Let Battle Commence
Battle of the Bands, Friday May 23.
“We’re really early, how embarrassing,”
“I know, but at least we’re not the only people here,” I said, watching the two Year 10s eating chips on the steps outside the Main Hall.
“Uh, there’s two of them,” I mumbled under my breath to Clare as Josh and Robbie came out of the hall, clutching guitars. These two were the front man and rhythm guitarist of Bradshaw's band.
“At least this way we’ll be able to get a good seat,” I said defensively, as Clare and Chloe began talking about how embarrassed they were about being so early. Our school is enormous, and bands from every year would be taking part in the show – it was bound to rake in hundreds of people.
Looking through the Hall entrance, the door burst open and out strolled Bradshaw and his friend, George. On seeing me, he grinned and gave me a thumbs up, clearly excited.
“Hey!” he said brightly, walking over.
“Alllright!” I replied, my stomach all a flutter.
“We’re not allowed to do our encore thing,” Bradshaw whined. During the whole day he had told me of their plans to play “Brianstorm” by the Arctic Monkeys and once they walk off, get everyone to chant “Pre-tense, Pre-tense” (the chant he was making me practice all day) as a sort-of encore, then they’d return and play their latest song, “Living Below Your Means”.
“Oh no,” I said, looking sympathetic. “So what song are you gonna play?”
“Brianstorm,” he said, starting to walk away as George looked impatient. “But still cheer for us, yeah?”
“’Course I will,” I said, grinning. He smiled back and turned to walk away.
Chloe’s eyebrows shot up and she nudged my ribs.
“Ask him out!” she whispered. I ignored her.
Soon enough, some more people from our year turned up. Rhiannon raced over to give me a hug, followed by Silvia, Emma, Sarah and Annie. Now we had a larger group, we decided to make our way through the doors and into the foyer. Standing right by the door, we could see the teachers setting things up, including a raised judges panel along the back. Clutching our tickets, we were asked to shuffle back so they could open the doors. Shoving my ticket in their hands, I squeezed my way through with Rhiannon and raced to the front, the first people to enter the hall. As Rhiannon and the rest of them took seats at the very front, Clare, Chloe and me nabbed the second row, about two metres away from the stage and began reading the programme.
More people filed in, including the members of The Pretense. Bradshaw was at the front, talking to his band mates when Silvia came over to see Rory, the band’s bass player. Bradshaw gave her one of his Pretense badge he had pinned on his shirt and took a seat a few rows behind me. He gave me a nod when I saw him, and I grinned back.
Mrs Ermiz introduced the show and the first band began. By the seventh performance, The Pretense quickly had to shuffle out through the back to get ready. This meant they could wait in the Sports Centre foyer, adjacent to the Hall. A few times you could see Rory’s bright red hair through the window in the Sports Centre door, next to the stage.
The band before The Pretense came on. These were a mixture of members of “The Reservoirs”, a high-standard Year 11 band who would be getting a record deal any day soon and Year 10 band, “Massive!”.
However, instead of taking the stage in jeans and shirts, they came out in bright white all-in-one hygiene coats with the hoods up and black sunglasses. They were a picture, and everyone seemed to find it hilarious. They ripped open “Slam” by Pendulum. It was probably the best instrumental I’d heard and the lack of singing was defiantly compensated for by the huge amount of smoke they had pouring out of the machines, practically smothering the first three rows, causing a sour old man behind me to complain quite magnificently.
During the performance, Bradshaw was watching through the Sports Centre door and a couple of times, meeting my gaze and pulling faces. I returned these with a couple of hysterical smiles and my thumbs up.
Before long, Josh came on stage followed by Rory, then Bradshaw and finally Robbie. Just before they settled down to play, the first two rows on the left hand side of the crowd (including me) stood up and cheered for them. As it all went quiet I did a pretty loud “Woop” that the band undoubtedly heard. Through the whole performance, I went slightly crazy, singing along and swaying, along with all the cheering and clapping. Many must’ve thought I was pretty weird, but I didn’t care when I got a few more smiles from Bradshaw in return.
It was safe to say that they OWNED Brianstorm.
Once they finished playing, they all walked off stage. Just as Bradshaw disappeared into the wings, he did another thumbs up towards the left hand side of the crowd. I returned it.
“Was that to you?” Chloe whispered.
“I dunno,” I said, shrugging.
“I reckon it was. I can’t see anyone else on this side he would’ve done it to,” she said.
The interval meant we could escape the ridiculous heat inside the Hall and go outside. Bradshaw was nowhere to be seen, however most of the band members had gone to the Arts Centre to get a drink. Once he returned, he talked to his sister for a bit before we all went back inside.
Now all the bands had played, it was time for the judges to decide the winner. As assistant head teacher Mr. Mann, music technician Mr. Dean and some music producer from our local university marked the bands on musical skill, song-writing talent (if they did their own song) and emotive support. Basically, the emotive support was how crazy the crowd went, and was the reason Bradshaw wanted me to attend. Undoubtedly, The Pretense would’ve been marked highly for this seeing as they were the only band more than five people stood up for.
To keep the crowd entertained, “Goldfish Don’t Bounce” played. Goldfish Don’t Bounce aren’t any old band, they are actually made up of members of staff and are basically hilarious. True, they are pretty good, but you don’t always see your solemn science teacher who’s going bald pull off an almighty guitar riff on the same guitar Patrick Stump has everyday.
Once the judges had decided, the guy from the university went up onto the stage and did his “thank you” and “well done” speech. He also called on every single band to gather on the stage, causing me and the people around to start the Pretense chant, the one in which Bradshaw had begged me to do all week. The whole band saw it, and looked very grateful.
The prize would go to the two best bands. They would get to record their songs in the university’s brand new studios and have their songs put as Tracks 1 and 2 on the CD that was going to be produced after the show, including all the bands that took part.
They began to read the three runners up. These were Lucy Machin, a 13 year old singer/songwriter with an amazing voice, “The Mustangs”, a Year 10 band who did their own song which was pretty amazing and of course, The Pretense.
Tony, the university guy then read out the winners. The Mustangs and Lucy Machin. The Pretense looked absolutely gutted. This only caused me to start up the whole chanting thing again for them. Unfortunately, this didn’t alter the judges’ decisions yet it did mean I got another smile.
The whole night was amazing and I’d give anything to do it again. Hopefully, the success of Friday is gonna influence the music department to organize to do it again next year – I honestly can’t wait if they do.
I would give anything to see Bradshaw today and talk to him about it. Maybe I might even get a hug for all my support. However, it’s half term. School’s finished for a week and for once in my life I actually don’t want it to be.
“I know, but at least we’re not the only people here,” I said, watching the two Year 10s eating chips on the steps outside the Main Hall.
“Uh, there’s two of them,” I mumbled under my breath to Clare as Josh and Robbie came out of the hall, clutching guitars. These two were the front man and rhythm guitarist of Bradshaw's band.
“At least this way we’ll be able to get a good seat,” I said defensively, as Clare and Chloe began talking about how embarrassed they were about being so early. Our school is enormous, and bands from every year would be taking part in the show – it was bound to rake in hundreds of people.
Looking through the Hall entrance, the door burst open and out strolled Bradshaw and his friend, George. On seeing me, he grinned and gave me a thumbs up, clearly excited.
“Hey!” he said brightly, walking over.
“Alllright!” I replied, my stomach all a flutter.
“We’re not allowed to do our encore thing,” Bradshaw whined. During the whole day he had told me of their plans to play “Brianstorm” by the Arctic Monkeys and once they walk off, get everyone to chant “Pre-tense, Pre-tense” (the chant he was making me practice all day) as a sort-of encore, then they’d return and play their latest song, “Living Below Your Means”.
“Oh no,” I said, looking sympathetic. “So what song are you gonna play?”
“Brianstorm,” he said, starting to walk away as George looked impatient. “But still cheer for us, yeah?”
“’Course I will,” I said, grinning. He smiled back and turned to walk away.
Chloe’s eyebrows shot up and she nudged my ribs.
“Ask him out!” she whispered. I ignored her.
Soon enough, some more people from our year turned up. Rhiannon raced over to give me a hug, followed by Silvia, Emma, Sarah and Annie. Now we had a larger group, we decided to make our way through the doors and into the foyer. Standing right by the door, we could see the teachers setting things up, including a raised judges panel along the back. Clutching our tickets, we were asked to shuffle back so they could open the doors. Shoving my ticket in their hands, I squeezed my way through with Rhiannon and raced to the front, the first people to enter the hall. As Rhiannon and the rest of them took seats at the very front, Clare, Chloe and me nabbed the second row, about two metres away from the stage and began reading the programme.
More people filed in, including the members of The Pretense. Bradshaw was at the front, talking to his band mates when Silvia came over to see Rory, the band’s bass player. Bradshaw gave her one of his Pretense badge he had pinned on his shirt and took a seat a few rows behind me. He gave me a nod when I saw him, and I grinned back.
Mrs Ermiz introduced the show and the first band began. By the seventh performance, The Pretense quickly had to shuffle out through the back to get ready. This meant they could wait in the Sports Centre foyer, adjacent to the Hall. A few times you could see Rory’s bright red hair through the window in the Sports Centre door, next to the stage.
The band before The Pretense came on. These were a mixture of members of “The Reservoirs”, a high-standard Year 11 band who would be getting a record deal any day soon and Year 10 band, “Massive!”.
However, instead of taking the stage in jeans and shirts, they came out in bright white all-in-one hygiene coats with the hoods up and black sunglasses. They were a picture, and everyone seemed to find it hilarious. They ripped open “Slam” by Pendulum. It was probably the best instrumental I’d heard and the lack of singing was defiantly compensated for by the huge amount of smoke they had pouring out of the machines, practically smothering the first three rows, causing a sour old man behind me to complain quite magnificently.
During the performance, Bradshaw was watching through the Sports Centre door and a couple of times, meeting my gaze and pulling faces. I returned these with a couple of hysterical smiles and my thumbs up.
Before long, Josh came on stage followed by Rory, then Bradshaw and finally Robbie. Just before they settled down to play, the first two rows on the left hand side of the crowd (including me) stood up and cheered for them. As it all went quiet I did a pretty loud “Woop” that the band undoubtedly heard. Through the whole performance, I went slightly crazy, singing along and swaying, along with all the cheering and clapping. Many must’ve thought I was pretty weird, but I didn’t care when I got a few more smiles from Bradshaw in return.
It was safe to say that they OWNED Brianstorm.
Once they finished playing, they all walked off stage. Just as Bradshaw disappeared into the wings, he did another thumbs up towards the left hand side of the crowd. I returned it.
“Was that to you?” Chloe whispered.
“I dunno,” I said, shrugging.
“I reckon it was. I can’t see anyone else on this side he would’ve done it to,” she said.
The interval meant we could escape the ridiculous heat inside the Hall and go outside. Bradshaw was nowhere to be seen, however most of the band members had gone to the Arts Centre to get a drink. Once he returned, he talked to his sister for a bit before we all went back inside.
Now all the bands had played, it was time for the judges to decide the winner. As assistant head teacher Mr. Mann, music technician Mr. Dean and some music producer from our local university marked the bands on musical skill, song-writing talent (if they did their own song) and emotive support. Basically, the emotive support was how crazy the crowd went, and was the reason Bradshaw wanted me to attend. Undoubtedly, The Pretense would’ve been marked highly for this seeing as they were the only band more than five people stood up for.
To keep the crowd entertained, “Goldfish Don’t Bounce” played. Goldfish Don’t Bounce aren’t any old band, they are actually made up of members of staff and are basically hilarious. True, they are pretty good, but you don’t always see your solemn science teacher who’s going bald pull off an almighty guitar riff on the same guitar Patrick Stump has everyday.
Once the judges had decided, the guy from the university went up onto the stage and did his “thank you” and “well done” speech. He also called on every single band to gather on the stage, causing me and the people around to start the Pretense chant, the one in which Bradshaw had begged me to do all week. The whole band saw it, and looked very grateful.
The prize would go to the two best bands. They would get to record their songs in the university’s brand new studios and have their songs put as Tracks 1 and 2 on the CD that was going to be produced after the show, including all the bands that took part.
They began to read the three runners up. These were Lucy Machin, a 13 year old singer/songwriter with an amazing voice, “The Mustangs”, a Year 10 band who did their own song which was pretty amazing and of course, The Pretense.
Tony, the university guy then read out the winners. The Mustangs and Lucy Machin. The Pretense looked absolutely gutted. This only caused me to start up the whole chanting thing again for them. Unfortunately, this didn’t alter the judges’ decisions yet it did mean I got another smile.
The whole night was amazing and I’d give anything to do it again. Hopefully, the success of Friday is gonna influence the music department to organize to do it again next year – I honestly can’t wait if they do.
I would give anything to see Bradshaw today and talk to him about it. Maybe I might even get a hug for all my support. However, it’s half term. School’s finished for a week and for once in my life I actually don’t want it to be.