Fast Lane - Kristen Ashley Page 0,54

tell she didn’t want to be a distraction.

But I think, back then, [grins] she just wasn’t into our music.

Though, she was all about making sure we were fed.

[Laughs]

Lyla’s Indiana home cookin’, probably put on ten pounds while we were making that record.

[Smiles]

Okay, maybe fifteen.

Tim and Dave got interested in what happened behind the glass, so they were at the board with Preach, Hans, Daniel and me.

This was good.

You wanna stay in the business, you gotta know the business.

Everyone knows it’s more fun to go to the Max Factor museum and look at all the crazy shit they invented to try to make women look pretty.

But this was our second album.

Our first was considered a success.

There was only one acceptable direction to go from there.

The pressure was on.

DuShawn was no stranger to the mixing board, it was all in the family for him.

So, he was all in too.

Before he got into producing, Daniel had been in a decent metal band that had crashed and burned.

Night Lies was the fifth album Daniel produced.

But after he did that for us, he got busy.

So, when he took on Like a Desperation, he had more experience, knew more, shared it with us and that album.

And man, you could see his growth.

Seriously.

And that didn’t stop.

Which was why we stuck with him.

Until the end.

That was the first album we were all in and there wasn’t one after that where that same thing didn’t happen.

We found our footing recording as a band with that album and the footing we found would never be shaken.

It could get iffy, because Preacher could be a steamroller, and Danny had a tendency to wanna go hard, what with him bein’ metal and all.

[Smiles]

Not to mention, six pairs of hands in one pie can get messy.

But even when we weren’t getting along, or downright fighting, we kicked the shit out of our albums.

I stand behind every second of every one of them.

To this day.

[Off tape]

Are you saying the band was a democracy?

[Shakes head]

No. Danny was the man, Preacher was the vision. We all understood that.

They weren’t all Preacher’s songs, but most of them were. It was Preach who knew the feel of the album he wanted, Danny and him hashed that out to something they both agreed on, and Danny led the way.

What I’m saying is, we were all there. We were all involved. We didn’t play our part and go home. We got a say.

In other words, you’re making perfectly clear that McCade was not a tyrant.

[Curtly] In other words, I’m telling you those albums were Preacher McCade and the Roadmasters.

It isn’t all about Preacher, especially sittin’ right here.

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to anger you.

[Shakes head]

It’s cool. I’m alright.

But I had decades of that, and I get it.

Though I don’t need it in my own living room.

The thing is…

The thing that people don’t know, and even on occasion I forgot, is that Preach and me were the band.

We were the band.

And maybe you need to be in a band to get what that means.

But we got it.

We knew it, him and me.

But gotta say, I got tired of the fact it was only him and me who knew it.

And then, unfortunately, I let my part of that shit slide.

And so did he.

After we recorded it was videos and press and setting up the tour, which at first, was limited.

Then they released “Trench Coat,” which soared to number two, and our ten-date tour became a fifteen-date tour.

They release “Cards and Sharks,” and that only makes number four, but the album is selling so hot, it’s lunacy.

So, the fifteen-date tour becomes a twenty-five-date tour.

[Off tape]

Can you talk about the press conference for the Like a Desperation tour?

[Drops chin, closes eyes and shakes head before reengaging]

Going through all this with you, I’m seeing why a kid your age would be interested in the whole story.

We’ll just say that Preacher was not over that shit String magazine pulled.

I mean, the man made a promise to Audie and there’s that picture, full color, for the whole world to see.

And he and Lyla hadn’t even gone there yet.

The man he is, he called Audie even though it was highly unlikely Audie read String magazine. Someone might show him, and Preacher wanted him forewarned, but also, he was put in a position to have to explain, which, I think you can imagine, was a seriously uncomfortable position to be in.

And straight up, he was pissed not only his and Lyla’s privacy was violated like that, but the band’s.

And