The Desired Effect

Chaos & Cancer Sticks

Monday 4th December- Las Vegas, Nevada

Poppy's first day at battle born was chaotic and tiring. They arrived at 10am, just her Brandon, Jake and Chris the bassist and Jordan the drummer. The team dynamic was unsteady to start with and there was no confusion as to who was in charge of the ship. Brandon knew what he wanted and exactly how he wanted it. Luckily, the team consisted of knowledgeable, hard workers. Despite that, by midday they had hit their first brick wall.

There were issues feeding Chris' bass into the monitors. Poppy was on autopilot, hard at work, her brain was in gear. Practically pushing the men to one side, she set about fixing the problem. Brandon hovered, watching her work, waiting for her to give in. Poppy didn't give in, she kept going back and forth, testing and trying various things.

"We'll just come back to it later Poppy, let's just move on" Chris suggested but Poppy insisted. She heard huffs and sighs from the men as they grew impatient.

"Let me just try this" Poppy announced as she reorganised the wires and they reluctantly allowed her. "Strum it" she directed Chris and he strummed a half hearted chord. "Got it!" She nodded confidently, feeling a sense of pride and relief. She had felt the pressure of Brandon's eyes on her and silently prayed that she could solve the problem. Thankfully, she did and she saw a glimpse of a smirk on Brandon's lips as she stood back from the monitors.
"Nice one Poppy" Brandon quipped, placing a firm but friendly hand in her shoulder, "let's get this one down then break for lunch" he nodded, to Chris who was sat in the live room. So they did exactly that. Within half an hour the gang headed into the office room where fresh chipotle burritos and soda had been brought in by Jake.

Poppy found a space on the sofa, she balanced her burrito on plate and took a sip of her Dr Pepper before the boys piled around her. They were slowly starting to get to know one another and the awkwardness was beginning to subside.
"So Poppy, how many projects have you worked on?" Chris asked, his mouth still containing bits of burrito.
"I've done about 4/5 EPs 2 albums" she replied before taking a bite of her burrito.
"Oh nice, you must've started pretty young then?" Chris continued, seemingly genuinely interested. The others listened intently as they ate.
"Yeah I guess so" poppy shrugged, "I was 15 when I started playing about with it, but things moved fast once I turned 16 or 17. The second album I produced was kaiser chiefs" she explained, looking at the others, seeing their mild interest in the conversation. They all nodded as they recognized the name, particularly Brandon.
"Nice lads" Brandon chuckled lightly making Poppy smile.
"Yeah they are then that got me my first job over here doing ads and stuff, my bread and butter money" she laughed, sounding so experienced despite being so young.
"You know your stuff then?" Jordan laughed from across the room, sat cross legged on the floor.
"You have to don't you in this business?" she shrugged and continued to eat her burrito. The gang then allowed each other to eat in a comfortable silence. Moments later Chris and Jordan headed back into the studio with their sodas to practice the rhythm for the next song to be demoed, leaving Brandon and Poppy alone in the meeting room.
"How you finding it?" Brandon wondered taking the plate from Poppy's lap.
"Good yeah" Poppy nodded unsurely, watching as he removed her plate.
"Good, I'm sorry by the way" he began, discarding their plates into the bin before perching on the sofa arm, "for being a judgmental dick the other night" he clarified. Poppy sat mouth agape, shocked at this offering. "You definitely proved me wrong" he laughed, triggering a smile to form on Poppy's lips, she appreciated his honesty,  something she initially thought he'd be incapable of.
"It's ok" she responded, maybe he wasn't a jerk after all.
"Nah it's not, I've just been feeling stressed recently, I don't like winter" he insisted, as he cracked his knuckles.
"I forgive you then" she quipped, standing herself up. "Come on, let's go make some banging hits!"she chuckled, taking him by the hand with ease and pulling him into the live room. Her confidence catching them both off guard.

Friday 9th December - Las Vegas, Nevada

The gang then knuckled down for the afternoon, already making significant progress. The aim for the first week was to have the majority of the songs demoed but at the rate they were working at, they would have all the demos done. Brandon was impressed by Poppy's work ethic and attitude. By the end of that first day, he had forgotten the significant age gap. She was joking with the boys already. In fact she was a guiding force in the team, keeping them on track and pressing forwards. They worked from 10am each day and worked until 6/7pm, only stopping for a quick lunch and for Chris and Jake, they had frequent cigarette breaks.

Poppy's days had the same routine, except for Friday. It became clear that they would work hard through the week but finish early on Friday and only work Saturday afternoon and Sunday's were off. Poppy was slightly baffled by the routine, she was used to starting late and working late into the night. This steady routine was definitely more appealing to her.

"Oh we don't work Sunday's cos boss man tries to go to church and it gives us a clean break for the following week" Jake announced as Poppy disappeared outside for a cigarette break with Jake and Chris. She didn't want to smoke but she needed the fresh air and to give her tired eyes, a break from the screens.
"He goes to church?" She questioned, as if she'd missed some obvious label.
"Oh yeah, he's a good lil Mormon boy don't you know?" Chris chuckled, taking a puff on his cancer stick.
"He doesn't drink or anything" Jake added, leaning against the fencing outside the studio.
"A rock'n'roll Mormon?" She laughed at the thought, as did the guys.

"I don't know how he does it but he does!" Jake shook his head, gazing across the parking lot. The heat was soothing on Poppy's bare arms, she savoured the sensation and was grateful for the comfort. The 3 of them enjoyed the calmness for a few more moments before heading back into the studio to clear away the equipment.

"Why do you three look so smug?" Commented Jordan who was wandering back into the live room. The trio just shrugged and continued into the monitor room, joining Brandon. "They better have not been wacky backy cigs" Jordan persisted, "it's not even been a week and you're corrupting the kid!". Everyone burst into laughter.
"No, we were just chatting and doing this thing called relaxing, you two should try it" Jake spoke up confidently as everyone sprung back into action. Jake, went back into the office room to deal with important admin things while Jordan and Chris sorted the live room and Brandon assisted Poppy with exporting the tracks and sorting the monitor room.
"Next couple of weeks are gonna be busy" Brandon announced, wrapping up a set of wires as Poppy tapped away at the computer mouse. "We've done the demos so from next week things are probably going to take longer" he added, placing the wires in their box.
"Yeah?" Poppy shrugged, "I know how albums work Brandon" she sassed, turning to  face him in the spinning chair.
"Just saying!" He held his hands up in defence. "I just want you to be prepared, also I've got a few guests showing their faces, um, Carlos said he'd get some guitar down for us" before he could finish his sentence Poppy spoke up.
"Carlos? Not Carlos Alomar?" She stammered, stunned by what she had just heard. Brandon nodded gingerly. "Jheeze talk about name drop Brandon!" She laughed, "I'll be on my best behavior then!"
"You better be!" Brandon chuckled at the sight of an overly excited Poppy. That was all Poppy could talk about for the next 20 minutes as they packed up. Then she began to talk about how much she adored Bowie, it wasn't long until Brandon also joined her in showering praise upon the man.
"Guys we're done on this side" Poppy spoke through the intercom, which promoted Jordan to respond by showing them two fingers, indicating they'd be 2 minutes. Brandon and Poppy grabbed their things and slowly made their way out, flicking off the lights and power as they went.
"We're having a bit of a BBQ later on Poppy, you should come round!" Brandon declared as they piled out of the studio door and into the heat of the Vegas afternoon sun.
"Sure, what time?" She responded as they piled into their respective cars. Brandon drove a beaten up pick up truck, Jake had a Harley and Chris drove a cherry red Honda Civic, he also gave Jordan and Poppy a lift each day. It was aptly nicknamed the hit wagon.
"Come round for half 5" he smiled as he hopped into his truck.
"Take beers!" Jordan quipped, causing Brandon to roll his eyes before they all settled into their modes of transport and pulled off in the direction of home.