Painted to Life || Julie and the Phantoms

CHAPTER 25: Rehearsals

WHEN IN DOUBT, playing an original song is the way to go. Julie needs something that will blow away her audience. Something fresh.

Luke flips through his notebooks and I see familiar song titles. Little does he know that some have been produced under Trevor Wilson's name.

Sensing that this could go badly if he suggests something that Trevor recorded, I stop the page on a song that was never used.

"What about this one?" I ask. "It's upbeat. 'Bright' could be split into parts for two vocalists."

Luke skims it. "You're right! I could let Julie take the first verse, we harmonize on the chorus, then I sing the second."

"What if it's not modern enough?" Alex frets. "The world is so different now. Julie was just showing me how she can track her phone with her smart watch. I didn't even know that watches could be smart!"

"Good music is good music no matter the decade," Luke says, somewhat offended that Alex isn't fully confident in his songwriting abilities. "If people still like to have fun, they will love this song."

I smile, a feeling of nostalgia and remorse twisting in my gut.

"I wouldn't mind a little solo action," Reggie adds.

"Julie needs to be the star," Luke disagrees.

"You're singing lead with her!" Reggie exclaims. "You've got a whole verse and all I'm asking for is a couple of lines."

"I did write the song," Luke points out and Reggie's shoulder slump in defeat. "Plus, we need to learn how to get into the rhythm of playing music with a girl."

As they continue bickering, I'm reminded of old times and how Luke always seemed to have the perfect, reasonable explanation for why he should have all of the solos. It brings me back to days in the studio with Bobby, before he was ever Trevor.

Recording Sunset Curve's songs so soon after their deaths was one of the most emotionally taxing things that he has done. That was the last time Bobby was truly seen. He kept saying that nothing sounded right, that Luke would have disagreed on the intonation, Alex would have picked a different beat, or Reggie could have made a sick bass solo. It drove the record label's musicians crazy to the point that he almost was dropped.

That's when Bobby's new manager, Paul Castle, suggested a stage name. The album hadn't been released yet, so it wouldn't cause any confusion for his audience.

Trevor Wilson.

Paul paid for Bobby to go to acting classes, taught him how to interview without revealing private information, and conditioned him to be a star. All of this was Bobby's childhood dream, though he hadn't wanted it without his best friends.

When Bobby suggested that Sunset Curve be credited, Paul argued that it would ruin the new "Trevor Wilson" image.

Did Bobby want to lose all of his hard work at the record label? No.

So he went along with it on one condition: no more stealing songs from Sunset Curve. Not after the first album.

Paul was very unhappy, but was working on a deadline after claiming to everyone that Trevor Wilson would be the next new thing. So, he relented.