Episode 39: The Backing Band

A call came from the record label.

The result...

"The songs are good. But the vocals are weak."

"We're sorry, but not this time."

I wasn't disappointed.

The songs always get praised. Around this time, I had started to wonder whether being a band was really the right path. It was a time when I began to feel that my only way forward might be to dig deeper into the one thing people kept saying was good: the songs.

Right then, someone from the music agency that had once gotten us on the radio told me he had gone independent. "If you know a good vocalist, I'll pitch them," he said.

It had been a long time since we'd met. I handed him our latest demo.

"Let me see you play live," he said.

He came to our show.

"The vocalist is a 60 out of 100. She sings well, but she's turned into the good singer who records guide vocals," he told me.

I had already sensed that, faintly.

"By the way, why don't you play as a backing band?"

...I had to do it. There was no reason to say no.

I said yes without a second thought.

It was a job as the backing band for a newly debuted artist.

To be continued.