Chapter 6: Wanna form a band? (Amethyst Part 2)
(Disclaimer! I own nothing of Steven Universe)
I was walking back to my apartment and jumped on my bed.
"Ugh, I need to drum up a band fast," I said, "If I don't come up with that money, its all over."
Vadalia came into my room.
"Band troubles?" She asked.
I nodded still muffled in my pillow.
She patted my back.
"C'mon Ames, you'll find a way to get back up again," she said comforting me, "IF there's one thing you're known for, its making a comeback at the last minute."
I got up.
"If you say so," I said, "I know that I have a month and a half until the Battle of The Bands, but all the good musicians are more than likely in bands. Its not like an answer is gonna come falling from the sky."
A piece of paper flew in my face and I fell off the bed.
"Ugh, what is this?" I asked trying to peel it off.
Vadalia pulled it off of me.
"Wait….. this is perfect!" She said.
She showed it to me and I read it.
"It's an open mic! I can go there and scout out new talent for the battle of the bands."
"That's cutting it really close" she said with concern in her voice, "You'd have to raise up a whole new sound"
"It'll be a piece of cake"
"You sure about that?" Vadalia asked, "You haven't had much luck getting your own bandmates as of late."
"Happy thoughts Vadalia," I said patting her shoulder, "Happy thoughts. See ya later."
I jumped out of the apartment window heading there.
As I was walking by I got a message from my online friend
"What are you up to"
"Heading to an open mic at The Krusty Shack, hoping to find some musicians."
"Nice, I wish you luck!"
Over the few years I started chatting with this person online.
We both have a common love for music, and have been messaging each other about our experiences.
She calls herself 'GreenClod06'
As I got there I heard Sadie and her band the Sadie Killers performing one of their greatest hits.
"Oh yeah," I said to myself, "Sadie did say she plays here often."
Sadie took the mic.
"Thank you thank you thank you," she said, "Thank you all for gracing me with your presence."
Disobedient
Sadie: Good afternoon, Sir
What can I do, Sir?
Just say the word, Sir
Anything for you, Sir
Your friends all say, Sir
You don't deserve her
I disagree, Sir
I live to serve, Sir
I think about
All the wasted time I've spent
I wanna be disobedient
I stood awake
Wondering where my summers went
I wanna be disobedient
Disobedient, disobedient
I've been good, Sir
So very, very good for what?
And I've given you
Every single thing I've got
It's feeling strange, man
This whole arrangement
Is gonna end with
Me totally deranged
When I think about
All the wasted time I've spent
I wanna be disobedient
I stood awake
Wondering where my summers went
I wanna be disobedient
Disobedient, disobedient
As I was watching them, I noticed somebody with green hair and strange glasses.
It looked like she was taking notes about the band. She was also on some kind of tablet.
Looks like a lot of complicated nerd stuff.
Sadie: I want to be disobedient
I want to be disobedient
Disobedient, disobedient, disobedient
The audience cheered for Sadie.
"The performers here are pretty neat, but I have yet to find the people I'm looking for."
"Come to think of it, I'm actually looking for musicians myself."
"Awesome, well I hope you find them."
I decided to move and sit next to the girl with glasses.
"Sup?" She said.
She seemed too busy with her tablet.
She then went to the stage with a strange looking guitar.
It was unlike anything I seen before. It had a lot of fancy knobs, toggle switches, and not to mention a crazy vibrato bar.
From what I could tell, it was her primary instrument.
After toying around with her tablet, she found a backing track and started playing guitar to it.
The song was YYZ by Rush.
I was watching her play the whole time.
"Whoa, she's amazing."
I noticed her amp and pedalboard were much different than what I've seen other musicians play with.
It was like she was playing around with the melody, having a conversation with the other instruments.
When she finished the audience cheered.
I went up to approach her.
"Wow, you were pretty good."
"Thanks."
I decided to message GreenClod again.
"So there's this girl next to me right now, she's a killer on the guitar, but doesn't seem to talk much."
"Keep talking, I'm sure she'll come around. I'm actually sitting next to this girl where I'm at now. Seems friendly."
No way…. It couldn't be….
"You're not actually sitting by me are you? It just seems like we're in the exact same situation."
The girl turned to me.
"Wait a second….." She said, "You're Littledrummergirl2013?"
"Yes, that's me," I said.
"Holy shit!" Greenclod said to me, "I can't believe you're the person I've been talking to all this time. My name's Peridot."
I shook her hand.
"Amethyst," I said introducing myself.
One of the famous singers, Garnet was doing one of her hits, American Boy.
We decided to talk outside so we could hear each other better.
"There's like so much I wanna talk with you about," Peridot said, "Like what's the reason why you're wanting to form a band?"
"Well, I was gonna do this battle of the bands competition with my old band but I got replaced," I explained, "So I decided if I want something done, I gotta do it myself. So how about you?"
"Well let's just say i'm in a similar situation as Tom Scholz," she explained, "I recorded a lot of stuff, but the only problem is I have nobody to play with.
As she was explaining her situation, I saw potential.
"Hey, you wanna do a song with me for the Open Mic?"
"Oh boy would I," Peridot said.
Sadie went outside with the bass player, Jenny.
"Socializing with other musicians I see," Sadie said.
Jenny got a good look at Peridot.
"Aren't you that guitarist who's been posting her stuff on Youtube?"
"That's me," Peridot answered, "I take it you heard my cover of One Step at A Time."
"And I freakin' loved it!" Jenny exclaimed, "But if you're planning on doing a song together, maybe the two of us can fill the rest of the holes."
I smiled.
The four of us went on stage and got on our instruments.
"Alright, this next one's for the indie boys," Sadie said, "Those of you who dig indie rock!"
I hit my bass drum and Jenny played a bass line.
Peridot joined in with her guitar riff and Sadie went to the microphone.
The Hardest Button to Button
Sadie:
We started living in an old house
My ma gave birth and we were checking it out
It was a baby boy
So we bought him a toy
It was a ray gun
And it was 1981
We named him 'Baby'
He had a toothache
He started crying
It sounded like an earthquake
It didn't last long
Because I stopped it
I grabbed a rag doll
And stuck some little pins in it
Now we're a family
And we're alright now
We got money and a little place
To fight now
We don't know you
And we don't owe you
But if you see us around
I got something else to show you
Peridot had a great guitar sound, and personality.
I was having a blast banging on the drums.
I had my eyes closed and Imagined we were performing in front of dozens of people.
I knew, she was the one.
We even got the attention of Garnet who was recording our performance.
"Now this is a groove," she said.
Sadie: Now it's easy when you don't know better
You think it's sleazy?
Then put it in a short letter
We keep warm
But there's just something wrong with you
Just feel that you're the hardest little button to button
I had opinions
That didn't matter
I had a brain
That felt like pancake batter
I got a backyard
With nothing in it
Except a stick
A dog
And a box with something in it
The hardest button to button [x12]
We finished and the crowd cheered.
Peridot threw her pick in the crowd and a mysterious blue haired girl caught it.
Seems to me she has quite the crush on Peridot.
As soon as she caught the guitar pick she raised her fist in victory and walked out.
I turned back to Peridot.
"Hey, you mind if I crash at your place?"
"Sure," she said.
As were were walking to her house, she was talking to me about how she was inspired to do music, and why it means a lot to her.
I was also talking with her about why music means a lot to me, and about why the frontman of my old band doesn't see things the same way.
"To be honest we've been butting heads about this ever since we met," I told her.
"Sorry to hear that," Peridot said.
When we made it to her house, she showed me her studio.
"I use this app called RigRoll to create all my sounds," she explained, "It allows me to choose any pedal and even tweak with the settings to get that crisp sound I'm looking for, and then I add the information to this here pedalboard."
She pointed to the pedalboard she uses.
"My guitar, I made from scratch, thanks to everything I learned from my tech class, all I gotta do is plug into my amp and pedalboard," she said, "That's how I'm able to get all these killer sounds."
"That's really something Peridot," I said falling down on the bed.
Peridot had an idea.
"I had a lot of fun playing with you Amethyst, and I was thinking something."
"What's that?" I asked.
"I think we should start a band!" She explained.
I couldn't believe what she just said, as I was gonna ask her the same thing.
"Really, you and me?"
"Of course," Peridot said, "I've played with a few musicians but none of them really fit was I was looking for. But when I jammed with you, I knew you were the one to be part of it."
"Awesome, I'll do it!" I said.
We shook hands.
This was the start of something amazing!