Sabotaged

A few weeks after the AC/DC show, I realized something just wasn't making sense. Since I had given my brother exclusive control of booking our live performances, the only dates we had played were the ones that Annie and A.T.I. had requested we do at the club. Considering our ability to sell out the large venues consistently, and the way we had been received by audiences, there was no reason this should have been true. I decided to see if our track record could get the band into a couple of out of state venues. The first place I called, I got some very disturbing news. This club had called my brother looking to book Avalanche, but had been literally talked out of it. My brother had told them that they wouldn't really want us...we were too loud, and that the hype about us was just that...hype. My brother had said that he had to warn them that we were difficult to deal with, and were really just another local band. This owner had taken that information very seriously. He was aware of the fact that we were brothers, and if it wasn't true, why would he be told that? I told him the band was doing very well, and that most of our shows had sold out, I told him about our recent date with AC/DC, and that we'd love to play his room. He told me he would have to think about it, and if he was interested, he'd get back to me. I hung up the phone, and realized that this guy was afraid to book us...and I knew that the reason we hadn't gotten any gigs at all for those nearly four months hadn't been due to a lack of interest...it was because interested clubs had been misled and actively discouraged from booking us...and although I had no idea what could have motivated my brother to do that, I realized that he had severely damaged Avalanche's reputation, and our ability to work. I was furious. The sense of betrayal I felt was intensely painful. I immediately confronted my brother with this information. Of course, he denied it. He told me that if I didn't like the way he was doing things, I could do it myself. I responded by firing him as our booking agent on the spot. I felt I could hardly do worse than he had. In nearly four months time, with complete freedom and exclusivity to do whatever he needed to...he hadn't booked one date, and had cost us countless gigs. It was the same sabotage I had experienced at his hands before, only this time...there was a great deal more at stake...and the damage he caused us was incalculable.