"You stink, all of you, holy shit!" I exclaimed, my nose scrunched as we all clambered into the van.
"Oh, shut up!" Taylor retorted, "You weren't belting yourself out on a drum kit!" she defended.
"Did you guys see the way I flipped my bass, total Pete Wentz vibes!" Mads butted in, grinning widely.
"I don't know about the whole odor situation with you guys, but I'm on a keyboard. I don't move around a lot, which means I don't sweat as much," Alex said, smirking.
"Fine, shut it. I want you all cleaned up because an small interviewer wanted to interview you guys after the show around 5. We have 30 minutes to get ready and we'll meet them at the back of the venue. Now go!" I surprised them, watching their faces light up at the mention of their first ever band interview.
Everyone panicked as we passed around a package of baby wipes, the lavender fragrance filling up the stuffy van. I laugh as I watched Nino douse everyone in cheap body spray. Soon enough, everyone had wiped themselves to the best of their ability, most of their body odor gone. I glanced at my watch, 15 minutes had gone by.
"We all ready?" I asked, getting out of the van to light a cigarette.
"Yup! Let's go!" Mads jumped out of the van and hooked arms with me as the rest of the band followed.
We made our way to the back of the venue as my eyes landed on the interviewer, who was setting up their camera.
"Hey! Are you Mitch?" I shouted, catching the man's attention.
He raised one hand to greet us, "Hey! Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you guys."
He shook hands with all the entire band, including Bert and I. He gestured for the band to stand against the wall as he flicked the camera on, signaling that the interview had started.
"Hello and welcome to an interview with one of the newest bands in the scene, Broken Clocks!" Mitch explained enthusiastically, standing excitedly next to the band.
"Hello," Nina greeted politely while everyone else waved towards the camera.
"So, let's get started. Can everyone introduce themselves?" Mitch started, reading off the small white paper clutched in his hands.
Everyone stood next to each other, Nina was first, then Nino, Mads, Tay, and lastly Alex. Mitch gave the microphone to Nina and explained for each of them to pass it to the other once they finished their own introductions.
"Hello, I'm Nina and I'm the vocalist and rhythm guitarist," Nina smiled warmly, speaking softly into the mic.
They passed it down to Nino, who gratefully accepted it, enthusiastically speaking to the camera.
"Hey everyone, my name's Nino! I play lead guitar and I'm super excited to be here and doing this!" she exclaimed, a wide smile plastered onto her face.
"Hello, my name's Mads. I play bass," Mads spoke in her british accent, her cheeks slightly red from the cold air.
"What's up? I'm Taylor but everyone calls me Tay. I play drums," Tay said cooly, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
"Hey, I'm Alex. I play keyboards," Alex said quietly, still nervous about being in front of cameras.
I caught his eye and gave him a thumbs-up, along with an encouraging smile. He blew a kiss at me before returning his focus back to the interviewer as Mitch began to ask questions.
"Alright, thank you. So, how did you guys form your band?" he asked curiously.
Mads was the first to start speaking as Mitch held the mic up to her mouth, "We all met online because of our mutual interests in music and we got closer as we talked. We've been friends for about six years and it's always been our dream to form a band. We all moved to the UK and started off doing our own little things before just ultimately deciding and just saying fuck it, let's start a band and see where it takes us!" Mads explained wonderfully, my heart warming as nostalgia filled up my body.
Bert had his arm slung over my shoulder as we watched the rest of the interview, laughing and smiling at the silly things they said.
😇
The interview had finally finished after a couple of hours of filming, the interviewer thanking us multiple times.
"Thank you again, we really appreciate it. This was our first interview and we've had tons of fun," Nina thanked the man, shaking his hand once more.
"It was a pleasure and I hope to be able to do it again sometime in the future," Mitch smiled warmly.
I stuck myself in their conversation, "That would be rad, do you have a business card I would be able to take?" I asked.
He handed me a card as I nodded in acknowledgement, leading the band away from him as we say our final exchanges.
We made our way back to the van, the sun already almost set as darkness overtook the daylight. We all stuffed ourselves in the back seats of the van, sitting around each other. I shivered slightly as the air in the van was cold. I stretched myself towards the tiny heater we bought, flicking it on so it could warm us up. Nino wrapped herself around me to conserve some body heat.
"Look at these shots I got tonight" Bert flipped through the photos on his camera, all of us cramming our heads together to look at the small screen. We all gave him encouragement on his photography skills, all of us later settling in to get some rest.
10 minutes later, Mads and Tay had already fallen asleep, Nina edging closer to joining them. The van was dead quiet, the only sound being heard were the pixel sounds coming from the game Nino was playing on her phone. I twirled a curly strand of her hair between my fingers, my eyes threatening to shut. Bert clicked at his laptop, him and Alex having a quiet conversation about something I couldn't be bothered about.
Today was a successful day in my eyes; a great show and our first interview. It would only get better from here. My eyes finally gave in as I fell asleep, Nino still laying on top of me.
this chapter was co-written by nino <3
