Isaac opened the door to let Zac in.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Yo dude," Zac replied.
He followed his brother inside and into the dining room.
"Oh, we're meeting in here are we?" Zac asked.
"More space to write on. Plus, we can also eat in here whereas food is forbidden in the music room," Isaac pointed out.
"True," and Zac sat down.
Taylor
"Hey Zac," Taylor greeted, entering the room from the hallway.
"Haven't seen you for a few days."
Isaac and Zac
"Brock, Heaven and Elektra have all been teething the last few days. Brock got his first one, while Heaven and Elektra are old hands, but they all had to do it at once," Zac sighed. "Ella and I have been having all so much fun."
"I bet Julie has even more fun than you do. She had six kids," Isaac pointed out.
"Yeah, but only four of them are teething."
"That's one more than you have, and you have a fulltime nanny."
"Shh!" Zac grinned.
"Well, anyway. I hope they're all happier now - "
"Yep."
"Great. So. Ready to talk tours?"
Taylor
"I think we should start in the UK again," Taylor put to the table as he took a seat opposite Zac.
"Maybe release something to radio, see how it gels, then put it on iTunes..."
Isaac and Zac
"Woo hoo, Europe!" Zac said.
"Sounds good to me," Isaac agreed. "And as Zac suggested, the rest of Europe. Well, part of it. France definitely. Italy?"
Taylor
Taylor pursed his lips and nodded.
"Sounds feasible," he agreed, looking over a couple of books on the table.
"If we release to radio in say, late August, we can probably get over there by September."
He flipped through a few pages.
"Take it one country at a time, maybe stop at a few different places in the UK. If all goes well we can focus on the American release. We'll just have to take things slowly."
Isaac and Zac
"Sounds good," Isaac said.
"Yeah, it's been a couple of years since our last tour. Say, has anyone been writing in From Us To You lately?" Zac asked with an 'oops' expression on his face. "It's been ages since I last wrote anything."
"Yeah, I wrote something the other day," Isaac replied. "Okay, we should probably combine the USA tour with Canada again, methinks."
Taylor
"Easy done," Taylor ticked something off.
"We'll just need to give the Toronto distributors a call in the next few weeks to see if they can get the album out by the end of the year. I say we give Europe at least a month of our time."
Isaac and Zac
"Agreed," Isaac nodded.
"Oh, and while we're in Europe, we should go to Genovia as well," Zac said.
"Yeah, I've always wanted to go there," Isaac mused. "Plus we promised Elata."
Zac chuckled.
"I think I do actually want to meet the girl in person. She's such a lark."
"I dunno... I think Roberto may be right about that being a dangerous thing. Y'know, with the whole 'I want to have your babies' thing. Sorry, Tay. Elata is this mutant-wannabe we met online, who lives in Genovia. She's very perky."
"And obsessed."
Taylor
"Mutant... wannabe...?" Taylor repeated slowly, confused.
"And obsessed how?"
Isaac and Zac
"She's a human who wants to be a mutant," Zac nodded. "And if she knew about aliens I'm sure she'd be an alien wannabe too. She likes to give mutants codenames, and she gave herself one and insists that everyone call her that."
"Yeah. Do you have any idea what Elata's real name is?" Isaac asked.
"Roberto told me it was Geena Sharpe. And he only knows this because some teachers at her school still try calling her that even though she refuses to answer to it."
"How come I'm not surprised?"
"Anyway, Elata likes to babble on about how much she loves mutants, and how cool they are, and she wants to have their babies, and is generally excitable about everything. I believe that she's also a Hanson fan. She does know that I have a stack of kids."
"It kinda came out in conversation because she found out who we were," Isaac put in.
Taylor
"Ohhh," Taylor nodded, understanding.
"Yeah, sometimes you can't help it," he shrugged, "doesn't matter. Guess we will have to pay a visit though. Where is she again?"
He pulled a map over.
Zac and Isaac
"Genovia," Zac replied. "Teeny-tiny little Europen country next to France."
He squinted at the map and then put his finger down.
"Gee, you'd think after they made the history books for being the first country to have equal mutant rights they'd stand out a bit more on the map."
"Well, as you said, Zac," Isaac grinned. "It is a teeny-tiny little country."
"Details, details."
Taylor
"Ok," Taylor nodded as he marked it off on a notepad.
"We'll hit Genovia about the same time as France. If we come up with a basic schedule I can get it over to Dad."
He glanced at the map and wrote a few destinations down.
"Are we fine to start with the UK? London?"
Isaac and Zac
"Sounds good," Isaac nodded.
"And we should go to Australia and Japan as well," Zac put in.
"Yes, but... working out Europeon tour plan first."
"Oh, right. Okay after London... Paris. Then Genovia. Then where?"
Taylor
"Rome," Taylor offered, "but I think we should go for Ireland, Scotland and Wales before hitting the Dutch, French and Italian."
He looked over the map again.
"We can hit Rome after Genovia. And maybe Venice."
Zac
"Okay, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Genovia, Holland, Italy. Sweden? Germany? Spain? Or shall we leave our Europeon tour at that?" Zac asked.
Taylor
"We'll leave it at that for now, it's only promo," Taylor waved him off, "when we organise the actual tour we can hit some new places."
He began writing down some possible destinations.
"We'll have to make sure we can get radio play there first."
Isaac and Zac
"Yeah, that might help," Isaac nodded.
"Okay, then USA and Canada. Mexico maybe? Then Japan and Australia," Zac said.
"We should probably try and get to the space station too."
"I dunno Ike... I'm not sure if I would be much of a drum player as an Adige. Or a singer for that matter."
Taylor
"Don't worry about the station," Taylor insisted, "I just want to focus on Europe and America for now. Maybe South America if we can get there by the end of the year, but we probably won't make it if we're including Canada with the States."
Isaac and Zac
"This is true," Zac nodded.
"I might just give the station a ring then," Isaac said. "Y'know, do a radio interview over the phone. Actually... we've gotten away with doing that before. Maybe as Genovia is so small, just that out of the promo tour, and just do it in the concert tour?"
"But... Elata... Lark... Funny obsessed girl...."
"Another year isn't going to kill you Zac."
Taylor
"And it might not even be a year," Taylor pointed out.
"If we can cover Europe by the end of the year and sneak in some US promo around the holiday season, we can visit South East Asia by early next year and have the album out everywhere by then. And then we can tour for real."
Isaac and Zac
Isaac nodded and Zac gave a melodramatic sigh.
"Okay," he agreed.
"Marvellous," Isaac said. "Okay then, now we just need to contact our distributers, and get our tour manager on board."
Taylor
"I'll give her a call this afternoon," Taylor gathered some paperwork and slipped it into a manilla folder.
"And Dad and Ash too."
Isaac and Zac
"Great," Isaac said.
"So, is there anything else we need to discuss?" Zac asked. "Oooh, Ike, you doing artwork for the CD?"
"Yep."
"Cool. I wouldn't like to think you got distracted by novel writing or something."
"Ner."
Taylor
"We need to get that off to the manufacturers asap," Taylor insisted, his eyes on Isaac.
"I'll do some calling around once I have htings sorted with Dad and we'll see what producers are willing to take it on. Hopefully 10th Street will pick it up again but there's no point in assuming."
Isaac and Zac
"Yeah, I know," Isaac replied. "It's almost done."
"Almost?" Zac teased.
"It'll be finished before the end of the week. Happy?"
"Yes," Zac replied, rubbing his hands together. "Ahh, it's been so long I've almost forgotten what else needs to be done."
Taylor
"Yeah tell me about it," Taylor chuckled, running his fingers through his hair with a smile.
"Not to mention how hard some of it will be. Getting radio play for example. We'll need to really get into the college radio scene again."
Isaac and Zac
"Hmm, yes, this is true..." Isaac said.
"Well, we seemed to have covered most everything," Zac said. "Why don't we contact the people we need to contact, and do any of the other stuff we need to do, and if we think of anything else discuss that at our next opportunity?"
Taylor
"Sounds good," Taylor nodded, picking up a file.
"Hopefully we can get the ball rolling by the end of the month."
Isaac and Zac
"Yes," Isaac nodded.
"Okay," Zac said rubbing his hands together. "So, who's doing what?"
"Okay, well, I'll get the artwork finished and talk to our manufacturer," Isaac said. "And I guess... one of you can talk to our distributers, and the other to our tour manager."
"Your choice," Zac said to Taylor.
Taylor
"As I said, I'll call Dad first and let him in on what's happening. Then I'd better give Ash a buzz too," Taylor scratched his head.
"Then I guess I'll start calling the distributors."
Isaac and Zac
"Okay," Zac said. "Then I'll talk to our tour manager."
"Alrighty then," Isaac said. "If that's everything, I guess that concludes our meeting."
"Wait... what about Natalie?" Zac asked. "When's she due? December? January?"
Taylor
"We're hoping for a Christmas baby," Taylor couldn't help but smile and blush a little.
"So... late December. But we'll have to have that time free anyhow for family time."
Isaac and Zac
"That's very convienent timing," Zac nodded. "Good, that should be easy to make sure that you're home for the big event."
"Assuming he or she isn't late. Or early," Isaac pointed out.
"We'll have a couple of weeks off around that time. Maybe a couple of Tulsa Christmas dates, maybe, but otherwise, yeah. Or Georgia... y'know, since Nat'll probably have the baby there..."
Taylor "Yeah," Taylor's face fell a little, "and she also won't be able to come with us for the last couple of months. After October."
Isaac and Zac
"But... she's working at the moment, isn't she?" Zac asked. "Wouldn't come with us anyway?"
"As I recall, I think she said she was going to stop working when it got too much, or her stomach got in the way of her giving a good massage," Isaac said, looking to Taylor for confirmation.
Taylor
"Yeah," Taylor nodded, pursing his lips.
"Don't mind me. I'd just rather have her with me is all."
Isaac and Zac
"Aww, that's okay," Isaac said. "We get that. But hey, it's not like we're humans or anything. You can just get Tony to teleport you to visit her whenever you want. I know it's not the same, but it's better than nothing."
"I'm sure that Nat would like to be with you too," Zac added.
Taylor
"Yeah..." Taylor sighed, fiddling with and staring at his wedding ring thoughtfully.
"I guess we'll figure it out when the time comes," he shrugged after a moment, glancing up at his brothers, "and that time's not going to come unless we get ourselves organised."
He grabbed the folder and stood from the table.
"So," he began, then hesitated and looked up, "phone call time."
He smiled.
Isaac and Zac
"Okay," said Zac. "Well, I guess I shall be going and make my own phone calls on my own home phone."
"Okay," Isaac replied, standing up. "Guess we'll talk to you later."
"Yep," Zac replied, standing also. "See yas."
Taylor
Taylor saluted.
"Will let you know how it goes," he nodded.
Zac and Isaac
"Groovy," said Zac. "See yas."
And thus Zac departed.
"Well, I guess I'll get back to work on the artwork," Isaac said.