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I should say no. No, I’ve stopped drugs. No, I’ve stopped drinking but of course I don’t. Since Ali left, I’ve not been able to focus. And I can hardly say I’ve been clean these past weeks. I need to get her out of my head. This party is exactly what I need, right?
“I’ll leave you to it this afternoon and see you later but tomorrow we can talk a bit more about why I really wanted to bring you over here.”
“Yeah, sure thing. I’m happy you can see there’s still something there. That I’m not a complete fuck up.”
“I can see more than something, Max. Hell, so can Bruce Grain and so will the fans,” he assures me with that wide smile. “Max Baines is going to slay just as hard as a solo artist, even more so than you did with the guys. They held you back, held a bit of the spotlight they probably didn’t deserve if all truth was told. Toms, talented yes, but bass players are ten a penny and if he’d never gone to school with you and Kyle, he’d have never made it. Bobby Burch was given to you by the label because your kid drummer never turned up to record. Yes, you worked well but his parents and their connections got him in the band, nothing else. And Kyle Finch? He’s skilled on that guitar, his talent for song writing knows no bounds. But as for loyalty? He repaid you for giving him the world by fucking your baby sister and flaunting the fact he fucks her by moving her in with him.”
I ponder what he says. I never ever looked at it like that. I might have screamed at Finch a very similar story but I’m not sure I ever even believed all of it. But musically? Would the guys really be where they were in the world without me? Could they go the distance on their own?
“Look, Max, we can talk details tomorrow. Tonight’s our time to play harder. Tomorrow, we work hard. But you’ll have to get all the boys to sign an agreement that the last album is going to be yours and solely yours. The sound, the music, the songs even some you played on the tour which you didn’t release last time. The label can sort the legal side and we will win if they cause any upset but if you keep in good stride with them. They agree it makes the whole thing a lot easier. This is your solo project. It’s you against the world now, Max. You’ve always been the star and it’s time to let you shine.”
I try not to think about the boys. They’ve always been my best friends and we’ve travelled this crazy journey from Croydon to stardom for a long time together. But where are they now? They are not here, that’s for sure. Preston’s right there. He’s also right that it has to be about me for a bit. If that makes me selfish, I don’t know but I know I’m my best man when I’m performing. And I just can’t see the four of us ever being okay to perform together again.
To say Preston’s offer hasn’t turned my head would make me a liar.
