It was open mic night at The Mojo Bar tonight. I wasn't sure how things would turn out. It was our first gig as a band and for some of us, our first live performance ever. The stage was tiny, and the six of us barely fit on the damn thing. Still, we aren't in any position to be complaining about venue quality. The smell of cigarette smoke and stale alcohol was thick enough to choke on and the house monitors crackled with static. The band on before us hadn't been particularly impressive and the crowd was barely paying any attention to us as we quietly set up our gear. As the house music ground to a jarring halt a few faces in the crowd turned to inspect our rag tag group. The MC introduced us, through my dark sunglasses I watched as a few turned, looked unimpressed and turned back to their glasses, a few clapped half-heartedly and others just looked at us expectantly for what felt like an eternity. Finally Chris started the keyboard intro to the set, I took a deep breath, raised my pick and began to play...
"These damn open mic nights are horrible. I think I'm going to come up with something better for Wed nights." John said as he through a broken glass into the bin. Katya said nothing, John had been threatening to cancel open mic night for months. He had told her on her second shift he was cancelling it, and that was 6 months ago at least.
"It's just an endless parade of horrible bands, it's depressing." John continued looking resentfully up at the next act. "Crystal Serenade? What the hell kinda stupid name is that hey?" Katya shrugged and turned to serve the next customer, hoping that her sleazeball boss would find something else to do if she was serving someone. The band on stage began to play, a light piano melody over warm orchestral chords. The beauty of it took Katya by surprise. The guitar kicked into life, and the clear notes called out to her like a siren's song over the murmur of the patrons, many of whom had now turned to watch the band play. The song changed pace slightly as the drums kicked into the mix, raining through the bar like sonic artillery, the guitars roaring along in concert. The singer was forgettable though... he couldn't quite stay in key. Katya cringed at his every bad note, years of singing lessons had made her fussy about this sort of thing. She watched as they finished up their set and then went back to work. People had finished their drinks while watching the band and had all decided to go to the bar as once so she had a lot of people to serve.
Later, as another dime-a-dozen punk band struggled to stay in time on stage and the crowd thinned, she recognised the guitarist as approached the bar. She moved to serve him.
"Great show tonight, you guys new in town?" She asked cheerfully.
"No, we're just new on the scene, first gig tonight" he replied wearily
"Well you guys were really good, you should definitely come back" Katya said, smiling.
"Not sure that's an option, our singer just had a fight with our keyboardist and drummer, they were talking about his poor performance tonight. He blew up at them and quit. So now we need a new singer... and I need a drink... can I get a double JD and coke?" he asked.
"Sure, you can even have it on the house if..." She asked, hoping desperately John wasn't within earshot.
"If what?" the guitarist asked hesitantly
"Give me a shot at that singer's job." Katya blurted out. She felt her cheeks go red and began to feel very silly. The guitarist smiled at her and nodded. He scribbled a phone number on a napkin.
"Sure, call me tomorrow, we'll talk about it" he said.
