Stars' Song: Clef

Chapter 8 : Yellow

8-1

"I can't come up with anything!" Keith screamed, hitting his forehead on the wall. He covered his entire mug using his hands, his mumbles muffled by his palms.

We've been brainstorming inside the garage for an hour but to no avail. Considering the numbers displayed on my phone, it's plausibly dark outside.

The garage walls were shielded with black foam—some spots had no covering at all. My dad bought these foams to avoid noise complaints. There were two sizeable amplifiers next to each other on one side of the room. These amplifiers were locally made, lowering their price tag. The same goes for the bass amplifier placed next to a drum set belonging to Keith. After we established the band, we helped Keith bring each piece of the set here, even though he would be fine transferring each piece one by one. The last piece of the puzzle was the microphone held up by a stand. The gears were positioned in a manner where we could face each other around a circle.

I am inexperienced when it comes to the technical aspect of audio. I knew my way around guitars and amplifiers, but I had no idea how this microphone worked or what that thing with numerous sliders and knobs did. I know most of the technologies here were owned by Keith, and I left all the intricacies to the three. Equalizers? Compression? My monkey brain can't handle gobbledygook. Hehe, mic go reeee.

Besides the garage door, another way to enter this makeshift studio was through a door which led to the living room. Next to that entryway was a couch where Ronin sat. In front of it was a small table mostly used to lay your feet on. Whenever I find myself here, I always appreciate how spacious this garage was. Shelves were installed into the wall parallel to the garage door containing cables, picks, two microphones, and other miscellaneous items. Half of these weren't even mine. Wait, did they just make this garage a dumpsite of their things?

"I have an idea," Cyril piped up.

The three of us directed our eyes at him at once. All we needed to do was kneel in front of him. Our savior!

"Really?" Keith focused on Cyril with a curious expression, achieving the fastest transition from insane to normal.

"Since the band's name is Pollux, let's choose a song about stars. Pollux is a star, right?"

Keith meandered towards Cyril and pulled him into a hug. "Cy, you smart bastard..." Keith whispered while feigning tears.

"Not really. We've been Pollux since we were first years. I don't know why we haven't thought about it sooner." Cyril gave him one pat on the back before pushing him off.

Ronin brought down his feet from the table, nearly bumping the laptop off. His fingers pressed on the keyboard as I sat beside him to accompany him in his search. Written on the search bar were the words 'songs about stars'. How straightforward.

"You're the one who's singing, so you have the honors of picking the song," Ronin said as we stared at the screen.

"Let's go for something calm this time," Cyril suggested, hitting the cymbals with his slothful index finger. "Or maybe a song that's calm at the start, then slowly builds up or something."

"Right, right." Ronin scrolled through the options. "How about All Star?"

"What? What's All Star?" Keith's head slanted.

"Somebody once told me the-"

"Stop. I know now, thanks. No, we're not performing All Star." Keith interrupted Ronin's singing before it got any worse. I'm with Keith on this one. I've heard this song far too many times.