Blues Fusion

"Hey Mike, can I come to your band practice this afternoon?" Mike played bass in this garage band that was working towards stardom, at least that was what he told everyone.

"Why?"

"I heard Huw talking to a couple of his friends and they seem to think that you're pretty good." What I didn't tell him was that they all thought the lead singer was a 'babe' and that the rest of the band was sort of okay.

"Okay, but don't get in the way." He was packing his bass and amp into their cases ready to load them into his car. It wasn't a long drive to the warehouse that they used for band practice and there were two other cars parked outside. I carried his bass while Mike lugged the amp, Leon the drummer was making minor adjustments to his setup while Simon the guitarist was tuning his instrument, there was no sign yet of Vanessa the lead singer. Apparently she was usually late.

Five minutes later she strolled in and took her place at the mike, there was no apology for her lateness, and she just looked at them and said, "I want to run through 'Don't Leave Me Now' ." She waited for the intro and then began to sing in a sweet voice. It sucked. The lyrics were about a girl trying to stop her boyfriend from leaving her and she made it sound like a love-song. I think she got the gig because she was a babe and, as she sang she swayed like a babe. The rest of the band was blinded by her beauty.

"Where did you find Vanessa?" Mike and I were on our way home.

"She's Simon's cousin, why?"

"Oh, it's just that, you know, she's got a nice voice and she's got the dance moves down pat, but it's just that what she does doesn't fit the songs. You guys have written great lyrics about really deep issues and the music fits that, sort of soul/blues fusion, and she's singing pop songs."

"I suppose that you can do better."

"Oh, I don't think my voice is as pure as hers, but your stuff doesn't need pure, it needs a raw edge to it." I launched into my take on 'Don't Leave Me Now'.

He said nothing until I'd finished. "Wow! Don't put yourself down Fee, (short for Fiona) that's exactly how that song should be sung. Do you know any of our other songs?"

"I know them all, but don't get any ideas about me singing for the band, I'm going to finish my studies and that's an end to it." I was serious and nothing was going to stop me completing my media studies, the music industry was a fickle one at best and many singers and bands have given their all only to find that tastes change and they end up with nothing. I wasn't going down that path.

Robbie Burns once said; 'The best laid plans of mice and men will often go astray', well what he actually said was, 'The best laid plans o' mice and men do oft times gang a glee.' And my best laid plans were scuttled by my scheming brother. First he rings Simon and Leon telling them to come over and that he had a surprise for them, and then he set up a backing tape of 'Don't Me Leave Now' without Vanessa's vocals. When the others arrived he explained that he thought that I had a better voice for their songs than Vanessa and that they should listen to me sing. When they agreed he came to my room and literally dragged me to his room and thrust a mike into my hands. "Sing 'Don't Leave Me Now' exactly like you did on the way home."

"I don't think I can, I've never sung in front of people before."

"Just forget all about them, they don't exist, it's just you and me."

"I'll try." He pushed the play button on the tape deck and I sang. I was a little shaky at first but then I got into it and by the time I was half way through the song I had forgotten all about my fears of singing in public.

There was silence as the music stopped, the three of them looked at each other then Simon broke the silence. "Wow!" That was it, just 'Wow!' Then they all started talking at once and the general gist of the conversation was about how soon could I be ready to sing and how were they going to ease Vanessa out of the band.

"Look guys, before you get carried away, I've already explained to Mike that I want to finish my studies before I think about any career choices and that includes the music industry, so forget it."

"What if you defer your studies for a year and if we haven't made it by then you can quit and go back to them?"

"No." I was putting my foot down on this.

"How about this, we have a gig coming up on Saturday week, you do that for us and see how you feel after that. If you still don't want to join us then that's okay. There'll be no hard feelings if you decide not to."

"I'll think about it, okay?"

"How do we dump Vanessa?" I heard Mike ask Simon as I left the room. That was their problem, dealing with her fragile ego, I didn't envy them putting up with the inevitable tantrum.

We had three band practice sessions leading up to the gig and I had to admit that the reception that I got from the guys as I worked my way through the repertoire really built my confidence.

My opinion of the music scene was confirmed on Saturday night. We were the warm-up act for the headliners. Shank's Pony was a group that had been around for several years and that had even had a top ten single and an album that charted in the top twenty's. They were head-bangers of the old school and I was scared that their fans mightn't like our stuff. Oh well here goes. The MC yelled into the mike, "Ladies and gentlemen, would you give it up for Blues Fusion!" Silence descended over the crowd as we launched into our first song; 'The Last Train' all about a guy who was returning from a deployment overseas and was heading home to his family only to find his girl with someone else. He just managed to catch the last train out of town. At first the audience was looking at each other as if to say 'what the fuck is this crap' but as we got into it the mood changed and by the end of the song they were with us. By the end of our twenty minute set they were yelling and screaming for more. I felt good.

Shank's Pony ambled onto the stage to rapturous applause from their die-hard fans and the whole place vibrated to the sounds of their first song, but there was something wrong, the loudness couldn't quite hide the fact that they weren't in time and the lead singer was slurring his words. There was a smattering of applause at the end of their first song and by the time they had finished the third the silence was deafening. A voice from the back of the crowd started it; "Get off you has-beens!"

The lead singer reacted angrily. "Fuck off! You wouldn't know good music if it bit you on the arse!" He stumbled and almost fell of the stage.

"You're pissed or stoned or both. We paid good money to hear the old Shank's Pony not some broken down piss pots. Get off!"

They tried again but it sounded as if they were all playing a different song. The sound system was turned off and the MC came onto the stage. "Let's hear it for Shank's Pony!"

While this was going on the manager had stopped us packing away our gear. "Can you guys do another set for us? There's going to be blood on the floor unless we can give the punters their money's worth." So we went back on and did another set followed by yet another plus encores. It was close to midnight by the time we had finished and my throat was telling me to stop. I gave the finger across the throat sign to tell the guys that I couldn't go on and we finished with 'Don't Leave Me Now' for the third time. The crowd wanted more but the MC could see that we were spent. He jumped up onto the stage with his hands up for silence. "Will you give it up for Blues Fusion! It's way past their bed time but in a fortnight's time they will be back!" The noise was deafening.

"What's that all about?" I asked. "I only agreed to do the one gig."

"Fee, without you we're nothing."Simon said. "But that's the first time I've heard of another booking."

Just then the manager came in. "You guys were great, you saved my life out there. Now, Saturday week I want you back to headline." He took a wad of notes from his pocket. "The amount that we agreed on for tonight was five hundred dollars." He peeled off five hundred dollar notes from the wad. "And for coming to the rescue here's another fifteen hundred. In two weeks you'll get two thousand for a forty minute set, is that okay?"

"Sure." Simon took the money. As we packed up yet again Simon came over to me. "Fee, you were great out there tonight, if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have been asked to do the extra sets, please, we want you with us full time."

"I'll think about it and let you know."

"You'll have to make a decision soon or else we'll have to find a new singer or cancel."

"All right, I told you that I'll think about it, don't push me for an immediate decision, I need to think seriously about this. I promise that I'll have a decision soon."

Mike was quiet on the drive home and after we got home and I had just got out of the shower, he came into my room. "You really were good tonight, and I'm not just saying that because you're my sister." He held up his hand to stop my interruption, I knew what was coming next and I wanted to stop him before he started on the high pressure. "I know that Simon and Leon agree with me on this, we want you to continue with us, Simon has another reason, he's got the hots for you. Oh he hasn't mentioned it to us but I can see the way he looks at you that he fancies you big time. I don't want to be the one to give you advice, just let me say, be careful."

"I'm not interested in him in that way, I was before I joined the band but relationships between band members have a habit of turning nasty. We're not Fleetwood Mac and I'm not Stevie Nicks, so while ever I'm in the band there will be no relationship with Simon, or Leon. If Simon wants a relationship with me He'll have to sack me, it's his call."

I decided to do the next gig with them and it was better than the first, the crowd was bigger than the last one and they had come to hear us. The noise as we walked on stage was deafening and when we started our set with 'Don't Leave Me Now' the roof was just about lifted off. Each song was greeted with applause as if the crowd was already familiar with it and when we finished the set they wouldn't let us go, demanding 'Don't Leave Me now' yet again. We unplugged after that and left the stage.

The manager came back to see us with another man. "Guys, I know that you've only just started out and you don't have a manager yet, so let me introduce you to Floyd Winter, a friend of mine who is in the industry. He wants to represent you, what do you say?" There were handshakes all round and we sat down to listen to what he had to say.

"You guys are good, I mean it. When Rod here told me about what happened here a fortnight ago I just had to come and hear you. He wasn't wrong, you're great and Fiona, you have the voice of an angel." He saw the look I threw at him and modified his statement. "I don't mean that it is sweet or anything like that, it's just that it is a perfect fit for the music that you play. Have you got a demo that I can take to the record companies?"

"No, but we will have a recording of tonight's gig if that's okay."

"No, it will have to be a studio cut, there'll be too much crowd noise in tonight's recording for it to be much use. I can book a studio for next week if you can set a time I'll have the recording engineer ready and waiting."

"How about Thursday guys, can you make it?" Simon looked to us for an answer. I wasn't going to do it but the unspoken pressure was too much so I agreed.

The recording session was almost a disaster. We took the recording of our last gig along to give Phil the engineer some idea what we were about. He listened to it and fiddled with some controls and played it again. "You guys are good, you're really tight, no wrong notes that I can hear and Fiona, you stay in tune the whole time, amazing." But when we tried to cut the demo it didn't sound right at all, it was as if we were all self-conscious and listening to ourselves and not the whole band. I felt as if I needed the crowd to feed off and I wasn't getting that at all.

"Stop guys." I pulled back from the mike. I looked toward the control room. "Do you think that you can feed our tape to me through the cans?"

"Sure thing, what about the rest of you, do you want it too?"

"It's worth a try. It would have to be better than this." Simon said. It got better from there and we got through a couple of takes of three of our songs before everyone was satisfied.

Phil was listening to the play-back when we gathered in the sound booth after we'd finished. "You guys make my job easy, I've listened to the cuts of each of the tracks and there's no difference. I could take any of them and use them for the demo. With most other bands I have to sample the takes to produce a usable demo. You've got the studio and my services for another hour, why don't we run through the rest of your repertoire, who knows we might be able to cut an album for you."

That was how our first album came to be. I was stretched out on my bed listening to the studio cut and comparing it to the live cut, my preference was definitely for the live version, when Mike and Simon came into my room. Simon was bursting to say something. "Hi Fee, do you want the good news or the better news?"

"Start with the good and work up from there."

"I just got off the phone with Floyd, he has a record deal almost stitched up and it looks like we'll be booked out for a couple of months at least. He wants to put together a tour for us, what do you think?" He was looking straight at me waiting for my reaction. It wasn't a long wait.

"I suppose that you're waiting for me to finally make up my mind whether I'm going to become a full-time musician or dabble at it while still studying. I'll defer my studies for a year and at the end of that year we'll see what happens. Okay?"

Simon came over to me and dragged me off the bed and gave me a huge hug. It started off as a hug and ended with him kissing me and it wasn't a kiss between friends, this was serious. I pulled away from him. "Let's get this straight, I am not getting into a relationship with you because the history of bands will tell you that these never end well both for the individual and the band. I do have a boyfriend you know." At least I hoped that I still had a boyfriend, I hadn't seen Huw for some weeks now and although we talked on a semi-regular basis whenever he calls me, we haven't been what you would call close. Maybe I should remedy this deplorable situation.

After Mike and Simon left to speak to Leon I rang Huw. "Hi, it's me. What do you mean who me? It's Fee, look I need to see you now, I have some news and I need to discuss it with you. Yours or mine? Okay I'll see you when I get there."

Huw lived in one of those nineteenth century terrace houses made from convict made sandstock bricks not far from Uni, they cost a fortune but he didn't have to share because his parents were filthy rich and bought it for him. His BMW was parked out front when I parked my ten year old Ford Laser and he answered the door almost before I rang the bell. "What's the news that you've got that couldn't wait?"

"You know that I'm in a band with Mike and a couple of other guys?"

"Yeah, I seem to go to all of your gigs but you never seem to have time for me after the show."

"You've been going to the gigs? Why didn't you come back to the dressing room after?"

"The goons wouldn't let me, they're big and mean and I wasn't going to argue with them."

"Okay, next time you come to a gig let me know and I'll organise a pass for you to go backstage. Now, what I was going to say before I was rudely interrupted was that the band looks like it has taken off big time, there's a record deal in the pipeline and our manager wants us to tour as soon as possible. As a result I have decided to defer my studies for a year to see what develops."

"So that means that I'll see even less of you than I have of late. Lucky I've become very familiar with my hand these past weeks."

I kissed him and while I was close I put my hand over his cock and stroked it. "Has he missed me?"

"Any longer and he would have forgotten you." He took my hand and led me to familiar quarters, his bedroom. Once there he took me in his arms and kissed me firstly on the lips and then worked his way around my face while he unbuttoned my shirt so that he could kiss his way around my breasts and nipples, his favourite spot apart from my pussy. I suddenly realised that I missed this contact and with that came the desire for more, so my hand found the zipper of his trousers and, once inside, went over the top of his jocks to find his already hard cock. There was a pause to take off our clothes before I found myself on the bed and on my back, with his head between my legs and his tongue deep inside my already wet pussy.

I grabbed his hair and pulled him away. "I want you inside me right now." This was the first time that I had to actually encourage him, normally I would be trying to slow him down. I felt the head of his cock pushing between the lips of my pussy so I pushed down hard on him forcing him deep inside me. He got the message and began to pump in and out of me while at the same time he was kissing my nipples and fondling my breasts. "God that feels good, come on fuck me, fuck me hard, I want you to come deep inside my pussy." I could feel myself heading for an orgasm of monumental proportions. "Oh God, oh God, oh . . . . . God!" I lifted him off the bed when I came before collapsing back onto the bed. "That was the best." He must have come sometime about the time that I did because I could feel it oozing out and running down over my arse-hole and onto his sheets. By the feel of it he really had been saving it up for a while. And it didn't stop there.

He came to the door to see me off many hours later. "I suppose that's going to have to satisfy me for some time to come." He genuinely sounded sad about the prospect.

"What about me, this life isn't about sex, drugs and rock and roll you know, it's about a lot of hard work and commitment to my craft."

"Yeah and I can see the way that Simon keeps looking at you, if he hasn't already, he believes he's in there with a chance." So that's what this is all about.

"Look, you don't have to worry on that score, there is nothing like that between us and he has been told that there never will be." I hoped that would settle his concerns, but I somehow doubted it. "I promise you that any time I'm in town and you're free there will be more of what we just had, much more."

The record deal was signed and within weeks the single of 'Don't Leave Me Now' was released along with the studio album. We arranged for a private printing of the live album for sale at the gigs. The first run of a thousand was about all that we could afford initially and after the first couple of gigs we realised that this would not be enough. The record company was a little pissed because the live album outsold the studio one and they soon came to us with a deal to release it alongside the other.

Life got a bit hectic; there was a capitol city tour that saw us playing to packed houses in medium sized venues. There were promotional interviews on local radio as well as morning TV talk shows. Slowly it became apparent that the interest was in me and there was pressure put on me to be somehow controversial but I resisted this strongly. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't dull and boring, it's just that my answers to some of the most stupid questions from vapid hosts were telling them that I, we, the band, were serious about what we were doing, and no, we didn't do drugs, drank very little and smoked not at all. We wrote all of our own material and insisted on creative control of our output.

One presenter started to ask personal questions that I didn't want to answer and wouldn't take the answer that I wasn't there to discuss my personal life with him. "Do you have a boyfriend?"