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Roger 1971
Just great, it was. The blasted van broke down on the side of the road. Excellent. "It's counterclockwise, I think you'll find, John." Brian said, finally stepping outside of the van. By the looks of it, we had a flat. Fred, John, Maeve and myself were already outside, standing around the van. Brian walked up next to me. John casted a dirty look in Bri's direction.
"Oh, is it?" He asked sarcastically. He was crouched down in front of the tire, attempting to remove it. "Thank you Brian, would you like to do it?" He said, flicking the wrench in his direction. "Please, feel free."
"No, no, no. You're doing a good job." He said, putting his hands up. I couldn't picture Brian fixing a tire. That would be a sight.
"We sold out every pub and uni south of Glasgow, and I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere eating a ham sandwich!" I said, waving my sandwich around. I looked over at Maeve, who cracked a smile at my comment. She hit my shoulder playfully.
"Trouble is we're just not thinking big enough." Big enough? Freddie made me crazy. What was he talking about?
"What've you got in mind, Fred?" Brian asked, looking over at our frontman. Good question, Brian.
"An album." He said, looking down at the little notepad of his where he wrote all his songs. He must've been absolutely mad. Yes, we've been doing alright with pubs and universities, but we couldn't afford an album with that.
John stood up from the ground and the tire, rubbing his hands on his frontside. "We can't default an album." And he was right, obviously.
"Oh, we'll find a way." Freddie said, looking around at the lot of us. "How much do you think we can get for this van?" He said, referring to the one he was leaning up against.
"I hope you're joking!" I spat. He really was mad. Thinking we could sell the van! Crazy he was.
"I mean..." Maeve piped up, looking at all of us cautiously. "I think an album would be great for us. We could finally be known outside of each individual gig. We could be played on records wherever there were players. This is good for us."
"See? Maeve thinks big enough!" He said, now standing behind her and shaking her shoulders. "We need to sell the van."
"You're joking! The both of you!" I said, taking the last bite of my ham sandwich.
Freddie made his way into the van, standing halfway out of it. "C'mon boys! And Maeve. Let's go make an album."
~~~
You could hear the smack of all that money hit the man's hand. Freddie handed it over without any problem, looking satisfied with what he had done. I looked to Maeve, who was standing beside me. My eyes got big, gesturing to Freddie. Can you believe this guy? She must have figured out what I was trying to say because she smiled a little and shrugged. It was almost like we were connected or something. But we weren't. "That's three months wages."
"And a perfectly good van." I piped up, looking at all the money we had coughed up.
Freddie hit me gently on the check, reaching over Maeve who ducked out of the way. "Don't be so dramatic darling, you're recording an album tonight!" He waved his finger at me, pushing his way through and clapping. We all looked at each other with curious looks.
We had been in the studio for a good forty-five minutes. We had been recording all sorts of things. Mary and her friend sat on the sofa in the booth, while the rest of us gathered around the table, Maeve included. She had told me before she wasn't a huge fan of hanging around with the groupies. She preferred working with me. Then she corrected to the band. I wish she hadn't. "Don't you think I sound like shit?" Freddie exclaimed.
"No, it's good." Brian added.
"You sound great, Freddie." Maeve chimed in.
"Can we try it again?" Freddie asked. Again? God, we'd been going at it forever.
"Sure... yep, sure." The man in the booth said, getting ready to start again. "It's your money."
"Literally." John muttered, getting a small laugh out of Maeve. Freddie hopped back in the booth and began to sing the song again. We called it Seven Seas of Rhye. Maeve and Freddie wrote it. It was good, but missing something.
I sat myself on the sofa beside the other girl. I wasn't sure of her name, but she had dark, black hair. I leaned my arm against the top part of the couch and she immediately got up under it, sitting so that we were touching. "Hi, Roger." She said, smiling at me. I smiled back at her. I didn't think much of it but when I looked back up at the table, Maeve was looking over. Her eyes were sad, and her lips pursed together. She quickly turned and faced where Freddie was singing, not looking back. Shit.
"Sounds a lot better." John mentioned as Freddie entered the booth again.
"We need to get experimental." Maeve said, her voice not sounding as cheery as usual. It was almost cold now.
Freddie spoke up. "Try bouncing us left and right for the ahh ahh's." He gestured to the sound man.
Maeve looked over at Freddie, her hands resting on the sound board. "That... that's genius." I saw a smile come to her lips. It was beautiful.
Brian and Freddie's hands bounced back and forth from left to right. "Now dead center for the last!" Brian added. I watched Maeve move in closer to the boys.
I stood up, shooting my hand in the air. "Then blast it!" And we did! That was it. And we got experimental. Tambourines, coins, trashcans, kettle bells and more. That was the missing piece was experimentation.
Maeve kept catching my eye from inside the booth. She was sitting in the chair next to the sound booth man. Her hair tied up with stands hanging about. She was speaking to the man, probably giving comments. She cared. It was her band too, in a way. I locked eyes with her. Her eyes were cold. Fuck, Roger. Fuck you.
