How can you have a Garage band without a garage?

[Cameron Tyler]

Cameron had seen the flyers posted in the door about some kind of band audition. Not the marching band kind of band, but a real band. She'd been distracted all day just daydreaming about the idea that she could actually play in a real band--with people! She'd been dreaming of this since she could remember seeing her first guitar. It had been a long road since that day, but she had made it at last to something that spark excitement in her.

As soon as her last class had ended, she had all but sprinted back to her newly assigned room to grab her guitar and head for the auditorium. Sure, she would be an hour early, but she could spend the time warming up. She grabbed her electric guitar and the portable speaker and turned to leave. She saw the picture of her mom on the wall next to her music gear. It was one of her favorite pictures of her mom, a promo picture from her first CD release. She was so pretty in her rock and roll gear, a leather jacket over a party dress, standing in fog while cradling a guitar. Cam touched the photo with quiet reverence, feeling the usual ache inside but a new feeling blended into it--hope. 

"I'm really on my way now, Mom......" she whispered. "Help me do great, ok?"

She was carrying a lot for her petite frame, but she finally managed to get to the empty auditorium. After a couple minutes of enjoying the silence of the huge room, she hooked up her guitar and began to limber up her fingers. After a few minutes she started to play something immediately recognizable.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aELNtCl9J_0

[Lucas Blacke]

In Flames was blasting through his earbuds as Luke walked past a flyer about some kind of audition. Upon further inspection as well as removing a single bud he noticed it was for a band audition, he instantly brightened up and turned off his music player, plastering a smile on his face at the mere thought of people coming to see him play. He'd liked music, always have, but never really got into making his own music despite knowing how to play every instrument flawlessly.

..the voice wasn't seen as an instrument, was it?

For some reason he was more amused by this than anything and wondered if he could do it. No, he knew he could, he just needed to have an instrument and a video and he could play like he was born to. But the downside was that he had no time to run to the store to buy a guitar, even if he did have the money for it. There was no real.. wait, what was the start of this thing? Upon reading the entire pamphlet he saw that it was going to commence in about one hour, plenty of time to go get an instrument if he so desired.

He was torn. Was it a good idea to go buy an instrument on a whim? It was in the school auditorium, it was pretty much implied they had instruments there, though auditioning for a band did ask for someone who owned an instrument. He shrugged that thought off and figured that he could buy an instrument later, he could always just go and see if anyone wanted his talents for blatant copying and would surely fit into any position they required.

He walked over to the auditorium and heard something he recognized coming through the door, stairway to heaven.. for some reason he loved that song and found himself looking up a video of it as he opened the doors to see a girl playing the tune to the amazing song. She had a guitar in her hands, an acoustic one. Luke acknowledged her with a nod, feeling quite naked since he was standing there without an instrument, instead holding his phone like he was going to be playing that.

Suddenly he had an idea as he eyed the girl on the stage. ''Please don't stop.'' He said with a smile. ''I'll just be a minute.'' He added as his fingers went to youtube on his phone and typed in 'stairway to heaven bass'. He opened a video and muted his phone. Obviously he just needed movement, not anything else. After the video was done he scoured the room for places where the instruments would be stored and opened closets left and right before noticing a bass guitar on stage, right behind the girl.

He smirked and approached, his body telling the girl to keep calm, he wasn't going to hurt her. She looked younger than anyone else he had been hanging out with, and if she hadn't been playing the song like a pro Luke would have deemed her childish.

He went up to the stage and moved past the girl to pick up the bass. Without hooking it up he struck one chord, interrupting the girl in her play. She looked at him almost as if she kknew how to play better than him. This was probably true, but she wouldn't be able to play more precise.

''Lets take it from the top, okay?'' He said with a smile as he clumsily dropped the bass to his waist and started plucking away the intro to stairway to heaven.

Before long the girl joined in.

[Deleted]

Marcus too had seen the fliers around about the audition for a new band. He’d heard rumors that there was another band being formed among some of the female students, but he didn’t know exactly what was going on with that. And he was sure that these weren’t the same people. And he was kind of excited that someone was trying to start up such a thing. Marcus was too shy (yeah right) to initiate starting a band by himself.

He was excited for it. Wait, we already said that. Well, he was excited, so much so that Marcus had even set the alarm on his phone for 1 hour before and 1/2 hour before just to ensure that he made it to the audition in time and didn’t get preoccupied with something else while he was waiting. Fifteen minutes ’til showtime and Marcus was walking out the door with his guitar, along with a small amp, and heading down to the auditorium to join in on the fun.

When he reached the auditorium, he stopped and listened. Oh no? Was he late? Because that was definitely Zeppelin he was hearing and that was quite possibly the ideal song to an audition(though personally, Marc was going to play Guns and Roses). He took a deep breath and dared to venture inside, despite how rude it might seem to interrupt their playing.

He kept his head down, avoiding eye contact, as he walked down the center aisle of the large room, his guitar case slung over his left shoulder. They were…really good. Marcus’ hopes of getting into the gig were starting to drop.

Marcus lifted his head, finally daring to see his competition. His jaw dropped as he saw….

“Ahhh!!” he exclaimed loudly, taking a nervous step backwards. He cringed and slapped his hand over his mouth.

SHIT!! It was that dude from the other day, the misogynist with the Mountain Dew problem and the kissing and then s/he hit him!

Marcus froze, staring at the other boy. Did he recognize him? Oh, god, he hoped he didn’t recognize him. “Sorry….I didn’t mean to interrupt your…sorry.” Marcus lowered his head again.

[Cameron Tyler]

After some initial missteps with the first arrival (why would she be afraid of a guy in the heart of the school?), the two young people actually began to find a groove and make some good music. Cam gave the guy on bass a nod of approval as they built to the crescendo of the classic song. For only two instruments, they wee doing a good job of filling the auditorium with some hefty sounds. Cameron closed her eyes and smiled beatifically as they played. To her, this was heaven. Playing by yourself was cool, but making music with someone else was....indescribable.

She was shaken from the moment of reverie by a stammered greeting. She stopped playing, but the song was almost done in any case. She saw the new arrival was more nervous than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

She came to the edge of the stage and sat on the edge, motioning the new arrival forward.
"No, it's totally cool. Come on, we're having fun. Won't you join us?"

She looked to the guy on bass and smiled brightly.
"I'm Cameron, but you can call me Cam."

She looked back to the new guy and waved him forwards.
"Come on, I won't bite. Let's see what you can do with that axe!"

[Lucas Blacke]

Cam stopped playing as something cut their song to make themselves known. The girl was taking the role of being the nice one and comforting the it by saying it was no problem and they were having fun but a third player couldn't hurt. She told the it to come over as Luke slightly lowered the bass down, gently tapping the neck in a pattern he had seen someone play over and over. It was quite the soothing melody, and Luke had the comfort of being able to tell his fingers to go into automatic mode for it as Cam told the new thing to come over.

Then Lucas noticed it/him/her. He had to put in effort to not have his fingers suddenly slide in the most brutal riff he had ever heard and just kept on smiling. If the thing wansn't going to address it so wouldn't he. And it seemed like there was no mention of it for the time being, although mainly because it just stood there with his guitar case like a loser.

Weren't it for this Cam girl standing in the room with them, or the fact Luke was a big pussy he would have smacked it back with its own guitar. His cheek demanded retaliation.

He was now focusing on keeping the riff going and his smile going, he needed to fix this lest he'd be tired out before the real audition began. He figured he didn't need to speak for the moment anyway so he averted his gaze and focused on the way his fingers moved. Maybe he'd get a step closer to actually knowing how to play that himself.

[Deleted]

He was looking at him. No, he wasn’t. Yes, he was. Dammit! Marcus couldn’t tell!

Marcus’ natural form was noticeably similar to how he looked when he was female, though there were some very apparent differences. For one, his hair was shorter, cropped up to his shoulders instead of down to her mid-back. For two, his feet were a good size 13, which was a pain because his femme-feet were only size 9 in women’s which unfortunately only equated to a size 7 1/2 in mens. For three, his face had lost a lot of the softness that his female form did. It was leaner and more angular. Finally, there was his height, which launched all the way up to 6’2”.

Whether or not someone cold recognize him between those two forms was usually dependent on how perceptive the other person was. This guy - Marcus didn’t have a name - seemed like he was. Just enough.

Marcus stared a bit longer at the black haired boy before finally snapping to the girl who was inviting him up to join them. "Uh...I'm Marc...Marcus....either works..."

Should he join them? Could he? With that guy still here?

“Okay,” he said finally, nodding rapidly. He curbed around to the side stairs of the stage and huffed to the center, setting himself up right there and plugging the mobile equipment in the covered outlets. “What were you guys playing? Stairway to Heaven, right? Sorry, I don’t know that one, I prepared a couple other ones to show off.” Uh…” Not that I plan to show off, I mean, I’m definitely going to show you what I can do, but I’m not trying to be arrogant about it…” He needed to stop rambling. Marcus was nervous. His heart was pounding, and it wasn’t just because the guy he’d slapped was standing next to him and might potentially end up being his band mate should he get the gig.

“Um…” Marcus stepped back, slinging his guitar over his torso, and gave it a quick sound check. “Okay…here we go,” he breathed. Marcus started playing the intro, then stopped, looking to the other two. “Uh…either of you know this one?” he asked, hoping to god one of them did.

[Maximus Rice]

Max decided it was about time to check up on who showed up for the audition. He had spent a good fifty bucks making fliers and for him that might as well have been a fortune. Oh well. I guess I'll get it back if we manage to do any gigs. Looking at his watch, he upped his pace a little. Just as he did this, he heard the opening notes of When the Levy Breaks start up on his iPod.
Great, it just happened to come up now. However, the beautiful sound of Zep wasn't the only thing he was hearing. As he neared the auditorium, he could hear music drifting out from behind the doors. Well at least they have initiative, he thought. And great taste in music. This came about as a result of putting a name to the tune. It was Stairway to Heaven on Led Zep IV, and it was the most played song ever on radio. He could hear the song winding down, so he opened the doors and slipped inside.
Up front, a student had started picking the notes to Paint it Black. Personally he didn't care for the Stones, but it was better than anything modern.
Hoping not to draw much attention to himself, he slipped beside the other two people.

[Cameron Tyler]

Cameron wasn't a huge fan of the Rolling Stones, but she did love their iconic hits, such as Paint It Black. She didn't play as she listened to Marcus play. He might have seemed terribly nervous, but he was good. She started patting the staccato beat of the song on her thighs, nodding along to the rhythm. Before long, Cam was singing along quietly, allowing the guitar to carry the song.

I see a red door and I want it painted black 

No colors any more, I want them to turn black 

I see the girls walk by, dressed in their summer clothes 

I have to turn my head until my darkness goes 

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black 

With flowers and my love both never to come back 

I see people turn their heads and quickly look away 

Like a newborn baby, it just happens every day 

I look inside myself and see my heart is black 

I see my red door I must have it painted black 

Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts 

It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black 

No more will my green sea gord turn a deeper blue 

I could not foresee this thing happening to you 

If I look hard enough into the setting sun 

My love will laugh with me before the morning comes 

I see a red door and I want it painted black 

No colors any more, I want them to turn black 

I see the girls walk by, dressed in their summer clothes 

I have to turn my head until my darkness goes 

Hmm, hmm, hmm,.. 

I wanna see it painted, painted black 

Black as night, black as coal 

I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky 

I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black

Cam's voice was clearly developing, but she had decent pipes for a girl in her early teens. She hummed out the end of the song with a big smile of approval for Marcus. The song was supposedly about a girl's funeral, so she had added a bit of melancholy to her tone. She wondered what the song would sound like slowed down like a balled. They'd have to try that....


"Love it!"
She offered up her hand for a high five to the guy. He was just lacking confidence, but he really could be great with some work. In fact, everyone was pretty good. She was very happy just playing and enjoying making music.

She had noticed the quiet arrival of the fella who sat down between herself and the bass player. 
"Hi, what's your name? I'm Cam, and this is Marcus and Luke....if you didn't know already, that is. So, what do you play? Hiding a harmonica somewhere?"


She was clearly teasing, and practically glowing from her happy smile. 

"Any requests?"

[Matt Davis]

Matt had most recently heard about the audition from his excitable room mate who was heading out as quickly as she could. Matt, on the other hand, had taken his time. A jersey didn’t feel right to fit in with rockers. Well, he hoped they’d be rockers. Instead he stripped off his shirt and pulled on a tight fitting Def Leppard 80’s USA tour brown t-shirt. His jeans were a bit baggier, and his skater shoes looked to match with everything else.

With his guitar slung over his back he headed out and rode his bike over to the auditorium. His mind was racing on his way over: Matt wasn’t the greatest player, and guitar was probably the most played instrument in high school. He didn’t even know how to read music, he was self taught and just went off of the sounds. Finally, he was in a school for mutants with freaky powers. Chances are there were some mutants who had mad guitar skills…Or there would be a guy with four hands playing two guitars.

He stepped off of the bike, leaning it against the auditorium before walking inside. He heard Cam before he even saw her, and his head bobbed to the sound of the guitars. Paint it black! Good song, good playing. His thoughts were pushed aside and replaced with a simple delight: Getting to meet people who were into the same music as he was.

“Hey!” Matt said as he walked up towards the stand. “That was fantastic! Who knew you had those nice little pipes, Buckeye.” Matt smiled brightly to Cameron. “I’m not late, am I? Yall haven’t picked out the band without me?” He looked over the group and gave a quick wave. “Because if you have enough guitarist...I’m also mean on the cowbell. And you’ve gotta have that cowbell.”

[Cameron Tyler]

Cameron laughed at her friend Matt's comment about cowbell. 
"That's right, we can't do any Blue Oyster Cult with out cowbell. You can be our Gene Frenkle. Stevie Nicks went a long way on a tambourine, so you can too."

She sat her guitar to the side for the moment, looking at the rest of the boys. 
"We're heavy on guitars, but I can play keyboards, flute....even some violin. And now after that Stones song, I want to learn the sitar."

The petite girl leaned back, supporting herself with palms on the stage. The girl was oblivious to the hem of her fitted Five Fingered Death Punch revealing her belly button.
"So, I know I didn't put up the band recruitment posters all over town. Who did?"

[Lucas Blacke]

Luke let out a sigh. Having fun was good and all but playing any of the music they mentioned was not really his style. He'd still play it, but he wouldn't like it.

He put down his borrowed bass and looked around the room with all the instruments neatly placed in a corner. At the mention of the new guy playing the cowbell since they had guitars enough Cam began naming the instruments she could play, leaving them with room to switch around in. ''Oh.'' Luke replied silently with cough to get their attention. ''I probably should mention this, but I can play everything.''

He walked forward and jumped down the stage, walking past the newcomer and the it. He just barely resisted flipping of the it just because he now looked at it from up close, he could see some resemblance to the girl he kissed but it was definitely someone else. Maybe a brother or something. Or a masculine sister. He let out a chuckle as he vividly saw the girls in the family playing with cars and the boys playing with dolls.

And then he turned around suddenly, pointing at the guy who had just walked in while looking straight at him, unblinking. ''You know Cam-cam?'' Because if he did he deserved the second pick for an instrument. Which in the end would mean he wouldn't have to play the cowbell. He was sure it was a joke but it still irked him, though a bit hypocritic. Luke listened to lots of bands with odd instruments..

''Sitars, drums, guitars, acoustic and electric, bass, cello, violin, didgeridoo, bagpipes, lute, trumpet, accordeon, banjo, piano, flute, bongo..'' He said as he ignored whatever the newcomer would say to him and walked over to inspect the stack of instruments he saw. He instantly spotted a normal electric guitar and picked it up, noticing it had the pick slapped between the top strings. He sighed briefly and then plastered a smile across his face as he moved back to the stage.

''You name the instrument, I can play it.'' He said as he jumped onto the stage and jokingly held the guitar above Cam. ''You mean you didn't?'' He asked at her question. ''I bet it was someone smart or something then. Or someone with some measure of balls.''

He lifted the guitar over his head and put the strap around his shoulder, quickly cracking his fingers and putting them on the first few frets of what he wanted to play. ''Oh,'' He added. ''It wouldn't be me, I have a girl that knows about my balls.'' A laugh left him as he began to move his fingers across the neck and began to recall what he needed to play.

He pulled the first few strings and produced something that might have been obvious to some, but he didn't know, he just liked the themesong.

His fingers went on to play as they flew across the stings and frets on automatic pilot as Luke had a smile on his face, not even needing to look at what his fingers were doing. ''Because what girl doesn't want a man who knows how to use his fingers?'' He said just as he hit the quick part of the theme.

[Deleted]

Marcus was an avid fan of the classics. Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zappelin, CCR…of course he listened to modern stuff too. Marcus actually had a very wide range of music that he listened to, from rock to metal, from bluegrass to country. He didn’t have the talent to learn the guitar line for every song he heard, but when he tried to, Marcus didn’t cease practicing until he got it perfect. He was glad that his song choice hadn’t been a bad one.

“Thanks!” he gleed, his face brightening at the compliment. Marcus looked between them as the girl, Cam, introduced the rest of them.

So the other boy was named Luke? Good to know. Marcus kept his eyes averted from him.

A laugh barked out from his lungs at the cowbell talk. “We always need more cowbell,” he followed up with, tilting his head and letting his hair flow down his shoulder. Cam made a good point, though. They had a lot of prospective guitar players. “Um…I can play bass too,” he interjected with. It wasn’t all too different from guitar, just four strings and upward strumming. “And…” He looked to the girl, impressed by her inventory of instruments. “I can play piano…keyboard too.” Marcus was actually better at piano than guitar, but he loved the guitar more. He’d do either one, though, for the sake of what they needed.

Marcus shrugged. “I didn’t.” He looked between the others, wondering if one would speak up.

Marcus turned to Luke as he started speaking, already thinking…wow, he was kind of…and he went on some kind of arrogant rant after that, listing off every single instrument he could play…which was impressive, and Marcus wondered if it had something to do with his power…but he didn’t quite like the attitude he presented it with. “You mean, how soft and crushable they are?” Marcus offered. “It was you, right? Who was making that insufferable scene in the middle of the Talk?” Now Marcus remembered. He had seen this guy there. Prior to slapping him.

Still…he had to admit the guy was funny. Marcus smiled, his eyes going wide with excitement. “Yes! That! That’s perfect!" he exclaimed, pointing his finger to the Jackass. "I wanna do that too and be like…like the Minibosses or Brental Floss or something!” Because video game music was awesome!!

[Cameron Tyler]

Cameron's head was on a swivel as she tried to keep up with the conversation swirling around her. She wondered if Luke thought if she had been bragging about what instruments she could play. She had worked hard on her skills, to the point of obsession if you asked her family. But her jaw dropped when he practically listed every instrument in his repertoire. Her face lit up in delight.
"Can you teach me?" she said eagerly. "I mean, not everything....well, maybe!" she laughed.

He started to play and unfamiliar song, so she listed quietly as she followed along. It wasn't a classic song, but that's no sin. Rock and roll is about moving forward and finding new ways to make the world groove.

The conversation had moved on, and Luke said some crude things that turned her cheeks crimson. She stayed quiet as the boys went back and forth about squishy things and the so-called Talk from Dr Neville. She hadn't dealt much with the issue of boys and girls just yet. It had been hard enough to make friends before she came here, let alone find anyone who would want to hold her hand or anything mushy like that. Best to just stay quiet than say something really stupid....

[Matt Davis]

Matt smiled as his joke caught on and he started to move towards Cam’s side to stick with the familiar, walking past the man who had just jumped off of the stage who claimed to be able to play every instrument. Now that was quite the boast. Matt had a feeling he couldn’t back it up.

“All I’ve got in me is the guitar and the slightest drums...but if we’re relying on me to do drums? well I’m pretty sure we should collapse now and go our separate way with our favorite groupies to be captured by TMZ.”

He sat beside of Cam on the stage and leaned some of his weight onto her, just to playfully nudge just before Lucas pointed at him and gave the attention. Matt didn’t like being pointed at, it usually meant he was called on to do something or put something on a board. Stupid pressure. “Ah-...Cam-Cam? Well that’ll stick better than fly paper, won’t it? Yeah actually we’re -”

He was cut off by a slew of instruments. Matt stopped speaking when someone else interupted. It was one of his pet peeves, and he’d rather let someone else finish than be drowned out. Once the man was done he took a breath and continued. “-Room mates.” His attention turned to the blonde guy and he pointed over to the one man band. “He always like this? An’ can he really play all of that?” His voice was a little softer, so that the other guy couldn’t hear.

“Nah I didn’t set this thing up. I saw one of the flyers when I was posting up my own for my repair business though, and Cam here seemed more excited than a fat kid with cake, so I couldn’t resist coming. I’m Matt, by the way.”

His attention turned fully to Marcus at his excitement. “... I don’t know if I think of dental hygiene when I think about a band, and I wouldn’t aim for it… but Minibosses does sound fun.” He didn’t recognize the sound of sweet, sweet Skyrim as it played at first, and so simply sat back and listened to the tune.

[Lucas Blacke]

''Insufferable?'' Luke asked as the guy before him asked him if he was the one who made the scene at the Talk. He knew what was meant, but he didn't want to answer like he knew, there had to be some form of mystery. ''I do like scenes.. And I'm pretty sure ya mean epic. It was an epic scene.'' He wrapped his fingers around the neck of the guitar, not to play it but to lift it slightly so he could move the strap over his head and let the guitar rest before him with both hands on top of the instrument.

He posted a smile on his face as he looked at the guy and then turned his gaze to the newcomer. Matt. ''So, Matt, roommate of private Cam, I suppose you'll be wanting to do the guitar business in this band.. As I said, I would be okay with that.'' He eyed over the guy and jumped down the stage, moving slightly forward. ''I'd just.. pick up the piano or something. Drums, I dunno. Something not guitar. I must say I like the sound of the piano.'' It was odd, on the guitar he gravitated towards heavier songs and on the piano he was able to get his emotions out there in the form of sadness.

He eyed what was on stage in terms of instruments, and hard to miss was a piano standing in a corner. It kind of blended in with the background, but if you knew what to look for it was obvious to see. He moved back on stage and went straight for the piano and sat down in front of it, briefly looking at Cam and her question if he could teach her. '''fraid it doesn't work like that, dollface.'' He simply said. They could play together, but he couldn't really teach her.

Before anyone else could really say anything he began playing what was without a doubt a song from his favourite game and closed his eyes as his fingers went across the keys, hitting every note dead on. He leaned back a bit and smiled. No matter how odd it looked, ever since his uncle had bought him a piano he made it his own. Piano was one of the few instruments he could actually play without using his ability.