I'll Hum Along

I constantly had a camera in my face because we were making a tour DVD with live performances and life on the road for us. Jason was usually the one with the main camera. Occasionally one of us would take it and film something. We really felt like doing something awesome, and that’s what we thought of. There would also be a CD that contained a lot of rarities, b-sides, and covers that we had done over the years.

We started out tour on the east coast, and had played a show in Halifax and Montreal. We were in Toronto, getting ready for a performance and interview at Much Music, and then a show at Massey Hall. So far, both shows had been near to sold out, and we were playing larger venues. It was almost overwhelming.

I was brushing my teeth in my hotel bathroom, and I was sharing a room with Marque. He had gotten hold of Jason’s camera, and he burst into the bathroom. “Josline!” I looked at him, my toothbrush in my mouth. “Are you excited?” he asked me.

I spat toothpaste residue into the sink, “I’d be a lot more excited if you would stop coming into the bathroom while I’m in here. Good Lord, is this what Airin has to deal with on a daily basis?” I asked, brushing my teeth again.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Marque said. I shook my head at him. “Well, if you’re going to be a spoil-sport, I’ll go bug someone else.” He said as I spit into the sink again.

“Good. I can finally take a piss without worrying you’re going to bust in.” I called after him as he walked out the door. I heard Marque laugh.

Marque came and got me about twenty minutes later saying that we needed to go. Apparently Jason had got the camera back, and Marque was pouting about it. Jason only told him to stop being a baby about it, and that only made his pout bigger. Jason gave him a stern look, and Marque retracted his bottom lip. “God, it’s like I look after five year olds all the time.” Jason stated to us. I laughed and shook my head at him.

We went to Much Music and waited around for a little while before Marque, Zack, and myself went out for a small interview. The audience started cheering when Jesse introduced us, and then we all went out. Zack had a giant grin on his face, almost getting too excited and bounding down the stairs. We all shook Jesse’s hand and sat down on the little couch set up they had.

“I think the last time you were here was about two years ago. So, how are you guys doing?” Jesse asked us.

“Just fantastic. I’m glad that I don’t have to jump up onto those really high stools now.” I said, leaning back slightly.

“What have you been up to? Aside from putting out your new album?”

“Well, I finally got my college education.” Zack said, and people cheered. “Yeah, I now have a useless major in Philosophy.” I chuckled slightly at him.

“That’s still pretty cool, man.” Jesse said.

“I’m the only one that doesn’t have a college degree.” Marque said. “Josline has a major in Criminology and Sociology, Airin just finished his masters in music, Keith is a business major, and Zack now has his Philosophy.”

“Have you ever thought of going to college?” Jesse asked Marque.

Marque thought for a moment, before slowly shaking his head. “No…no, I don’t think so.” He said. “I mean, what the hell would I do?”

“You said you wanted to be a teacher at one point.” I told him. Marque nodded slightly.

“But what would I teach, that’s the question.” Marque replied.

“Ah, teach Kindergarten. You love kids, and in some schools you only have to work half the day.” Zack said. Marque smiled slightly.

“Alright, cool. Well, let’s talk about the new album. It’s got kind of a strange sound for you guys.” Jesse said.

“Define strange.” I said. Jesse laughed a little.

“It’s got a little bit of everything on it this time. Some songs are really poppy, and your single “Best of You” has a harder sound to it. Why did you guys decide to do that?”

“We’ve always liked experimenting with our style. We’ve never really had a definite style. People have said that we’ve sold out, but I think, at this point, we’ve just said, “screw it! Let’s do whatever the hell we want!” It’s our fifth album; you kind of run out of ideas after ten years.”

“That’s true. So who did the writing for the album? There’s a lot of really personal songs on it. On your last album, you had a lot of dance tunes.”

“I did the majority of the writing,” I said. “We bounced ideas off of one another for a few of them. There are a couple of songs on there that I wrote back in high school, too. So I guess this is kind of the “we don’t really know what we’re doing anymore” album.”

“It’s a good album though. Airin is even back on a few tracks, I noticed.” Jesse said.

“He is.” Marque nodded.

“How is he doing now?” Jesse asked. “He had throat cancer a while back, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he did. He is doing much better now, though. He’s been seeing a vocal coach for the last year or so, trying to repair his voice. His voice is kind of gritty now, but it adds a really cool sound to our music.” Marque explained. “His screaming vocals are a bit rougher now, but he’s getting there. He’s still trying to quit smoking, but he’s down to two a day.”

“Two cigarettes? That’s damn good.” Jesse smiled. “So, we’re going to go to the audience for question. This is from Kara.” Jesse pointed to a small framed brunette who smiled.

“Hi guys. I have two questions actually. One is for Josline; what is it like being married to Josh?”

“It’s terrible. I would never wish it on anyone.” I said, and a few people laughed. “No, it’s really not that bad. He’s still the big idiot he was when we first started dating, so nothing has really changed. I am finding a lot more glitter around the house now.” I frowned. “And I’m pretty sure it’s not coming from my kids.”

Kara smiled, “Okay, this next question is for Zack. What’s it like being the only single guy in the band?”

Zack sighed, but smiled. “You know, I don’t even notice it anymore. I mean, there is a girl that I go on dates with every once in a while, but honestly, there’s just too much of me for one woman.” Zack exhaled slightly, and I smacked him in the stomach. He went “oof”, gave me a look, and then straightened up. “Seriously though, I don’t mind it. I’m not really a relationship kind of guy. And I definitely don’t plan on having kids any time soon.”

“But you’ve even said that you’d have adorable kids.” Marque poked him in the side.

“I know I would. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I want them.” Zack said.

“Josh didn’t want kids.” I said.

“That’s because he was a fool, and didn’t wrap his tool.” Zack said. Everyone in the audience laughed. I tried to frown at him, but I ended up laughing too.

Jesse laughed, “Alright, we have one more question here.” He pointed to a tall, black-haired male.

“Hi guys,” he started to say, but Zack cut him off.

“Holy crap, we actually have male fans?” Zack said. “When did this happen?”

I smacked Zack in the stomach, making people laugh again. I looked over to the guy with the question and smiled at him, acting like I never hit Zack. “Again, hi guys. I have two questions. First, Josline; I noticed that when Josh dyed his hair silver, you’ve had blue in your hair. Why is that?” he asked me. I did put turquoise in my hair about a month after Josh had done the silver in his.

“You know, honestly, it’s a nice colour. And I felt like I was missing blue in my life.” I smiled. “When Josh came home with the gray in his hair, it freaked me out.” I said.

“Why is that?” Jesse asked.

“I had been so used to the blue. I wasn’t expecting it. He never told me he was going to do that. I just knew he was getting his hair dyed that day.” I said. I turned back to the guy who asked the question. “What’s your other question sweetheart?”

He smiled at me, “What is the weirdest or dumbest rumour you’ve ever heard about yourself?”

All three of us paused for a minute to think. Marque spoke up first, “I once heard a rumour I was straight.” Everyone laughed. “There’s this magazine, down in Vancouver called, “Van-City Rocks”, and there was a picture of me in there with another girl who is my cousin from the Kootenays, where I grew up. I had my arm around her in the picture. Someone posted it on Tumblr, I think, and it went off from there.”

“Apparently I’ve died. Twice.” Zack said. “What about you Josline?”

“I can’t really think of anything.” I said.

“There was one I heard the other day,” Marque said. “You and I are apparently hooking up, or had in the past.” Marque said.

“Seriously?” I exclaimed. “Maybe you are straight.” I said.

“It all comes back to heterosexuality!” Marque said, throwing an arm up.

“Man, I always liked you guys.” Jesse said.

We finished our interview and went to get a small bite to eat before our Live at Much special. Zack had disappeared for a moment before we went on set, saying he was going to stretch his legs because they were restless. When he came back, he seemed a tad energetic, but that was normal for Zack, so I didn’t think anything of it.

Maybe I should have.