Nearly 10 hours of messing around, writing and recording shit in the studio. Graham and I worked pretty well together, and the end results had been satisfying. Honestly, the songs needed minor tweaking, probably should've been produced/edited by someone with a bit more skill there.
But other than that, we were fucking proud of it. There were about three completed tracks, spontaneously made and created, with 4 other incomplete tracks.
Making my way out of the recording booth, and placing the guitar back onto the rack, I wipe my forehead, getting rid of the sweat that was there before approaching Graham and tapping him on the shoulder.
He pulls off the headphones and pauses the mixing process and says "This is fucking great. Really. I haven't been this thrilled with the shit I've made in awhile."
We'd taken turns recording and mixing the tracks, Graham did the lead guitar parts and backing vocals, while I did the other stuff.
Unfortunately, till we could try a drummer out, we'd been trying to use to software Graham had in his studio. Although, it sounded real, it just wasn't as authentic as we could've liked it to be.
"So, what do you want to do with them?" He asks, standing up and leaning against his chairs, a grin on his face.
"Not sure. We could develop our own project though.." I say, knowing how upset he seemed to be with Damon's 'Gorillaz' thing.
"Yeah. That'd be great. What are we calling it?"
I shrug my shoulders "I'll let you figure it out buddy boy. I've got to run anyways. It's getting late. Promised I'd get to the party early tonight."
Graham rolls his eyes "If only you didn't have a social life." Then he walks over to his mini fridge and pulls out two water bottles, tossing me one of them. "Refresh yourself. Keep those vocals in tact Pince."
I snicker, swigging some of the water before saying "You don't have to worry."
"How are you even getting back there?" He asks "Didn't see you make a call."
Shit. I'd forgotten about that. I sighed, "Could you give me a ride? I can get you a free drink at Noel's home. It'll probably piss him off."
"Deal. Besides. It'll settle my score with them, they keep pissing on my wardrobe."
"Never change Graham, never change." I tease, starting to make my way up the stairs in his basement, satisfied with how today had gone. Especially since there was an idea of a new project with Graham in mind. I hadn't really done anything like that since WaitTime, and well, Graham and I worked better than Karlie and I ever did.
Now, I was tossing myself out of the endless world of music for my petty real life situations. I had to go and see Matt now.
The thought of it alone made me feel guilty, as I'd spent the night with another man and he had then proceeded to propose to me and then we'd promised to wait for one another to be ready.
Graham seems to notice my hesitance and comes up from behind, resting a hand on my shoulder in a friendly manner, and says "Penny for your thoughts?"
"I don't know what to do about Matt. Do I tell him? Do I end it with him? What am I supposed to do? I really fucked up."
He thinks for a second before saying "I mean, if you like him, and you want to continue with him, you need to be honest about everything including your Liam issues. Even if you don't want to be with him, you can't pretend it's all fine and stick around."
That was true.
"He deserves to find proper love, just like you do. And to be honest, Avery, it sounds like you used him as a placeholder for Liam, and now that he's ready to move on with you, you're realizing it too."
"Yeah, but how am I supposed to go about all of this? It's just, you'll understand when you meet Matt. He's like a-a lovesick puppy. If I tel him, it'll be like I kicked him."
Graham sighs "I don't like Liam Gallagher, or Noel. But I value my friends and their happiness and Avery, Liam makes your heart soar. I mean seriously. I hate the guy. But he makes you happy."
"And it's not fair to Matt." I finish.
He nods "Exactly. You both deserve a partner that gives 100% to the other. And Avery, you're not going to be giving that, especially when you're infatuated with another guy."
Shit. Why was life so fucking complicated at times? I mean seriously.
I'd spent months with Matt, even gone to Italy with him, nearly convinced myself I was over Liam and in love with someone else. Yet now, after one encounter with Liam, one encounter, I'm already flying back into his arms, realizing how stupid I'd been to ever have pushed him away.
I was sober too.
There was nothing clouding up my mind except for him, and him alone.
"Do I do it tonight? End it?" I ask
Graham thinks about it for a moment "Do you have somewhere else to stay? Because I think it'd be awkward if you were still in Jude Law's house."
I think about it for a moment "Could always ask Damon if I could stay in his place for a bit."
Graham rolls his eyes "Just stay here. Go see Damon tomorrow or whatever and try to get him to fucking explain that Gorillaz shit because Alex can't string sentences together."
How had I never seen Graham's discomfort with his own friends before?
"Got it. Now can we go? I'll do it after a bit of partying. No drinking, because I've got to talk this all out with a clear head." I say, also making a mental note to NOT touch any random fucking drugs.
"Great. Let's go. I want alcohol from Noel Gallagher's house. Does he have a camera? I'd like a photo. Hell, we can frame it and put it on the wall." He adds as we start walking out the door.
"Are you being serious?"
"One hundred percent."
"I'll see what I can do."
The car ride over was filled with conversation between Graham and I, mainly discussing the project we had randomly started working on, now flipping towards the topic of producers we knew of.
"Butch Vig was supposed to mix one of Blur's albums, as our American label hated the lack of Grunge in it." Graham says casually.
Which causes me to burst out laughing, as this was a common thread with copy cat bands in the USA. They all wanted him mixing their albums just because what he'd done on Nirvana's Nevermind, and with the work he did for the Smashing Pumpkins.
"Familiar with him?" Graham asks
I nod my head and say "We've met. My old bassist in WaitTime wanted him to do one of our albums, and I straight up called him and begged him to decline."
"You begged him to say no? Jesus Christ, you're a monster."
"I didn't want my album to sound like the recreation of my friends music." I shrug, leaning back into the car seat.
"I would agree there, besides, I've never been a fan of the whole heavy guitar thing. You have no idea how brutal it was performing Song 2 in America."
I snicker once again. "You all really gave up on that one? Didn't give it a proper name or anything."
Graham rolls his eyes "Damon wanted us to make fun of you all."
"Haha. Very funny." I say looking over in Graham's direction, watching him drive carefully down the roads.
"You know, I think I may have a couple producers in mind for this thing of ours, they're mainly musicians, but they have done excellent work producing in the past." I offer.
"Really? Who? Would I know them?" Graham asks, intrigued
"Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, you know? From Sonic Youth." I say casually, watching him perk up.
"You're fucking joking. That band is one of the few I can tolerate and love." He says grinning "You honestly think they'd produce it?"
I nod my head "It's been awhile since we've talked, but it would give them an excuse to see me, and the other way around. Plus, they love experimenting."
"I remember that time, it was the first night you spent with Liam and all these people kept calling and calling. Damon and Alex were too fucking stoned to keep track, so I did, and I nearly shit myself when I saw that they'd called."
"Really?" I chuckle "How have I never heard of your Sonic Youth fascination before?"
He shrugs, pulling to a stop onto the familiar street that belonged to Noel and Jude and says "I'm the least chatty member Avery, remember that."
"Wait a minute, then what the hell is Dave?" I ask
"Beats me." He yells over the growing noise from the somewhat, already blossoming party going on inside Noel's home.
"Shall we?"
Graham nods, and with that the two of us start walking up the steps and into Noel's wack, night club of a house, off to the bar, just so Graham could settle his problems with Noel once and for all.
Or, start more.
Oh well.