Scandalmonger Weekly Strikes Back

Despite their troublesome first recording session, Phantom Cat was surprisingly productive in the weeks that followed. By the end of June, they seemed to have a good idea of what their sixth album was going to sound like, even though they still didn't have a name for the album. Alan even tweeted that the "PC album will be out before the end of the year." Given Phantom Cat's history with delaying albums, I somehow doubted that, but it was nice to see that the band was at least putting a little bit of effort into getting their next release out as quickly as possible.

On the first day of July, Phantom Cat released "Golden Gate." Nearly everyone at Revelation Records agreed that it was the best song off of the album thus far, and if Phantom Cat was going to release the album before the year was over, they would need a lead single. Golden Gate seemed like the obvious choice.

The day after Golden Gate was released, I visited Phantom Cat in the studio. On my way into the studio, I saw Cassidy Franklin, the lead singer of National Nightmare. "Can you tell Phantom Cat that we're supposed to be in there at noon?" Cassidy complained in her southern drawl. "We have an album to record too, and ours is coming out sooner." I was going to respond to her, but she spoke first. "Nevermind," she said. "I'm going to go in there myself." Cassidy kept a tight grip on her white cane as she navigated towards the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. She knocked on the door and shouted, "It's noon! It's our turn to use the studio!"

"We'll be out in a few minutes," I heard Miles say, and Cassidy backed away from the door. About five minutes later, the door swung open, and the four members of Phantom Cat exited the studio.

Alan was staring at his phone. "The fans really seem to like Golden Gate," he said.

"We should play it at Lollapalooza," Byron suggested. "It could be the song's live debut."

"Yes!" Alan exclaimed. "That's brilliant! I have a few other ideas too, but we can talk about that later." He looked up from his phone, and glanced towards Cassidy. He took a few minutes to regard her tall frame, gold-rimmed sunglasses, short, bright purple hair, skinny jeans, and studded leather jacket. He paused, and then asked her, "Do you need any help in the studio?"

"No, I think I've got it," Cassidy said. She then whispered to me, "Why does he have to be so condescending? He's asked me this every time I've come here, and I've always been fine." Cassidy motioned for her bandmates to come over, and all of them entered the studio.

"How did it go today?" I asked the members of Phantom Cat.

"It went alright," Alan answered.

"You didn't do anything," Miles said.

"I played on that weird harmonica song," Alan said.

"First of all, it's called Supersonic," Miles said. "You would know that if you were paying attention. Second, you only played because we forced you to, and we might have to re-record it anyways. I'd like to add a marimba part and maybe some French Horns before we send it off for mixing."

"Miles, we cannot add all of those instruments to something that was originally going to be a guitar driven hard rock song," Byron said. "It's just not going to work."

"Who said that?" Miles asked.

"I did, and you know I'm right," Byron said.

Miles and Byron continued to argue as my phone began to ring. I picked it up, and saw that Abby was calling me. "Hello?" I said.

"Bianca!" Abby exclaimed. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the Revelation Records building," I said. "Why are you calling me?"

"You're late for your interview with Scandalmonger Weekly!" Abby said.

"I didn't know that I had an interview today!" I said, neglecting to mention that Scandalmonger Weekly was a ridiculous name for a gossip magazine.

"I told you last week," Abby said. "Just get going. I'll text you the address."

I quickly waved goodbye to Alan and the rest of the band and ran out of the building. Once I found my car in the parking lot, I looked at the address that Abby had sent me and drove there, taking a few deep breaths to calm myself down before the interview.

When Kyle and Robin were still in the band, I enjoyed interviews. I got to explain my creative visions in a way that I sometimes couldn't on the recordings, and if anything went wrong, Robin and Kyle were there to help me out. However, now that they were gone, I dreaded them. Interviews just weren't fun anymore, yet Abby scheduled more of them than ever. Before I dated Alan, most of my interviews were with alternative music magazines, but now that I was one half of a so-called "celebrity couple," the magazines that wanted to interview me became trashier and trashier, going from legitimate news sources to gossip tabloids.

I parked right next to Scandalmonger Weekly's office, put on a little bit of makeup so I would look presentable, and entered the building. As soon as I walked in, everyone in the whole building swarmed around me.

"It's Bianca Madison from Madhouse!" one person said.

"Who are you here to see, Bianca?" another asked.

I took out my phone. "You're meeting with Sadie Zimmerman," Abby had texted me, so I told this to the crowd.

"I'll go find Sadie for you!" someone said.

"Can I get you anything to drink while you're waiting?" someone else asked.

"No thank you," I said.

A few minutes later, Sadie Zimmerman came into the room. She was younger than me by a few years, and she had an obviously fake tan and blonde hair. "Let's go in my office," she said, and I followed her there. "Take a seat."

I sat down in one of the chairs in the room as I noticed a camera in the room, presumably about to record the interview. "It's nice to meet you, Sadie," I said.

"Nice to meet you too, Bianca, and welcome to Scandalmonger Weekly," Sadie said. "So let's skip right to the question that everyone's been asking. Why can't you keep band members in Madhouse?"

I smiled slightly and said, "It's not my fault. Besides, I've only lost three band members. I know other bands that have lost more." My mind immediately flashed to Phantom Cat, who had so many drummers who joined and then left over the years that I had lost count.

"Of course," Sadie said. "When is the next Madhouse album coming out?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I've written a few songs for it, but I haven't been in the studio yet. It probably won't be out until next year. I only released Mechanical Heart two years ago, so I can wait a little longer."

"Speaking of new music, have you heard The Wallbangers' new song?" Sadie asked.

I looked at Sadie once again, and I somehow doubted that she was the type of person who listened to The Wallbangers. Nevertheless, I answered the question. "No, I haven't," I said. "I haven't spoken to Robin in years. I didn't even know that he released a new song."

"Why don't you play Florence live anymore?" Sadie asked.

I rolled my eyes. She just had to ask about Florence: Madhouse's greatest blessing and our deepest curse. It was the only song off of our sophomore album, Nebula, that didn't quite fit, but for some reason, it was our most popular song. "I just don't like that song very much," I said, feeling the sweat drip down my forehead. "We have better songs, and I would much rather perform my new material than replay Florence over and over again. I'm sick of it."

"You've given some contradictory answers on what your song Here's What You Don't Know is about," Sadie said. "Can you tell our Scandalmonger Weekly readers the truth on what inspired that song?"

I couldn't tell them the truth, because then I would have to tell that about what happened with Robin. "It's just a hypothetical situation," I told her. "It's not really about anything at all. Can we talk about some of my other songs? I personally like Modern Logic. It's my favorite song off of Mechanical Heart."

Sadie looked at me in confusion, proving that she really knew nothing about Madhouse. "Why did Robin leave?" she asked me.

"Creative differences," I said, jumping to my default answer.

"What kind of creative differences?" Sadie asked. "Is it true that you and Robin were in a relationship? Do you miss him?"

"You know what?" I said. "I can't do this. I refuse to answer another one of your inane questions about Robin and I. He left because of creative differences, and that's that. I'm leaving. Good luck on writing the rest of your article." I got up and stormed out of the building. When I reached my car, I got in and sped down the street until I reached my house.

At home, I decided to write a song. Music always seemed to calm me down, and I needed to take some time to myself after that disastrous interview. I knew that I needed to call Abby and ask her to work everything out with the magazine, but I could do that later.

I took out a piece of paper and a pen, and I began to write down some lyrics. I didn't quite finish it, but I had a first verse and a chorus by the time I was done. The song was yet another breakup song, but I thought it was one of my better breakup songs at the very least.

Who was I kidding? I missed Robin, but I had to push him out of my head. I was in a new relationship, and in some ways, Alan was better than Robin ever was. I put my pen to the paper once again, determined to write a song for Alan. He was my boyfriend, not Robin, and if I was going to write a song for someone, it should be him.