alex. ‘I don’t want the spotlight. You can preen and pose all you like for all I care. What I do care about is when your pathetic ego gets between us and the songs. We all make the music, or hadn’t you noticed?’
Jez tossed his blond bob back off his face and walked back out of the changing room.
‘Wanker,’ said the normally mild-mannered Gav.
Alex wasn’t sure how long Jez had stayed behind at the club after he’d left to go for his walk with Emma, but it had been long enough. Clearly he had charmed the engineer into rejigging the sound in his favour. From the start, Jez’s vocals had dominated the songs, with Alex and Pete’s guitars being turned down at key moments so Jez wouldn’t be overshadowed. He had even fixed it so that the lights were on him for the whole set while everyone else was practically in the dark. Luckily they knew the songs well enough to play without looking at their instruments but it had still affected their performance.
Alex locked himself into the small toilet cubicle and splashed water on to his face.
‘Al? Are you in there?’ yelled Pete. ‘We’re going for a drink out front. Wanna come?’
‘Be there in a minute, yeah?’
He changed into his least-dirty T-shirt and packed his guitar away. That’s it, he thought as he fastened the latches on the case. I’ve had enough. Whichever way you looked at it, Jez Harrison was bad news and Alex could feel in his heart that Year Zero’s singer was going to get worse not better the more successful they became. He felt relief and anger, but most of all he felt sadness. He had ploughed himself into this band and it was depressing that he would have to start again. But I will, he thought defiantly. My songs are good. I’ll form a new band where I don’t have to listen to the singer’s delusions of grandeur. It was best to get out now while it still didn’t matter.
He pushed through the dressing-room door and out into the busy club. Steeling himself to quit, he stopped when he saw Jez leaning on the bar looking pleased with himself, while Emma was deep in conversation with some old bloke in glasses.
‘Hey, Alex, come and meet someone,’ said Jez, putting his arm around Alex as if nothing had happened. ‘This is Rob Hatton,’ he added, catching Alex’s eye and giving him a meaningful look. ‘Rob’s from Argent Records.’
The man put out a hand.‘Good to meet you, Alex,’ he said.‘Emma here tells me you wrote a couple of the songs. I was impressed.’
‘Really?’ stuttered Alex. ‘I . . . well, I’m, uh, glad.’
Jez laughed. ‘Alex is more of a musical genius,’ he said in a stage whisper. ‘Brilliant in the studio, but I think I’ll handle the interviews, eh?’
Cocky bastard, thought Alex.
‘I drove over from our London office to see the main act tonight,’ said Rob.‘ Good thing I got here a bit early.’
‘So did you like it?’ asked Alex eagerly.
Rob shrugged. ‘Half of what I heard was absolute shit, but there are a couple of pearls in there too. Particularly liked the last song.’