Chapter 9

Monday, Mr. French was worked up when he met me at my classroom to accompany me from my English class. He was practically vibrating as I came out of the classroom and we started walking towards the cafeteria so I could pick up my lunch.

“You okay?” I asked, giving him a concerned look.

“I’ve got amazing news. Saturday, a friend of mine I knew from the old days gave me a call. When I knew him, he was just starting out in the record industry, mostly handing small regional bands for a mid-level agent. He’s moved up in the business since then and now he’s the east coast scout for MAC records.”

“I didn’t know you had a record contract?”

“I didn’t. We were close, but the band fell apart before we could actually get that far. That’s pretty common, especially among young bands when ego can really get in the way. An agent’s just a first step for most bands, since that’s how most musicians end up getting discovered. We got picked up by the agent, but the band fell apart before we ever got a contract. He did get us tours and into some music festivals, but we never got that big break.”

“You said he was a scout for a record label, though. Should I have an agent?”

“He is and no, or at least not right now. From what Willie said, your mom’s acting as your manager, which is enough for now. You have a leg up that a lot of young musicians don’t have, so you don’t really need an agent. Most new artists don’t know who to call to get new gigs, so they get enough exposure to make a scout interested in them. You’ve got Willie in your corner though, and he knows pretty much every club in a five-state radius.”

“So someone has to have an audience to get a scout to show up?”

“Kind of. Scouts don’t just troll venues and festivals for talent. Usually, an agent convinces a scout they’ve got the next big thing and gets the scout to show up at a gig and hear them play. The scout will then call around to see if anyone has heard of the band or artist. They get a lot of calls and usually don’t have time to travel somewhere without some assurance it’s worth their time. Of course, random discoveries do happen, usually an opening act for a band the scout is actually there to see, but it’s pretty rare.”

“So Willie’s kind of my agent.”

“Sort of. You also made a really good impression with Eugene Russell at the Wild Cat, and I’ve heard he’s mentioned you to a few people. That’s why it’s important to keep your ego out of the way and treat the people at gigs with respect. That’s something a lot of young artists don’t get; how much people that seem to be on the bottom rung of the industry can actually affect your career. If you treat club owners like shit, they’ll remember it. If a scout likes your sound, they’ll ask around about you. Record labels try and weed out the possible trouble makers before they are on the hook for them. They want to know if you’re violent, rude to fans, a drunk, or an addict. If they get enough bad reports they’ll look for someone else.”

I couldn’t help but think about Dad and wonder if something like that was why he never made it. I always thought he sounded good enough to have a deal of his own, and his explanations of why he’d never made it didn’t make sense. Mom had said something about his band falling apart before they ever made it big, but Dad traveled for ten years after that, and still never made it. I couldn’t figure out how he kept getting gigs but couldn’t get past that. If they really did call around to find out if the musician had problems before taking a chance with them, anyone who checked on Dad would have heard what a lush he was and how he was regularly getting into fights.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You should. The music industry is about a lot more than being a good musician. There are a lot of musicians out there that play well but will never get a deal. They have to have stage presence, be marketable, and worth the expense before they’ll ever get a deal of their own.”

“Okay.”

“Sorry, I started rambling. Whenever my friend starts scouting a new area, he calls around to people he knows. Club owners, former musicians, whatever and asks if there are any acts he should see.”

“I thought you said that was why people got agents, so they could get record labels to give them a look.”

“It is. Consider how many singers and groups are out there looking for their big break. A record label scout only has so much time. They also tend to only tour a given region once a year or so. Their regions can be pretty big, which gives them a lot of land to cover and they do more than just drive around listening to gigs. An agent can get your demo reel in their hands and if they like it, they’ll come out to see you or arrange for you to play somewhere close to their home base. They do, however, discover people on their own. Usually by relying on their network of contacts.”

“Since you’re talking to me about it, I’m going to assume you put in a good word for me.”

“Well, yeah, but I also had to be honest and tell him I was mentoring you. In this case though, he’d already heard about you from Eugene. He’s planning on being out here in May and asked that I set up a performance. He did suggest that you have your own band, even if you’re the front man. Apparently, the execs feel that right now they’ve got too many singer/songwriter types and they want more bands. I’m not saying you have to, of course. If he likes you, he’ll still try and find you a place, but it could mean waiting a few years until they feel like they have room for more up-and-coming solo artists.”

“I have no idea how to put together a band. I don’t really remember the time Dad played with one and he never really talked about those days, since he blamed them for not getting his big break.”

“It’s not so hard, especially when you’re making it clear that you’re the face of the band.”

“Why would someone want to be part of a band where they don’t get to be equal partners?”

“Lots of reasons, but mostly because they’ll sense the opportunity. You’ve already started building a name for yourself, even if it’s very regional and you’ve got a label looking at you. Guys trying to break in, if they’re smart, will recognize the opportunity and take it. Anyone who’s been trying to break into the business for a while will know how hard it is to get that first break and jump at the chance of getting in on the ground floor.”

“Okay, but I don’t know the first thing about leading a band.”

“Sure you do. You forget I’ve talked to Willie and the rest of the guys up there. When Willie was out of town, they took their lead from you. You were putting together the setlists, taking charge in practice, and leading the band on stage. You just don’t realize it.”

“That’s different.”

“Not really. I’ll help you find guys to try out and they’ll know the score. The only thing you have to do is make sure you stand up for yourself. I know you’re capable of it. Just don’t let them push you around because you’re younger than all of them. You just have to remember you’ll be holding all the cards. You’ll be getting gigs off your name and the record label will be coming to look at you. As long as you remember that, you’ll be fine.”

“So how do we go about finding people? Won’t the guys in Willie’s band feel like I’m bailing on them? Should I talk to them first?”

“You can talk to them, but I don’t think they’d be for it. Most of those guys have had the opportunity to travel and have decided not to. They’re all getting up there in years and like just having a local club to play at regularly. Keep in mind if this works, you’re going to be pretty busy. The label will want you to tour when you’re able to and spend time putting together a record. They’ve all gone through that in the past and are at the point where they just want a steady gig to play at on weekends.”

“Okay, but what would I even need? Willie has five guys, but that seems a lot for the kind of music I do.”

“First off, you need to remember this is all up to you. I can offer you advice and point out things to consider, but you need to stop thinking about this as a hobby if you really want to go for it. I know you’re having fun playing on weekends and writing songs, and if that’s what you want to keep it to, that’s great. That’s how I treat most music these days, too. If you want to take it to the next level though, you’ve got to be ready to make your career yours. If you don’t, you’re going to end up in a world of hurt. There will always be friends, family members, record labels, agents, and managers telling you what they think you should be doing. It’s great to have them all in your corner, but remember at the end of the day it’s your art. Your name’s going to be on it. If it isn’t something you feel is your own, you’re going to burn out pretty damn quick. I’m happy to help you take that next step, but first, you have to decide if you want it.”

We picked up our food and went to the choir room in silence while I thought about what he’d said. Deep down, I knew he was right. So far I’d just been going with the flow. I played where Willie told me I could, I wrote based on how Mr. French said I should write. They always offered everything as advice or opportunities and were good about asking what I wanted, but I didn’t treat it like that.

“Okay,” I said as we sat down at his desk to eat our lunches. “When I think about the music I like, it’s usually a smaller band. Lead guitar, drums, bass. Sometimes a piano or second guitar. Maybe I should keep it simple to start, just three guys. Hopefully, they can sing so I’ll be able to play with the vocals more.”

“Okay, that’s good. Keep in mind if you have a song that needs something extra, but you don’t see needing it all the time, you can just bring in a session musician for any recording and check with the clubs that have house bands to see if you can borrow theirs. Of course, that isn’t available with a lot of clubs and is becoming rarer by the day. What a lot of bands do is just book someone to travel for a particular tour.”

“Seems kind of dickish to hire someone to tour with but not have them an actual member of the band.”

“It isn’t. Guys who do this do it as a career. They jump from band to band, going with whoever’s touring at the moment. If you end up needing someone for most of your songs, then add to the band. What’s dickish is having someone in the band who’s sidelined for everything but a handful of songs. Just because these guys will be coming in knowing it’s your band, they still have their own creative itches to fill. They aren’t there to just back you up and they aren’t working for you. They’re your partners. They’ll have their own ideas on how a song should go and most will want the opportunity to help write the music or even bring in some of their own songs.”

“Makes sense. So if I wanted to put together a band, how would I do that? Where do you find people?”

“That I can help you with. If you had your own name, you could put out an audition, but starting out I don’t think it’s a great idea to just throw you to the lions. It’s important to find people who are good enough to keep up with you and won’t have a problem with how young you are. I can make some calls, if you’re okay with that.”

“I’d appreciate it. Do you think we can put something together by May?”

“If you work hard at it, yeah, I do. Okay, let’s finish eating so you can show me what you worked on over the weekend.”

Mr. French wasn’t the only one with a surprise for me. That afternoon I found Chef with someone, and it was Vinnie. Both were doing stretching exercises. The first surprise had been Chef stretching. He usually just paced around me, while I worked out and trained, sometimes whacking the ground with a stick.

The second was Vinnie. He’d stopped and looked out at us training from time to time, but he’d never come outside before. I didn’t know if Chef was training someone else, although I figured since I was here every day, I’d have noticed by now.

“We’re having a slight change of pace today. I want to start introducing the concepts of how to deal with multiple attackers. I’d hoped I’d be able to have someone else here who had some training, but I couldn’t get them in time. Vinnie was nice enough to be a training dummy for us. Considering some of the problems you’ve described to me, it’s likely if you do end up in a physical altercation, it won’t be against one opponent.”

“Just go easy on me. I don’t want to have to explain to people a kid kicked my ass.”

“I’ll try and be gentle. I know how brittle people get in their old age.”

He laughed at me. Vinnie was essentially Chef’s right hand in the kitchen. Although Chef seemed to always be at the restaurant, when he couldn’t it was always Vinnie he left in charge. When I’d first started working for Chef, before he’d asked me to join Willie playing on weekends instead, Vinnie had been the one teaching me how to work in a kitchen. We weren’t friends exactly, but we were friendly and always got along. He liked to kid me about being so young and I always shot back making fun of him for being old. It had become our dynamic by this point.

“All right, enough of that. You know what you need to do to warm up. While you do that, I’ll explain to Vinnie what I need from him. Don’t slack or I’ll make you do everything twice.”