Summary: Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson, Rachel Berry, Nick Duvall, Jeff Sterling, and Elliott Gilbert make up Pamela Lansbury, a rock/pop band that hit it big after their first single was featured on popular tv-show Sing. A little over two years later the band is still dealing with the pressures of fame, their differing dreams, their fans, "shippers", and finding love.
Author's note: Alright, so this is a fic that I had an idea for back in season 5 when Kurt formed Pamela Lansbury and more particularly after the two duets he had with Elliott. I just never wrote it. But recently I've started to watch Nashville and while country music is not my thing like at all, I do like the premise of the show and I went back to this idea.
On another note there are a lot of things that I've changed to fit this AU best but a lot of canon events did occur as they did on the show - this is stuff the fic will address directly at times.
I don't know how much time I will have to really work on this fic so updates will probably sporadic if I do continue past this chapter, but that really depends on the response this gets because I wouldn't want to spend my time writing something if no one is reading it (I have a book to edit and school starts next week) So let me know if you do want me to continue this.
Chapter One
"I can't believe we're here."
"I know. It's unbelievable."
The voices came from the dimly lit area just off stage from Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson who only made up a third of the band. They peered out at the empty stage and at the crowd of people that were filling the venue.
"I've seen so many people play here," Blaine whispered, "but I never thought we would. How did this happen so quickly?"
"I don't know," Kurt said.
Kurt was trying to keep his nerves in tact but he couldn't really deny that they were there. In the space of three months they had simply blown up. Kurt had formed the band almost as a joke. Even the name, Pamela Lansbury, had been a joke. He had never intended for it to just take off or for a rep from a record label to approach them and later sign them. They hadn't even had a demo and the only original songs in their repertoire were songs Elliott, their guitarist, had come into the band with.
He followed Blaine back to the green room to find the rest of Pamela Lansbury. Aside from Kurt and Blaine, the band consisted of Kurt's best friend Rachel Berry, Nick Duval and Jeff Sterling who Blaine had attended Dalton Academy with, and Elliott "Starchild" Gilbert who had first befriended Jeff and been suggested as someone amazing on the guitar. Jeff had not been wrong.
"They're letting them in," they informed them.
"Oh," Rachel said, "this is really happening, then."
"Yes it is," Blaine said and rubbed his hands together, "you guys ready?"
Kurt had met Blaine back when he was in high school. They had belonged to competing glee clubs, but aside from a few texts here or there and Kurt heavily considering transferring to Dalton nothing much had come from the friendship not that Kurt hadn't wanted there to be something. His crush on Blaine had never really faded but Kurt had learnt to put it behind him specially once he ran into Blaine in New York City and then proceeded to form a band with him.
"Santana says we're sold out," Rachel said staring at her phone.
Kurt felt his nerves return full force.
This wasn't the first time he had performed in front of an audience. He'd been doing it since he was sixteen with the glee club and then there had been a few performances at NYADA and in the last few months Pamela Lansbury had performed in a few bars and cafés, and a couple of other smaller venues around the city. Nothing like what they were doing tonight. It was technically their debut. The first performance since being signed. It was also their first performance since one of their songs had been performed on Sing. The exposure to such a wide audience was probably partly the reason they had managed to be sold out.
"Are they here?" Elliott asked, "Wes and Santana?"
"Should be," Jeff said, "Wes said he was trying to get a few of the old Warblers to come out tonight."
"Oooh, that should be fun," Rachel said and then pocketed her phone.
Kurt wandered back out the green room and towards the stage. The opening act, a small indie band that Kurt had never heard of was preparing to go out there. It meant they had around forty five minutes before they were set to go out and Kurt felt like he was wreck.
He watched them as they went on stage and started the performance. They weren't too bad but not the music he tended to listen to. It was as they were coming to a close that Wes found him.
"Hey, Kurt," he said, "excited?"
Kurt nodded. "More nervous than excited I think."
Kurt had met Wes briefly during his one and only visit to Dalton Academy where Wes had been the Warbler's leader or something. Wes had been in the middle of law school, trying to figure out if he even wanted to finish, when Blaine had called him up for a favor when they went to meet with the record company. Suddenly Wes was becoming their manager and representative and Santana who had been living with Kurt and Rachel not to be outdone had demanded she be a part of it too.
It was unexpected but they made a good team.
Wes took him back to the green room where they spent a few minutes just preparing and joking with the rest of the band before Wes headed back out to the reserved VIP area.
When Pamela Lansbury finally made it on stage, they arrived to cheers and shouts and clapping. In that moment Kurt knew that it was the beginning of something he could never have even dreamt up.
Two and a Half Years Later
It has been a busy week for Pamela Lansbury the Rock band from NYC who hit fame just a couple of years ago. The band formed out of a group of college students just out for a bit of fun grew in popularity when one of their first singles was featured on the show Sing. Two albums later and one sold out tour and an ever growing mass of fans and no one could have suspected there was trouble in paradise. So let's sum it all up:
Earlier this month rumors were flying that Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry were in shouting match after leaving a meeting with their manager. The band's rep put a stop to those rumors and we never heard about it again saying:
"A small squabble and banter among friends is nothing to worry anyone. Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry are the best of friends. There is no trouble there except for the speculation of eavesdroppers."
However, two weeks ago Rachel Berry was seen out to dinner with Jesse St. James and fan speculation spoke to the possible romantic involvement of Berry and St. James but also the possibility that Berry was looking to take on a role on Broadway. Mr. St. James is currently set to direct a Jane Austen musical. Rachel Berry who attended NYADA at the time of the band's rise to fame always had Broadway aspirations.
Then, last week the cat was out of the bag. It came from St. James who during an interview for when asked about his cast, let it slip that Ms. Berry would be taking on one of the starring roles. This was taken back when a statement was released a few hours later:
"Rachel Berry is considered a great talent by Mr. St. James who would like to clear up any casting rumors. Nothing has been announced. While Ms. Berry would be spectacular within any production, Mr. St. James wanted to compliment her talent rather than announce she had a role."
There was no word from Berry or her reps.
Two days later Berry and Hummel had it out again and you can view the video below. Coming out of Callbacks a Karaoke bar the band often frequented in their early days before the fame, the two lead singers had a screaming match right out on the street. Of the band only Blaine Anderson was present and seemed to take Hummel's side. By the end of the fight, Hummel and Anderson left without Berry who it was reported later by a fan was seen taking the Subway.
Things seemed to be looking better a few days later when all six members of Pamela Lansbury performed at Jimmy Kimmel Live.
While it is true that all band members were in good spirits, there seemed to be a disconnect between Berry and the rest of her band mates. Hummel for his part stayed as far away from her as possible and used Anderson as a buffer. The nature of the relationship between Anderson and Hummel has been questioned for years now and this only added fuel to that fire. The only member of Pamela Lansbury that seemed to be intent on speaking to Berry was guitarist Elliott Gilbert but even Nick Duval and Jeff Sterling were not their usual playful selves when it came to interacting with Berry.
Then came the final confirmation straight from Blaine Anderson only a couple of days ago. Rachel Berry was leaving the band. He tweeted:
BlaineAnderson: And so 6 becomes 5. It's true, RachelBerry is leaving PL.
Despite asking for more information no one, not even Rachel Berry had anything to say until today when Nick Duval and Jeff Sterling were promoting one of their charities against bullying.
"She was a diva," Nick joked adding that while Berry is talented they wouldn't be worse off without her.
"The band will continue on without her. Pamela Lansbury isn't going anywhere," Jeff said, "the fans have nothing to worry about. This was a long time coming. Rachel was never as committed as the rest of us."
Will Pamela Lansbury be the same without Rachel Berry? Or was she a necessary part of the success of the band? And who is excited to see her Broadway debut in the as of still untitled Jane Austen Musical? Let us know in the comments below.
PLBerry: Omg, guys, I can't believe it. Rachel's really not going to be in PL.
KurtandRach: I just want to know if Kurt and Rachel are still even friends? This is really upsetting me.
Klaine5eva: I love that even in an article about all this drama Klaine is still klaining. #otp #my ship is real
NiffKlainer: okay, but did all of y'all watch the video with Nick and Jeff? Cause they were so misquoted for this article. And the interviewer was like pushing them to say bad things about Rachel. Ugh. #what if it's all PR
Klaine5eva: But also, I totes called this last week. She's been pulling away from them for months now and that wasn't the only time Rachel's been seen hanging out with Jesse.
HummelAnderson: That's so sad. The guys are probably super upset about this. I was really hoping this wouldn't be the case.
Letting out an over dramatic sigh, Kurt fell onto the white leather loveseat in Blaine's living room. He let his head drop onto the arm rest while his feet dangled over the edge of the seat. He placed one of his hands over his forehead and sighed again. It had been an exhausting day in an exhausting week in what felt like the longest month ever.
"What's the matter with you?"
Kurt lifted his head. "Life, the media, Nick and Jeff, Rachel fucking Berry. You name it, Blaine."
Blaine laughed. "What did they do now?"
"They went and stupid idiots that they are opened their big mouths about Rachel," Kurt said and sat up fully.
Blaine who had been in the middle of reading a book, dropped the book. "What?" he asked, "they did what? But I told them. I told them to talk about anything but that. I should have gone with them. I knew I should have gone with them."
Kurt made a humming noise. "It's not your fault, Blaine. They're just idiots. David is dealing with the PR nightmare and trying to see what he can do to make it sounds a little better. Wes and Santana are basically trying to kill them as we speak. So I left and came here, I didn't want to hear all that. Your place was closer than mine."
"Wonderful," Blaine said, "do I even want to know what they said?"
Kurt shook his head. "You don't. The internet is probably enjoying the hell out of this. All of this is a giant mess. I can't believe she did this to us."
He flopped back on the couch and heard Blaine laugh before he heard Blaine get up. "This is all going to blow over," Blaine said, "it's a setback, sure, but it's not the end for us."
Kurt wasn't worried about Pamela Lansbury. Losing Rachel was a blow, but it wasn't huge. They still had two lead singers and plenty of backup in the rest of the band. No, what bothered him and made him just a little bit guilty was that Kurt was sure it could have easily been avoided if the two of them hadn't fought. One little argument had blown into a huge scandal but Rachel was the one that had made it that and it was also Rachel that breeched her contract when accepting Jesse's offer and Rachel that was somehow scot free. Along with everything else, Kurt knew he was far from letting her off the hook.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and Blaine's from the coffee table.
"Band meeting," Blaine said after checking his phone.
"Of course," Kurt said.
"And just when I was about to get us something to drink," Blaine muttered.
Kurt laughed and waited while Blaine went to grab his shoes before they walked out of his apartment and took the stairs to the next floor where in a different apartment they would find their managers and band mates.
They ran into Elliott at the door and found Nick and Jeff just within whispering to each other.
"Hey," Elliott said, "you guys alright?"
Nick shrugged.
The apartment which belonged to one of their managers often doubled as the defacto place for band meetings and unless Wes was actually at his office at the record label, it was usually where most of their meetings took place.
As soon as they were all seated Wes appeared and he immediately began to fill them in on what had happened most of which they already knew and what the plan was concerning how to handle the whole issue.
"We were going to announce the tour this week," Wes said, "but that's off the table for now."
"Why?" Elliott asked, "I mean, wouldn't that be what the fans want? I mean, from what I've seen on Twitter alone it seems to me that they're freaking out about the possibility of the band breaking up entirely. Telling them we're still going to be working on the next album would probably help with that."
Wes sighed and Kurt watched him. He had known Wes long enough to know that their manager was exhausted.
"We don't want you guys to come off as insensitive to Rachel leaving, moving on so fast. It's like a break up, or that's how David is seeing it. We don't want to lose fans. We also don't want to give the impression that we knew she was going to do this. We didn't."
Kurt who sat down between Blaine and Elliott reached over and pat Elliott's arm. Elliott turned his head and smiled at him.
"So, the plan is to keep working on the third album. We'll also need to change some of the arrangements now that Rachel's voice is out and lose all of her solos or just pass them on to someone else. It's going to be a lot of work. So, no press. No media what so ever unless I or David say it's alright. Actually we're cancelling a few of your appearances for the next few weeks."
"Which won't seem suspicious," Blaine said.
"Blaine's right," Kurt said, "the fans will see right through that. It's only going to spark more rumors."
He was waiting for Wes to respond when David followed by Santana entered.
"Oh good, dumb and stupid have been joined by the rest of the posse," Santana said, "and things have only gotten worse. Word of what you did is all over the internet and naturally Berry's seen it. She tweeted."
Kurt itched to pull out his phone and check for himself but he stopped himself by clenching his hands together.
"What did she say?" Elliott asked.
"It was with deep felt regret that I chose to leave PL but my dreams cannot be put on hold any longer and my dream is a Broadway," David said reading off his phone, "sounds more like it came from a publicist than anything but she tweeted again, "My time with PL was fun but it needed to come to an end. I hold no grudges against my former band mates and wish them the best."
"She hasn't said anything bad," Kurt said.
David pulled out a chair and sat down with Santana. "She's not going to. Rachel is going to play the victim. Right now, she's on top. She has the role in that Jane Austen thing and a successful boyfriend. Right now everyone isn't thinking she betrayed the band. They think it's possible she was kicked out and Rachel and her new PR are going to use that."
"Shit," Kurt muttered.
"So we just do nothing," Blaine said.
David nodded. "You guys do absolutely nothing. I will be in control of your Twitters and social media to try and resolve this. So, instead you will get to work on that album. Use your frustrations over Rachel and those two idiots," she waved her hand at Nick and Jeff, "and write something. Our plan is to drop it earlier than planned perhaps halfway through the tour but that is still stuff we have to figure out logistically."
"Okay," Elliott said, "we can work with that. Right guys?"
"Yeah," Blaine said, "there's nothing else to it. Are, um, are the tour dates going to be changing?"
"It's possible," Wes said.
Jeff and Nick merely nodded and Kurt was sure that Santana and Wes had really cut into them. He himself had gotten a good telling off after the second public fight with Rachel but it had been cut short by Rachel storming in and telling them she was done.
Slowly they all got up and started to head out of Wes' apartment.
"We're really sorry guys," Jeff said once they were in the hallway, "but it just came out."
Kurt shook his head. "It was stupid but I get it. This – all of this is really frustrating."
"They just all wanted us to talk about her," Nick added, "everyone there from the reporters to just the people attending the charity."
"Well," Elliott said, "I for one say this calls for a few drinks."
"I'm with Elliott on that," Blaine said.
"Aye aye," Jeff said with a salute that made them all laugh.
It was hard to stay mad at Jeff because he was always so cheerful and ready to lighten up a moment despite everything that was happening so Kurt threw an arm around him. After all, it could have been any of them that spoke about Rachel to the press.
"Think we can sneak out somewhere?" Elliott asked.
"Not on your life," Wes said, coming up behind them.
Elliott laughed. "Joking," he said.
"That's a lie," Wes said, "and I'm not kidding. We don't need this right now. Anyone could see you. Santana wanted to hire you guys a babysitter to keep you in line and that's still not out of the question."
"I'll keep them here," Kurt said.
Elliott lightly punched Wes on the shoulder. "Kurt is already our babysitter. No need to add anyone else."
"Hey!" Kurt said but laughed.
Looking around at his band mates and their manager Kurt couldn't help but feel like no matter what happened things would never get too bad as long as he had them with him. Like Blaine had said, Rachel leaving was a setback but it wasn't the end.
Author's Note: I'm on tumblr at inawickedlittletown if you'd like to follow me there. I usually post writing progress updates there.
Hope you all enjoyed this and thank you for reading.
