The Hidden Chords of Jasper David Chapter 11

Being followed by "paparazzi"

Six weeks and 104 shows later, we were back in the UK. This was the most successful tour. We don't realize how successful it is because we are so used to everything going well. But other than the Beatles, no other pop band can do what we do. One of the reasons is that we have no competitors. There's no other band in America that's similar to us. Seattle bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, their songs were all about death and drugs. Since "The New Kid," there has been nothing that can be called pop music in America. At that time we were only happy about the box office of the concert. We don’t understand the significance of what we do.

But the success of "Hot Girls" shows that there's a young audience out there who wants to have fun but isn't being tapped. It was only after we became successful that pop started to take off in America, with people like Brittney Spears and Ensink. We opened the door for such action.

In addition to the Beatles, some other successful bands in the United States were heavy metal bands, such as Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. But they have a reputation for bad behavior. We are the only band touring the United States to complete all shows without canceling a single one. When we flew straight from Dallas to Heathrow, I felt like I was fulfilling my papal mission and K!ssing the earth before returning to heaven. But I decided to wait until I got through customs and K!ss David.

The tour is not over yet, there are still a few scheduled shows in the UK, but I am exhausted. We never work less than sixteen hours a day. The symptoms of nausea have stopped now, but they have not stopped in the past three months: nausea in the morning, nausea in the afternoon, nausea in the evening, and the worst part is nausea before going on stage.