Beyond the Realms

I hadn’t slept well since getting back to New England after the OH tour. The first weekend back, I felt bad sitting up, watching Kiia sleep as she acclimated back to her bed in Rhode Island. I was satisfied that I could comfort her to sleep, but that was the only silver lining. The anxiety around the BTR meeting was consuming me.

The night before, I tried being stoic and spending the night alone at my place in Boston, but Kiia was clear that she was done sleeping without me.

I can’t say that her presence completely eased my nerves, but the way we had been deepening our bonds behind closed doors since coming home helped me sleep soundly the night before the meeting. Kiia asked if she should come with me, but I told her not to. I hoped that this would be the last thing I would ever face alone.

May 30th, 2023, 10am, Twilight Reverie World Headquarters, Boston, MA

Borgen’s corporate meeting room lacked its usual decorum for the first time in ages. The Twilight Reverie flags and the posters of the up and coming artists on the label were gone, replaced by something more daunting. The four Platinum Beyond the Realms Records, the one Gold Tony Black Record, and the two Cy Rondeau Diamond Records.

Message received.

I was the third person in the room after Borgen and the label’s lawyer, but Tony wasn’t far behind me.

“Wow, neither of you boys brought a lawyer?” Borgen chirped.

“We’re already under contract with you, and he literally works here. We’ve already seen the deal you’re presenting anyway,” Tony said with less levity than his usual tone.

“Oh, yeah, you two have already seen both deals for this tour and signed off on them, so that was silly of me to ask. My apologies.”

He was toying with us, and it gave me the impression he wasn’t here to negotiate, nor was he hoping for BTR to agree to this reunion.

Moments later, Kevin turned the corner with both Richie and his lawyer in tow.

“God, it’s so good to see you again,” Kevin said.

I reached for a handshake, but he went past that formality for a hug.

“Yeah, I missed you, too,” I squeaked through his bear hug.

He acknowledged Borgen before taking a seat next to me. He didn’t even look at Tony, so that situation was going to be problematic.

“Thank you gentlemen for agreeing to meet this morning. As you know, we’ve had some trouble with supporting the upcoming Ozean Horizon stadium tour, and Cy has convinced me that it is worth exploring a Beyond the Realms reunion as the solution to our trouble.”

Borgen was calm as he spoke. His eyes went around the room, seemingly keyed in on Richie who hadn’t yet spoken.

“First, by the four of you being here, I have made the assumption that you are willing to do these thirty-five tour dates under the right conditions. I’m going to read off the key points of the contract, and we’ll go from there.”

His lawyer handed him the small packet, which he opened up on the table. His eyes were focused squarely on Richie before he started.

“Beyond the Realms, also referred to as the artist, featuring Cy Rondeau, Tony Black, Richie Pangioni, and Kevin Silva will perform in a co-headlining role with Ozean Horizon from June 11th through August 26th for a total of thirty-five events at open air stadium ranging from 40,000 to 80,000 seats. There will be zero media availability expectation for anyone except Mr. Rondeau due to his obligations to Twilight Reverie,” he paused to take a sip of water.

“Although revenue has been earned by entities no longer appearing on the bill, due to a breach of contract, the artist will receive 80% of that gross profit. This entitles the artist to 50% of the total gross profit, making their purse equal to the headliner. The breakdown of payout of this sum is outlined later in the contract. The artist will have full control over their merchandise inventory, sales, and profits during the entire run of the tour.”

Borgen looked up upon finishing the part that needed to be read aloud as his lawyer distributed the contracts for us to read.

As I scanned the room, everyone was mostly still during the explanation of the deal.

“Before you ask, Richie, the breakdown of payout is identical to Cy’s contract from 2018. It is far more advantageous to you than the old BTR agreement.”

“Yeah, I’m going to need some concessions,” Richie said, thumbing through the contract.

I felt how hard Tony rolled his eyes in my peripheral.

“I don’t want Cy’s deal. I want Ozean Horizon’s deal. I’ve heard rumors that they’re taking home close to sixty percent of their gross profit, which is twenty more than Cy was getting.”

The rest of us kept our heads down.

“Also, I understand that they’re the new band here at Twilight Reverie, but I want them playing before us. They have never been bigger than BTR.”

It was only for a moment, but I could see the tapping of Kevin’s leg under the table. He was getting more frustrated than the rest of us.

“Mr. Pangioni, you know that their contract is unique, and I will not give BTR that deal. It would be much more profitable for me to just have Cy do the tour,” Borgen started, amused by Richie. “Also, BTR was never a stadium level band. We had so few refund requests for this tour since the support acts dropped off, I can say with absolute certainty that right now, Ozean Horizon is at least twice as successful as you ever were in any market.”

The words hung painfully in the room. This was what Borgen was hoping for in the beginning. The plaques on the wall told the story. For all of the band’s success, Beyond the Realms was never as big as the media thought we were.

“I’ll step out for ten minutes to give you all time to discuss this, but I will not compromise on anything in this contract.” Borgen said as he and his lawyer exited.

We wasted the first minute staring at each other in silence like a bunch of jerks.

“Okay, do you even want to do this?” Kevin asked, staring through Richie.

Richie put his hands on the table, trying to assert himself.

“Yeah…I want to play our material live. I just don’t want to do it on Borgen’s terms.” He pushed back.

“Haven’t you learned, more than anyone here, that we’re beyond lucky that he ever agreed to play ball with this meeting?” Kevin fired back. “As much as we loved our time in BTR, the band was sputtering at the end…I don’t know if you ever really looked at the financials, but we were doing awful in 2016.”

Richie leaned back from the table as if this were new information.

“Yeah, Kevin, I’m assuming you saw that too, and that was why you walked away?” I asked, calmly.

He nodded. “I mean, after the last tour, the writing was on the wall that Twilight Reverie wasn’t going to renew our contract. Over the seven years of the deal their total profit off us was only six figures…anyone with decent business sense would have done what they did.”

Tony was deeply engaged in his words, clearly aloof to this information.

“It made sense for them not to offer contracts to the two guys who couldn’t be repackaged as pop singers.”

At this point, Kevin was making things as personal as he could.

“Wait, so that’s why you stopped caring at the end of our tours?” Tony asked, dumbfounded.

“Yeah, the reason I blew up at you and we had our fist fight is that you weren’t paying attention. I was trying to pitch ideas that would make us more sustainable, but you just said trust the label, like they weren’t about to move on.”

The wires connected in Tony’s brain as he developed empathy for Kevin’s departure.

“On the bright side, he’s using the payout model from my deal with the label, which will pay out at least 10x what we were getting in the BTR days,” I said, trying to sell the deal.

“Man, you’re such a goddamn corporate shill,” Richie snapped. “If you were so passionate about this, why haven’t you branched off to your own record label?”

“Because I don’t care,” my voice dropped like a bomb in the room. “I didn’t even want to listen to music anymore after my heart gave out in Spain. I’m just doing the only things I know.”

I wasn’t spiraling for once. I was angry, but I was in control.

Kevin was on the edge of his seat because I used to be able to communicate less emotionally.

“Before this deal with OH, I had given up on everything, man. I dreamt about that night in Spain almost every night, wishing I didn’t come back and how much easier it would have been if I didn’t have to keep doing this every day. I was always too much of a coward to end it myself, so I just let my depression fester for years.”

I could see the room was rattled by this revelation.

“I was so lucky that Borgen let me take a chance on OH. Kiia has helped me rediscover why I did any of this in the first place, albeit that the passion is completely different now. I pitched this reunion to return the favor, to give us all a change to get proper closure for this band. To give our fans the closure they never got.”

I sat down. I didn’t feel like a coward anymore. I finally said everything I’d been holding in.

“We never knew what really happened in Spain,” Kevin mumbled. “I’m sorry.”

“Borgen will be back in like a minute,” Tony interjected. “At this point, I don’t care how this ends. We used to be brothers, but it’s obvious that bond was severed a long time ago.”

Borgen and his lawyer entered the room, and immediately got to business.

“Well, gentlemen, after mulling over the offer, what is the verdict?”

The quiet pain in the room remained from Tony’s last words. It came down to if Kevin and Richie were swayed by our heated confessions.

“Sorry, guys. As much as I enjoyed being here again, and talking through our problems, I’m not willing to bow down for the label anymore,” Richie said, walking away from the table. “Maybe we’ll get a chance to do a one-off or something down the line, but I won’t wag my tail for you, Borgen.”

He was gone, the contract left behind, and any hope of mending what was lost had been shattered.