Our Souls Were Made For Rock'n'Roll (pt. I)

The Gig

My name is Anya. No last name, simply Anya. I sign all my articles with that name. People in the business know me by it. The man I loved knew me by it.

I work as a freelance journalist at a big music magazine and I’m responsible for the rock and metal section. My job is to keep my eyes opened for new hot bands, contact them, interview them, go to concerts and attend press conferences. It pays off.
Music has been my passion since I can remember and rock’n’roll has been in my blood. My dad used to play his records to me until I was old enough and had enough money to buy records of my own.

In time, with the internet stepping in, it became easier to get in touch with band members. Interviews were arranged easily, no time lost in traveling on either side. With that I made a lot of connections with bands from all over Europe and America. I traveled great distances rarely, but when I did it was usually for a very remarkable artist.
Such was the case with Vicious.

Emerging from the UK, they were the hottest band for the past few years.
No, they were the hottest band of the decade.
They were all in their late 20s, with a common dream to conquer the stages and reach the cult status of rock legends.
Dany Johnson, Eric B., Glen Hall and Jayden Lang – those were the four people behind Vicious. They were worshiped by everyone. Posters with their faces could be found on the wall in almost every teenage room and every bar in Europe blasted their songs.

I came to know Jayden Lang, when he was still playing drums at his parents’ garage. We met at a bar on one of my trips to England. After a few beers he told me about his dream to become a drummer of a famous band, travel the world, play in every country and have everything he ever wants. He saw an opportunity in my face, a way to promote his skills, which I must admit were more than you’d expect from an 18 year old.
Few more beers later, we said goodbye, I wished him luck and we went our separate ways. When I got to my hotel room that night I found a napkin with his number on it and a sloppy fast-written ‘Call if you ever come to England again, love.’
We spoke a few times after that on the phone, exchanged some mail, but then Jayden disappeared. At that time it never occurred to me one day I will be interviewing him; that he became a part of the biggest rock band of the decade.

When my editor approached me one Tuesday morning, with this weary look on his face, I knew this wasn’t a good sign. He sat on the desk, grabbing one of the pens from the holder and started fiddling nervously with it. It doesn’t usually take long for Ron to spit it out, neither did it take him long now – he tried arranging an interview with Vicious and was turned down. Probably editors and journalist wannabes were approaching Vicious about an interview after their one-time gig in France. Ron knew that so far I never had problems arranging an interview and I could see the hope in his eyes. I agreed, telling him I don’t promise anything, but I didn’t tell him something else – I knew one of the band members.

Jayden Lang was my way to ensure an interview with them after the concert.
One of the things I’ve learned from all the years in the business is that once they hit stardom, rock stars tend to get very hard to reach… unless you’re not friends, or someone very important. My hopes weren’t very high about reaching Jayden, but that afternoon, as I sat in my huge red-and-black leather chair, I dialed the number I had from years ago. Two rings later, a woman on the other end picked up and greeted me with a friendly voice.
Even though nothing actually happened with Jayden, on my next trip to England he introduced me to his family and insisted I have dinner with them. I recognized the voice as his mom’s. At first, she didn’t remember who I was. It took me about 15 minutes to refresh her memory of that dinner I had with her family, but she finally remembered me. I told her I still work as a journalist and I want to do an interview with her son’s band, but we got turned down as a magazine, so it was my last hope to contact Jayden and arrange everything personally. She was kind enough to give me Jayden’s number and then we chatted for an hour more about life.

When I dialed the number she gave me, I could feel butterflies in my stomach and I didin’t know why. After a few rings, strong British accent greeted me over the sound of guitars and the voice of Dany Johnson singing in the background. I could never mistake that voice.
“Jayden, hi! This is Anya calling. I don’t know if you remember me, but we met at a pub in England a few years back.”
“I met a lot of girls, love. Be more specific.”
“Anya, the journalist. You slipped a napkin in my purse with your number on it. It said to call you whenever I’m heading to England. So I did and you took me to meet your mother. She gave me your number.”
There was a long silence from Jayden.
“Anya! I remember you, love, are you in England?”
“No, no I’m not, but I wanted to ask you a favor. You will be playing in France next month, an exclusive gig for whole Europe. I would love to interview you and the rest of Vicious. My editor already contacted you, but he got turned down, so I was hoping you could help. I’m buying beer after.”
For a moment I thought Jayden was going to tell me to fuck off. I was more than sure he vaguely remembered me and I doubted he’d trust me. But then I heard him shouting over the guitars to the rest of the guys.
“HEY! Hey! Can’t you see I’m on the fucking phone?! An old friend is calling from Europe. She’s a journalist and wants to do an interview with us in France next month. Are you all in?”
I heard Dany say “Whatever, I’m cool with it” and then Jayden was back on the phone.
“Love, are you still there?”
“Yes?”
“Listen, we’re gonna need the address of your magazine and we’ll send you an exclusive press pass for you and a photographer. Is that okay?”

From here on things went with no hindrances – I gave the address to Jayden and a week later received the pass with a note from Jayden saying ‘You owe me a beer.’ My editor was more than happy with that and he never asked me how I got those passes. We discussed the questions to be asked, then we chose a photographer and before I knew it, I was landing in Paris.
We found our way from the airport to the small hotel room, slipped into our studded leather gear and headed for Élysée Montmartr. I could hear the fans singing Vicious songs a block away from the place.
I headed to the front of the long queue, showed my pass and we were in. The usual instructions were given to my colleague Chris and I was told Jayden wants to see me. Heading backstage, I wondered if Jayden was calling me to make sure he remembers the right Anya or was he just curious to see if the journalist is cute enough.

I could hear the guys making jokes behind the thin door. The security guard knocked and when the door opened, I couldn’t help but smile. Jayden was the same as I remembered him, plus a few tattoos and a piercing. His dirty blond hair had grown almost to his waist and instead of the black-turned-gray band shirt, he was wearing pitch black leather.
“’Ello, love! You haven’t aged a day since that time in the pub!”
And with that, he gave me a long hug. Just like we were long lost friends.
“Come in, come in. I’ll introduce you. This is Glen, that’s Eric and… Dany is lost somewhere, probably chatting up groupies. Guys, this is Anya.”
They all waved at me, then went back to their activities – Glen playing a random tune on Eric’s acoustic guitar and Eric tuning his electric one. Jayden had not only stayed the same on the outside, but he was just as talkative as when he was 18. He offered me a beer and then we chatted about how he came to be a part of Vicious and their rocky path to success.
We finished the beers just when the security knocked on the door and told them it’s time to go on stage. I went back to the audience with Chris.

Some time during the gig Jayden made a remark that tonight he “found a long lost friend and a gorgeous woman.” Someone a few rows behind me shouted “Who is she?” and Jayden pointed at me with a huge smile on his face. Dany came over to Jayden, telling the audience how beautiful women were Jayden’s weak spot and then he looked at me.
He smiled a friendly smile and keeping the microphone away, shouted to me.
“You must be the journalist we’re interviewing with, right?”
I nodded in reply and he winked at me and took the mic again.
“My, my! She really is gorgeous. And therefore she deserves a song. So, "Staring at the Sun", it’s for you, love!”

Staring at the Sun,
I found out
Staring at the Sun,
I burnt
Staring at the Sun,
I realized it’s not the Sun,
It’s just your eyes

And a few songs later he dedicated “Butterfly Wings”, too.

Your butterfly wings over me,
You pretty butterfly,
Spread your butterfly wings and color me
Teach me how to fly

Now, just in case you’ve never heard Vicious, those songs are two of the very few emotional songs that people classify as love songs.

17.06.2010
Replica
To be continued...