Fast Lane - Kristen Ashley Page 0,45

known that McCade’s mother and father had something to do with Williams’s arrest.

[Sits back, takes time to answer]

All I gotta say about that is, when a white man points a finger, doesn’t matter he’s trash, he’s white. He’s got clout. And if he’s pointing a finger at a black man…

[Shrugs]

I have not been privy to the arrest records, court documents. Self-preservation, man. I know I read that shit, I’ll lose my mind.

But like I said, when the McCades were done with the Williamses lookin’ after their boy, they had ugly ways to slap them back.

Just sayin’, Preacher did not avoid that state because he ain’t a proud Cajun.

He is.

I think he missed that part of him every day and mourned not having it like someone passing.

But he had his reasons.

And they were damn good ones.

Second taste with jealousy, by the end of her spring break, Lyla a lot of the time could be found sitting, curled up in DuShawn’s lap, whispering and giggling.

[Laughs]

He was a ladies’ man, our Shawn.

[Shakes head]

Though, you know it wasn’t like that.

He was Preacher’s.

And she was Preacher’s.

It sucks to say, because he’s my brother, but they’re the two people who loved that man the most in the world.

And the only two reasons I’m down with sayin’ that is because I was person number three.

And I’m glad he had that.

Especially from those first two people.

[Head twitches and clears throat]

Hell, all three.

We get done with the tour in June, we barely set our suitcases down, the label wants us back in the studio.

Now, you gotta know, Lyla in his life, meeting Audie and Lynie, getting Jules back for her, having DuShawn in the band, Preacher’s put pen to paper.

Tim’s writing too, and so am I, and it’s good shit we all could work.

So, we got an album we could lay down.

But we’re tired.

[Laughs for a long time]

I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s funny.

[Sobers but is still smiling largely]

Me sayin’ we were tired.

We would not know what tired was until we did tours where we had to fly over oceans and the tour lasted two years.

Press conferences.

Filming videos.

Interviews.

Photo shoots.

But we’d shot the video for “Give Then Take” before we went on tour with the Mustangs.

And during that tour, we had two breaks. One where we shot videos back to back for “The Back of You” and “Night Lies,” the other one was Christmas.

So really, we’d only had one break.

Time before that is studio.

Time before that, you know.

So, yeah.

We were tired.

We just didn’t know the real meaning of tired.

Those labels, though, they know, and Tommy wasn’t dumb.

Part of it, they were pushing because we were making them money and they wanted to strike again while the iron was hot.

Part of it, hair bands are dying, Guns ’n’ Roses has got a hold, and they’re huge, but they’re about to implode.

You got rap that’s about to become known as hip hop which is about to take over the world and grunge percolating in Seattle, [grins] pun intended.

In five years, you’re gonna go from George Michael to TLC to Kurt Cobain taking his own life. Green Day and Beyoncé are about to become artists claimed by two different generations.

Shit is about to get real in the music industry.

And we’d carved out our own niche, man.

It was us who had to fill it.

We got one album and we’ve not even headlined our own tour.

We gotta grab hold. We gotta grow our fanbase. We gotta stay relevant.

And the labels knew that.

So did Tommy.

[Off tape]

The stories in your songs were about to do a complete reversal. Your next three albums would solidify your place in the music industry, go on to be critical and commercial successes, but they weren’t dark like the first. Was the band worried about that?

You’re an idiot, you let something loose for public consumption and don’t worry how the public is going to feel about consuming it.

Especially the people who put you where you are.

But the bottom line was, that first album was honest. It was real.

And we weren’t the same band we were when those songs were written and recorded.

The songs we recorded on Like a Desperation, Audie and Lynie Live On and Some Like Yesterday Better Than Today, Wait for Tomorrow were the same as Night Lies. They were about where the band was at.

And where Preacher was at.

I mean, you heard the story just now, but you already probably knew where “Trench Coat” came from. That came out and it hit number two.

Yes, but Hardy had already outed