U-N-I Ch. 26

"Mark, come on, get in here, we gotta go soon!" Rob called from the bathroom in our L.A hotel suite.

We were now six months into the tour. We had a couple of days off in Los Angeles before playing two gigs at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.We had arrived on Tuesday and it was now Thursday September 19, the day we were to be interviewed by Ellen Degeneres.

"Just give me a half hour, if I don't finish this now, I'm gonna regret it. I only need like five minutes to get ready."

"More like fifty!" he joked.

He walked over to me and looked at the many sheets of paper that were scattered on the floor all around me to find a spot where to sit.

"Why don't you make Jordan happy and take him with you," I said as he crunched down next to me, "and then I can spend the whole day writing music and you'll make me happy too!" I smiled, knowing that trying to get out of it was a losing battle. Plus if I was honest with myself, I wanted to go just as much as I wanted to stay.

"This is so good, can I play the intro to you? Just the intro, cause I've changed it a bit!" I asked.

"Sure," he said and I began strumming my acoustic.

"This is brilliant babe!" he said admiringly when I finished playing. "I gotta admit you really are riding a creative wave since we've been here. I'd love to tell you to stay here and keep writing -- but I also know that you'll have more time later," he said and kissed my cheek.

"Please, can you get ready? I really want you to come with me."

I smiled.

"You have to get out of this room, it's Ellen, it's gonna be fun," he insisted then held out his hand to help me up.

"Yeah, of course, I'll come with you," I said as I put my guitar down and grabbed his outstretched hand.

---

A few hours later, we were both walking on the set of the Ellen show.

Rob hugged Ellen first.

"It's so good to have you here," she told him, "it's been so long!"

"Yes, it's good to be back," he responded.

Then I gave her a quick hug as well.

"Oh my god, you smell so good," she said to me with her usual cheerfulness.

I smiled before sitting down next to Rob on the sofa.

"See? Told you showering was a good idea," he smiled and winked.

"Oh, really, 'cos you don't normally shower?" she asked playfully.

"Ellen, we've been in L.A since Tuesday and it's the first time he's left our hotel room. I almost came here with Jordan, our bass player!"

"Oh!" she said and looked at me, "Well, thank you for being here, I'm glad you decided to come!"

"You're welcome," I simply replied.

"So, why won't you leave the hotel room?" she asked me, intrigued.

"Ghosts," Rob said matter-of-factly.

"Ghosts?" she repeated, looking at him.

"That's what he says," Rob shrugged, amused.

I smiled. "Yeah, I can't explain it. Ever since we've walked into the room, I haven't been able to do anything else besides write music. There's such an amazing energy. I don't know who's written music in there, or who died in there...."

"You should see the state of the room," Rob interrupted me, "it's like a song writer exploded in there." he said and I laughed out loud, "and I can't let room service in 'cause he won't let me!'

"Why won't you let him?" she asked with a grin.

"Cause they might throw something away," I answered, as if it was obvious why.

"Why would they throw anything away?" Rob said.

I turned to him,

"They might mess with my system. There'll be nobody messing with the system."

He gazed at me with a smirk for a second,

"Wait, have you just quoted Monica Geller?" he asked.

"I have. See, I love that you got that reference," I told him and he smiled proudly, then spoke to Ellen.

"I almost shared a picture this morning."

"You should have!" she exclaimed, "Now, we wanna see!"

The audience cheered.

"Hang on," he said, pulled out his phone and after just a few seconds posted the picture.

I laughed,

"You gotta be kidding me."

"So how many songs have you written?" Ellen asked me.

"I don't know, three, maybe four," I answered.

"In two days?" she exclaimed, impressed.

"And I've played pool," Rob said nonchalantly.

I put my hand on his shoulder and laughed.

"I don't know what he needs me for," he said to Ellen jokingly.

"To tell him when it's time to shower," Ellen told Rob.

"We're sound-checking at the Rose Bowl later so we're definitely not going back to the hotel."

I shrugged,

"Sleep is overrated."

"You're pulling an all-nighter?"

I didn't answer as the photograph appeared on the screen behind Ellen.

"Oh ok! I see what you mean." she said to Rob, "So, if I look up the word 'creativity' in the dictionary, I'm sure I'll findthis picture!"

"Or organised mess," I interrupted.

"That's right, Monica!" Rob teased playfully and everyone laughed.

"Aw," Ellen said happily, "I'm so glad you're here. I've missed having you guys here! Haven't we missed them?" she asked the audience.

Rob leaned closer to her,

"Yeah, well, you might see a lot more of us, cause apparently we're moving to L.A...indefinitely."

"Julia Roberts? Notting Hill?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Yeah. I gotta say, our references are on point today," I smiled and we high-fived before I added, "Wouldn't that be cool though?"

"What? Moving to L.A?" he asked skeptically.

"Yeah!"

"What happened to 'we're never leaving London?'"

"We might have to, you know, for creativity's sake," I said and Ellen smiled at us.

He huffed a laugh,

"Alright, I'll tell you what, if you get one more reference, then we can come back and rent that room again."

I furrowed my brows,

"Like, when?"

He gave it a thought but Ellen spoke before he did,

"Yeah, cause you'll keep touring til the end of 2020, won't you?" she asked.

"We will," Rob nodded, doing a bit of promotion, "We'll finish the fourth leg of the tour in New Zealand and Australia at the end of this year. Plus Dylan, our piano player, is getting married there right after our last show of the tour," he said, kinda whispering, as if it was a secret only for Ellen to know, "and then we're gonna take a small break before we start touring South America next April. Then we'll play Europe, Canada and the States again."

"And we're releasing an EP in a few weeks too, so we'll incorporate new songs into the shows," I added.

"Really, you are? You never stop writing new music, do you?"

I laughed. "No, I don't think the process ever stops. We're always motivated to get better and work harder and be the best we can be and we love it, so - there's always new ideas -- or even ideas that've been left behind, which need to be picked up and worked on. When we're recording, there's always songs that get finished but they don't make it to the album for one reason or another, and we had plenty of those to make a great EP."

"Yeah," Rob confirmed. "I don't think we've ever walked into the studio with absolutely nothing. When we start recording an album, we always have ideas and then we always try to go further in the music that we're doing and be as progressive as possible."

"So when this tour ends, will you go back straight into the studio and start recording your next album?"

"Oh, we don't know," I replied. "We don't see that far ahead. It's difficult to say what we'll do. It might be something very different."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because, with this tour, and our last album, and the EP we're about to release," I began explaining, talking with my hands a lot, "it really feels like we've come to the end of a chapter -- like we've accomplished what we had set to do when we started the band. You know, we got to where we'd always wanted to be and so now, whatever we do next, it will feel like the beginning of a new chapter, and it's kind of a blank page for now."

Rob nodded and added,

"But for now, we just want to enjoy the tour. We're having so much fun that we really don't want it to end."

"I bet you are. The shows are so incredible," she nodded. "if you haven't been to one of their shows yet, then I highly recommend that you do, you're gonna be dazzled," she said to her audience, which responded enthusiastically.

"It must be so much fun standing up there playing your music," she said.

"Oh yeah it is!" I answered. "The feeling before we walk on stage is always so intense, it's a great moment, it's such a thrill!"

"For you it is!" Rob joked. "For me, it's more like a wave of anxiety washes over me just before walking on," he said and paused.

"But yeah then when the lights go down, it's like something whooshes through you and it feels great, there's nothing like it. It's a very addictive feeling -- to play live, which is why we keep adding more dates for 2020, we can't get enough of it!"

"Yeah, 2020 is gonna be another great year!" I said.

Rob locked eyes with me and then said, "plus we'll be turning thirty in 2020." He wiggled his brows, "that means 'huge party'!"

"Do you remember when we were 20," I said to him, "and it was 2010 and we were like, oh, wouldn't it have been cool to turn twenty in 2020!"

He laughed,

"Yeah! It would've been cool. But 2010 was still a great year too!"

"It was deadly," Rob said, reminiscing.

"Deadly?" Ellen asked, not sure what he meant.

Rob nodded,

"Yeah, I speak Irish. Do you not have that word?"

"No," she said.

"Mortel!" I added.

"Yeah," Rob snapped his fingers. "same word in French."

"I'm confused, I speak American," Ellen said and we laughed.

"But yeah, everything was so fun, and new, and exciting," Rob said looking me in the eye.

"Yeah, it was an awesome year, good memories," I confirmed.

She smiled,

"I love how you guys keep being amazed by your success and your life, I think that's a real quality."

"Yes of course we're amazed." Rob replied enthusiactically. "You know why we're amazed? Because it's amazing!" he laughingly exclaimed.

She laughed,

"Even after all this time of being a band, are you still as close as you were at the beginning, the five of you? It hasn't changed?"

Rob answered before I could,

"No, no, we're good. It's actually something that we've understood from the start about our band, that we all need to like each other, and we all need to be happy to function as a band, musically, and as a group of friends. Because a couple of years ago, we used to work so much, touring, then going straight back into the studio, writing music that wasn't any good because we were just trying to make a record that people expected of us - and that's when we started to lose it a bit..."

I nodded and continued,

"Yeah, and now we're trying really hard to make sure that we write music just for ourselves and that no one hits their breaking point in the band... Like with the tour we're doing now we're really trying to figure out how long we can tour before one of us starts to burn out; like, how many shows we can do in a row, for Rob's voice too."

Rob spoke too,

"Yeah, after over 10 years of doing this job we've accumulated knowledge about our limits, especially on tour, and what we need to do to remain friends."

"And to stay married," I joked and we laughed.

Ellen smiled,

Do you find that it's an advantage to be a couple and to experience this together?"

"Uh -- that depends I guess," Rob said. "It's been difficult at times but it's also made us a lot stronger as a couple."

"Yeah, definitely," I continued, "and now, as a band we just try to make sure everyone's heard and listened to and we communicate a lot more than we used to, and it works because -- even though we all have different personalities, we have the same ambitions, and goals, and at the end of the day, when it comes to the band, we're as one."

"Are there groups within the bands though? Like, the two of you on one side and...."

"No there are no groups," Rob shook his head, interrupting the question.

"But if there were though," I shook my head no with a chuckle, "it wouldn't be what you think. It'd be more like me and Dylan on one side, like being super conscientious and working hard..."

"And me and Jordan on the other," Rob continued, knowing what I'd say, "just having fun and ruining all your hard work."

I nodded, "and Damon would be kind of navigating the middle with Rachel, wouldn't he?"

"Yeah...," Rob nodded, letting out a small chuckle. "So thereare groups."

Everyone laughed and after a short pause, she spoke,

"Is it hard to date Robbie Myers?" Ellen asked me.

"Uh -- no, I, I don't -- I don't date him," I mumbled, shaking my head.

Rob laughed and Ellen looked at me with a confused look.

"You don't?"

"No, he's not allowed around me," I said.

"You broke up with him, didn't you?" Rob asked me.

"I did, I did break up with him," I nodded.

"He has to stay out of the relationship now," Rob joked.

She laughed and seemed to understand what we meant.

So, that's it!" she clasped her hands together and gave us a long stare. "You guys are a married couple now!"

"We are indeed!" Rob nodded, smiling.

She smiled back at him,

"That wedding," she said with a happy sigh, "Can we watch it?" she asked, "Have you seen it?" she asked the audience, "Can we watch it?" she asked us again, kind of begging.

"No, we can't!" I said while everyone was still clapping.

"No? We can't?" Ellen repeated, "He said we can't." she pouted, "It was beautiful, so, congratulations. You brought tears to everyone's eyes, you certainly brought tears to my eyes."

"Yeah, thank you," I said kindly.

"Look, we're all so glad that you two are happy and married, and now, evidently, you're gonna continue producing music and making your millions of fans very happy."

"That's the plan," I agreed.

After a short pause, she said,

"Now, let's talk about the wedding for a moment! Because I was actually very surprised, and I think everyone was, that it happened the way that it did."

"Yeah, so was I," Rob told her with a grin.

"So were you?!" she exclaimed with a small laugh, placing her hand over his, "Was it really a surprise for you, you weren't expecting it at all?" Rob shook his head no and she continued, "Which was incredible. Plus, you two usually keep your relationship quite private and I know you like to control what you share on social media and you're uncomfortable with flaunting your relationship in public so it was - wonderful to be able to witness such a special moment in your life," she told us with a lot of emotion.

"Yes," Rob nodded, putting his arm around my shoulders, "it was a very special moment for the both of us and we wouldn't change a thing," he said.

He placed a small kiss on my cheek and squeezed my shoulder before taking his arm away.

"Yes, It was wonderful. And can I just ask? Sorry if I'm spoiling," she said to her audience then spoke to us, "I've especially loved that you had a ribbon wrapped and tied around your hands. Was that an Irish thing to do? I'd never seen that before."

"Yes, it's actually called a hand-fasting," I answered, "and it's, like, an ancient Celtic tradition."

"Yes, he just modernized it a bit," Rob added with a grin, since a rainbow ribbon had been used.

"And the song," she said talking to the audience, "so beautiful and unique. Might just surpass 'Marry You' by Bruno Mars," she said with a smile.

"Without the dancing then," I joked.

"And the theatre too!" she exclaimed. "I have to stop enumerating everything that was so beautiful about that wedding..."

"Yeah, I would've never done this in a huge arena," I said to her.

"Of course, no, it was the perfect place, and it's a beautiful theater - in your home town, too," Ellen said.

"Yeah. We don't play small theatres that often anymore," I said, looking at Rob. "But we love it though. The sound and the atmosphere is so different in a smaller venue. I really wanted the audience to feel like they were a part of it, you know."

"I think they were. They definitely were," she smiled and then she announced,

"So, now that you're married -- and if it's alright with you, and since you two are, in my opinion, way too secretive...," she said jokingly and Rob laughed.

"Well, I know that you get a lot of paparazzi attention," she added, "which you understandably resent, I understand that but -- if it's alright with you," she repeated, "I'd like to play the Newlywed Game."

"The Newlywed Game, really?" Rob said again. "Come on Ellen, you know us. We do think it's important to keep some stuff to ourselves but we can definitely talk too much."

"Yeah, I know. Should be fun," she said in a way that implied she wasn't giving us a choice.

I loved that woman. She handed us a pad and a black pen and kept talking, giving us no time to argue.

"So, what I have here," she said, holding white cards, "are things that your fans have always wanted to know but never dared ask and I'm just gonna place these out in front of you and ask you to read the questions aloud to each other."

"Alright," Rob said, "How many vetoes can we use?"

"Uh," she thought. "one!"

"That's it? Jesus, we're in trouble, babe," he said to me as he picked out the first card and read,

"Who proposed to whom?"

We wrote the answer and turned the boards around. Rob had written,

''Me, three times!"

"You proposed three times?" Ellen asked Rob.

"Yeah, I'm persistent," he joked.

"Does that mean you said no twice?" she asked me.

I laughed,

"Technically, I didn't say no. Plus, he didn't actually say the words 'will you marry me?' the first time."

"Well, yeah, cause I knew you'd freak out," he laughed.

I chuckled,

"Yeah, I wasn't ready," I told Ellen playfully as I picked out another white card on which the question was, 'How many tattoos do I have?'

We wrote seven. We actually had both gotten one more just a few weeks before.

We then continued answering questions such as, "Who said I love you first?", "What's my favorite song to cover?'', "What's my idea of a perfect date night?" "What's my favourite drink?" "Who was my first celebrity crush?"

Rob looked thoughtful as he tried to find an answer to that last question.

"I wish I'd paid attention when you were talking to me about girls," he said with both regret and playfulness.

I laughed out loud.

He turned his board. He had written Kylie Minogue.

I nodded. I did fancy her.

"Yeah. Could've been your first clue," he joked.

I nodded with a laugh as he picked a new card and read out,

"Um, what do I fancy most about you?"

Rob smiled and thought about it for a second. As we began writing on the board, I leaned closer to him,

"Do not say my butt."

He turned to look at me,

"Ohhh," he complained and erased his board with the back of his hand.

Everyone laughed,

"Kidding," he said, laughing with them.

I thought about what Rob fancied about me and what he might write and then I wrote the word "Passion."

He turned his board around, he'd written 'Creativity', which was pretty much the same.

"Creativity, uh?" Ellen gave a slight frown and tilted her head. "Well, we saw the room..."

Rob laughed,

"Yeah, definitely creativity. All jokes aside, I love how creative he gets. There are many, many reasons why I love him," he said, looking at me briefly, "and I think that his creative side is kind of a bonus, but at the same time, I'm not sure I could be with someone who's not creative and passionate, 'cause that creative passion is something I'm super attracted to. I mean, really, I could watch him play and write for hours. I'm like... hypnotized. I love that."

We looked at each other with a smile.

"That's so sweet," Ellen said to me, "is he gonna get it tonight?"

"Yeah, he's gonna get it tonight!" I confirmed, sniggering

"What would you have answered?" she asked me.

"Uhhm..., probably something like 'Charisma'." I said, gazing at Rob, "He's got like a kind of energy about him that I love, a magnetic sort of energy.... which is why people can't help but love him I think. He's got one of those personalities that draws people in... and because he's got such a big heart and he's funny and he makes me laugh and well, many other personal reasons...,' I concluded.