[i]“If I ever start to drive you crazy, you'll tell me, yeah?”[/i] “Always,” Rob said, taking the cigarette from her hand, and taking a drag, before returning it. “No bullshit, remember?” Out here, the air seemed just a bit chilly—regardless of the time of year it was. Rob’s breathing shifted slightly, from his more shallow breaths to something far more relaxed. If he was going to go face another interview about the questions Anna had raised for him, he would need to be ready for it. The words she had said were still echoing through his head. [i]Pathetic. Creep.[/i] Words he had heard slip off the tongues of many women when describing other men. Even to him, in relation to another man. He remembered past girlfriends talking about it lightly, remembering their former lovers with nothing but distain and contempt for the whatever reason those men had given them. The honest truth was, each time it happened, Rob would always want to point out how so very quickly you could cut down a man with words. He remembered things his father had said out of spite decades ago that hurt far worse than any of the limbs he had broken in his skating days. And now two women had told him how false they were. Jane, and Zoe. One, the most important in his life, and the other…some enigma. Someone he had only just met, yet for some reason was thinking of her in the present moment. He cleared his mind, and walked back inside, bracing himself for the following interview: [b]Simon:[/b] Welcome back to the Musicians Unplugged podcast. We’re here now with In Bloom, sitting down with Rob Pennie. Since it seems to be the elephant in the room, let’s go ahead and talk about this roadie interview, if you don’t mind. [b]Rob:[/b] Sure. [b]Simon:[/b] Well, is it true? [b]Rob:[/b] [laughs] Which part? I mean, the sex thing? [b]Simon:[/b] Anything you’d wish to discuss. [b]Rob:[/b] To be perfectly honest, I wish I didn’t have to. I don’t know. I mean, I get that we’re moving towards a society that’s a lot more open sexually and emotionally about a ton of different things. And overall, I’d say that’s a good thing. But when it comes to intimacy, I think there’s a need for a line to be drawn. The things I do in the bedroom are between myself and my partners. Anna made the choice to talk about parts of it, and I won’t deny that we had intimate moments, but I’d rather not talk about specifics. I will say that everything I ever did with Anna was consensual, and I’m sure she’d say the same thing. [b]Simon:[/b] Sounds like you’ve thought about it for a while. [b]Rob:[/b] I needed to. When you make mistakes, you’ve got to deal with it in your own way. I wasn’t expecting to have to talk about it publicly but I have thought about it. [b]Simon:[/b] She also made mention of your lead single being, hold on lemme quote this right… “a generic-ass rock single [that] isn’t worth talking about.” [b]Rob:[/b] Yeah, I recall that. [b]Simon:[/b] Thoughts? … Rob looked off to the side to Jane as she had done to him just earlier that interview. [i]Was is right to bad-mouth a song that had just been released? To be hard of the three minute track that had granted them all these opportunities?[/i] … [b]Rob:[/b] I think she’s entitled to her own opinion. [b]Simon:[/b] But what’s yours? You’ve never really spoken publicly about it before. [b]Rob[/b] [sighs] I mean, we’ve done better work. I think every band wants their other tracks to have more notoriety than the song they’re known for. There’s a ton of stuff off our old EP’s that don’t get as much love as the newer stuff. But you gotta play what people want to an extent. [b]Simon:[/b] Like [i]Speechless[/i]? That that’s somewhere around what, five years old? [b]Rob:[/b] Yeah, off the second EP we put out. It’s something we all like enough to keep around. [b]Simon:[/b] Some of the critics worry about your sound being stylistically all over the place. [b]Rob:[/b] [laughs] I’m sure they are. People said it to Radiohead about [i]Kid A[/i]. Or Thrice on [i]Vheissu[/i]. Shit, we can throw the Beatles in there with [i]Sargent Pepper’s.[/i] [b]Simon:[/b] Those are big names you’re pitting yourself up against. [b]Rob:[/b] Well, it’s all examples, but bands change. They put out new stuff when they want and sometimes old fans want more of the same. Sometimes the other way around. [b]Simon:[/b] I think that’s what a ton of people would say about your newest record, [i]Ways and Means.[/i] And what others would say how you feel about it. [b]Rob:[/b] Well, if the others say it… [b]Simon:[/b] I just wanted to clarify the stance. It’s all what we’re hearing. [b]Rob:[/b] Jesus. A bit of an interrogation, isn’t it. [b]Simon:[/b] Well, we’ve got the time to cover something else… … Rob took in a deep breath. He was hoping to be able to slip in his point about the international tour at some people, but Simon was not letting up. His vapid smile stared at him from behind his mic. He had warmed them up earlier, but now he was getting what he really wanted; how the band felt behind the scenes. Whether everyone was happy swinging towards something radio-friendly. … [b]Rob:[/b] Here’s the truth, Simon. When you’re making music, there are songs others like more than yourself, and songs you have to fight for on the record. With the first record, we pretty much only had enough material to fill out the track-list, but there was a ton of music behind [i]Ways and Means[/i]. We had to cut out something like, what? Five tracks? A lot of stuff we’re hoping to put on a Deluxe record at some point. But I think it’s alright for some band members to like some stuff more than others. [b]Simon:[/b] So you’re saying you don’t like the single? [b]Rob:[/b] I’m saying it’s not my favorite track on the record, sure. [b]Simon:[/b] And what about these five cut tracks you were talking about? Did you think any of those were better than the single? … Fuck it. [i]Did Harold want bad press for them? Did he want them on the news?[/i] Because they were about to be on the fucking news. … [b]Rob:[/b] I really don’t want to get into this. [b]Simon:[/b] Why is that? [b]Rob:[/b] What—what, are you serious? [b]Simon:[/b] Yeah. [b]Rob:[/b] Because I’m not here to talk shit about my band. [b]Simon:[/b] I’m not asking you to do that. I just was wondering if you felt like— [b]Rob:[/b] You’re not wondering anything. You’re trying to get me to talk about how much I hate the single. You’ve brought it up like three fucking times, man. Ask another question. [b]Simon:[/b] Alright, we’ll go to something else. [b]Rob:[/b] Ok. [b]Simon:[/b] Jane was talking about new elements in your relationship, right? [b]Rob:[/b] Did you really fucking ask me that? [b]Simon:[/b] …I don’t understand— [b]Rob:[/b] I go off about how intimacy isn’t respected in the culture, and you ask me about the new elements in my relationship? Holy shit, dude. [b]Simon:[/b] You wanted me to ask another question. [b]Rob:[/b] Are you fucking hearing yourself right now? [b]Simon:[/b] Yes— [b]Rob:[/b] No, no, no. Stop thinking about the podcast and the listeners. I legitimately want you to think about this. [i]Are you fucking hearing yourself right now?[/i] [b]Simon:[/b] I am. [b]Rob:[/b] Then how the fuck can you ask me about that? You ask Jane about her sexuality, then she tells you about how bad publicity is her biggest complaint. Then [i]I[/i] talk about the same fucking thing, and you ask me about my “new elements”? [b]Simon:[/b] Like I said, you wanted me to ask another question. I was talking about your music. [b]Rob:[/b] Then do it. [b]Simon:[/b] So people are saying closing with the single is just forcing people to hear your other work in order to hear what they want. So I wanted to know— [b]Rob:[/b] Ok. Right. Fuck this. … Rob took off the headphones and tossed them onto the table, before standing up and storming out of the room. Behind him, he could hear Simon talk in his same bullshit-voice: “Sorry about that. Rob seems like he’s done with the interview, so we’ll have Sam come up next. Wonder if he’ll talk about whatever he and Rob recorded away from the band…” The rest became an indistinguishable noise as he walked down the hall to the back garden of the blog’s headquarters. As the door closed behind him, he looked up and let out a loud [i]”FUCK!”[/i] into the sky, before sitting down on the nearest bench. He felt his phone ring in his pocket, and picked it up. “Hope you enjoyed the show,” Rob said, not waiting for Harold to respond. “I’ll announce the tour tonight. Oh, and if you’re planting these interviewers to ask this kind of shit, then you can go [i]fuck yourself[/i].” “Rob—“ Harold came, before being cut off as Rob disconnected the call. He sat in silence for several minutes, staring at the greenery around him, hoping to find a way to unwind but not being able to. He hadn’t had a blowup like this since… …since Rob and Jane had argued over the single in the first place, just a month before the tour. A part of him felt good to have done it. If they were building a reputation for being wild, he certainly was solidifying it now.