Almost Famous

This was finally it, the official start to the UK tour here at the Manchester Academy. We all woke up bright and early, eager to get to the venue. By we, it was mainly myself and my band. The rest of the guys were as cool as can be, as one would expect from people that have done this many times before.
We parked just beside the venue and there were already a few people lined up outside from what I could see from the window.

“Damn, there’s some pretty tasty looking chicks out there!” Adam announced, appearing by my side and peering out the window as well.

I nudged him. “Keep your dick in your pants there, sir!” I said, laughing.

“Hey, the penis wants what the penis wants!”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Hey, I wonder if Ash is up for making another bet on who gets the most chicks by the end of the tour? Y’know, just for old times’ sake,” said Adam, scratching his chin in deep thought.

“Maybe, though I’m not placing any bets on you - I’m not up for losing any cash.”

”Hey! I’m hot, I’m hip, I’m young, I’m so what the ladies want right now!”

I snorted. “Don’t let Ashley hear you say that!”

Just as I said that, my phone buzzed. I picked it up and seen it was a message from Andy, I opened it:

We’re outside, babe. Ashley heard Adam say that. It’s on now. Xxx

Well fuck.

“Looks like you’re in big trouble now, Adam boy!” I said, sniggering at him as I showed him the message.

“Well shit, guess it’s on for real now! C’mon ladies, let’s get this show on the road!” said Adam excitedly, running towards the door and jumping out so enthusiastically he crashed straight into Ashley.

“YOU MOTHERFU-”

“OH FUCK-”

There was a bit of a commotion outside once we’d all stepped off the bus after Adam into what looked like some kind of mini-wrestling match, with Adam in a headlock and Ashley ruffling his hair wildly. CC was in the background cheering them on while Andy just shook his head at them, smoking a cigarette.

“Is this seriously what they’re gonna be like for the rest of the tour?” I said, placing my hands on my hips.

“Looks like it, babe. I think we should leave them to it,” said Andy, wrapping his arm around my waist.

“C’mon, Ash! Momma didn’t raise no bitch!” said CC, still egging them on.

It wasn’t until some fans came rushing over when Ashley and Adam had stopped their little play fight, or wrestling, whatever you want to call it. They were giggling uncontrollably, asking for selfies with both Ashley and Adam, commenting on how entertaining it was to watch them mess around like that.

“You’re too kind, ladies. Though it’s a good thing you came along to stop us, I would have beat the crap out of Adam and Creepshow would be without their guitarist for the show tonight!” said Ashley, grinning.

“Oh hell no, I think it is I who would have beaten the crap out of Ashley - then BVB would be without a bassist for the show! Adam insisted, smiling sweetly and running his fingers through his hair.

I watched them play up their mini audience for a bit, joking and flirting away with the girls until I got a few other fans come up and ask me for pictures and to sign their merch. I spotted the Murderdolls walking up to us, decked out in their usual slight ‘incognito’ attire with their beanies and black sunglasses. Wednesday flashed me a smile.

“Heeeey, miss Eris,” he said, throwing his arm around me and pulling me in for a side hug.

“Heeeeey, Mr. 13” I said, playing along.

“You guys all fired up for tonight?”

“You could say that.”

Wednesday glanced over at Ashley and Adam. “Looks like they’re definitely looking forward to tonight’s show.”

“Yeah, they’ve started this stupid bet to see who can get the most girls by the end of the tour, so we’re gonna be seeing a lot of this every show - and I’m probably gonna have to get ear muffs to block out any action Adam will be having on the bus!” I said, grimacing.

“Oh damn. Hey if it gets too hectic you can totally come hang with us on our bus,” said Wednesday.

“I may take you up on that offer!”

“If lover boy’s ok with that, of course,” he said, nodding at Andy in the far distance behind me.

I looked over and could see him glaring in our direction, what with Wednesday’s arm still around me. I panicked slightly.

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll be fine!” I said quickly, slipping out of Wednesday’s mini embrace.

Once we’d finished chatting and taking pictures with some fans it was time to head inside the venue to familiarize ourselves with the place and get ready for soundcheck, it wasn’t the biggest of places but I found it had its’ own special charm. We had a seperate lounging place and then three dressing rooms for each band, which was pretty good. Myself and my band started setting our clothes for the show tonight up on the hangers provided before heading back to the main stage to get everything set up for sound check.

Adam was messing around a little bit with his amp, taking out the wire and giving each of us a whack with it as he pranced about trying to get in the “zone” as he so told us. Right, Adam. It soon ended when he ended up slapping my butt a bit too hard with it and was rewarded with a swift slap to the face, so now he was in the “zone” with a bright red cheek while I smiled smugly and adjusted my mic stand.

“Check, check,” I said into the mic, testing it out. I gave the thumbs up to our sound check guy, indicating it was all good on my end. Hannah played a few beats until she was satisfied, Kyle and Jamie tested their guitars and were happy enough, Markus held both his thumbs up, and Adam was still fiddling with the amp.

I glanced over at him. “You ok there, champ?” I asked.

He finally stopped messing about and played a small tune, nodding his head and smiling. “Yep, I’m all good here. Let’s get this soundcheck started!”

I picked up our setlist from the ground and scanned through it. “We good to start with ‘Wild Child’?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Jamie, strumming.

“Fine by me!” said Kyle.

“Ready when you are,” said Hannah, twirling her drumsticks.

Both Adam and Markus played a note in response and I grinned, “That’s what I like to hear guys.”

We were about to begin, when all of a sudden the door swung open and in walked Andy and the boys. I rolled my eyes in mock exasperation, folding my arms and smirking at them.

“You’re just in time, we’re about to do some sound check,” I said.

“Sweet, we decided we wanted to be annoying and come watch you guys, think of us as the mini crowd you’ll be entertaining,” said CC, winking at us and taking a seat in front of the stage.

“We can pretend to be your crowd for tonight and get you properly hyped up, hell we’ll even start screaming in English accents,” said Andy, sitting next to CC.

“I have an extra bra to throw up just for you, Adam baby!” Ashley joked, blowing kisses at Adam and winking, sending us all up.

“I will cherish it always, my love!” said Adam, playing along. He clucthed his heart in a jokingly love-struck kind of way.

“Ok enough chit-chat, play a song already!” said Andy.

“Play a song, play a song,” CC started chanting, drumming his hands on his thighs to the beat of his chant.

The others started joining in with CC. “Play a song, play a song!”

”Ok, ok, jeeez you guys are a needy crowd!” I laughed, and then we started playing.

Ooh I'm comin' in hot
And all those eyes keep lookin' at me yeah
Oooh and why not?
Keep lookin'Lookin'
I'm kind of over the top
And I like
My che-chemistry yeah
Let's mix it up
And all your lies
Watch!
We're gonna make a million, billion, trillion, gazillionMillion, billion, trillion, gazillion
Trilli’ trilli’
Milli’ milli‘milli’
I'm done!

I was getting so into the song I barely paid attention to the fact that the ‘Dolls had wandered in and decided to listen to us do our soundcheck too, much to Andy’s dismay because that meant being in the same room as Wednesday. CC waved wildly to them, and continued to yell words of encouragement at us.

'Cause I'm a wild child sittin' on my throne
Going all out, going for broke
Wild child, geronimo
Like it or not, blow for blow
Let 'em say-ay-ay
Let 'em say-ay-ay
I'm a wild childI'm wi-i-i-i-ild
Yeah

Oooh take your cheap shots, it's all you got
Put your money where your mouth is
You just talkSo keep it comin'
Comin'
Oooh like it or not
Straight up, I'm a lot to handle
I do what I want, I ain't shy
Watch!
We're gonna make a million, billion, trillion, gazillion
Million, billion, trillion, gazillion
Trilli’, trilli’
Milli’, milli’, milli’
I'm done!

'Cause I'm a wild child sittin' on my throne
Going all out, going for broke
Wild child, geronimo
Like it or not, blow for blow
Let 'em say-ay-ay
Let 'em say-ay-ay
I'm a wild child
I'm wi-i-i-i-ild yeah
I'm livin' it up, livin' it up
Whoa-oh-oh
Nothin's gonna keep me down
No-oh-oh
I'm livin' it up, livin' it up
Whoa-oh-oh
Nothin's gonna stop me now
Ooh-ooh-ooh
I'm a wild child sittin' on my throne
Going all out, going for broke
I'm a wild child, geronimo
Like it or not
Wow!
Wild child, (I'm a wild child baby) going all out, going for broke
Wild child, geronimo
Like it or not, blow for blow
Let 'em say-ay-ay (let 'em say)
Let 'em say-ay-ay (let 'em say)
I'm a wild childI'm wi-i-i-i-ild
Yeah

We stopped playing and soon enough there was a crowd of cheers from the front row where the BVB boys sat, CC clapping wildly and Ashley reaching down into his pocket, pulling out a scrunched up bra and tossing it up on stage at Adam, which he caught immediately.

“Thank you, you’re too kind - meet me backstage, sweetcheeks,” Adam joked, pointing at Ashley.

“Sounds good, guys!” Joey called from the back, causing me to jump.

“Oh, when did you guys get here?” I asked, feeling stupid.

“About a few minutes ago, we got bored and nosey so we wanted to check you guys out for the time being,” said Roman.

“Figures, are you guys gonna start pretending to be our mini crowd too? Along with No.1 fan in the front row here,” I joked, pointing to CC, who grinned in response.

“Maybe, we’ll see how the rest of the soundcheck goes,” Joey teased.

Soundcheck went on for another thirty minutes until we were finally done, CC cheering once again like a mad man, we hopped off the stage while the BVB guys went ahead to get ready for their soundcheck next. Roman gave us the thumbs up as we walked up to them.

“You guys are gonna kill it tonight!” he said, patting me on the back.

“We’ll make sure they’re not too dead by the time you guys come on,” Adam joked, grinning.

“You’ve got BVB on before you guys, better up your game!” I teased, sticking my tongue out jokingly.

“Hey, they don’t call us the Murderdolls for nothing - they’ll be destroyed by the end of it,” said Wednesday, laughing.

The ‘Dolls stayed for another few minutes before they had to go do some interviews for a few magazines, we weren’t gonna be doing any press until London so we had plenty of time to kill until the show started. I had no idea what we were gonna do with ourselves other than wander about town for a bit, which is what both myself and Adam ended up doing when we volunteered to pick up lunch for the band; we slipped out back and could see the queue outside the venue was much bigger now than it had been this morning. I was impressed to say the least. We got stopped by a couple of fans to take pictures and sign autographs before we were let go to continue our hunt for food, here’s hoping we don’t get lost in the process.

“Sooo...how’s Andy holding up?” Adam asked, breaking the silence.

“Is this some weird-ass joke about our sex life or a serious question?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, no, I mean like - how is he with the whole Wednesday thing?”

“Oh, that. Um, I dunno, I wanna say he’s ok but he’s just been really weird around him.” ”Ah, doesn’t sound good. Though I can’t say I blame him, I’d probably be the same if I had to be around some guy that fucked my girlfriend.”

“Not helping, Adam.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“I’m just really nervous for a lot of reasons right now, and the shows aren’t even top of that list. I just want this tour to go smoothly and for Andy to not feel so threatened by Wednesday, we’re all gonna be together for a couple of months so they might as well just try and pretend they get along at least. Just to make it easier,” I said, frowning.

“Yeah, I get it. It’s difficult though, ‘cause I can see Andy’s reason for it but I know I don’t want this tour to be super awkward or anything because of that. I mean, it happened years ago and maybe he should learn to forgive and forget,” said Adam, scratching his head.

”That’s what I’m thinking, I should probably talk to him about it at some point.”

”Better sooner rather than later, Eris.”

I knew Adam was right, but with all that’s going on it will be hard to get a moment alone with Andy since we’re on tour, and if we started a fight over something like this it’s only going to throw the entire thing up in the air, and we don’t need more pressure than we already have. My thoughts were interrupted by my sudden grumbling stomach and I had to focus on what I actually wanted food-wise, we ended up just getting Chinese after spending far too much time trying to decide what was good.

We headed back to the venue in time to see BVB had finished up their soundcheck and we could hear the ‘Dolls were just starting theirs, we found the others chilling in the lounge room playing cards and listening to some music.

“You guys took your time didn’t you?” said Kyle, putting his cards down.

“My stomach was just about to start eating itself!” said Jamie.

”Sorry, we couldn’t decide what we wanted,” I said, putting the food down and letting the others help themselves.

We were in the middle of eating when the BVB guys entered the room with their own food, glad to see us all sitting there.

“Hey my dudes, mind if we chill too?” CC asked, taking a seat next to Adam.

“Go ahead, man!” said Adam, scooching over to make more room for the other guys.

“Hey honey,” said Andy, giving me a kiss on the cheek and sitting next to me. “You guys got chinese? Nice.” He reached over to steal a piece of chicken from my plate and popped it into his mouth.

“Theif!!” I said, slapping his hand with my fork.

“I couldn’t resist, dear,” said Andy, laughing.

“So you guys excited for the show tonight?” Ashley asked.

“Excited, yet nervous! We’re first on stage so the pressure is on to get that crowd going,” I said.

“It’s gonna be fine, don’t worry! You’re gonna kill it tonight, you’ll see,” Jake reassured.

“And we’ll be on the sidelines cheering you on!!” said CC.

“The crowd’s gonna love you guys, you’ll see!” said Andy, wrapping his arm around me.

“Aww, thank you guys, I feel a little better about it all now,” I said.

That was only half true, I still felt extremely nervous. I turned to downing a few glasses of Jack Daniels while I began getting changed into my stage attire to try and ease my nerves, it helped a little. My outfit of choice for tonight’s show was a lace top with black ‘x’ shaped nipple pasties, leather jacket, pvc shorts with a big silver belt, and black spiked ankle boots. I didn’t do much with my hair other than mess it up a bit to give it that extra ‘oomph’, and my makeup was a signature dark eyes and red lips to match the rest of the look. I looked over at the rest of my band mates to see them all decked out in black themselves, Adam was in the middle of rubbing black paint up and down his arms and neck.

“Wow, Eris. You’re giving us some fetish model realness right now,” said Adam, pulling on a tank top.

“Let’s just hope my nipple pasties don’t decide to come flying off,” I said, laughing.

I chugged down some more JD as the time drew closer, the guys from BVB and the Murderdolls came in to wish us all good luck and were almost shocked to see how different we all looked in comparison to the casual attire we had on this morning.

“Loving the look, guys!” said Joey, grinning at us.

“Go knock ‘em dead!”

”Thanks, Joey!” I said.

“Remember to bring back as many bras as possible, Adam,” said Ashley, patting him on the back.

“I will in your honor,” said Adam.

We walked over to the side entrance to the stage, I peeked out to see a few roadies getting the last bits prepared before they shone their mini flashlight up at the light tech to indicate everything was ready for the show to start, they walked off stage back over to us while the lights grew dim, and I could feel my heart rise to my throat as it hit me we were gonna be on that stage in less than a minute now. Andy appeared by my side to say a few words of encouragement before we started the show.

“Break a leg out there, babe. You guys are gonna do great!” said Andy, pulling me in for one last kiss. I could see Wednesday from the corner of my eye as he stood with the rest of the ‘Dolls near the entrance as well, making me feel a little awkward as Andy had just kissed me in front of him - whether or not that was deliberate I have no idea. He gave me a quick thumbs up, I grinned at him and turned to the side stage where everything suddenly went dark. I heard our intro play followed by a chorus of cheers, Hannah was the first to walk out on stage and get behind the drums, then Markus, Jamie, Kyle and Adam. I waited a bit until I walked out on to the stage, my heart pounding against my chest and a wave of relief washing over me as I heard the crowd cheer louder, I grabbed hold of the mic and we were immediately into our first song of the night, ‘Army of Me’.

“Stand up, you’ve got to manage, I won’t sympathize anymore...”

It was almost like I wasn’t even nervous ten minutes before we went on stage, I immediately got into the mindset and feel of the song, feeling every beat and completely devoting myself to the performance. Moving my body in time to each guitar riff, feeling it all come naturally to me and I no longer felt afraid.

“And if you complain once more, you’ll meet an Army of Me
And if you complain once more, you’ll meet an Army of me.

You’re all right, there’s nothing wrong, self sufficience please, and get to work..”

I felt chills running up my spine as I listened to the crowd sing along, it was an incredibly good feeling and I felt myself getting drunk off the intoxicating atmosphere, or it could have been the several glasses of JD I had. I’m not too sure. We got through the next five songs with ease, then came our last song of the night, ‘Monster’, and I was happy to get the chance to whip out my guitar and let loose on stage. I lost myself in the song and it felt great, I must have looked pretty out of my mind at this point with my hair sticking to my face but I didn’t care, flipping my hair back and forth to the beat of the song and playing my guitar so wild and intensely, the reaction from the crowd was giving me such a rush of adrenaline.
I jumped off the stage and connected with the crowd for a bit, singing in their faces and jumping around the place. I climbed up on Hannah’s drum set, still playing my guitar wildly, before I dropped it to the ground near the end of the song and threw myself off the drum set towards Adam. He quickly caught me by my legs so that I was just hung over his shoulder like a limp rag doll, I lay like that for a few minutes before lifting my legs up over his shoulder, twisting my body and landing back down on the ground.
The crowd cheered loudly and I was grinning like a cheshire cat at the response, sweat running down my forehead and my hair a complete mess at this point. The nipple pasties stayed on, thankfully, I grabbed hold of the mic once more.

”Thank you so much, Manchester!! We are so honored to be here tonight, you’ve been an amazing crowd! Now we were just a warm up, who’s ready for Black Veil Brides and Murderdolls tonight?!!” I yelled. The crowd screamed excitedly back at me in response, making me laugh.

“Great to hear it!! Thank you so much everyone!!!” I waved to them all, tossing a guitar pick into the crowd, and made my way backstage with the others to change out of my now sweat drenched clothes. I looked over at Adam and seen the black gunk he had on his arms and neck were smudged from all the sweat, he grinned at me.

”Rock ‘n Roll, baby!” he said.

The ‘Dolls and BVB were waiting for us once we got backstage, Andy and his boys all decked out in their stage attire, there were a chorus of claps and ‘wooos’ from them all.

“You guys absolutely killed it out there!” said CC.

“You were all fucking insane out there, well done!” said Roman.

“Thank you so much guys, I’m sweating so much - I think a drink is in order,” I said, reaching for the bottle of Jack Daniels and pouring myself a glass.

“Save the real partying for later, we’re on in 30 minutes - we better see your asses at the sidestage!” said Ashley.

“Oh don’t you worry, Ash. We’ll be the ones cheering the loudest!” said Jamie, sipping some JD as well.

It wasn’t long before Black Veil Brides hit the stage, we rushed to the sidestage and watched them perform from there, singing loudly to each song and acting like we were part of the crowd. The ‘Dolls hung back in their dressing room getting ready instead, and possibly consuming copious amounts of alcohol in the process, which didn’t surprise me in the slightest. It was great getting to see the guys perform, and watching Andy sing his heart out was just a few of my favorite things, every now and then he’d look over to the sidestage at me and give me a wink; followed by his signature cheeky grin. I felt myself melt a little, it sure sucked that we didn’t have our own room to do as we pleased anymore; but I’m sure the bunks will suffice for now.
Andy had also planned before the show to add ‘Lost it All’ to the setlist, which meant I’d be singing the other half of the song with him, I felt excited if anything this time. I collaberated with Andy on a few of his songs in the past, but never any live performances so far. Until now, that is. I could hear the crowd cheer once they began playing ‘Lost it All’ and I could feel myself getting quite emotional, maybe it was the alcohol enhancing it - I wasn’t too sure, but this song always got to me. It meant a great deal.

Once my part came up I walked out onto the stage, the crowd cheered wildly and I grinned, I grabbed hold of the mic and felt myself get lost into the song once again.

It was so great to see and hear such a great response from the crowd, it made me even more excited for the rest of the tour now seeing how our first night went - and it wasn’t even over yet. I couldn’t wait to head to the other cities, but at the same time I didn’t want our time in the UK to fly by either, I wanted to cherish the moment for as long as possible. Black Veil Brides ended their show with ‘In The End’, a personal favorite of mine, and the crowd cheered wildly.

“Thank you so much for coming out tonight guys, you’ve been an amazing crowd - we’ll see you guys soon!” said Andy, before walking off stage with the rest of the band.

I rushed up to him once he got backstage and wrapped my arms around him for a big hug, not caring that all his “war paint” was getting all over me - mostly because I hadn’t gone to take a shower yet.

“You rocked it up there, as usual,” I said, grinning.

“Flatterer, what about you up there with me though? We made a pretty good team,” said Andy, leaning in to kiss me.

“I suppose we did, it was kinda fun doing a duet with you,” I said.

“I guess we’ll just have to make it a reoccuring thing then. In the meantime...” Andy flashed me a mischievous smile, glancing down at my sweaty form. “...I’m in need of a shower, and it looks like you do too.” he continuted, pulling me in closer to him.

I raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Why yes I do, how very observant of you.”

“Just shut up and get in the shower with me, you tease,” Andy growled into my ear, nipping it slightly and causing shivers to run down my back.

We were about to make our way towards the shower room when Adam and Ashley appeared from the lounge room, clutching plastic cups of vodka - I presumed.

“And just where do you think you guys are going, hmm?” Adam asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Gonna go get clean,” said Andy.

“See, you saaaay you’re gonna go get clean - but I’m pretty certain you guys are down to get dirty in other ways,” said Ashley, winking.

“Once you drop the soap there ain’t no going back, Eris. Just you remember that,” said Adam.

“Oh my god, you guys,” I said, face-palming.

“Remember to get behind the ears,” said Ashley.

“Try not to get any shampoo in your eyes,” said Adam.

“Or anything else for that matter.” ”Ashley, please,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Hey, jizz in your eyes is a serious matter,” said Adam.

“What’s this about Jizz in your eyes?” Roman piped up, appearing from the ‘Dolls’ dressing room with Joey and Wednesday. They reeked of alcohol.

“Andy and Eris are off to have shower sex, we’re just running them through the general safety procedures,” Ashley explained, sipping some vodka.

“ASHLEY!” I spat, embarrassed.

“Don’t take too long, we’re on in like thirty minutes,” said Wednesday.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be back by then,” said Andy, forcing a smile.

“Oh? Stamina not up to snuff after your set then?” Wednesday joked.

That’s when Andy’s smile disappeared, I panicked; feeling his grip tighten around my arm.

“Let’s just get going Andy - see you guys later!” I said hurriedly, tugging Andy towards the shower room as quickly as possible.

From the look on his face I knew he wanted to say something back to Wednesday, or punch him in the face. Whichever came first. Thankfully I was going to be able to distract Andy from that remark, I didn’t know if it was enough to make him forget about it though, and that definitely wasn’t going to help him feel any better about touring with Wednesday.

Unlucky for all of us, Wednesday especially. I prayed there wouldn’t be any more situations like that in the upcoming shows.

Notes

Sorry for the loooong time it took me to update! I've been really busy with work. Enjoy~

Song credits go to Automatic Love Letter (Wild Child), Bjork (Army of Me) and One Eyed Doll (Monster).