“Yeah, everything is great!” He nodded enthusiastically when he walked into my apartment. “You said I could come visit anytime, right?”
“Oh, right. Yeah.” I shook my head in agreement when I remembered our last conversation before I left.
“Plus, I saw this.” He pulled out his cell phone and slid his finger across the screen. “Brendan Tanner needs a drummer for his tour.”
“Wait, what?” I took the phone and read what was on the screen. “Oh shit, I guess Sawyer must have posted this. Yeah, it’s his logo on the bottom.”
“I’m glad to see that you’re a bit surprised, because if you needed a drummer, I would have expected you to call me first.” He chuckled and took his phone back.
“Well, yeah. I mean, we’ve just been using a house band to get the tracks down for the album. I don’t even know who they are. I just do a little work with my guitar and provide the vocals. Shit, I didn’t even think about a tour.” I blinked a few times in surprise. “But, yeah, I’ll need a drummer if I’m going on the road.”
“Are you getting a solo tour for your first album? That’s freaking fantastic.” Gavin smiled and nodded.
“I don’t know. I’ll need a band either way, but I haven’t exactly talked about that with Sawyer. I thought we were going to work on the second album before we did a tour.” I shrugged and sighed. “Maybe things changed.”
“Either way, here I am.” He threw his arms out and made some drum motions in the air.
“Fuck, do you think you can play country music?” I tilted my head to the side.
“Those beats? Hell yeah, man. After sitting behind the drums playing rock music for all these years, this will be like a vacation.” He nodded enthusiastically. “It might save some wear and tear on my ears, too.”
“I don’t know. Some of the songs we’re working on have thump. Man, it’s good to see you. Let me grab us
some beers.” I walked towards the kitchen.
“Drinking at ten in the morning. That’s what I’m talking about.” Gavin chuckled as I walked back in and handed him a beer.
“Well, that’s the one thing country stars and rock stars have in common.” I laughed and tipped back the bottle after tapping the top of his. “How are things in Chicago? I guess you haven’t found another band if you’re showing up here looking for work.”
“Things have been steady. I’m getting paid, but I’d like something more permanent. Plus, you’re doing well in Nashville, so I thought I would see if I could get in on this. I don’t follow country music, but you’ve got a song that’s in the top twenty?” He sat down on the couch and looked up at me.
“Yeah, Barstools at Midnight. I didn’t write it, but it’s doing well. The album will be out soon—same name.” I nodded and sat down.
“Awesome. Well, are you writing anything right now? Got something we could work on together?” He sipped his beer.
“I’ve got a few things cooking, but we’ll probably need to work on songs from the current album first. Hell, if you’re not doing anything today, we could head to the studio.” I tilted my beer and guzzled enough to fill my mouth.
“I’m here to work. Well, work and drink. Maybe meet some nice girls from Tennessee that want some northern flair. Do I have to learn to talk like that to get laid?” His face twisted to a concerned scowl.
“Nah, it’s just part of my illusion. Let’s finish these beers and we’ll head downtown.” I tipped my beer again.
Gavin and I caught up over our beer and he told me about the bands he was working with. He left out all mention of my previous bass player and the girl that fucked up my world. I was glad he didn’t tell me anything about them, because I would have probably just started revisiting shit I was ready to totally forget. I called Sawyer to let him know I found a drummer. I also gave him a half-hearted scolding for not letting me know that I was looking for a band. He apologized and said he was just trying to get things in place before the album launched. After the conversation, Gavin and I headed to the studio. There was a drum set already in place in the soundproof room and since we didn’t have an audio engineer to keep us on track, we just goofed off and jammed for a couple of hours.
“This brings back memories.” Gavin grabbed the cymbal to silence it after slamming it with his drumstick.
“You’re picking up the country music pace pretty fast.” I nodded. “Ready to try an actual song?”
“Why not.” He shrugged. “But let’s have a drink first.”
“I didn’t bring anything with me.” I shrugged.
“Oh, I got some whiskey in my bag.” Gavin stood up and walked over to the corner where he had left the stuff he brought in with him.
“Now it really is like the old days.” I extended my hand when he walked back over, took the bottle from him, and twisted off the top.
We went through a few of the songs from top to bottom while we drank. Gavin learned his part easily and we were both fairly hammered after a few hours. I looked at my watch and realized we had spent nearly five hours in the studio. I hadn’t been that happy to just sit down and practice since I left Chicago. We would need a bass player and another guitarist to complete the ensemble. It would help if one of them could sing backup vocals as well since there were a few of my songs that needed it. I had recorded both sets of vocals for the studio album and the audio engineer put them together, but once we were on the road, we would need to be able to perform them live.
“Okay, I’m going to turn on the recorder.” I stood and swayed slightly on my feet. “I want Sawyer to hear how good you are.”