Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 940 Substitute Team
As for the other men and women present, they were all preoccupied with their own plans.

Since it wasn't a song performed by Bian Lang in a formal setting, the male singers present knew there was room for manipulation. The title of "original singer" can sometimes be very useful, for example…

As for the female singers, they are basically all envious of Guo Sichu.

Only Silva was seriously comparing Guo Sichu and Dong Youbian, and finally came to the conclusion: "Guo Sichu is more suited to playing around..." After thinking about this, she, like other female singers, began to envy Guo Sichu.

Well, even if "Love Sick" isn't particularly famous among Dylan's songs from Earth, it's still a Grammy-winning track that has been performed live and shown to music fans worldwide, so its quality is guaranteed.

Although the improvised version still has a lot of room for improvement in its arrangement, this is not a problem for Bian Lang at all. Everyone believes that once Bian Lang has the time, he will definitely complete the arrangement of this song to a very high standard.

In fact, after Bian Lang stepped down, he started talking to Thor and the others: "I'll be staying in Europe for a few more days. I need your help..."

"No problem, I'll arrange all your time before you leave Europe!"

“I’m fine with that too!” Lin Yaorong had barely finished speaking when Bian Lang nodded: “OK, we can stay until before the music festival before going back.”

As for the other members of Rolling Stone, they didn't have the chance to stay. The recording of "The Big Band" had to continue, and they all had recording tasks to complete. After that, they would head to various music festivals. Bian Lang stayed, and his first task was to finish recording "Ole ole ole ole" and, incidentally, to help the backup team from Rolling Stone get to know each other better.

So after agreeing on the time with these two people, Bian Lang went to find Bob.

Bob readily agreed. Hater's only achievement this year is the China tour; he spends most of his time recording the new album, so he has a lot of freedom.

Besides, given Bob's current relationship with Rolling Stones, if Fimos dares not release him, Bob is willing to follow Huang Kai's example!
“Wave, Bob can come to the US with you guys without any problem, but you’ll have to take some time this year to help us with the details of the album…” Fimos is much more familiar with Bian Lang now, so he speaks much more directly.

Bian Lang mentally planned out the timeline, then nodded seriously and said, "I should be able to come to Europe again around mid-November or late November. The time is roughly set for that time. Remember to send me a copy of any good demos you recorded in between!"

"Okay, if you don't reply within 24 hours, I'll bombard you with phone calls! Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"I'm still missing a bassist and a keyboardist..."

Upon hearing this, Fimos instinctively ignored the bassist and focused on the keyboardist.

He won't lend out his keyboardist from Hatter; the new album has a lot of arrangement work that requires a keyboardist.

"I think I heard Evelyn tell me that there's a keyboardist in DGM named Mendes, and I'd like to talk to you about him tonight."

"Huh? She didn't mention it to me. Where is she?"

"Wait a minute, I'll have someone look for it for you!"

After saying that, Fimos found a staff member from DGM to help him find more players, and he also mentioned the keyboardist incident.

Sure enough, when Mendes was brought in, the bassist, who was essentially a buy-one-get-one-free deal, also came along.

The bassist's name is Amir, and he's Asian. Just by looking at his skin color, you can tell he's probably not up to the task!

As if knowing what Bian Lang was thinking, Amir immediately said, "Wave, I am not an Indian, I am a Bhutanese..." Sure enough, anyone from Asia knows how disliked the Indian race is.

Upon hearing this, Bian Lang naturally felt relieved and smiled, "Thank you! I didn't mean anything by it. I was just afraid that once an Indian comes in, my record company will be turned into a Ganges!"

"Hahahaha... I could never work with a lunatic who drinks Ganges water!"

Amir smiled somewhat happily, because he felt great that Wave shared the same dislike for a country and race. The key point was that there were actually three A-sans within DGM; if their conversation were overheard, wouldn't the higher-ups consider eliminating them?

Originally, he would have had absolutely no chance of accomplishing this on his own. But now that Bian Lang is involved, things are different. Bian Lang's importance to DGM now goes beyond whether the higher-ups approve or support him. Just look at those female singers tonight who were still eager to try out even though Guo Sichu was there.

"However, you still need to show your true abilities!"

“Of course, no problem. Let’s go, Mendes, let’s show Wave.”

Mendes finally came to his senses. He was the one who should be in the story, but before he could even say a word, the bassist had already led him into preparing for an interview.

Seeing that he seemed a little dazed, Bian Lang jokingly said, "Mendes, do you need me to recommend a piece of music for you?"

"No, no, I don't need it. I have my own ideas..."

Whether Amir is there or not is unimportant; as long as the bassist's rhythm is steady, that's all that matters. But for him, it's a different story. During the first half of this gathering, Mendes had already learned some specific information from various people in DGM over the past century, and he had been preparing ever since.

Although Evelyn said she couldn't guarantee Bian Lang would be available tonight, he was prepared to wait until the show ended and then try to catch him. Unexpectedly, before the second half even started, he was called over.

As for why Evelyn did this, it was naturally to deliberately create a rock star image for Bian Lang. If there were no barriers at all, and anyone could easily talk to Bian Lang, then it would be a dereliction of duty on her part as a manager. Years of experience as a manager had taught her that in the Western entertainment industry, sometimes being too approachable wasn't a good thing.

Sometimes you have to put on a good show, otherwise you won't get any respect. Especially for Bian Lang and his Chinese identity as members of Rolling Stone, if they don't show some class, they'll be looked down upon and bullied.

Some white people don't even consider the current prestige of Bian Lang and the Rolling Stones in the rock music scene, just like Music and CAA, who are birds of a feather. They might have an innate arrogance in their subconscious, believing that non-white people won't cooperate with them on an equal footing, let alone collaborate.

Of course, she wouldn't leave Mendes hanging all night. So when she saw Mendes and Amir getting ready to go on stage, Evelyn went to Bian Lang's side and said, "Wave, dealing with these white people..."

After listening, Bian Lang smiled and nodded, saying, "Evelyn, having managers like you, Chen Shuting, and Liang Kuan makes my life so much easier. It also allows me to focus most of my energy on music!" Bian Lang wasn't exaggerating at all.

Although he still worries about many non-music-related matters, at least in terms of problem-solving, the three agents' abilities and execution have greatly reduced his concerns.

"Isn't this what I should do?"

After a pause, Evelyn continued, "There are some things that are difficult to say from Adams's position, but I really hope to give CAA a good slap in the face!"

Bian Lang didn't know why Evelyn had this obsession, but that didn't matter! What mattered was that their understanding and direction in doing this were aligned!
"I will! By the way, how did the final negotiations with the instrument dealers go..." Before he could finish speaking, Bian Lang heard the intro to "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" playing on stage.

Bian Lang glanced at the stage first, confirming it was Mendes playing, before finally spotting Hua Yan in the crowd. Just then, Hua Yan was also looking for Bian Lang. Their eyes met, and Hua Yan nodded slightly.

In terms of shorthand, Bian Lang considers himself quite good; he can generally remember the melody of a new song after listening to it once. However, to be able to play the original version almost immediately after listening to it once, like Mendes, is a bit of a stretch. That requires not only perfect pitch but also an exceptionally good memory.

While he was thinking, Xie Xinyan and Zhang Yaohong had already gone up to grab the microphone and started singing, and then Lin Yaorong also went up.

Without needing to listen further, Bian Lang decided on this person. As long as the person was competent, they could start working immediately. However, having learned from Cole's previous experience, even if Bian Lang was emotional, he would still have Evelyn do the final vetting. He felt that being fooled once was acceptable, but being fooled a second time would be incredibly stupid!

Bian Lang wouldn't allow himself to make a foolish mistake like this again...

"I'd rather be called crazy than stupid!" For some reason, this lyric popped into Bian Lang's head out of nowhere.

Out of respect, Bian Lang listened attentively. After the two left the stage, he gave an answer that there were no problems and then left the rest to Evelyn.

He was going to talk to Olaf about the producer situation here. Olaf probably had a premonition that he would be overwhelmed, so as soon as Bian Lang asked, he gave the answer directly: "I've already arranged the personnel for you, but you'll need to find a German translator, because that guy's English is very poor, and I doubt you'll be able to understand him."

With that said, Bian Lang had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on. Since the person spoke German, it was probably Olaf's colleague at the DGM branch.

"No problem. If all else fails, I can always ask Wang Wenhui."

“Right, how could I forget him? If he doesn’t have time, his wife should be able to help…” As he spoke, Olaf remembered how Wang Wenhui and his wife had barged into their house and forced their way into a Chinese restaurant, which led to all the events that had happened.

"In your Chinese terms, Wenhui is my mentor..."

“That’s definitely a valid interpretation!” After saying that, the two of them each grabbed another bottle of beer and headed towards a less crowded area.

"Olaf, the tour is over. From your professional perspective, is there anything that needs improvement in this tour?"

After hearing Bian Lang's question, Olaf thought for a moment and said directly, "There's only one big problem, and that's the quality of our backing vocalists. I hope that for every tour in the future, we can have a complete and consistent backing vocal team!"

For many singers, whether or not their backing vocal team is fixed or not isn't that important.

However, if you listen carefully to Dou Ying's live performances when she didn't collaborate with Xu Wei, you'll find that there are still significant differences when you really delve into these things.

If this example isn't authoritative enough, then let's take another example: Brother B's three harmonies.

It was at the 500 Miles Music Festival in a certain year on Earth that Bian Lang and "Secretary Ma," who had just finished their performance, were waiting for Brother B to come on stage.

Then, amidst the shouts of the surrounding fans, Bian Lang heard an unfamiliar name: "Zhu Gele!"

He then asked Secretary Ma, "Who is Zhu Gele?"

"You don't know? It's the backing vocals from Brother B's band!"

Bian Lang was very surprised at the time, feeling that the quality of this group of music fans was really too high, they even dug out the harmonies in Brother B's band and became fans.

It wasn't until later that I learned that besides Jugal, B-Ge's backing vocal group also included two other members. Their voices each had their own unique characteristics, but they all shared one common physical trait: they were all good-looking.

The three members are Zhu Gele, Armani, and Zhang Yiran.

At the "Noise Reduction" B-Brother BJ Unplugged Concert on May 29, 2016, the entire audience was instantly amazed after just two lines of the song "Wedding"!

B's team rearranged the songs before the performance, and with the collaboration of the three backing vocalists, they created many of my favorite versions that I keep playing on repeat on my music player. Of course, finding these songs now requires a little effort.

Let's talk about these three beauties in more detail. Zhu Gele has loved music since childhood. Her voice is clear and ethereal, and she is mainly responsible for the high notes among the three harmonies. If you have heard "Forbidden Game," you will definitely be captivated by her voice. Her harmonies in the intro of the song undoubtedly elevate the song to a higher level.

Aside from her voice, she also seems to exude a cool and aloof aura. However, she is a typical person with a cold exterior but a warm heart; she appears gentle and quiet on the surface, but her heart is full of all sorts of unconventional and unique ideas.

Brother B said, "All I can think about regarding Zhengzhou is you."

A fan said, "All I can think of when I think of Li Zhi is Zhu Gele."

Like Zhu Gele, Armani was one of the earliest members to join Li Zhi's band. She was a beautiful woman with a fresh and clean appearance. At the time, she and Zhu Gele were known as the "left and right channels" and gained a large number of fans with their unique temperament.

Armani's voice is as refreshing as her temperament. She mainly focuses on the mid-range and demonstrated her exceptional harmonies in "Dingxi" at B-Ge's New Year's Eve concert in 16-17.

The latest to join was Zhang Yiran, nicknamed "Xiao Hei," a king-like presence. Although she joined the team later than the two mentioned above, she came in with great momentum.

Also on May 29, 2016, at B-Ge's (BJ's) unplugged concert, Zhang Yiran's performance of "Summer on Shanyin Road" was absolutely explosive. Later, at B-Ge's New Year's Eve concert in 2016-2017, she showcased her high notes to their fullest potential.

From then on, everyone knew that a formidable player had joined Brother B's band.

If the previous version of "Summer on Shanyin Road" was an impenetrable wall, the singer felt repressed, in pain, and breathless.

Then Zhang Yiran's addition to "Summer on Shanyin Road" completely shattered this wall; it was a struggle, an unwillingness, and a heart-wrenching experience.

"Regarding Mr. Li, all I can think of are the three beauties of harmony..."

With that in mind, Bian Lang smiled and gave Olaf his task: "This is your job. Besides the voice, the woman must be beautiful!"

(End of this chapter)