“I’m stuffed!” exclaimed Sabrina.
The six had finished their Brazilian Chinese food. Empty bowls and plates sat with their contents well-devoured on the table. Any random observer could easily assume they licked their bowls and plates clean.
Joe had just finished his shift on the dot at 1 and came to the table of the six, joining as the seventh member.
“Welcome, Joe,” said Matt.
“Hey, Joe, welcome to the band,” said Kevin.
The seating arrangement was Kevin, Nina and Xavier on one side of the table, and Marina, Sabrina and Matt on the other side of the table. Joe sat down next to Matt because there was more space for him.
“Let’s just clarify what we all do musically,” said Matt. He was naturally taking charge.
“I sing and play guitar,” said Kevin. He wanted to be the one to take charge, because it was his idea. “Nina plays guitar and Xavier plays keyboard.”
“Oi, I also play guitar too, Kev,” said Xavier.
“I play piano,” said Marina.
“I play drums,” said Sabrina.
“I play bass,” said Matt.
The eyes were on Joe.
“I DJ, I spin turntables and I play electronic samples musically,” explained Joe.
“Sweet,” said Matt. “Now, Kevin, this is originally your idea. What direction did you want the band to go in?”
Kevin, now put in the spotlight, spoke. “I wanted to start a band to write music that can impact people in a good way.”
Nina, seeing through his half-bluff, translated what he said. “He just wants to write cool music.”
“It is cool, but there’s a lot more to it, Nina!” said Kevin, slightly flustered by his sister’s off side comments.
“Like how the themes of the music delve deep into great life experiences that everyone experiences at least once in their lifetimes?” asked Marina.
“Yes, Marina,” said Kevin. “Things like being a hero, crushing your enemies, getting your first love, and many other things!”
“And not things like character development from suffering, the consequences of the cycle of vengeance, backstabbings and betrayals, things like that?” asked Marina.
“Whoa, those are too deep for most people to understand,” said Kevin, deflecting Marina’s comments. “I like those, but I don’t know whether other people would.”
“I can tell you now that other people, including me, really enjoy reading stories about those topics because they strike close to the heart,” said Marina, a little more sternly.
“Alright, sweet, we’ll go with that, then,” said Kevin, slightly intimidated by the strength and the validity of Marina’s words.
“I think both of you seem like you can write the song lyrics,” Matt said to Kevin and Marina. “So I’ll leave that to you.”
“Aren’t you taking charge too much, Matt?” Kevin protested. “It’s my idea, so I should be the leader dictating the direction.”
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you,” said Matt. “Sorry, I have a tendency to be a bit bossy at times. Being a business student doesn’t help.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it,” said Kevin reassuringly. “I’ll sort out the songwriting with Marina. Who’s the best with writing the musical scores? I know I struggle with that aspect.”
“Me and Sabrina can help with that,” said Matt.
“Alright,” said Kevin. He paused for a bit. “I don’t know what else we can do.”
“What about recording the music?” asked Joe. “I have a lot of gear at my place.”
“Ah, I didn’t think about that,” said Kevin. “We need songs to record first, so that will have to come later down the line. Plus, our parents own Salisbury Warehouse. Surely you’ve heard of them, right?”
“That Salisbury Warehouse?” asked Joe.
“Yes, that one,” confirmed Nina.
“But that’s a record label, isn’t it?” asked Joe.
“Yeah, but if you’re worried about money, our parents don’t stiff over musicians under their care,” explained Kevin. “They only do distribution deals. Ownership deals are a thing of the past.”
“Yeah, what this nerd said,” said Nina.
“Well… if it’s not at the expense of us, I think we should be fine,” said Joe. “I’d feel bad for mooching off studio space there just for us. If it doesn’t work out, I’ve always got a space at my place.”
“Where do you live, Joe?” asked Kevin.
“Woodridge,” said Joe.
Silence fell upon them for a moment.
“That far?” exclaimed Marina.
“It’s not that far, it’s directly on the train line,” said Joe. “I can easily get home just by catching the train at the station here.”
“It’s a bit far for me,” said Marina. “I live in Wynnum.”
“That far?” exclaimed Sabrina.
“Wynnum is still within the city boundaries,” said Marina. “I can catch the train and get home very easy.”
“That’s a bit far, regardless,” said Kevin.
“By the way, where does everyone live?” asked Matt. “Just suburb wise. I live in Park Ridge.”
“That far?” most of the table exclaimed. Joe didn’t make a sound.
“Did you know?” said Matt. “Public transport is much more extensive these days. Now, let’s continue.” He looked at Kevin.
“Nina and I live in Sunnybank,” said Kevin.
“I’m in Salisbury right now,” said Xavier.
“And I’m in Moorooka!” said Sabrina.
“Well, this is an interesting spread,” said Joe. “We’re all Southsiders, but we’re spread over a rather wide area, and Marina lives in Wynnum, which is the farthest from all of us.”
“I can catch a direct train to Sunnybank,” said Marina. “There’s a new train line from Wynnum to Beaudesert that stops at Sunnybank and Park Ridge.”
“Doable,” said Matt. “There’s a lot of tricky things outside of the actual music itself that we’ll have to have one of us do each. Joe, since you study Computer Science, you’ll be in charge of setting up the website.”
“Sweet, I can just set up an instance of Cabaret and call it a day,” said Joe.
The other five were in awe at his computer science degree. None of them knew what “Cabaret” was, but they didn’t care.
“How are we going to spread the word about us and get people interested in us?” Sabrina asked.
“I can help with that,” piped up Xavier. “I study Communications and I manage that for my church, so I’m capable and willing to handle that if no one else is willing to.”
“You’ve got a way with words, Xavo,” said Kevin. They reached across in front of Nina and fist bumped each other.
“Nina, you study film, right?” said Marina.
“Yeah, I can help out with filming and editing the promotional material,” said Nina. “I can also do graphic design, I’m quite good with that.”
“Yeah, she’s amazing,” said Xavier. “She sometimes helps me with my marketing.”
“Wow, everything is taken care of and I didn’t have to do much,” said Matt.
“And it’s all thanks to me!” bragged Kevin. Everyone gave him a dirty look. “I’m joking! I’m joking! Come on, guys!”
Marina sighed. She then shook her head side to side while quietly giggling under her breath with a subtle smile.
“So then I guess we can just use one of Mum and Dad’s studios?” Nina asked her brother.
“There’s a lot of stuff that happens to be able to use those rooms,” Kevin told his sister. “We’re better off starting at Joe’s place and seeing where that goes, I think.”
Joe’s face beamed with happiness.
“Alright, I assume we’ll meet next at Joe’s place?” Matt asked Kevin.
“If Joe’s cool with it,” said Kevin. They all looked at Joe.
“I’m fine with it,” said Joe. “Let’s set up a messaging group and I’ll send you all my address and then we can discuss when to get together and other progress.”
“Amazing, let’s do it,” said Kevin.
They all took out their phones at the table and they exchanged their phone numbers so that they could set up a messaging group. Once done, they all vacated the premises and walked in separate directions under the bright sunlight that was shining down on South Bank.
They would meet again.
Originally posted on the 17th of September, 2024.
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