Retrospective: Paris - After the mess was over

5.6 Alejandro Gonzales – Fed up
Spring 1994, The Môle

Alejandro was fed up.
He’s had enough of his band mates’ theories on why Drake bailed on them. The fact was that fucker ran away and left them mid-tour without a singer.
To not lose their gigs, Alejandro had stepped in. He didn't like singing, but Raj played the drums which was already very demanding, and Alejandro would only give Nico a mic if they had a deaf audience.
But Alejandro was a guitarist for god's sake, and singing distracted him from giving his best performance. Not to mention he was a miserable screamer, but thanks to Drake - that fucker - a lot of their songs had shouting in it.
Now they toured with an incredibly limited set list and he with an incredibly bad mood.
At this rate, they would never make it off the B-, or rather, Z-list.
Also his throat hurt - again.

He ordered another beer even though it tasted like piss here.
Why didn't they have any decent beer in France?
The food sucked too.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Nico complained once again.
"I don't care what was his problem," Alejandro snapped, "but if we don't find a replacement, I'm done with this shit."
His band and manager looked at him as if it was the first time he threatened to quit.
"I thought you're okay with singing," Raj muttered.
Alejandro wondered if they had ever listened to him.

"We don't have time for a proper audition," Nico stated the obvious, "and it's not as if you can find a good vocalist on every corner." He sighed.
Alejandro rolled his eyes. He had seen street performers sing at least as good as Drake was, if not better.
He could almost hear the kind of voice that would be perfect for their music - dark, velvety, a tad raspy - and it probably could do death growls too.
The chatter stopped and the voice he imagined became clearer.
Except it was real. The owner of that voice was here in this shitty pub.

That guy could hold a tune quite well, though it lacked emotion – okay, but the song sounded incredibly stupid. Alejandro wouldn't hold his lack of enthusiasm against him.

He turned his chair to get a better view on the stage.

The singer wasn't even ugly. On the contrary, he could be considered rather attractive. He looked bored, but he had stage presence.

"We found one right here," Alejandro said and pointed at the stage.
All heads turned there.
"He's good, but... " Nico was hesitant.
"Dude, as if someone would just drop everything and join us," Raj added sceptically.
"You never know if you don't ask," Alejandro pouted. He was disappointed in their lack of enthusiasm.
"He's cute. I'd sign him," Joanne chimed.
Alejandro wasn't sure if her smile was of encouragement or amusement, but he got up and went towards the stage.

"Can you scream sing?" he asked the singer.
The guy stopped and looked at him as if he spoke Chinese.
Shit.
Alejandro forgot they were in mother-fucking France and he probably didn't understand him.

The next few seconds were awkward.

"I never tried," the singer finally replied, and to Alejandro's relief, in English. "Why?"

He didn't even have an accent.
"Look..." Alejandro searched for the best convincing words. Not an easy task, especially when his mind was blurry from too many shitty beers. He should have probably drunk less.
"We're Deep Rift," he pointed towards their table, "America's next great rock band. We're on tour here, but unfortunately, we don't have a vocalist right now. Wanna join?"

The singer looked even more at him as if Alejandro was an alien.
He wondered if Nico was right after all, and almost felt silly.

"You may have seen our name on the festival posters around town."
Probably not. It was tiny and on the bottom, but Alejandro didn't want to give up yet.

Silence. The guy on the guitar (he was mediocre at best) and the one on the keyboard had stopped playing too.
The whole bar was watching them.
Alejandro definitely felt very silly now.

The guitarist muttered something in French to the singer, but he just waved the guitarist off and kept his attention on Alejandro.
"You... want me to be your vocalist?" the singer finally asked, as if he tried to figure out if Alejandro was serious.

"Yeah..." Alejandro thought he had been clear enough. "Well... we'd first have to see if you can fit in our band, but – that is just a formality," he had to convince him now, while he seemed sort of interested. "I am sure you'll be great."

"Okay. When are you rehearsing?"

It was Alejandro who was somewhat dumbfounded by the singer's sudden agreement now, but at least he didn't feel like an idiot anymore. "Uh... Right now... We have to leave for our next gig in a few hours."
That was the catch, and Alejandro prayed it wouldn't drive the singer off again.

But the singer just returned his mic back on the stand and signaled him to wait while leaving for the backstage.

He came back three seconds later, wearing a jacket.
"Ready," he said.
Perfect.

This went better than expected.

They went back to their table. Nico and Raj looked at them as if they weren't sure what happened, and Alejandro felt even more satisfied about his newest acquisition.
"Give me a minute. I’ll make a call," Joanne said. "You probably want to play."
As usual, she was thinking ahead.

"Joanne is our agent, she's getting us a practice room," Alejandro explained to their potential new band member. "And this is Raj, drums, and Nico, synthies and technics. I'm Alejandro, guitar."
He offered his hand.

But before the new guy could reply, someone screeched from the background.
"François!!"
That someone was a short and round man with a very angry, red face.
He shot towards them, spitting and hissing angry French words and possibly venom.
Judging by the two bears flanking the man, Alejandro assumed it was someone considering himself important.

The singer didn't seem to be intimidated though. He just said a few words in French, very calmly, but they upset the little man even more.
The vein on the old man's forehead pulsed dangerously and he inhaled  sharply. And the bears made angrier faces, puffed up and slowly came closer.
"Hey hey..." Alejandro lift his hand apologetically before they would start a brawl. "No need for drama, we're leaving anyway." With or without the new singer, he really didn't need some crazy scene to mess with his tour in the form of a few broken bones. He made some gestures, hoping they would understand him despite the language barrier.

"Don't worry," the new guy said to Alejandro. "He won't cause a scene in his own shit pub."

Thankfully he was right, the bar owner noticed the staring people and lift his hand to stop his goons.
He hissed once more at the singer, but that one just shrugged. After a few seconds of staring contests, the old man gave up and left.

The conversation was done.

"Woah, uhm - François... ? What was that about?" Nico asked. 

"That was the owner. He's just pissed because I quit," the new guy explained. "And it's Francesco. Not François."

Yeah, Alejandro had thought already that this one wasn't French.

"You're not gonna cause any trouble, are you?" Joanne teased. She had just came back from her phone call.

For the first time, the guy showed the hint of a smile. "Depends on the work conditions."

Alejandro chuckled. He didn't worry that Francesco might cause trouble or bail on them.
Their new vocalist had a temper, but his resolve was admirable, it was clear he wanted to pursue something bigger than that bar singer crap. If he truly was what Alejandro expected, Deep Rift would be featured on the cover of Rolling Stone rather sooner than later.

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Author's note:

Here's another sim donation added to the 'hood, 

thanks to the lovely MercuryFoam ❤

Joanne Lemus by MercuryFoam