Obstruction

We Will Rock You

- We will Rock You , Queen -

https://open.spotify.com/track/54flyrjcdnQdco7300avMJ

- November 8th -

I entered the band room after a boring lecture on repeated patterns to find the Odd and Ethan in the middle of a discussion.

"I know! We need wires and new jacks. I need new strings. We just can't afford them! We haven't had a paying gig for months!" Ethan was explaining to Oddball.

Oddball was scratching his head holding a wire with a worn jack connection. The plastic was frayed where it met the metal end and even I could see it was a dud.

"We have got one more booking for November. Plus a maybe for Elsie's formal," Simon said behind me.

"So we need more gigs," Odd scratched his head with the drumsticks while nodding.

"What's the trouble?" I asked.

Simon looked at me.

"Our lack of singer has left us without jobs for a while. It means we are all a bit strapped for cash," he explained.

"Okay. What can I do?" I offered.

They looked at each other.

"Erm... you've been with us for just a few weeks. We don't exactly expect you to do a lot yet," Simon said.

"Unless you are playing just for fun, I want to help," I insisted.

"If you have money for the rent of this room..." Ethan shrugged.

I shook my head in apology.

"Thing is. Ethan is in charge of money, invoicing, expenses and stuff. Oddball makes sure our stuff works and does all our sound checks and the technical bit. I organise bookings and make sure we get fed and watered," Simon explained.

"So what can I do?" I asked again.

They all stared at me for a while.

"We don't actually have any promo material..." Oddball suggested.

I nodded.

"I can do that," I said.

I looked around. The boys looked actually quite hopeless.

"We need bookings," Simon said.

"And gear," Odd followed up.

"But we can't afford anything. We can barely cover the rent this month!" Ethan said solemnly running a hand through his hair.

"What happens if we don't get gigs? " I asked

"We can't pay rent. We'd be out of a rehearsal space," Ethan muttered.

I thought for a minute.

"Okay. I have a few ideas. We can do this. If I ask Freddy to get some photos done, I can do a poster as my elective art project, starting next week after this awful lino-print we're doing now. We print copies and stick them up wherever we go," I suggested.

Three faces looked at me with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"It would be a start?" I smiled.

"Okay. Izzy. You are from now on officially head of promotional material for Obstruction," Odd grinned.

- November 12th -

The next weekend I had the boys gathered and Freddy was holding his camera, ready for a long day of working. I had promised him a cinema ticket and free entry to all our ticketed gigs in payment plus the title of "official Obstruction photographer".
Freddy had been granted the rare privilege of entry into our rehersal room during the week and had run around snapping us as we practiced to get the vibe of us. The next weekend we had a small gig lined up and Simon had told the people we were playing for that we'd be bringing a photographer.
All was set for project promo.