Red Razor (standard:mystery, 3559 words)
Author: Lev821	Added: Apr 08 2022	Views/Reads: 872/513	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The ex-lead singer of a band watches as the group rocket to stardom. How far does his jealousy take him?

It was, and still is, one of great mysteries of its time. ‘The Bazookas'
were a rock and soul five-piece band, who, in the late sixties, simply 
vanished. 

Books were written, documentaries made, even a TV docu-drama was made,
but they're still out there, their legacy written in the history books. 
There were bands that were bigger than them, but they towered over all 
other bands below them. Three number ones, and two successful albums 
saw them on tour a lot around England, including one trip to America 
which they didn't quite crack, but were gearing up for a second attempt 
when they vanished. 

They started in Wirral social clubs, brought together by their then lead
singer, ‘Red Razor', real name, Lewis O'Connell. He was quite 
flamboyant, wore sparkly outfits, had long hair made into several pony 
tails, and had tattoos all linked to spirituality and karma. Yet the 
music was not calm or relaxing, but upbeat, loud, and raucous. 

For three years they toured these pits, these pubs, with no sign of any
record contract. They always maintained that they weren't doing it for 
the deal, but for the love of the music, but Red Razor began to have 
other ideas. He maintained that the reason they were getting nowhere 
was because they sounded similar to all the other bands of the day, all 
on the same road, trying to reach the stage to propel them to stardom, 
to the history books. 

So many other bands never made it out of the pubs, and split,
disillusioned with themselves, thinking it was their fault they were 
never signed, reinforcing their negativity about why, telling 
themselves it was because they simply were not good enough. Maybe the 
record producer was in the crowd at one of their gigs, had seen enough 
halfway through, and walked out, the band never knowing they were 
there. Of all the bands that make it, that get a record company to pay 
them to play, there are many with equal or better talent than those 
that do give their signatures. 

It was simply circumstance, the right place at the right time. There are
plenty of bands that get signed with hardly anything resembling talent, 
yet there are groups slaving away in pubs and clubs without a deal with 
far more talent, so Razor decided to change the style of music to 
include a more bluesy element, and even one track, introducing a 
violin. 

However, none of the band members could play a violin, nor could be
bothered to learn, so Razor paid a sixth-form music student to play on 
the record. The decay had set in between Razor and the other band 
members, with them wanting to maintain the path they were on, and 
forget the blues element. Razor even once suggested that they could do 
a rock ‘n roll country track, but they had laughed at that, and it was 
then that Red Razor decided he could make it on his own. 

His desires were not in the Bazookas interests, so he pursued a solo
career, becoming nothing more than a cabaret entertainer. He could play 
acoustic guitar, but being solo meant his ideas could not be realised. 
He tried to get together another band, but Razor had specific 
requirements that nobody could match, such as a drummer that could play 
violin, bongos, and sing. 

He wanted them all to be able to sing for the harmony tracks he was
intending to write. Not many could multi-task, and those that could 
were not matching to Razors desires. He did meet somebody that could 
play the trumpet and bass guitar, but that wasn't good enough. He also 
wanted those he auditioned to look the part. Some were fairly dowdy, 
one or two downright ugly, and the rest were those he could not match 
musically. 

It was three weeks after he had parted company with the Bazookas that he
had learned that they had a new lead singer. ‘Dave' was a rather 
boring, leather-jacketed wearing man in his forties who always wore 
dark glasses, who didn't strut around the stage, and simply stood at 
the microphone, tapping a tambourine against his leg through some 
tracks. 

A week later, they were signed, and Razor could do nothing but simply
watch as the Bazookas rocketed to stardom. 


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