A Dreamers Dream

Birmingham - England Part Two

It's just an interview. They're only people. Sure they may have more glamorous jobs than you do and more money in their bank accounts, which let's face it isn't hard, no one's getting rich from playing the holiday camp and social club circuit. But they are still just people. I tell myself firmly as I follow Clark through the maze of hallways that make up the backstage area of the Genting Arena in Birmingham.

I'm not generally the kind of person who gets nervous.. pop me on a stage in front of a crowd, and I'll happily chatter away and sing my little heart out. Still, a job like this really could be life-changing for me if I play it right. Not only would I get to travel around the world, make new friends and experience new cultures. But someone like Harry is bound to have an awful lot of big names attending his shows, other musicians, record executives, managers... If I can just introduce myself to the right people, slide my demo into the right person's email inbox, I might, possibly, with a bit of luck, finally be able to crack into this business they call show. And that on its own is enough to make my palms sweat and my heartbeat just a little faster against my rib cage.
Squaring my shoulders, I take a deep breath and stand at Clark's side as he knocks lightly on an orange-tinted heavy wooden door, a small laminated piece of paper that has been stuck to the outside with blue tack reads "Paul –Tour Manager" in thick black ink.

"Come in" Calls a gruff voice from inside the room and Clark grasps the handle and pushes open the door.
"Alright, Paul! This is Matilda, the girl I was telling you about" He says formally, as he roughly shakes Paul's hand. There is no sign of another man in the large magnolia rectangular room, I guess Jeff must be running late. Taking one last steadying breath, I step forward and shake Paul's hand in turn.
"It's just Maddie. The only person who ever calls me Matilda is my Mum, and that's only if I've done something seriously wrong!" I joke, trying to lighten the mood from the get-go, open with a joke, get the crowd on your side. And I want to make sure I come off as easy going and fun as I'm sure they don't want a load of miserable bastards on the crew. They all live and work so closely together whilst the tour is on that I'm assuming personality is nearly as important as skill. If not more so when you're applying for the position of 'General Dogsbody'.
"Maddie, great to meet you! Please sit down," Paul says gesturing to a large black leather sofa which is pushed up against the far wall of the office opposite a couple of matching armchairs and making up a small seating area around a low mahogany coffee table which is strewn with various pieces of important-looking paper. I take a seat and try to make myself comfortable perched on the edge of the deep sofa with my legs crossed demurely in front of me.
"I'll leave you guys to it," Clark says with a nod to Paul and a quick wink to me as he turns and exits the room. Closing the heavy wooden door behind us and trapping me in the windowless room with the smiling older man.
"Would you like a drink Maddie? Tea? Coffee? Water? Jeff will be with us in a few moments, he's just having a word with Harry" Paul informs me as he walks over to a high table in the corner which holds a kettle, an extensive collection of various tea bags and a coffee machine. One of those fancy water dispensers they have in offices, and posh hotel lobbies stands next to it with a stack of plastic cups. I decide that something cool and unable to stain is probably my best choice right now.
"Water would be lovely, thank you" I respond, and he quickly fills a plastic cup and hands it to me.
"Thanks for coming up at such short notice, I assume Clark told you we're in a bit of a bind? Did you bring your CV?"
"He did mention that you were in rather a hurry to fill the positions yes," I tell Paul not wanting to let on just how much Clark told Michael. He subsequently told me not to, just to case I get him into trouble for gossiping. Fishing my rather hastily put together Curriculum Vitae from my tiny handbag, I attempt to smooth out the folded paper and pass it over to him with a smile
"I know it's a little sparse.." I say quickly glancing at the single piece of paper that lists my previous employment and education information, which basically consists of my GCSE and A-Level results, my time at Greggs and a list of a few of the long-standing music gigs I have done. "But I can assure you I am a very hard worker. And I'm eager to learn. I can follow instructions well. I put together the flat-pack furniture in my flat all by myself" I giggle, flashing him another smile and trying to look capable, whatever that means.
"You've never worked on something like this before? No experience working at any large venues or anything like that?" Paul asks and my heart sinks, of course, they'd want someone who had at least an idea of how things like this are run. I'd imagine setting up and dismantling a full arena tour day in day out is very carefully scheduled, and everyone has to play their part at the exact right moment to ensure everything runs like clockwork.
"Well, erm, not exactly no. But I have worked in some venues where I've had to set up my own makeshift stages" I giggle, nervous again now, my plastic cup is sliding slightly in my sweaty hand. It's the condensation I reassure myself firmly and place it on the table, trying to wipe my palms slightly on my jeans as I sit up straighter in my seat.
Paul nods firmly, and I can't see any trace of amusement on his features as his eyes run over the paper in his hands. The silence in the room is deafening for a moment until suddenly, the door crashes open, hitting the wall behind it with a thud as a tallish man, with short dark hair and a wide nose wanders into the room and sticks his hand out in my general direction as he leans over the coffee table between us.
"Hi, I'm Jeff," He says in an American accent as I half stand to awkwardly reach across and shake his hand before he takes the seat opposite me. I can't help but notice that as Jeff's attention is focused on me, Paul slides my CV down the side of his chair and on to the floor out of sight.
"Maddie" I introduce myself toJeff.
"So, Maddie, you understand that this isn't a very glamorous position we're offering here, right?" Paul says as Jeff makes himself comfortable. "You'd be expected to basically pick up any and all tasks that are requested of you by the other members of the crew. This could be anything from helping move equipment, securing wiring, putting up or taking down the barricades, placing water bottles on the stage for the artists to something as simple as running to fetch a spare guitar pick from someone's dressing room mid-set?" Paul continues as Jeff sits looking more interested in the large Styrofoam cup in his hands than he does me.
"Yes I understand" I respond as Paul continues.
"We all have to work very hard here to ensure that things run smoothly, The stage has to be set up by 6 pm at the latest every evening and ready for the opening act. After that there is a quick hand over before H goes on where we swap out everyone's instruments, then most venues like for us to be completely packed up and out again by three."
Nodding again I clear my dry throat before attempting to speak, "I'm very good at working in a team to a schedule" I bluff, having no real idea if I am any good at working in a team at all having never really been in a position to find out. "And I'm a night owl, so the three o'clock finishes won't be an issue for me," I tell him.
Paul seems somewhat reassured by this, and we chat for a few more minutes, with Jeff throwing in the occasional question or comment along the way as Paul tells me more of what would be expected of me. Michael was right when he said I'd be a dogsbody, but there are certainly plenty of perks as well. I am pleasantly surprised when Paul tells me the pay structure, it's a fair bit more than I could currently hope to earn, even if I did two gigs every night, seven days a week.

After the first few initial questions, Paul starts to relax a bit and seems much more like the man I was expecting from the description that Clark gave me earlier. He is calm and laid back, and whilst I am sure he can rule with an iron fist when he needs to, he wouldn't be a tour manager if he couldn't, he has a warm smile and a welcoming feel to him.
"Are you familiar with Harry's music?" Jeff suddenly asks me with a raised eyebrow, cutting into a question Paul was in the middle of asking me about my familiarity with travelling long distances and my nerves return as I meet his unwavering gaze
"Erm, well, honestly? I only downloaded his album this morning after I found out about this interview. But I really liked it" I tell him, slightly embarrassed, is it going to work against me that I barely know anything at all about the star of the show?
"What about his past albums, with the band?" Jeff asks quickly, his eyes boring into mine as if searching for some sign of dishonesty but giving nothing away himself.
I feel myself turning slightly pink as I answer him, "I'm sorry to say I don't really know much about them. I mean, I know their big hits, What makes you beautiful, Steal my girl, Story of my life and all that. But I'm kind of more of a rock girl. I can't say I've listened to much of their stuff."
"Good," Jeff surprises me by saying and I can't help the look of shock that crosses my face, I thought I'd blown it for sure.
"We need hard workers here Maddie, not fangirls desperately trying to get up close and personal with H by bagging a job on his tour," He says by way of explanation. It suddenly makes sense. Whilst I know very little about One Direction, it was hard to miss the hysteria that surrounded them. I made the mistake of trying to get into a shopping centre once, where they were doing some kind of book signing, and the sheer amount of screaming girls there made me wonder if any of the schools in the surrounding areas had any female students in class that day.
"I see, well I can assure you I'm not looking to get up close and personal with anyone. Harry or otherwise" I attempt to reassure him, it must be an absolute minefield trying to navigate around who can or cannot be trusted around his client, and I'm sure most of the people that come through here are subject to the same scrutiny, so I don't take it personally.

"Could you excuse us for a moment?" Jeff says politely, seeming much friendlier now I've passed his tests and he gets to his feet and starts to wander towards the door, gesturing for Paul to follow behind him. They step outside, closing the door behind them and leaving me alone on my perch on the couch. I decide to take this moment to gulp down my water to ease my perpetually dry throat and refill my cup as I try not to listen to their muffled voices outside the door. I think the interview has gone ok... I mean, I'm pretty sure I convinced them I'm not some sex-crazed fan girl just wanting a chance with Harry Styles, or H as they seem to prefer to call him. I even managed to make Paul laugh once or twice, but my obvious lack of any experience has got to be a serious red flag for them.

I take my phone out of my bag and decide to send Michael a quick text to update him as I wait for Jeff and Paul to reappear.

Maddie:
Haven't managed to spill my drink over either of them or make a complete twat out of myself as yet. They've stepped outside to deliberate over my worthiness to join their little family... I'll call you once I know more xoxo.

Just as I am attempting to shove my phone back into my bag, Jeff and Paul reappear. I see Paul glance at the clearly visible bright red case on my phone as I try and force it back into the tiny clutch bag that I thought looked professional for this interview but is really just an utterly useless ornament, nothing bloody fits in the damn thing. He raises an eyebrow at me.
"Aerosmith?" He asks, nodding towards the case which has a rather visible picture of the bands' logo emblazoned across it
"Told you I'm more of a rock girl," I say with a slight wink back at him. "Steven Tyler was my first love."
Laughing heartily at this, Paul extends his hand to me once more "Well if we weren't sure before, that might just have sold it. Welcome to the team. Obviously, we'll need to run a few background checks and go through your references, but we'd like it if you could start working straight away if possible, on the understanding that if anything untoward does pop up in the checks, we'll have to rescind our offer."
"Really? Oh my goodness, that's fantastic! Thank you so much" I almost shout at him, resisting the overwhelming urge to give him a hug.
"Great, well if you'll just come to my office, we'll get the paperwork signed and put you to work!" Paul says, and I practically skip behind him out of the rectangular room, giddy with excitement. I'm going on the tour!!!