"Why not?" Jake asked.
"Because you can't!" Crow said. "Each tour has to be better than the one before it."
"And it will be," Jake said. "It will be a concert, just like we used to do back in the day."
"You got that shit right," Matt said. "No leather, no lasers, no fucking bombs blowing people through the air, just music. That's what we're about."
"We'll do a ninety minute set," Jake said. "We'll open with Found and close with CTL. There will be two encore tunes after that. The lighting will be standard and there will be no lasers, pyrotechnics, or any other freaky-ass, high-tech shit. That is not what the fans come to see."
"And no fucking leather," Matt added. "I will never don another pair of leather pants as long as I live. I started out in this business wearing Levi 501 jeans onstage and that is how I will finish out my career."
"Guys," Crow said, "I think you're letting the tour profits go to your head. Sure, its nice if you make money off a tour, but the purpose of touring is to get people to buy your albums. Don't start trying to eliminate the expensive items like lasers and pyrotechnicians in the name of profit. That's a big mistake."
"That's not why we're doing it," Jake said. "A concert is about the music and the band that plays it. We put on a good show. We always have. People won't be coming to see us because of the lasers or the lights, they'll be coming to see us because we're Intemperance."
"And they know that Intemperance knows how to fucking rock," Matt added.
They fought and bickered about this for nearly two days but eventually National had little choice but to give in. After all, with the new contract, the band had the right to veto any tour schedule or production detail they didn't like. The alternative was no tour at all.
"You're destroying your career," Crow warned them. "I just want you to know that."
"We still have the option of not picking you up for the next contract period," Doolittle warned, upping the ante a little.
"You'll be eating your fucking words when this is over," Matt replied. "So should we start putting this thing together, or what?"
Crow sighed. "Yeah," he said. "I guess we should."
The rehearsals started. The show the band planned to do in cities across America and Canada from May 1 through November 11 was a simple show, consisting of little more than the band taking the stage and playing their asses off. They had a song list and an encore list that they would religiously follow but other than that, there was nothing in the way of lighting effects or acrobatics or choreography rehearsed. They would simply keep the lights shining brightly on them and use their own instincts when they hit the stage.
On March 21, 1986, the single of I've Found Myself Again was released to radio stations across the country. Within two days it was the most-requested song nationwide. On April 1, 1986, Balance Of Power, the album, was released for sale in record stores. It set an all-time record for most sales in twenty-four hours, with a staggering 83,429 copies purchased.
"It seems that people don't think it's too shitty," Matt told Crow after a rehearsal on April 2.
"Let's hope you're right," Crow returned.
He was. In the thirty days between the release of the album and the start of the tour, I've Found Myself Again shot up the singles chart to number six and showed every sign of continuing its climb, and Balance Of Power, the album, actually debuted at number one. Reviews came out and the album was declared "the best effort by Intemperance yet". Tickets for upcoming shows went on sale all along the west coast and sold out within minutes. Scalpers were reportedly asking more than ninety dollars a ticket for the shittiest seats. Even Matt, Jake, and Bill were surprised.
April 30 came and the band climbed on the same old tour bus. They drove upstate to Heritage and on the evening of May 1 they stepped out on the stage, knowing that Jake's parents and sister, Bill's parents, and many thousands of people who used to pay the cover charge and come to their shows at D Street West were out there watching them.
The lights came up and the music began to play. Jake knew, when he heard the cheers, that he'd found himself again.
They began to play.
The End of Book I