For the last few months I have been trying to break into the music business, starting with really nothing but my ambition, busking on street corners, waiting for my big chance to score a gig at an open mic night. That's how I got to meet some other musicians, mostly pianists, who I teamed up with, hoping to form a band one day.
The first one to really make a difference was Luthien, who brought a respectable 75 skills and an incredible amount of 125 fans. These stats had been previously unheard of, until Kinsey joined us. She had known both Luthien and Bo through her passion for keys, but unlike either of them, her natural skills of 300 surpassed anyone's wildest expectations. Even today she is our most skilled performer, and also most popular one, with 600 fans.
Part of Kinsey's magic is her Keystar 1A, a electric piano with a strap, so you can wear it like a guitar. She insisted on getting at least one of those, and since the instrument brings 150 luck points, all of a sudden taking piano lesson became worthwhile. So before soon, we got one for Luthien as well. This meant that we could gradually lower our ego, and thus earn more Starbits at each gig we played.
Candidates for a Band
Not much later, Romy came to hang out with us. A former room mate of Kinsey, she is a passionate vocalist with 125 skills, and a following of 100 fans. Of course we were happy to include her in our gigs. At that time we played mostly at shopping malls, though once our piano lessons started paying off, going back to the Saturday Headline shows at our favorite cafe became much more lucrative.
Through Romy we also met her boyfriend Stomper a wizard on the drums. Though he prefers fast beats with hard and heavy tunes, he doesn't mind adapting to the soft and heartfelt style the rest of the group likes to pursue. At that time the biggest mismatch among our artist was with Gameboy Ali.
At first Ali and Romy tried to complement each other, which turned out to be even more awkward than our two pianists. Finally, however, Teddy appeared on the scene, and that's when Ali threw in the towel. Not only did Teddy surpass Ali in both fans and skills, but his fans-skill ratio was much much better. In other words, by taking on Teddy and saying goodbye to Ali, we managed to lower our ego even further.
Finally, it was Teddy's girlfriend Avril who raised our musical experience to brand new heights. Being a skilled ballerina, her performance is entirely physical. However, having more skills than fans is definitely something to hold on to, as Teddy likes to point out. The rest of us completely agree, and value our dancer for her wonderful skills. I'm not sure how compatible she will be once we start forming a band, but for right now she's definitely a keeper.
A Number of Non-Keepers
Throughout the weeks many alleged artist have approached us, being more or less interested in joining our team. Some of them sucked so bad, we could not even imagine being creative together. Others simply didn't care. But what could we do? Fortunately, there is a flourishing slave market for less qualified musicians. The best thing about it: it only takes a bit of persuasion, and our unskilled losers will eagerly move on to greener pastures.
The only one of this bunch I may consider worthwhile, for those starting out in the music business, is Firefly, whose fans-skill ratio is favorable to keep your ego in check. Unfortunately, the numbers are so low that compared to our serious artists she doesn't even make a drop in the bucket.
Vehicles and Instruments
In one lucky break we suddenly got our hands on a big green Touring Coach. Most impressively, it came with an insane 550 fans. Back when we had to busk for drunks having such a boost of fans would have been perfect. By this time, however, it threw a huge wrench into our ego-meter. So many fans with no skills raised our ego, making all those piano lessons for naught. All that for a coach we didn't even need yet? Clearly we had to get rid of it. It sold well, and for the proceeds we bought our second Keystar 1A. Not much later, we got a more appropriate van for touring: a yellow Mid Range Touring Bus. It's parked outside Romy's house, waiting for us to finally hit the road some day.
As for instruments we're also doing quite well. The two pianists keep taking lessons on their Keystar 1As, and we have two Mid Range Acoustic guitars for Teddy and myself (the Busker). Though Teddy certainly deserves a much better instrument, I'm sure we'll get there soon enough. Romy is quite happy with her Vintage Mic RSI, making her voice even more soothing. Only Stomper is still without any drums. He's got his eyes set on the E25 Pro Kit with its double bass drums. Instead of buying that one, we persuaded him to do some crafting. Since then we've been using up the last 15% of our energy at the drum fair.
Crafting Drums - A Good Idea?
Unfortunately, each time we scour for drum parts, we also need to pay 1,000 Starbits. So far we've spent 12K Starbits, and we've come across various drum parts. Still, we don't have enough to assemble even one drum kit. Looking at the crafted drum market, it's even questionable if it's even possible to craft the kind of kit Stomper likes. So far he's been a good sport, and hasn't complained one bit. Instead he drumms on the table and bottles to keep the beat at our performances.
Though at the same time he doesn't stop talking about his double bass drums, and whenever someone brings up selling something, he says it will be our crafted drums, or / and Luthien. After all, her stats are not any better than Gameboy Ali's. And do we really need two pianists? To this Luthien likes to suggest playing an Easter Session for Pascala. It just may contain something that would sell better than herself. Let's see about that.
Whatever the future of our little group is, it remains to be decided as we progress. For now, we haven't even made it to the Acoustic Tent gig yet. So we keep on recording demo tapes, advancing little by little.