Ugh, I was so bored, filming auditions for boy bands was seriously boring work. But, hey, money was money I guessed. I should have been thankful for getting the opportunity to still work with Universal Records, though not as a musician, but, I was still working for them in a fashion! Just a few more hours and then I'd been done for the day, maybe I could go for a wander around Manchester for a while, I'd never been up here before, I'd mostly stuck to London. It didn't seem much different from London to be honest, but, it would have been fun to explore, though I doubted Fletch, the man who hired me to film, would have come along with me...
"next!" one of the other talent scouts here shouted, and yet another teenage boy walked in. He was bout nineteen I'd have said, not bad looking either, but looked exactly the same everyone else here. Dressed in his dance gear, similar to the stuff I used to wear in school during dance lessons, brown hair styled to an almost obsessive level, just as confident and cocky as everyone else. I set the tape going and shut off again, not even paying attention to him as he danced and sang in front of Fletch and the others. From what I could tell, he was pretty decent, and would at least get short listed for the boy band. I couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of him, I wanted nothing more than to be in a band myself, to travel the world with band mates, possibly friends, making music and playing shows to fans. I wanted it so badly, but it probably wasn't going to happen. I'd gotten into another band, Busted, but got dropped after twenty four hours, because the management wanted a three piece band, not a four, and because I didn't really fit in with them either. But, the record label had kept me on, just in case they found someone else, though I doubted I'd find anyone doing this, they were all carbon copies of each other, most wanting fame and fortune, loads of girls that would fall all over them, and to never work a proper day in their lives. I sighed, didn't anybody here want to be in a band for the music?
"next!" the scout shouting again as I changed the tape in the camera, glancing up at the new hopeful... wait, was that a guitar in his hands?! It was, and oh my god, if he wasn't the most beautiful boy I had ever seen in my life. This boy was about my height, and quite skinny, he wasn't dressed like the others, or looked like the others at all. He had jeans on, coupled with a simple checked shirt, a few bracelets hanging off his left wrist jangling a bit as he pushed his straightened brown hair off his freckled face. Wow, no. I had to calm down, he was good looking, and looked different from the others, but, he probably couldn't even play that guitar that well, probably brought it along to make him stand out a bit. And boy did he stand out.
"whats your name then?" Fletch asked as I started the tape, trying to not get my hopes up, or look too closely at him to put him off. "Danny, Danny Jones... but I think I'm in the wrong place, I thought this was a band audition." Danny Jones replied, looking very sheepish. Whoa, even his voice when he spoke sounded good! Calm down Tom, even if he is good, he's not going to be interested in you. "this is an audition, for a boy band." Fletch answered, looking slightly interested. "oh, not a band like Busted then?" Danny asked, looking very disappointed. Wait, band like Busted?! He wanted to be in a band like Busted?! Calm down you idiot! You've never spoken to him, let alone heard him sing or play, he could be terrible. Even if he isn't, why the hell would he want to be in a band with you? "no, think more like Backstreet Boys." Fletcher answered, now looking very unimpressed. "oh, okay, I'll just go then." Danny turned to leave, I wanted to chase after him so badly, hear him sing, hear him play. I had this feeling about him, this amazing feeling, that he was absolutely brilliant, that I needed to at least talk to him!
"wait, just play whatever it is you were going to play anyway. There could still be a place for you somewhere." Fletch stopped him, thank god! Danny turned round again, standing in front of the microphone and finding his way to the chords he needed. Please be good, please be good, please be good. And oh my god, he was good, not just good but brilliant. The chords of Bittersweet Symphony played out around the room, proving Danny could play, and then he opened his mouth and sang, I'd never heard such a perfect voice come from someone before. He was beyond perfect, he made my insides melt and my knees weaken with the sound of his voice, I nearly fainted he was so perfect.
"well that was certainly good, but its not what we're looking for at the moment, you're not 'pop music' enough, thanks for coming down though." One of the other managers said, WHAT?! How were they letting him go?! He was perfect! How could they possibly let him go?! "wait, what about if he played a more poppier song? Would that change your mind?" Fletch stopped him again, at least someone in this room had some sense! "and who would teach him something poppier in a few hours?" the other management man raised an eyebrow. "Tom can, he's only filming videos right now, he can help out this way too." Fletch pointed to me, he was asking me to do it?! "fine, Tom go teach Danny another song, be back here in an hour." The other guy gave in, oh hell, I was going to be teaching this unbelievably talented and perfect boy to play something else, what the hell was I going to do?!
Danny's POV
I couldn't believe I was being given a second chance, I thought I'd blown it the second I'd walked in with the guitar! But, I was actually being given another chance? Whoa, today was turning out better than expected! Though as this Tom lead me away to another, quieter room, he seemed so nervous. He was kinda cute looking, with the palest skin I'd ever seen, sunshine blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He was slightly chubby too, but somehow, it made him look cuter. To say the least, I was attracted to him, even though we'd never spoken before, and I started wondering how good he was at playing.
"so, do you know any pop songs at all?" Tom asked me, pulling at his long jumper sleeves. "er, no, not really." I blushed, slightly embarrassed by that fact. "oh, well how about if I show you a Busted song, they're not strictly pop music, but, the management manage them, and they're pretty easy to play once you get the hang of it." Tom explained, and I agreed to let him teach me What I Go To School For. He was very good at guitar too, very, very good, had clearly been playing for years, and he had a good voice too. A beautiful voice in fact, I could have listened to him sing and play for hours. "I guess you're not from around here then." I asked, making conversation as I played through the chords of the song again. "er, no. I'm from London, well, Harrow, which is just outside London." Tom answered quickly, looking like a deer caught in the headlights as I spoke to him.
"thats cool, I've never really been down to London before. I was born and raised in Bolton, about half an hour from here." I told him, wanting to talk to him some more, he was a nice guy, and pretty talented, he'd be a nice friend to have around. "I think you've got the chords down, do you need help with the lyrics too?" Tom changed the subject, clearly not very good with small talk, or just not wanting to talk to me very much. "can you give me a bit of help? I know the chorus pretty well, the rest I'm not very good on." I asked, lying a bit, I knew the song pretty well, I just wanted to spend more time with Tom. "sure, give me a sec and I'll write out the lyrics." Tom smiled, grabbing a bit of paper and starting to write it all down.
"so, how long have you been playing guitar then? You're pretty good." I tried making conversation again, because this Tom was very, very good and I didn't exactly want to let him go just yet. "twelve years, since I was five. How about you? You're amazing." Tom answered, looking up at me for a second before blushing and looking away. "same really. I started when I was six and have been playing ever since." I answered, I'd starting writing songs only a few years ago, and it hadn't gone too badly at that either. "it shows. I haven't seen someone play with so much ease in a long time." Tom managed a smile, handing me the completed lyrics. "thanks, but I guess you haven't seen many good guitar players around here have you? They all seem to want to dance about in trackies... not that there's anything wrong with that, obviously." I back tracked quickly, remembering that he did still work for the management running this. "I know there isn't. But you're right, there haven't been any good guitarists in any auditions. They've all been mediocre at best, barely able to play more than three chords. Its refreshing to hear someone who can actually play and has a voice to match," Tom smiled, "anyway, we should get practising on the lyrics, we haven't got long left." He continued, shaking his head from looking at me.
So, I sang for him, and when I started to drop off a bit, Tom joined in with me. But he didn't just join in with me, he sung harmonies with me, I have no idea how, but he sung amazing harmonies with me. "that sounded pretty good." I whispered, not exactly sure what else to say about it. "you think so?" Tom looked so hopeful. "yeah, sounded pretty good. Do it again." I started singing again, and Tom did exactly the same as he did before, and it did sound really, really good. And I wanted to show it off. "sounds like it should be there." I commented, feeling this small spark go between us, the spark of something special.
"boys, are you ready? Everyone wants you back in the audition hall again." The guy who had convinced everyone that I should be given a second chance popped his head round the door. "yeah, we're ready." I nodded, suddenly remembering we were not a we, it was still a me, not us. But either way, the second audition went well, I managed to not muck up the song, and had everyone's attention as I played. But the only person I noticed was Tom still watching me, with so much awe it made me want to laugh a bit. I settled for winking at him, making him blush bright red as the last note rung out around the hall and I was told that I was wanted for the second round of auditions. But that didn't really bother me, because I had my sights set on working with Tom, he seemed like a talented guy, and I felt something special sparking between us, something I wanted to explore, so I waited outside the building until he came out a few hours later, running over to him before he got in the car.
"Tom wait!" I managed to catch him, and he looked surprise to see me still here. "you're a really talented guy, and I want to work with you some more, see if we can get something going, whatya say?" I explained to him, watching his eyes widen a bit. "yeah, yeah of course! But how do I get hold of you? We live half way across the country from each other." Tom asked, and I hastily wrote my number down on a bit of paper. "call me, we'll sort something out, yeah?" I promised, watching him nod and get in the car, driving away. And I knew, we'd sort something out, we had something special between us, and whatever happened, I knew, that this would be the right thing to do. To start exploring what we had, and work together, because I knew I'd found the right guy.
Danny: "And then, out of the blue, he'd start singing harmonies to my vocal lines. Harmonies? I was amazed—I didn't know how he did it, but I knew we had something special. Something that I wanted to show off a bit.
Tom: "Most of all though, Danny and I hit it off personally… I'd been on my own, musically speaking, since my disappointment at not getting into Busted. I'd been waiting to find the right person to form a band with. And I'd found him.
Unsaid Things - Our Story.