“I’m good.” She smiled and returned to her seat.
The four of us got in position in front of a microphone and put headphones on.
“Morning, everyone,” I said into the mic. “Sorry we’re late. London traffic, ay?”
“Tell me about it, Risk,” Toni said. “How are you all? It’s great to see you guys again.”
We exchanged pleasantries then the interview started naturally.
“Back in the motherland, lads,” Brian grinned. “How does it feel to be home?”
“Amazing,” May answered. “We love the States, but home is where the heart is and that’s in England. Isn’t that right, lads?”
“Yeah,” Hayes and I echoed.
“No,” Angel answered, his tone flat. “Not for me. Stop excluding me, May. Our band is so fragile, this could be the tipping point if you don’t make me feel loved like these two. I’ll have a mental breakdown unless I’m treated exactly the same on camera just so everyone can see you three actually love me.”
Angel, unblinkingly, stared into the camera as he spoke then rolled his eyes up to the heavens and said, “I’m being extremely sarcastic before any of you dumb fuckers think I’m serious.”
Hayes and I snorted, May laughed and so did the hosts.
“I take it you read some of the more . . . interesting headlines about the band as of late, Angel?”
“Pretty hard not to when they’re linked everywhere on social media,” Angel answered Toni. “But it’s all garbage. We read some of these headlines and we honestly just laugh. We rip into each other constantly but trust me when I say these guys are my brothers. Just because I’m Mexican doesn’t mean they treat me differently, it’s all love between us even when we’re mad at each other. These articles are made just for clicks and likes for companies to gain revenue, that’s it.”
“Like most articles,” Brian nodded. “Hard to tell what’s real and fake these days.”
“What’s real,” I said, “is our three sold-out gigs at Wembley Stadium on the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth.”
The crew around us cheered, making me grin.
“Wembley packed with over one hundred thousand Sinners per night?” May shuddered. “I can’t fucking wait.”
“You’ve had a mini tour over the last year,” Toni said. “A dozen dates in the States and now the three dates in Wembley . . . how come you guys didn’t decide to visit other cities while in the U.K.? Was it all down to your stint in rehab, Risk?”
The woman was smooth the way she slid a heavy topic into a casual conversation.
“Yes,” I answered. “The tour was always going to be small, but Wembley being the only dates we scheduled was down to my stint in rehab.”
“I can see your coin hanging around your neck from here,” Brian said. “What’s the number say? Five?”
“Six,” I corrected. “I’m six months sober.”
I received congratulations and smiles from everyone.
“We know that Risk’s sobriety has the full support of our Sinners but we understand many were left disappointed not to have a gig in a city near them,” Hayes took over. “But this mini tour was just a practice run for our new stage with our new crew. It’s all part of our preparation for our next tour.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Next tour?” Toni repeated. “What next tour?”
I looked at the guys. “Did we not tell them we have a world tour coming up for our new album?”
“What?” Brian blinked. “New album, world tour . . . what the fuck, lads?”
“I knew we forgot to do something,” May facepalmed. “We were supposed to announce our new album, Lost in the Darkness, and the accompanying world tour for it.”
“Right,” Angel snapped his fingers. “The album drops next month, right? On the sixteenth?”
“Yup,” I nodded. “You’ve got it in one, bud.”
“Look at the comments,” Brian pointed to a monitor on the wall. “One hundred per second, I think you broke the live stream.”
The comments on the stream were coming in so fast it was impossible to read them. I flicked my eyes to the number in the left hand corner. Just over eight million people were watching the stream . . . and the number was rising.
“I think our Sinners are excited we have a new album and tour on the way.”
“Not just any tour,” Toni said. “A world tour. Your first, right?”
“Yup,” Hayes answered, beaming. “North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania. We’re hitting six of the seven continents. Two hundred shows broken up into twelve legs. We’re going global this time, baby.”
“Two hundred shows,” Brian said and took a sheet from one his crew members. “We have an official email from your management. Holy hell, guys, you’re going everywhere and most of these venue are stadiums and arenas. This tour . . . this might be one of the highest grossing tours of all time.”
Our team had calculated that the upcoming tour could earn anywhere between seven hundred and nine hundred million. So yeah, it’s definitely going to be one of the highest of all time if that proved to be correct.