No Strings Attached

Chapter 5: Per Chance

Becca tipped her beer bottle back as she waited for the guys to fill her in further. Her patience was running rather thin. "So when will these candidates be here? We don't have much time to waste."

Richie looked at his watch and shrugged, "About an hour or so."

"What did you make them play at auditions? Or did they simply do their own song. You guys know the issues I have with that." The thing Becca knew was that if the person came to an audition with their own song, they might only be good in that one song that they had practised and nothing else.

Heng stepped up to the mini fridge to grab himself and Richie each a beer as well. "We made them play the two songs you suggested - Sound of Silence and Wayward Son."

Becca frowned and put her hand to her head at Heng's questionable listening skills. "I said that they would play those here. But fine. If they could pass those in auditions then they deserve to be here. Besides, I have something to really put them to the test."

When the three candidates finally arrived for their auditions, Becca had seated herself off to one side of the practise space, saying she didn't want to see or hear the candidate speak. She didn't want her impression of them tainted. Therefore she had her back turned in order to simply listen to them handle their guitars. She was really planning on putting them through the ringer as she decided on Metallica's 'Fade to Black'. If they could get through the first minute of soloing, she'll allow them to sing as the song progressed, to make sure they could do some vocals as well. If they didn't make it through the soloing, they were as good as yesterday's old newspaper.

Richie sent in the first candidate, Johnson, to play his best version of the song. He didn't do too badly, but his fingers weren't nimble enough and he screwed up quite audibly when he was unable to change frets fast enough. Becca had stopped him at about 45 seconds and bid him farewell.

Next Heng brought in Lewis, definitely a better player he knew. Becca was intrigued listening to him play, but there was one problem, and it was a big problem and mistake you don't make when coming to an actual audition - no pedals. It caused the song to fall flat during crucial moments and when the singing started it overpowered the notes. Also, his voice was rather shaky. After about 2 and a half minutes she bid him farewell.

God, the third one better be good, she thought, or she knew she'd be screwed. Both Richie and Heng took in their spaces behind their instruments, ready to play as they knew Becca would be delighted with this one and would want to finish the song. Freen took her place and hooked up her guitar and pedals, then took her stance and closed her eyes. The world around her faded as she started playing.

Her fingers glides over the frets like butter while she pluched at the strings like a lover, hitting her pedals at just the right moments to slide in and out of pronunciation. Her skill had Becca entranced and she could feel her heart starting to race the further the candidate played. As the minute and a half mark approached a d Freen got to show of her vocal range, once again stepping an octave higher but remaining in perfect harmony, Becca thought she had died and gone to heaven.

At the 2 minute mark when the vocals ended and Freen took the lead again, Richie and Heng joined in with the drums and bass, filling in the sound space and making it sound more rich. Becca slowly stood up and turned around, taking another swig from her bottle as she watched the female guitarist from behind, handling her instrument like it was her lover. Becky remained on the periphery, not wanting to distract her, but she retrieved the mic and waited a bit.

At the near 3 minute mark, Becca joined in on the vocals, perfectly matching Freen's harmony but in a slightly lower register. Their voices went together like fire and ice in the best sort of way. If Freen were to be a backup singer for Becca's strong voice, she would be able to insert a sense of magical sweetness that was hard to come by in a band.

They played the song through as one unit of a band and it sounded amazing. Becca was beside herself that they had indeed found the perfect fit in this woman, as the guys had said. Once the woman had placed her guitar in its stand, she turned around to meet Becca who was approaching her, but both stopped dead in their tracks, staring like they've seen a ghost. Well it was close enough.

"Oh shit..." Freen ground through her teeth, while Becca tangled her fingers in her hair in disbelief, "You've got to be kidding me!"