Little Drummer Dog. (5)

By Wolfie Steel.

AJ and I get out of my car and we walk to the passenger side of Steve's car, he lowers the window.

"I don't suppose that either one of you know who that mysterious car belongs to do you?"

Our silence speaks volumes it seems.

"Please don't tell me that is Shaun's car?"

Again our silence confirms his suspicions.

"Damn it, I was hoping that things wouldn't get messy, but it seems that Shaun has more balls than I gave him credit for"

Steve gets out of his car and the three of us walk into the foyer of the studio, Fiona's eyes quickly dart to the Husky sitting in the waiting area and Steve just nods his head. With Steve's silent acknowledgement Fiona goes back to her work, while me, Steve and AJ approach the Husky, as we stand in front of the sitting figure Steve clears his throat and then speaks.

"Mr. Marks I presume, well son you have got some balls showing up here I'll give you that much, now I'm giving you exactly five minutes to tell me what the fuck you are doing at my studio before I call for security, so I urge you to make those five minutes count"

Shaun stands up and stares Steve directly in the eyes.

"I suppose you feel so great having pulled off that trick with the song that you released, and getting my ex-band mates to play on the track thus using their names to further your crappy bands status, was pure genius..."

Shaun did not get to finish his sentence before Steve held his paw up to silence him.

"Oh Mr. Marks, you naive fool, re-releasing 'Don't Talk to Me about Love' was not my idea, it was the idea of Sam, who as you say is now your ex-band member, so you see I am not using the names of Sam and AJ to further my bands status, but I will admit it is a divine bonus. As for my band being crappy, why don't you show us what you got huh, you know, put your money where your huge mouth is, in one month the Battle of the Bands competition takes place in London, I fully intend to enter the competition, I challenge you and your band to do the same"

A deep routed growl comes from Shaun's muzzle.

"You're on, what are the terms?"

Steve gains a wicked smile on his muzzle.

"Okay Shaun here is the deal, if your band scores higher than Jacks and Aces Wild, we will be gracious in defeat and will shut down our band, however, if the tables are turned and we beat your bands score then not only will you fold your band up, but you will also pay for the damage that you caused to Sam's car, as well as pay AJ for the guitar that you stole from him"

Steve holds his paw out to hopefully seal the deal with the Husky. Shaun considers his options for a few seconds.

"Not that it was me that caused any damage to the Border Collie's car but I will pay the repair bill I will also repay AJ for his guitar, but as for folding my band, I think that is being a little extreme"

Steve now plays his trump card.

"What's the matter Shaun, afraid that you are going to lose to a crappy band like mine?"

Shaun allows another growl to slip from his muzzle.

"Okay fine, if you score higher than my band then we will also admit defeat gracefully as well as pay for all of the damage that has been caused, as long as you hold up your end of the bargain should you lose"

Steve just lets out a chuckle.

"Mr. Marks, I have been in the music biz for a fair few years now, so I am respected, in other words, my word is my bond, if we lose I will fold my band up"

The two dogs shook paws and sealed the deal, with that done Shaun heads out from the building and is gone. I turn to face Steve.

"Hon, you know that he will never honour the agreement don't you?"

Steve gives out a massive belly laugh.

"Of course I know it, but what he does not know is that all conversations that take place in this studio are recorded, so if he backs out of the agreement I will take him to court with the recording of the conversation, and I know that Shaun will try and say that he was unaware that he was being recorded, but there are notices on all of the entrance doors stating that all conversations in the building will be recorded"

It now shows me how Steve has managed to always stay one step ahead of his competition within the music business for so long. We now head up to the studio where we find the rest of the band resting in the control booth.

"Okay guys, I'm sure that you have all heard the amount of airplay that 'Don't Talk to Me about Love' has been getting throughout today, well we have also had a visit from Mr. Shaun Marks from Sound as a Hound, it seems that he believes that we are a crappy band. I have now challenged him to a music duel, both bands are to enter next month's Battle of the Bands competition, the band who scores lower than the other will be disbanded, I don't intend that to be us, so today we will do some more practice, tomorrow we will rest, and then the day after that we will begin to work on putting some songs together ready for the competition, and I warn you guys now, I am going to be working us all hard"

Max's ears flick a little.

"Steve, I'm not questioning your sanity or anything, but are you clinically insane? You do know that there will be bands there that will eat us for lunch?"

Steve makes his reply.

"I'm not really bothered about that, I just want the satisfaction of crushing Shaun into dust, and who knows if we come up with some reasonable stuff maybe we can give a few of the other bands a bloody nose too."

After dropping his bombshell with the rest of the guys we spent the rest of the day practicing as hard as any of us had ever practiced before.

It is now 4:30pm and we are all taking a small break from practicing, suddenly the intercom in the control booth where we are sitting activates, it is Fiona from the main desk.

"This is the front desk calling the control booth"

Steve gets up and answers the intercom.

"Go ahead Fiona"

"Sir, I have a lady down here in reception, she says that she is very interested in talking with you and the boys"

Steve lets out a gentle sigh and then replies.

"Do they have a name?"

There is a slight chuckle heard from the other end as Fiona corrects her mistake.

"The lady says that her name is Clare Grogan"

My ears instantly perk up at the sound of the name.

"Steve, please tell me that you know who that is?"

Steve scratches his head a little.

"I know that I have heard that name before somewhere"

I shake my head as I give him a clue.

"Steve, six words, Don't Talk to Me about Love"

The confusion deepens on his face, so now I go in for the kill.

"Who were the original band that recorded Don't talk to me about love?"

"Sam that is one of the easiest questions I've ever had to answer, the original band was Altered Images, with the lead singer Clare Gro... oh fuck, she's in reception"

Steve quickly presses the call button on the intercom.

"Fiona, make our guest comfortable with a drink and ask them to take a seat, me and the boys are on the way down"

We quickly file out from the control booth and rush towards the foyer, as we make the journey Steve talks to me.

"Damn it, she probably wants to serve us with an injunction to stop us using the song"

It seems that we might be sunk before we even get going. Finally we hit the foyer and head over to the seating area. There she is, in all her Vixen glory, the lead singer of one of my favourite bands from the 80's, Clare Grogan.

As we arrive at the seating area she puts cup of coffee down on the table in front of her and rises to her foot paws. Steve is the first to hold out his paw to the Vixen, which she takes in her own paw and shakes gently.

"Hello Miss. Grogan, my name is Steven Jacks, Founder and CEO of Jacks Records, also the lead singer with Jacks and Aces Wild; it is truly a pleasure to meet you"

Next the Vixen speaks in her strong Scottish accent.

"It's good to finally meet the fur behind the band that decided to reprise a song that was originally a hit for me and my band"

Steve begins to apologise as he senses that there is a lawsuit about to be served, when suddenly the Vixen holds up her paw to silence him.

"Mr. Jacks, you probably have the idea that I might be here to muddy the waters for you regarding the use of my song, the truth though couldn't be any different, you see a friend of mine heard the song on the radio, she called me on the phone and told me that an incredible version of the song had just been aired"

She then lifted her coffee cup and took a sip before replacing it on the table and then continuing.

"Well naturally I wanted to hear this new version for myself and so I scoured through the radio stations and managed to find one that was playing the new track. I sat on my bed and listened to the music and it brought back so many happy memories for me, at the end of the track the DJ announced who the band were that had done the new version, I did some research that gave me the address of your studio, and so here I am"

Steve begins to calm down a little but I can see that he is still a little nervous, and so I take over from him.

"Miss Grogan, my name is Sam Vine, and I'm afraid that it is me that is responsible for using the track, but in my defence I was only using it because it was one of my favourite tracks from the 80's, after we performed it in the studio Steve loved it so much that he decided to send a demo copy to some of the radio stations, we never thought that it would take off the way that it has though"

It is then that the Vixen does something quite unexpected, she approaches me and kisses me full on the muzzle.

"Sam, I can't thank you and the guys enough for what you have done, hearing the song again but in a fresh tone really brought tears of joy to my eyes and I wanted to personally give you my blessing to continue to use it. I was also wondering if it would be possible for me to sing it for one last time with you and the guys"

Steve's ears flick happily and he gains a beaming grin on his muzzle.

"Miss. Grogan, it would be an honour for us to provide you with the backing music for the song that you hold so dear so that you may sing it as you say for one last time"

Steve then looks at Fiona.

"Fiona, me and the guys will be busy for the next hour or so, so please take messages"

The Dalmatian gently nods her head and then goes back to her computer screen while the rest of us head up to the studio for a jamming session that none of us will ever forget.