Chapter 22
(Draven)
“Hey, you got a sec?”
Seeing Ozzy outside of my hotel room was a bit of a surprise, since Johnny wouldn’t be back for a little while, but I motioned Blissfully Immune’s drummer inside and moved a stack of notebooks and papers off the chair to give him a place to sit down. He was silent at first, picking at a tear in the knees of his jeans while I grabbed my text to speech device. I took the seat across from his at the table where Johnny and I ate most of our meals when we were in the room, and waited for him to tell me what was going on.
“I, um, I’ve got a problem.”
“Okay, that’s what I’m here for,” I typed. “How can I help.”
“I’ve been having some, well, issues with my hands and wrists for a while now,” Ozzy said. “At first, I thought it was just how hard I was playing, ya know? I’d take some aspirin, massage them, soak them in warm water and Epsom salts, rub a salve into them, just anything I could do to make sure I was ready for the next show.”
Nodding, I listened, hoping he wasn’t about to tell me he’d moved on to heavier pain killers because I wasn’t sure I was prepared to handle a problem of that magnitude yet.
“In the last few months, the pain has started spreading to my wrists,” Ozzy explained. “And the throbbing in my hands hasn’t been easing in between shows, despite everything I do to try and get some relief. I finally broke down and set up some appointments for February when we were on break, only I got a call this morning to say that they could get me in sooner. That would mean bringing in a relief drummer, though, so I wanted to talk to you before accepting the earlier appointments.”
“When do you need to go?” I typed.
“A week from Thursday.”
Nodding, I stroked my chin, and shot a text to Sully, letting him know that Ozzy would need his guards to be ready to travel with him and that we’d need some relief guards for his replacement. His response was almost immediate and in the form of the thumbs up emoji.
“Okay, I just made sure that your guard detail will be ready to travel with you,” I conveyed. “ Do you have anyone in mind for a relief drummer?”
A look of relief immediately softened Ozzy’s features and he stopped picking at the rip in his jeans.
“Yeah, I’m actually going back and forth between two guys. Claude’s from New Bedford like we are, and Kit, he’s from Fall River.”
“Do the guys know what’s going on?”
“They know I’ve got to leave for a few days, but they don’t know why,” Ozzy explained. “I’d like to keep it that way, until I have some answers. We just got over the fear of losing Johnny, I don’t want to send them into a needless panic.”
I could appreciate that. Despite how hard they’d tried to keep themselves together during Johnny’s legal issues, I’d seen the tiny fissures in everyone’s demeanor, especially during the time Johnny had been away for court.
“Okay, let’s take a look at the shows and see what we have lined up that week,” I typed. “Do you want your replacement’s first show to be while you’re here to observe?”
“Ideally, yes, I’d like to play half the show and then do a hand off to them so I can see how they handle finishing out for me. They’ve both played live, but only small, local things, like Jagger. They know each other, too, so it’s not like I’ll be throwing them to the wolves without a lifeline. ”
“Any contingency for if neither one works out?”
“You mean like a backup to the backup to the backup? Yeah, I’ve got one of those, too. I can have him on standby, but I don’t think we’ll need him.”
“I trust your judgment. Let’s look at those dates, then we’ll get Kit and Claude’s information and get them a ticket out here, and the tickets for you and your guard arranged. Do you need a hotel or are you planning to stay with family?”
“With the guards, let’s go with hotel, so Mom and Aunt Rene aren’t overwhelmed by having a bunch of large men tromping through the cottage.”
Nodding, I jotted that note with the others I’d made, before typing another message on the device.
“Go ahead and confirm those appointments. Hopefully, you’ll get the answers you need and some sort of a treatment plan so you’re not in pain every night.”
“Would be nice,” Ozzy muttered, rubbing one of his hands before picking up his phone.
Now that I had the chance to observe him, I could see the way he struggled to curl his fingers around the device and the little wince of pain that accompanied it. My phone blipped while he was making his call, and I checked it to find a note from Sully letting me know that he was bringing a couple of guys in to be a temporary detail for Ozzy’s replacement. Good, that would help out a great deal.
“Is that the real reason you’ve put off seeing a doctor for so long, because of what was going on with Johnny?”
“One of them, but it was also because I don’t need some damn doctor telling me that I’ve got to give up the only thing in the world I’ve ever been passionate about.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, that’s just borrowing trouble. For all you know, it could be something easily treatable with compression and the tens machine.”
“I’ve got the compressions and the tens. Been doing a lot of reading and talking to other drummers, as well as reading forums and it seems to be degenerative. Like, they may be able to slow down the progression, but in the end, there doesn’t seem to be any reversing it. This might just be a thing I’m forced to deal with until I’m just not able to play anymore.”
I knew that sentiment, after all, that was exactly what had happened to me. My dream had always been to be up on that stage, seeing new places and new people, making memories and music. At least I could still be a part of the industry, even if I couldn’t contribute my voice. I hated to think of Ozzy not being able to get behind his kit each night, because the man was a beast on those drums. But if it did turn out that he needed to slow down, there had to be options, from splitting his time on stage with his relief drummer, to alternating shows. I made a note to do more research because I knew there were bands out there who’d dealt with similar issues, I’d just never looked into the options enough to know how they managed the situation.
“I’m not going to let this derail the tour,” Ozzy told me.
I nodded in acknowledgment of his words, fingers already tapping away at the keypad on my device. “You’ve been grooming potential replacements, haven’t you?”
“Not the way you think,” Ozzy explained. “I’ve been mentoring both of them for a while now. They’ve got extremely different personalities and playing styles. Claude plays balls to the wall. He’s brash, bold, and fearless on stage, like he is not afraid to throw in a five-minute drum solo just because he feels like it, and believe me he is fantastic when he does it, but I’m not sure how he’ll mesh with the guys. I’m afraid he’ll be tempted to try too hard but not in the right way, if you get my meaning.”
“Like ball busting when he doesn’t have the credentials to be giving people shit?” I typed.
“Exactly.”
“So what’s the deal with the other one?”
“Kit is a bit raw, he doesn’t have the same confidence level Claude does or the same kind of stage presence, but he’s got a way of listening to things and knowing how to improvise as well as how to create beyond solos. Like he’ll add in the perfect little flourish that doesn’t throw the flow of the song off, and he’s got a sense of rhythm and timing where if he’s listening to someone just humming or singing. He can come up with some awesome beats to accompany them with. He’s a great guy to have in an impromptu jam session, and he’s well versed in several styles, not just metal. He’s a true music lover.”
“I can see why you’re having a hard time choosing between them.” I typed.
“Right.”
“You know,” I typed, hit play, then paused as I rubbed the back of my neck, rolled my shoulders and then stroked my chin. “We could always bring them both out a few days before you have to leave, let them hang out with the band, jam a bit during sound check and just see how they vibe with everyone.”
“That’s not a bad idea at all,” Ozzy admitted. “Will be easier to get a bead on how they interact with the guys. That’s really going to be the determining factor in the end.”
“Are you thinking of making the one you choose your permanent relief drummer if you need someone to come out on the road with you on a full-time basis?”
“That’s exactly what I’m hoping for. I just don’t know what the logistics of it all would look like, or even how I’d need to divvy up the set if it came down to it. I’ve heard of other bands doing things along those lines, but I have no idea what it looks like, or what any contract would need to entail,” Ozzy admitted.
“That’s what you’ve got me for. I’ll look into all of that,” I typed. “As soon as you get their information to me, I’ll make arrangements to fly them in, get them set up with accommodations and have Sully make sure there are a few more extra guards on hand to watch out for them.”
“Right on, man, thanks. You’ve sure taken a load off my mind. I’m gonna get out of your hair now and let you do your thing, but I will get their information to you as soon as possible.”
“Thanks.”
“No, thank you, I’ve been stressed as hell trying to figure out how all of the pieces were going to come together without letting anyone down or fucking up a booking, and you’ve just made it so much easier.”
“Next time, come talk to me first instead of stressing. If I don’t know how to set something up, I’ll reach out to some of the other managers I met at Rocktoberfest. They are a good group of guys who have already helped me out in other phone a friend situations.”
He chuckled at that, shoulders no longer as rigid as they’d been when he walked in.
“Phone a friend, I love that,” Ozzy said as he headed for the door. “Man, I’m glad you were willing to manage us as well as the Saints. You’ve been amazing.”
“Let’s see if you’re still saying that when you have a series of meet and greets, interviews and podcasts to appear on all before you go on stage.”
“Bring it on.”
I laughed as he left, then grabbed my laptop to get to work on research and emails. I’d forced myself to get into the habit of checking several times a day, and not delaying my responses unless I was waiting to see how other pieces of the tour would come together. It was hard, because I’d never been the kind of guy who liked being glued to their phone, let alone their damned laptop. When I was still performing, emails were something that tended to pile up until they reached the point of being overwhelming, especially when the spam filter didn’t catch a bunch of shit. Now I had a system that worked.
Several emails in, I came across one from Savage Roar. Cool. I was glad they’d reached out after we’d popped in on their show in Portland.
Dude,
We can’t thank you guys enough for the shout out during your interview on Cyril’s show. In the last week the hits on our website and the listens on our streaming feed have tripled and we were invited to do the Enraged and Engaged festival and the Primal Destruction festival. When we saw that you guys were doing both, we couldn’t wait to hang out again and have the chance to have a sit down with you about managing us, if you’re interested. We know you’re super busy with Damaged Saints and Blissfully Immune, and that we are nowhere near their caliber yet, but if you’ve got the space and the time, or even the time to let us pick your brain about a better way of going about lining up bookings, that would be awesome, too. We just wanted to thank you guys for being so awesome and giving us the confidence to keep fighting to make a place for our music within the industry.
It was signed with the names of each band member, and I felt a special sort of pride at learning that they’d finally gotten the opportunity to show what they could do in front of a much larger audience than the ones that they were used to playing in front of.
As for managing them, that’s the reason the guys and I had gone to scout them and spend time with them in the first place. While three bands might seem like a lot to handle all at once, there was a specific reason we’d discussed the prospect of adding an additional band to the tour I was putting together.
I’d come across a number of venues with multiple showcase slots open, where they were looking for three to five bands to come in and play on the same night, one after the other. Just from being on the other side of things, I knew how important those kinds of shows and venues were. Smaller and more intimate, they were the perfect places to test audience reactions to new songs and sounds. I’d also received several emails offering us bookings and asking if we knew of any other bands who might be interested, which was what had sent me down the path of scouting when we’d had down time in Portland and Seattle. Savage Roar’s vibe both on and offstage had meshed beautifully with ours, so it was a no-brainer to send them an email telling them that I was absolutely interested in discussing being management for them, and would set up time to meet with them at the Primal Destruction festival to ascertain any needs and concerns they had before we finalized the deal.
Email sent, I turned my attention back to Ozzy’s issue, and learning all that I needed to in order to best help him in every way I could. While he might be right, and there might be no fixing the issues he had going on with his hands, for as long as he was able, I wanted to make sure he could make music and be a part of the band, and the industry he loved.