On Tour with Demi Lovato

Ch5- Prove it.

I stood at the doorway alone and took a deep breath, composing myself slightly. Walking in, I looked around at the set up and slung the cherry red guitar over my shoulder with the strap. From what I could see, the band was to the right of the doorway and were all currently in a circle chatting. There were a couple of other people in the room who all looked professional in suits or slacks and immediately I felt intimidated on the inside. A brunette woman around the same height as me, saw me standing in the entrance way and turned away from her conversation and began to approach me.

"Hi, I'm Carson McCartney" I greeted with a smile, holding out my free hand to shake.

"Hi Carson, I'm Natalie, Demi's assistant. I will be one of the people watching over the audition process today on behalf of her." she replied and smiled, returning the hand shake. "Do you have a résumé and your contact details?"

"Yes, here they are." I replied completely professionally like Orianthi told me to be. I held out the papers I had been carrying and she took them with a smile before gesturing me to follow her over to where a older man stood next to an older woman.

"Carson, this is Phil- Demi's manager and Suzan." She introduces. Both Phil and Suzan nod before They turn back to their conversation.

Natalie then looks down at the papers within her hand, scrolling her eyes over the pages. "Impressive. You played with Orianthi when you were 16?" She questioned.

I smiled at the memories. Orianthi back then, just topped the charts with her hit, 'According to you' and came home to Adelaide for a visit. She saw me, busking on the streets to earn money. You see, that day, my father was passed out on the couch after drinking himself into oblivion.

I had covered the fresh bruises that occurred while he was under the influence, with make up and snuck out my window with my acoustic guitar in hand. This was so I could pitch in towards food and other basic necessities for me, Damien and Charlie. The useless fucker used to take everything he and we made and used it on drugs and alcohol, leaving us to cover the rent, food costs and bills for our shitty little apartment we used to call home.

In all honesty, I didn't know who Orianthi was and had never actually heard of her before so when she approached me on the street I was instantly suspicious. She laughed it off and introduced herself. At first I didn't actually believe her because I mean, what celebrity comes out of Adelaide of all places? But she played me her song and even after the shitty way I treated her, she invited me to perform with her on stage at a small concert she was playing. I showed up two nights later at the time and place with nothing to lose and true to her word, she gave me this exact Cherry Red left handed Stratocaster I was actually using and let me play the rhythm guitarists part on stage with her. Of course, when I told her I was coming to LA all these years later, she instantly told me I could play with her, but I knew that although she said I could, I would most likely be a burden. So instead of agreeing, we settled on her giving me a recommendation and an open invite if I needed a job. She basically inspired me to pursue a career in this line of work and amazingly, we still keep in contact.

"Yeah, it was amazing." I answered, subconsciously reaching for the guitar a smile on my face at the memories.

"So getting back to business, you and the band-" she paused and gestured to the people behind us who were now looking at me with curiosity, "-will be playing the song 'Heart Attack' as provided, with a 16 bar improvised solo for you in after the bridge. Then we will give you sheet music for you to play. You can start when your ready." she said, looking at me.

I nodded in reply and walked over to the amps obviously set up for me. The other band members who were now making there way to the different instruments set up around the room and I quickly greeted them as to be polite. The gear they had was decent quality and I was happy that I was at least kinda familiar with this stuff. I quickly strummed over the strings, listening carefully for anything that could be considered out of tune. Happy with the results, I continued setting up, plugging the end of the lead into my instrument and switching the amp on. I turned my guitar right down and quickly fiddled with the pedal board that was set up, making mental notes of the different sounds.