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: And at long last we have made it to the actual start of the tour. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. As a side note I did want to quickly address the kind of band they are.
So I love all kinds of music and I was actually playing around with what their band would sort of sound like so since it is a pop/rock star I was actually feeling like their music would lean towards a mixture of: A Great Big World, Adam Lambert (because duh, Elliott), and perhaps some Walk The Moon, and Darren Criss (again duh, Blaine) - just a mixture of music like that. I feel like they wouldn't have a very specific sound but be a mixture of things just because they are all a bit different...and of course I also feel like they would have a little bit of a showtunes thing going on as well. They do lend themselves more towards a "pop" sound.
On another note, if anyone remembers Darren's brother Chuck Criss was in a band called Freelance Whales, well one thing I loved about them was how all of the band members could interchange instruments. So there's some of that going on with Pamela Lansbury.
Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel were originally the lead singers.
Elliott has always played guitar but also done a bit of vocals but not like a crazy amount.
Jeff plays the drums and also a little guitar which he will do occasionally
Nick is on bass and occasionally guitar but also does do the drums
Jeff and Nick like to switch on and off the drums when the bass isn't needed. They also do a lot of the background vocals but they occasionally have bits of songs to themselves.
Blaine and Kurt both can play the keyboard
Blaine does play guitar as well
Rachel was the only one that never picked up an instrument. She considered herself the lead singer.
With Rachel gone all of the boys are doing more singing in particular Elliott.
Their new album features all of their voices a lot more.
Anyway, enjoy.
Chapter Six
"You know, when I agreed to this, I didn't think it'd be this much fun," Sebastian said.
Wes glanced at him and then fixed his eyes back on the stage. They were going through sound check and everything seemed to be looking good which meant that at least one thing was going right because none of the boys were even the least bit interested in letting Sebastian manage the tour.
"And I should have talked to them before convincing you to take the job," he said, "and I'm sure I would have if you hadn't made this impossible."
Sebastian shrugged his shoulders. "I was considering my options. After all, I like New York, and the whole travelling thing was something to consider but the money did sound good and the whole being around famous people thing. Not to mention Blaine."
"Your contract strictly forbids any relationship between you and any of the band members," Wes said quickly.
"Yes," Sebastian said, "doesn't mean I can't appreciate looking. He's still just as delectable as back at Dalton. Princess there probably could have burned a hole right through me with all the glaring, though. What's up with the two of them anyway?"
When Wes looked towards Kurt he couldn't help but feel like Sebastian was right. Kurt definitely wasn't happy with Sebastian and Wes didn't fully understand the whole thing. Was it because of Blaine? Wes had been waiting with bated breath for the day when Blaine and Kurt finally got together, but Kurt had never been downright mean to anyone for taking an interesting in Blaine. It had to be something else.
His phone rang and he fished it out.
"Oh, Santana, finally. Where are you?"
"Meeting with Rachel, actually," Santana said, "she was trying to persuade me into becoming her manager and publicist. I don't think she's happy with the response to that ABC news interview. Told her no of course, but I had to see her face to face. Also talked to Kurt a little while ago. He's not happy with you."
"Yes, I know," Wes said, "any plan?"
Santana laughed. "If we don't take care of Smythe, Kurt will," she said, "and it looks like he has the rest of the members of the band on his side. I thought David said Sebastian was friends with Blaine, Nick, and Jeff. What happened?"
"No idea. Intend to find out after sound check and between meet and greets. This is going to be a long day."
By the time he'd gotten off the phone, Sebastian had disappeared from his side, off to actually do the job he'd been hired to do which included making sure that all the pre-show things happened without any issue. It was almost annoying that Sebastian seemed to have a good grasp on what was expected of him.
The band finished their sound check and the sound guys and the light techs were all done checking on their side of things as well so the band was all expected to get ready for the meet and greets and Wes had to go make sure the venue itself was dealing with that side of things well.
"Do we have all the tags handed out and everything to the fans with the meet and greets?" Wes asked Whitney who was in the middle of helping with the merchandise table.
"I went out a little bit ago and most of the list was taken care of. We'll let them in sometime in the next hour or so?"
Wes nodded and he helped her fix the display of the t-shirts. "Good," he said, "good. I guess if you have it all handled I should go back and talk with the boys."
Whitney grinned at him. "Kurt's pissed," she said, "he really hates this Sebastian fellow."
"Yeah," Wes said, "and I don't think it's because he hit on Blaine."
He found them in the green room all changed out of their previous attire which for Jeff and Nick had actually meant pajamas and for the rest of them except for Kurt sweats. They were all in jeans and button up shirts except for Elliott who was in a plain white t-shirt and his recognizable leather jacket.
"Alright," Wes said, "I guess I should say sorry."
Kurt made a huffing noise.
"Look," Wes said, "we hired him on his merits and because we really had no one else that looked like they could handle the job. Also because I knew him and David said it'd be nice to have a familiar face for you guys. I didn't realize none of you would be happy with him. But I can't fire him. Not on the basis that you don't like him. And to replace him would require finding someone willing to jump into the job immediately. I'm sorry. Santana and I will try to find someone, though, and if we do then we'll figure things out then."
He was surprised when they all just let him talk, but they did and after he was done it was only Nick who spoke up.
"Wes, we trust you. You're probably the best manager we could have found and usually we leave things like hiring people up to you so I'm sure you had the best intentions but for positions as important as our tour manager we would appreciate having some sort of say from now."
Wes nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said, "sounds fair."
"And I guess I'm sorry for being demanding in front of the whole crew," Kurt said in a mutter.
Wes grinned and walked towards him, "Kurt, you're the least demanding of the entire lot."
Whitney appeared then. "We're letting in the meet and greet fans. They're the ones getting to hang out with you guys before the concert. We were thinking we'd do the pictures after the show with the other group."
"Awesome," Blaine said.
A few hours later
Kurt skipped across the stage, mic held in his left hand by his thigh while he waved out at the audience. They were halfway through their set and everything was going well. Kurt had gotten right into performance mode so much so that he wasn't even thinking about any of the problems that he needed to take care of. Instead he was focusing on performing his best and giving them fans his all.
Blaine who was singing, walked towards him and Kurt grinned at him before turning to look back at the other boys. Elliott was on the guitar, strumming along and nodding his head. Nick had traded places with Jeff for the song, so he was sitting behind the drums while Jeff seemed to be trying to distract him or give him pointers. He was singing along but not into his own microphone.
He heard his cue and so brought his mic up to his lips to start singing his verse which had originally belonged to Rachel. It felt just a little bit weird to sing her lines.
Out in the audience their fans screamed and cheered and sang back the words to their songs. It had been odd the first time it happened to hear their own words being sung out by their fans. Half the time he was sure they knew the words better than they did.
Blaine had gone back to the keyboard mostly to grab a quick drink and Kurt finished the song to cheers.
"You guys are amazing," he said after the song died down, "and I know a lot of you probably know what this place means to us, so it's great that you could all join us. And for the brothers, sisters, parents, girlfriends, boyfriends, aunts or uncles, or roommates that got dragged to this, I hope you're enjoying it too."
There were louder cheers and Kurt just laughed. "So we're slowing it down a bit for the next song this is Going Your Way and because I always love to give a bit of a shout out to Elliott this is one of the songs he wrote back before any of us knew him and one of my favorites."
Someone yelled "We love you Elliott!"
Kurt laughed again and then Blaine started playing the keyboard. They were doing it a little bit differently than probably anyone expected, so when Elliott instead of Blaine started to sing, Kurt was prepared for all the cheering.
Kurt liked being able to move around the stage, not following any real choreography because they had never seen the point of it. So, he moved towards Nick who had returned from his small stint on the drums and had his bass guitar strapped back on even though he wasn't playing it.
Nick dragged him against him and Kurt just grinned and they both sang into Kurt's mic during the chorus.
The next few songs went quickly, and Kurt could feel himself dripping with sweat from the lights and all his running around on the stage. As they came to the last few, he felt his adrenaline just keep rising because so far nothing had gone wrong and their audience had been amazing.
"We want to thank everyone that came out," Blaine said between the last two songs, "and just for all the support you've all shown us. This has been an amazing beginning to our tour and it's all down to you guys."
"We wouldn't be here without you," Kurt added and after taking a breath, "even if we are a member short."
He felt Elliott come up behind him, guitar-less and holding a mic of his own. "Seriously, though, all of this is for all of you. Now take it away, Blaine."
It didn't take long for all of them get showered, dressed, and presentable again after the show ended. Blaine felt like he was buzzing with energy and when he found Kurt, he could tell it was the same with him.
"You going to get that hair gelled?" Kurt asked.
His hair was still a bit damp from the shower, but Blaine hadn't managed to find their stylist to put his curls back into the gel. He had been using less and less of it since joining the band, but he never went without at least a bit of it in his hair.
"You shouldn't," Kurt said and tugged on a curl, "you know I like your hair like this. It's cute."
"It's frizzy and it's only going to get worse and we're meeting fans."
Kurt ran his hand through Blaine's hair. "They'll like it. I've seen posts about it on tumblr."
Blaine rolled his eyes. "Oh, sure," he said, "because that's enough to convince me."
"Curly!" Jeff yelled as he approached them.
Kurt laughed. "I'm telling him he should keep it this way."
"Yes. We're not letting you go get your hair done, dude. Not happening."
Blaine just sighed. He knew better than to try and fight Kurt and Jeff. They were joined by Elliott and Nick soon enough.
"Wes said we had a little bit of press to do," Nick said as he approached them, "just a few backstage stuff as promo for the tour and a quick interview with MTV. They're also going to film a little bit of the meet and greet."
It had to be some time after ten and Blaine couldn't help but be bothered by how much they were making their fans wait.
"So, is the meet and greet first?"
"Oh, yes," Nick said, "we don't want to keep them waiting. I mean, it was supposed to be before the show and everything but Whit said she didn't want to rush us with them and we were running a little late."
"Due in part," Kurt said, "to our tour manager."
They actually hadn't seen much of Sebastian since before the show when he'd been making sure that they were all there ready to climb the stairs onto the stage and Blaine had to admit that he wasn't slacking on the job.
"You guys ready?" Whitney asked. She was holding a clipboard and a lanyard that went around her neck had their name written all over it.
"Yeah," Elliott said.
"I guess my hair is going to be curly. This isn't happening next time, guys."
They had set up an area with the photographer and there was a line of fans waiting for them and as they appeared a cheer went through the audience and Blaine just grinned. He could see that an extra camera was set up that wasn't for the fan's benefit and probably for their MTV interview.
"Hi, guys!" Jeff shouted.
They cheered again.
"Alright," Whitney said, "I'll start bringing them over."
The first was a teenage girl who was wide eyed as she approached them.
"Hi," Kurt said at once and he opened his arms. She hugged him and he laughed.
"I can't believe this," she said, "oh my god."
They each gave her a hug and Blaine noticed that she lingered a bit longer on Elliott.
"What's your name?" Nick asked.
"Irene," she said, "um, the show was fantastic. I loved it. It's my first concert ever and I was blown away."
They had to move it along, and it was Whitney who asked her how she wanted the picture.
"Group hug?" She asked.
Jeff laughed. "Yes!" he said, "come here, I want to be next to you.
The next few fans went in the same fashion. Some of them had thought about how they wanted their pictures ahead of time and a few had even brought props or signs that they wanted them to hold but all of them were nice and friendly and excited to see them and there were only a couple that mentioned Rachel. Only a few wanted to have their pictures with just one member of the band or two, but one in particular amused Blaine. He was towards the end of the line.
He was around their age and tall. He hugged each of them and praised them on the show.
"I was actually here for your first show. My best friend dragged me and I became an instant fan and I've been following you guys ever since. Your music just speaks to me and just the fact that you really are very truthful about who you are. So, thank you. And I'm seeing you guys tomorrow too and I'm definitely excited."
He was a rambler, barely letting them have a word and then in the end he asked for it to just be Nick and Jeff to take a picture with him.
"You guys are my favorites," he said, "not that the rest of you aren't great."
Jeff stuck his tongue out at them. "See, I'm a favorite," he said.
He made Jeff and Nick pretend to be in the middle of a dance while he couched between them and Blaine was sure that it was going to be a funny picture.
"I like him," Kurt told Blaine, "like for a fan he's kinda crazy but likable."
Kurt fixed a curl that had fallen on his forehead before turning back to look at the picture that was being taken.
As it was, Jeff and Kurt had been right about the fans loving his curls. A few had been bold enough to ask to touch his hair and others had just been really excited just to see his hair out of the gel.
By the time they got to the last fan, they were all a little tired, but they kept up their smiles. She had them all crouch around her as if they were proposing marriage for her picture and Blaine had to admit that it would be a fun one. He was looking forward to getting a look at the fan photos later.
After all the fans were gone, they walked back to the green room where the MTV interviewer would be found with Wes and of course Sebastian.
"Hey," Wes said, "how was it?"
"Good, good," Elliott said, "fun."
Wes introduced them to their interviewer, Brian, who seemed familiar to Blaine.
"Your show was amazing," he gushed at them.
"Thanks," Blaine mumbled with the rest of them and then he was shaking their hands before they sat down and somehow Jeff ended up lying over all of their laps.
Brian laughed and the camera was trained on them. Somewhere off camera Wes was standing with Sebastian and both of them were silent as they watched.
"So, how was it? This is the first date of your tour so it must have been exciting."
"It was," Jeff said.
"We had a lot of fun. We love coming back to Roseland and we've been looking forward to this tour for a while," Kurt added.
Brian grinned. "Well, I got to see first hand how you rocked the stage tonight and even a bit of the meet and greet with the fans. How has to reception to you guys as a five part band rather than six been so far?"
Elliott glanced towards Blaine and he shrugged his shoulders at him so he could take the question.
"I think that the fans are very loyal and amazing," Elliott said, "and so far there hasn't been any backlash so to say. We're selling tickets as well as before and if tonight is any indication they still are very interested in the music we want to play and perform for them."
Brian nodded. "They certainly seemed happy when you sang, Elliott."
"Yes," Elliott said, "and there were plenty clamoring for more vocals from Nick and Jeff but of course we're not a boyband in that way."
"But you've been compared to one now that Rachel has departed," Brian was quick to say.
Blaine saw Kurt wrinkle his nose before he spoke. "We play instruments, Brian," he said, "we're not dancing in sync and we're not all singers or dancers. We don't fit that definition. It's not a comparison that fits really but then I've always thought it was without merit to compare any performer to another. There will always be uniqueness to an act or a band that just cannot be replicated."
"Noted," Brian said and cleared his throat, "you played two new songs today, premiering them as it were. So the question on everyone's mind is will you be releasing them as singles?"
"No," Nick said, "at least, not at the moment."
"We are going to be performing a few of our new songs throughout the tour but the new album is far from ready. We actually have not recorded anything so far, we're at very early stages and part of the reason we're performing certain songs is to get a feel for what the audience might enjoy more," Blaine said, "it's also a treat for them to get to hear new music."
"And any idea when that new album will come out?"
They all shook their heads. "You'll probably know before us," Jeff added.
"There's one last thing that we want to touch on," Brian said, "with regards to going to tour, how hard is it going to be to be leaving friends and family behind? I mean, do any of you have girlfriends or boyfriends that you won't be seeing for a few months?"
Nick laughed. "Lucky for all of us we're all single," he said.
Blaine waited to see what Brian would say to that, but he just smiled.
"So, there's no worry there, then. And hey, maybe you will meet someone while on tour. Perhaps a fan, I'm sure there's plenty interested."
Blaine saw Sebastian wiggle his eyebrows at them from where he stood next to Wes and he rolled his eyes. Kurt nudged him and he remembered that the camera was still on them. His lips quirked up. "Sorry," he mouthed.
"And of course there are rumors of in-band canoodling," Brian said.
Nick laughed.
"Canoodling," Jeff said and almost rolled off their laps with his laughter.
"It's not true," Elliott said, "we're just best friends all of us. We're very close and I think whenever anyone gets put into a situation like ours there will be a closeness of mutual understanding. I mean, to write music you have to be very open to letting everyone into your inner thoughts and feelings. Really we just know each other very well so people can read into that."
"Yes," Nick said, "but that isn't to say that we're not a bit amused by it. But on the upside they're not off the mark on the sexualities of some of our band members. Kurt and Blaine are both gay and Elliott plays for both teams."
"But none of you are together." Brian said.
Blaine laughed. "No, definitely not."
He remembered how it had been a non-conversation when it came to discussing if they wanted to be out to their fans. Wes had encouraged them to do what they wanted but it had been Santana who pointed out that it may end up affecting if they made it. Blaine was sure that if the label had wanted them to hide who they were that he wouldn't have signed the contract to begin with. They had been lucky to have Wes and Santana making sure that nothing like that made it through on their first contract and the subsequent ones.
In the end, they just hadn't said anything. Most people found out on their own doing a little research. They weren't out to hide anything and there was plenty of proof from their pasts and a few hints here or there in some of their songs.
"Some fans do wish we were, though," Kurt said, "which can be maddening but there could be much worse obsessions."
"Alright," Brian said, "you guys played an amazing show tonight and I'm sure your tour will be as successful as the first. I wish all of you luck and I'll hopefully get to see you all again. Thank you. This has been Pamela Lansbury and tickets for their tour are still on sale so get on that!"
Author's Note: And one last thing to address:
One thing that always happens when people write fics about Klaine being famous when it comes to being in a band or whatever is that they are forced in the closet. I really didn't want to do that. I don't think Blaine or Kurt would allow that to happen to them...well, perhaps Blaine might because he's such a people pleaser but I don't see Kurt going with that at all for any reason. So I felt that it was very important to mention that yes they are out but it wasn't a big deal.
As to Elliott. I actually don't think he's BI, as much as that's what he's been labeled but I could see Elliott as more pansexual than anything...his character just gives me that vibe.
And now Jeff and Nick. Who say they are straight. No, they have not been forced in the closet. Yes this is a ship that will happen. Are either of them aware that they may also be interested in men and not just women? Possibly?
I didn't want to write Klaine and Niff in exactly the same way. While Klaine is pining for each other and being idiots, Nick and Jeff are just best friends. That's who they are at least at this point in the story. These two couples will have two completely different love stories.
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.