Under the Lights (A Brothers of Rock - GONE BY AUTUMN - Novel) (3 page)

(3)

Tanner drove to the storage unit
without any other stops, distractions, or
more than willing
cashiers at
some gas station
slash
sandwich shop. The wrapper from the sandwich was
next to Tanner and he nodded in approval for the tenth time.

It had been a damn good sandwich.

Tanner walked to the unit, twirling
the keys on his finger. He unlocked the heavy door and slid it up. It all like
old paper and dust. There were boxes stacked floor to ceiling. Old instruments
that were not longer playable, but still had value, were stashed there. There were
also a few hubcaps, broken cymbals, and plenty of beat up and broken
drumsticks. Tanner found it funny that as much as a tough guy Blake tried to b,
he was a weak man at heart when it came to memories. He always saved the drumsticks
from the shows that meant something to him.

Tanner let out a grumbling sigh.
The place was a damn mess. He had no idea where to start. Somewhere in the
bottom of one of the boxes was exactly what he had been hoping to find.

The first box Tanner grabbed and
opened was filled with pictures.

Tanner laughed.

Maya and her damn camera.

It had been the one thing she
wanted one year for Christmas. Her parents had nothing to offer her, but her
grandmother and aunt scraped together enough money to buy her a camera. And all
Maya did was take pictures of the band. A lot of the pictures were of the guys
holding up their hands, trying to block their faces from the shot. But the
truth was that if Maya hadn
’
t
driven them nuts with her damn camera all these pictures would have just been
long distance memories in the backs of their minds. Especially since a lot of
the pictures were of the band in rare, partying form, nobody would have
remembered what happened if it weren
’
t
for the pictures.

Tanner shuffled through the
pictures. All he could do was smile. It was a beautiful thing to see all the
guys so young and foolish. The ripped jeans, dirty shoes, and the hair. Damn,
the hair. Ryan, Asher, and Tanner with hair past their shoulders. Wearing
skinny jeans and sunglasses. They were the coolest guys around, then, and maybe
even now still. Tanner wasn
’
t
sure anymore.

He dropped the pictures and put the
lid back on the box.

The next four boxes were old cords,
mics, pics, posters signed by bands they played with throughout the years.
Bands that had promise but fell to the wayside. Some fell apart because they
lost members to drugs and partying too hard. Those were sobering moments in a
rockstar's life. Other bands just fell apart for lack of interest and love of
the music; not wanting it bad enough to give everything up for the shot at
making the dream come true.

“
Shit,
”
Tanner said.

It was humbling to see how far Gone
by Autumn had come without losing anyone or giving up when times were tough on
the road.

Another hour of searching finally
gave Tanner what he had been digging for. The top box near the corner was
filled with old drawings and notebooks of lyrics. Most of the stuff was
complete garbage. Seeing how Ryan had grown from forcing dumb rhymes into beautiful
songs that told stories was really special. Under the notebooks was a
collection of CDs; GbA was handwritten on them along with Ryan
’
s old cell number. They were one
of a kind recordings.

Tanner tucked the CD
’
s in the back of his jeans and
hurried to clean up the mess he made. He left the storage unit and was back in
his car a short while later. He cruised along, CD
’
s
on the seat next to him, music blasting. As he drove by the gas station, his
mouth hungered for another one of those sandwiches. But he didn't believe in enjoying
the same thing twice. At least not in one day. And he wasn't just talking about
the delicious sandwich either.

He drove right by the gas station
and didn
’
t stop until he
was home.

At his door he found a business
card halfway under the door. Sure enough it was another one of Richie
’
s cards. The guy wasn
’
t necessarily getting more
persistent, but Tanner got the feeling that if he kept ignoring him that Richie
would do something drastic to get what he wanted. And Tanner did not want the
band finding out about Richie before he was ready to tell them.

Walking into his new apartment, he
looked around, feeling like he was doing something illegal. In the real world,
nothing was wrong. But as part of a band, this was definitely a bit shady.

Tanner grabbed a beer and sat down
with an old CD player. He tossed in one of the CD
’
s
and hit
PLAY
. The recording was terrible. Scratchy with way too much
background noise. At one point Tanner even swore he heard Maya
’
s sweet little giggle.

The songs were merely shells of
what would become Gone by Autumn hits. A couple songs were never played again.
They were that bad. They had written them really fast just to have enough songs
to send out the demo CD. But nothing ever came of the demo.

The second CD had three songs on
it. They were once again songs that were eventually retooled and rewritten into
the songs that Gone by Autumn played almost every show. The recording was much
cleaner and tighter. Tanner remembered it because the band had won a two
recording session after a Battle of the Bands event. Of course that morning
Ryan had come down with a wicked cold and couldn
’
t
talk, let alone sing. So the band all decided that Tanner would sing for them
so they didn't waste their studio time.

He sang the three songs and the
band had a cleaner demo. That demo didn't help the band too much either, except
it opened the doors to the wonderful world of the internet. It was Sam who
suggested putting the songs online to get some buzz. At that time there wasn
’
t much of a place to get buzz,
but it was the start of their now massive online presence.

That
’
s
how Richie found the songs. He somehow tracked them down online. Now he wanted
to steal Tanner from Gone by Autumn and give him his own deal. It was a scary
thought, but a quick online search of Gone by Autumn brought up nothing but
articles and pictures of Ryan.

Tanner traded his empty beer for a
fresh one. He then grabbed his guitar and sat on his couch. He started by
strumming chords and slowly edged his way into singing. After just one song, he
felt a fire raging from deep within him. A fire that he wanted to nourish.

Halfway through the second song
there was a knock on the door.

Tanner stopped playing and walked
to the door, guitar in hand.

It was Asher.

“
Hey
man,
”
Tanner said.

“
What
the hell are you doing? Jamming alone in here?
”

“
Just
…
yeah. Why?
”

“
Have
to talk to you. Can I come in? Or do you have a chick here?
”

“
I
’
m alone,
”
Tanner said.
“
Come
on in.
”

The first thing Asher noticed was
the CD player and the old demo cases.

“
Holy
shit in hell,
”
Asher said.
“
Where did you find these old
things?
”

“
Just
came across them,
”
Tanner lied.

“
I
haven't heard this stuff
…”
Asher plopped down and hit
PLAY
. The last song ended and then the demo
started over again. With the first hit of the guitar, Asher clapped his hands
together.
“
Damn, I remember
recording this. So wild, Tanner.
”

“
Yeah,
”
Tanner said.
“
Hear the vocals?
”

“
It
’
s you, brother. You have a damn
good voice. You know that?
”

So I
’
ve been told.

“
Nothing
like Ryan
’
s,
”
Tanner said.

“
Yeah,
but that
’
s his job.
”
Asher nodded along with the
music.
“
Shit, man, we have
to jam to this together. All of us. We should get loaded up and listen to this
shit. Remember how far we
’
ve
come.
”

“
What
’
d you need to talk to me about?
”
Tanner asked.

Asher looked up at Tanner.
“
Oh, yea. You know that talk
about backup singers and shit?
”

“
I
was there. We were tossing it around.
”

“
What
do you think of it? Honestly?
”

“
I
don
’
t know,
”
Tanner said.
“
I had a long day. I
’
m more bothered by the idea of
picking up a magazine and not seeing the whole band on it."

“
You
can
’
t let that shit eat at you,
”
Asher said.
“
People want to read a story. Yes,
we were screwed into some of those articles, but Sam does his best to filter
that shit out.
”

Maybe you
’
re right, Asher. Maybe
you
’
re right.

“
I
just want to be on stage again,
”
Tanner said. He ran a hand through his hair.
“
That
’
s all I
’
m thinking about. That
’
s what I want. And if taking on some singers helps
us do that, then try it out.
”

“
Seriously?
”

“
Yeah.
I mean, we are musically talented, so I can
’
t
argue that some of the harmonies would sound tighter with more vocals on it.
Plus, I would assume these backup singers would be women, right?
”

“
Now
he
’
s sounding like Tanner,
”
Asher said. Asher stopped the
song and stood up.
“
What I
came to tell you might piss you off a little.
”

“
Why
’
s that?
”

“
I
’
m not going to ask where you
were today because you sure as hell weren
’
t
answering your cell.
”
Asher
put a hand out.
“
But just please
don
’
t get tied up in drugs or
anything, man. Please.
”

“
Christ,
there
’
s no drugs,
”
Tanner said.

“
Good.
Listen, there was a decision made while you were gone.
”

“
What
kind of decision?
”

“
Well,
Blake took off right after Maya did. Big surprise there. Anyway, Sam got a call
from a woman about singing for us. And then a few more calls came in. Before we
knew it, we had ten ladies lined up wanting to sing for us. So they did. For me,
Ryan, and Gabe. Oh, and Sam.
”

“
You
picked the backup singers?
”
Tanner asked.

“
Yeah.
Look, it was all so sudden. But you will meet them tomorrow. Sam booked a show
for us tomorrow night at The Jack. So you get what you want, man. You get back
on stage. Cool?
”

“
I
love being home right now,
”
Tanner said with a grin.
“
Just
having the ability to make a call and play a show at The Jack.
”

“
Exactly,
”
Asher said.
“
Why are you so interested in the
past all of a sudden?
”

“
Memories,
”
Tanner said. He tapped the side
of his head.
“
They
’
re coming back to me. It
’
s time to get back on the road. We
need to get this demo done so we can see where we are going.
”

“
Tomorrow
night,
”
Asher said.
“
The Jack. Gone by Autumn.
Playing some new material and testing out backup singers.
”

“
Shouldn
’
t we practice beforehand?
”

“
That
’
s the best part,
”
Asher said.
“
We
’
re
just winging it. Who cares?
”

“
Risky
for our careers?
”

“
Maybe.
But we have always been about taking risks.
”
Asher walked to the door.
“
Turn
off the memories, bro. Focus on now. And tomorrow. We
’
ve got a long way to go before we start looking
back.
”

“
I'll
try. Take it easy, man,
”
Tanner said.

Tanner went to the kitchen and got
a fresh beer. He knew what he should do. Pack it up and go to the loft. Leave
the CD
’
s and go be in the
present. Instead, he hit the couch, pressed
PLAY
, and closed his eyes.