"Well, obviously it takes you guys a little while to compose and perfect a new tune," he said. "And quite frankly, we need to get you into the studio as soon as possible so we can get the second album finished and ready for release when Descent Into Nothing finally starts to fade off the charts. We're on the crest of a wave here and we want to stay up there. There should be little or no lag time between album successes. Before people start to get sick of hearing the songs from Descent on the radio, we need to be able to give them some new ones."
"I'm down with that," Matt said. "But how are you going to help?"
"Mr. Bailey can answer that," Acardio said.
"Right," Bailey said, opening his briefcase and pulling out two packets of papers. "Over the past two months I've been working with some of our songwriting teams to put together some new material for you. They came up with a selection of eight tunes that we feel would be both commercially viable as single releases while maintaining the Intemperance image."
"Whoa whoa whoa," Matt said. "Hold on just a fucking second here. Are you saying you had songwriters come up with music that you want us to play and put on an album with our name on it? Is that what the fuck you're trying to say?"
"No need to get hostile, Matt," Acardio said. "We're not trying to insult you or anything, it's just that our songwriters have a better idea of what the public is after in an Intemperance style song than you do. They've been around a long time and they know what the demographic group you appeal to wants. It's a very common thing in the industry."
"Yes," Bailey agreed, "and I must say that we utilized our best people for this project and they outdid themselves both with the lyrics and the melodies. When people hear Jake sing this stuff and when they hear Matt grinding out the riffs in that quaint style of his, they're going to go insane. The next album is going to fly off the shelves. I guarantee it."
"They really are very good tunes," Janice added. "I looked them over yesterday. Quite frankly, I think they're much better than anything you did on Descent and look at how well that album is selling."
Matt was actually starting to turn red in the face. Jake wasn't too far behind him. Before either of them could say anything, however, Bailey pushed the papers over to each of them. They were music sheets that covered the basic melody and the lyrics. They each looked at the top sheet, which was for a song entitled, Embrace of Darkness.
"That first song is what we're thinking of naming the new album," Bailey said excitedly. "Look it over. Tell us what you think."
Matt clenched his fists a few times and then, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else, he looked at the sheet, ignoring the lyrics and checking out the music. "You call this a riff?" he asked after about two seconds. "It's a simple three-chord repetition, just like that crap Voyeur plays."
"Well, you'll be given a little bit of latitude in how you interpret the music," Bailey said. "I mean, you can't change the basic melody, but you can enhance it in that style you have."
Jake, meanwhile, had been looking at the lyrics. He was shaking his head in disbelief. "Goodbye to light, goodbye to joy," he recited. "The King of Darkness uses me like a toy?"
"The fucking King of Darkness?" Matt said. "Uses me like a toy? Are you shitting me?"
Jake read a little further down. "I feel his hands upon me, I feel him pulling me in. My awareness is full now, I'm jumping down into sin." He looked up at the record execs. "Isn't that a bit homo-erotic?"
"Well, in a vague sort of way, I suppose it is," Bailey said. "I mean, after all, you are Intemperance and you do represent lust and sin."
"You're suggesting that Jake sing about getting butt-fucked by the Devil?" Matt asked.
"It doesn't say anything in there about the Devil or about anal sex," Janice said. "Like Mr. Acardio said, the lyrics are kept deliberately vague."
"Well you can throw this shit deliberately in the trash can," Matt told her. "We ain't playing this crap."
"Amen to that," Jake said.
Acardio sighed. "Look guys," he said. "A lot of people worked a lot of hours to compose this music for you."
"I hope you didn't pay 'em too much," Matt said.
"They probably paid them as much as we get paid," Jake said, causing both of them to crack up.
"Look," Acardio said, losing his decorum just a bit, "we don't care whether you like the songs or not. You are employees of National Records and those are the songs we want you to do. So my suggestion is that you pick out at least three that you can live with and start rehearsing them. I'll want a preliminary recording of your efforts on my desk in two weeks."
"Oh, and I must insist that Embrace of Darkness be among the three," Bailey said. "We're already working on the premise that that will be the name of the album."
"Right," Acardio said. "Pick out two of your favorites in addition to Embrace, which will be mandatory."
"No," Matt said firmly. "I don't give a rat's ass what you want, we are not performing any of this crap. We write our own songs and compose our own melodies."
Acardio took a deep breath. He looked at Jake. "Jake," he said reasonably. "You need to try to talk some sense into Matt. If we don't have a complete set of songs from you by the end of the month some very unpleasant consequences might occur."
"What kind of consequences?" Jake asked.
"Breach of contract kind of consequences," Acardio said.
Matt stood up so fast his chair fell over backwards. His hand went to his crotch and gave it a large, contemptuous squeeze. "I got your fuckin' contract right here," he told Acardio. "We ain't performing that shit! Period! I don't care if the United States Supreme fucking Court calls me up and tells me I have to. It ain't gonna happen. I will not play a song that some ass-sucking hacker wrote for you."
"Matt, there's no need to get threatening," Janice said nervously.
"Who's threatening?" Matt responded. "I'm doing nothing but stating a plain fucking fact. We ain't gonna do it."
"Jake," Acardio said, appealing to the calmer head. "What do you have to say about this?"
Jake stood up next to Matt. "I say that any productivity we might've hoped to achieve in this meeting has probably been lost. We should probably adjourn for the day."
"We need to settle this now," Acardio said firmly.
"It's already settled," Matt said. "You can hold a fuckin' gun to my head and I ain't playing that shit."
"Why don't we meet on Monday?" Jake suggested.
"You aren't thinking about caving to this fuck, are you, Jake?" Matt suddenly asked. "Because even if you do, I still ain't doing this shit!"
"I'm not thinking of doing anything right now, Matt," Jake told him. "But I think its time for us to go, okay?"
"We need to work this out," Bailey cried.
"There's nothing to work out," Acardio said. "You're doing the songs we tell you to do."
"I'll live in a skid-row flophouse before I play one of them songs," Matt said. "See if I'm kidding, Acardio. See if I'm fucking kidding!"
"You see if I'm fucking kidding," Acardio returned. "You will fall into line and do what you're told or your music career is over!"
"We're leaving now," Jake said, grabbing Matt by the arm. "We'll be back on Monday. Have your secretary call me to set up a time."
"You two need to get back here and..."
"Goodbye," Jake said, leading Matt out the door. Matt reluctantly allowed himself to be pulled from the room. The last thing they heard was Acardio yelling at them to take the fucking music sheets with them.
They didn't talk until they got into the elevator. At that point Matt turned on Jake with a fury.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, dragging me out of there like that?" he demanded. "Why the fuck weren't you supporting me?"