"Sometimes, you just have to do your own thing. Beautiful Losers has always been dear to me and always will be. I'm the main songwriter, after all. But sometimes you need a break from sixty-thousand-seater stadiums. This album allows me to do something a little bit more intimate, stripped back. It's full of songs that simply wouldn't fit on one of the band's albums."
"Are you hoping people see a different side of you? The one who isn't stepping off private jets, attending fashion shows and hanging out with supermodels?"
He smiled and looked around, pretending there was someone else in the room. "Who, me? I am I that person? Yeah, I guess so. Plus, I'm older now. I turned thirty just over two months ago and you start to grow out of all of that shit."
I relaxed back into the sofa, crossing my legs. This didn't feel like an interview. It felt like a conversation – a confessional, almost. "What is it you've grown out of? Are there any things you've regretted?"
"No," Rick smiled, shaking his head and flicking dust off his black jeans. "Being in a band is like a microcosm of life. You get to travel the world, meet some incredible people, hang out in some amazing places. You get to go wild, absolutely ridiculously crazy at times, and live this exhausting dream. But the industry is full of assholes too, some real scumbags who you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire. The tricky bit is navigating between the good and the bad at such a young age and coming out of it unscathed. I've done more in ten years than most people will ever do in one. When you live at that pace, you have to slow down eventually. That's where I am now, with this album. I'm in a different frame of mind, both philosophically and intellectually."
I paused for a moment. "Great answer."
"I know," he grinned. "Want some more?"
"Yes please," I giggled.
"Okay, on one condition. You let me take you out to dinner tonight. There's a restaurant near my hotel that I've been going to for a few years. The owner will give us a nice, private table in the back where you can discover my deepest, darkest secrets. How does that sound?"
I bit my lip. Was he asking me out? On a date? "Umm…"
He leaned forward. "Don't think about it too long. You'll hurt my feelings, you know."
I felt my face break out into the widest smile and the word I wanted to say simply fell from my lips without any further thought. "Yes."
"Okay, you won't regret it. The food is wonderful. And if you start to hate my company, the head chef is a fairly good-looking dude. You're just his type, he'd love you."
I closed my eyes and placed my hand over my mouth, trying to disguise my laughter. "We haven't even been out yet and already you’re setting me up with someone else."
“ Well, I hope that isn’t necessary. I’d like you all to myself. All I have to do now is use my inimitable charm and freakish powers of persuasion to get you to like me.”
Little did he know it, but Rick didn’t even have to try. I was already his, falling faster than I could have imagined. It may not have seemed like it at the time, but that day was fateful.
My life was about to change forever.
Chapter Two
"That is one seriously expensive bottle of wine."
Rick poured the 2004 Chablis into my glass and smiled. "I know. Here's half the world losing their houses and living in cars and yet the cost of this bottle of wine equates to about five minutes of royalties for me. Don't think the ridiculousness of it doesn't go unnoticed."
I was stunned at how private this restaurant was. Tiny and softly lit, the unmarked black door down a side alley from Rick's five-star hotel would be completely hidden from the wider world. In fact, even if you managed to stumble across it, the average person wouldn't get in. In order to come here, you have to be a "member" of sorts, and Rick was music royalty. There were no more than twenty tables in total, and I didn't recognise a single other person yet Rick had politely waved
"Are you hoping people see a different side of you? The one who isn't stepping off private jets, attending fashion shows and hanging out with supermodels?"
He smiled and looked around, pretending there was someone else in the room. "Who, me? I am I that person? Yeah, I guess so. Plus, I'm older now. I turned thirty just over two months ago and you start to grow out of all of that shit."
I relaxed back into the sofa, crossing my legs. This didn't feel like an interview. It felt like a conversation – a confessional, almost. "What is it you've grown out of? Are there any things you've regretted?"
"No," Rick smiled, shaking his head and flicking dust off his black jeans. "Being in a band is like a microcosm of life. You get to travel the world, meet some incredible people, hang out in some amazing places. You get to go wild, absolutely ridiculously crazy at times, and live this exhausting dream. But the industry is full of assholes too, some real scumbags who you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire. The tricky bit is navigating between the good and the bad at such a young age and coming out of it unscathed. I've done more in ten years than most people will ever do in one. When you live at that pace, you have to slow down eventually. That's where I am now, with this album. I'm in a different frame of mind, both philosophically and intellectually."
I paused for a moment. "Great answer."
"I know," he grinned. "Want some more?"
"Yes please," I giggled.
"Okay, on one condition. You let me take you out to dinner tonight. There's a restaurant near my hotel that I've been going to for a few years. The owner will give us a nice, private table in the back where you can discover my deepest, darkest secrets. How does that sound?"
I bit my lip. Was he asking me out? On a date? "Umm…"
He leaned forward. "Don't think about it too long. You'll hurt my feelings, you know."
I felt my face break out into the widest smile and the word I wanted to say simply fell from my lips without any further thought. "Yes."
"Okay, you won't regret it. The food is wonderful. And if you start to hate my company, the head chef is a fairly good-looking dude. You're just his type, he'd love you."
I closed my eyes and placed my hand over my mouth, trying to disguise my laughter. "We haven't even been out yet and already you’re setting me up with someone else."
“ Well, I hope that isn’t necessary. I’d like you all to myself. All I have to do now is use my inimitable charm and freakish powers of persuasion to get you to like me.”
Little did he know it, but Rick didn’t even have to try. I was already his, falling faster than I could have imagined. It may not have seemed like it at the time, but that day was fateful.
My life was about to change forever.
Chapter Two
"That is one seriously expensive bottle of wine."
Rick poured the 2004 Chablis into my glass and smiled. "I know. Here's half the world losing their houses and living in cars and yet the cost of this bottle of wine equates to about five minutes of royalties for me. Don't think the ridiculousness of it doesn't go unnoticed."
I was stunned at how private this restaurant was. Tiny and softly lit, the unmarked black door down a side alley from Rick's five-star hotel would be completely hidden from the wider world. In fact, even if you managed to stumble across it, the average person wouldn't get in. In order to come here, you have to be a "member" of sorts, and Rick was music royalty. There were no more than twenty tables in total, and I didn't recognise a single other person yet Rick had politely waved
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