Instrumental – Wayne 7

[For back story see lower numbers in archive]

With Dave propped up on the tablet, video linked into his flat, Wayne started in on his music equipment. It had been neatly packed by the roadie at the end of his last performance (studio set up, live in front of an audience, pretty good session and great reaction) but it still took him twice as long as usual to recognise the various connector leads and power cables and to get these in the right places. This wasn’t the usual gig, thought Wayne grimly, and it really should be. He should get back to basics and make sure he understood how everything worked now. It would be a new start and a way to find new sounds and loops.

Dave apologised from the top that he’d be bobbing in and out of screen as he sorted through a cupboard in his hall. This was, he said, the last cupboard on his lockdown list, and given the rate at which things were changing he was damned if this one was going to get away and remain in chaos while the rest of his home demonstrated the benefits of thought and order.

The two carried on their work companionably with each recounting tales from their previous lives and wondering whether they would return in a recognisable fashion and if so when. Dave’s restaurant used to be heaving from 11am til 3pm, then there would be a bit of a lull before everyone started piling in again at 5pm. Weekends barely saw any decrease in footfall and he admitted he’d gone out of his way to build capacity and choice by designing a faster turnaround menu for those who just wanted a quick bite rather than a full sit down meal.

Despite everything he’d always refused to do takeaway since he wouldn’t have control over presentation and that, he said, was really half the experience. Well, OK, maybe not half the experience given taste, texture, smell and so forth, but it was extremely important. Wayne kind of understood Dave’s need to control everything although he did feel that once you’d tasted one good steak and chips you’d tasted them all. The distinctive bit was the sauces you put on it.

For his part Wayne just started getting his music to play as soon as he could. He wanted to see if Dave recognised anything he’d done – not because he wanted praise or recognition on a high level, but he did want some kind of recognition from his buddy from below. Sadly not even the distinctive drum riff from his number three hit caused a raised eyebrow from Dave. Maybe he just wasn’t his target audience, or any musician’s target audience, or maybe for some people once you’d heard one drum machine you’d heard them all. The distinctive bit were the lyrics and samples.

“What do you reckon you’ll write about?” asked Dave.

“Not sure,” said Wayne, having muttered a few thoughts to himself. “You reckon people will want stuff about the virus and lockdown and what’s happening and stuff? Or do we just want to forget it and get on with usual stuff?”

“Good question,” said Dave.

“Course you can never go wrong with either something that tells a story or is just about love,” continued Wayne. “This track – these drums are playing one of my tracks – and that was just about a walk I took one day and the stuff I saw. Pretty mundane but had a mint riff for the chorus and that just made it. Weird thing is I’ve kind of forgotten how I wrote it. Guess I could take a walk again now and see what happens…”

There was a thump and twang from the tablet’s speaker and a slight grunt from Dave. “Ha! Would you believe it?” he said as something fell out of his cupboard onto the floor.

“You OK?” asked Wayne.

“Yeah, it’s just. I’ve just found this,” said Dave.

What Wayne said next came about mainly through surprise and because he couldn’t actually see the entire thing that Dave was now had in his hands. 

“What is it?” He asked.

Dave laughed. “A guitar.”

So, thought Wayne, Dave does have some kind of musical bone in his body. Except Dave protested that he literally hadn’t played in years, had forgotten that he still had this instrument. It came with a few music books showing the basics of how to play and giving a few simple chord songs to some very old pop songs.

“Want to give it a go?” asked Dave.

The guitar didn’t fit in the bucket, of course, but by tying it to the pulley system it was possible to get the instrument and the music books up to Wayne’s level. 

Wayne twanged a few notes experimentally. 

“Anything’s worth a go,” he said.