[Activity] Shifting Tones

[Shane Marsh]

After ironing out a few preliminary kinks with Will, Shane called the band together to get input and make sure everyone was on the same page. He had a few band names written on a whiteboard, with "Toneshift?" underlined, as well as possible songs for their set.

Shane checked the time on his phone while Drake futzed around on the drum, the dragonman seeming content to go with the flow.

[Will Stanton]

Will had brought a couple bass guitars with him -- a four-string maple-bodied electric for sustain and tone, as well as a fretless J-bass made of basswood, for more subtlety and control.

At least, that's what he explained when he brought them in. In actuality, he had spent most of the time tuning and re-tuning them. Having multiple basses and being able to explain them at least made it seem like he knew what he was doing, which I suppose was half the battle.

[Shari]

As Will is going on about his bass the door opens and an unknown face with a substantial amount of poofy hair pokes their head in and leans their shoulder against the doorframe.

"Heyyyy, what's shaking, you hep cats?"

[Will Stanton]

Will looked up, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah, I see the Honorable Member for the 1970s has arrived."

[Shari]

"You best don't be razzing me, Mirror Man." she laughs as she steps into the room proper, carrying a saxophone case.

[Shane Marsh]

"Digging the look Shari. Perhaps a bit too seventies, but we can work on that."

[Shari]

"The bod's non-negotiable but we can work on the drip fo sho."

[Will Stanton]

"We're also going to have to work on not talking like a stereotype, unless the name of our band is going to be 'ow, ow, my face, why are you punching me in the face so much, ow'."

[Shane Marsh]

After an amused smirk, Shane said, "Yeah, the last thing we need is to be booed off stage. But now that we're all here we can work on all of that."

[Shari]

"What's off with the way I talk?"

[Will Stanton]

"Other than you sounding like someone shoved a blaxploitation film in your head? Nothing at all," Will smirked.

"Been spending some time reading up on things, have we?"

[Shari]

"Reading's for rubes. I simply took all the knowledge of your jazz-playing kind I could find and this is it's culmination, dig?"

[Shane Marsh]

Shane groaned, "Oh my God... please tell me you didn't spend all that time learning Jazz because I used the word once."

[Shari]

"Don't be ridiculous. I spend all that time learning Jazz because I want to lay down sweet licks on the old popsicle stick." she says, patting the saxophone case.

[Shane Marsh]

"I guess it isn't an entire waste but... um... we're not a Jazz band."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, let's not jump to conclusions," Will said, thinking for a moment. "Let's see how she can fit in."

He started playing a simple blues progression -- nothing too fancy; just a basic 12-bar blues line, used by everyone from AC/DC to ZZ Top, just to see how far down the jazzhole Shari had gone.

[Shari]

Fortunately for the band, Shari had delved so far into the history of Jazz she has no problem playing alongside Will's Blues progression, culminating in her launching into the Baker Street solo.

[Shane Marsh]

"Alright, you can definitely play. But let's see what you can do to fit..." he said, playing something heavier but still notably blues-flavored.

[Shari]

Shari toots along pretty well, even adding some additional flourishes here and there. And when there's enough room she launches into the solo from Baker Street. Again.

[Will Stanton]

"Wh, Baker Street again...Shari, this song isn't even really shifting chords. Did you learn any other lick?" Will asked, looking at Shane with a dubious expression.

[Shari]

"Cause it's hilarious!" she says, laughing to herself. "What?" she asks when nobody joins in.

[Will Stanton]

"I don't think our Fearless Leader would enjoy getting laughed at on stage, Jazzette. And we can't play Baker Street three times and call it a day."

[Shane Marsh]

"Yeeaah... ixnay on the bloody damn Baker Street solo," he said... after he finished facepalming.

[Shari]

"Not for the battle." she rolls her eyes. "It's just hi-larious cause of how the notes go. Like they're fried and trying to catch their step?" For all the absorbed jive-talking, she seems to have retained some of her alien sensibilities.

[Will Stanton]

Will shot Shane another glance, and then stepped forward.

"Alright, what we've got here is some cultural cross-contamination. If we had all the time in the world, we could break this down and figure out exactly what you're looking for in music...but as a hired gun, as it were, maybe we just need to find a spot in a song where you can go buck-wild and worry about the foundation later."

[Shari]

"Well I got other licks, but they're not as good." she says, rattling off a brief sequence of notes that actually sound pretty decent.

[Will Stanton]

Will looked at Shane and just shrugged.

"Treat it like a guitar solo, and power trio the rest of the way through the songs?"

[Shane Marsh]

He shrugged back. "It's worth a try. Was working for that song up until Baker Street. And that is one I'd like in our set."

[Will Stanton]

"What else have you got?" Will said, grabbing a piece of paper. "Let's see what we can't retrofit to keep your vision intact and let Jazz McCoolhands toot."

[Shane Marsh]

"Alright. First I kind of want to try Little Black Submarines by The Black Keys. It's got a good Zeppelin-ish quality to it. Slow with plenty of room for a sax, then it gets hard and fuzzy."

"But on the short side, which leaves about... eight and a half minutes of our max of twenty after we throw in mine. So, one or two more songs. Possibly one being another of mine if I decide another is good enough."

"Suggestions are welcome."

[Will Stanton]

"You said you'd written your own thing. Let's hear it! See how it works, and we'll build around that. Gotta highlight our group's skills, and I bet you a decent number of the bands up there will just be using someone else's songs, appropriating deepness from better writers."

[Shane Marsh]

"Alright," he said, starting to play a melodic, blues-ish tune on his guitar. It was a song about second chances and roads not taken, of becoming one's best self and not wasting this short life. The imagery was largely fantastical, full of magic and maidens fair. The chorus was harder and noisier but the song was overall relatively laid back. It was like a minstrel had discovered Led Zeppelin. He was actually quite good. Of course, it had plenty of room for accompaniment. Even a sax.

[Will Stanton]

Will nodded. "That'll work. That should be the closer. We'll open with Submarines, so we begin and end on a highpoint.

You didn't strike me as the poetic type."

[Shane Marsh]

"The angry tosser has hidden depths? Who knew?"

"The Hollydale thing really got in my head. Brought a calm, you know? Being a traveling minstrel adventurer for a bit gave my poetic side some much-needed sun."

[Will Stanton]

"I'm gonna ignore your barb, Rosebush, and we'll move on.

If we cut the second bridge, and replace it with another copy of the B section, the Sax would work well there, I think, as long as Shari knows something more fantasy like than Baker Street."

[Shari]

"Harr-dee-harr." she says, then pauses. "Fantasy? Isn't all music made up?"

[Will Stanton]

"Fantasy as in the genre," Will explained. "Strange settings and characters, elves and dwarves and princesses and shit.

And while music is written or composed, it certainly isn't made up," he began, going into lecture mode before catching himself. "Buuuut that's a topic for a different time."

[Shane Marsh]

"We need to introduce her to Led Zeppelin's Tolkien stuff, and All Along the Watchtower is pretty fantasy-ish too or at least it could be interpreted that way."

He snapped his fingers as an idea struck him. "Hold on, I've got just the thing," he said, going to his phone which was seated in a rather nice portable speaker.

"Pay special attention to the flute," he said as something started to play.

[Shari]

"Okay, yeah, kind of a... slow twiddling, like a dream. I can dig that... out?" she says, losing her grip on the vernacular some as she eases off of being a bad stereotype.

[Will Stanton]

"Yeah, if you're interested in keeping this up, we'll have to have a sitdown and go through this more...regularly, but if you can just lock into that dream sort of feeling, that's what we need."

"Ooh, maybe you could play in Lydian, with the raised fourth..." he said, hijacking Shane's phone to play another dreamy song....