Page 14 of The Biker's Virgin
CHAPTER NINE – OLIVIA
“A one. Two. A one, two, three, four!” Steve yelled into the microphone. Randy slapped out his riff and the rest of the band came in on time – for once.
Olivia loved playing with Steve’s band, but couldn’t help but get frustrated with their lack of musical precision. They were definitely a fun jam band, but she had quickly eclipsed all of them in terms of technique – even Steve, who had been playing for thirty years.
They were working on some classic AC/DC. It was so loud and raucous, Olivia loved it.
“Fuckin -A guys. We’ve finally got that one dialed.” Steve cheered.
Olivia looked at him and narrowed her eyes jokingly.
“Oh, I mean, Fuckin- A, guys and Liv!” He laughed.
Olivia smiled and grabbed a slide off the table. She had been working on a solo for one of their ballads and loved the way the slide added a certain sadness to her sound.
She kicked away at some of the hay on the ground. As the weather had gotten nicer they moved the practice space from her dad’s garage to Steve’s barn. The acoustics weren’t as good, but they could be LOUD.
“Let’s hear what you’ve got for your solo, kiddo,” Randy said.
“I’m still trying to work out some of the kinks. I’ll play it for you next week.” Olivia started to lift the sparkly blue guitar off of her shoulder.
“No way. You’re thinking way too much about it. A solo shouldn’t be slick and practiced, it should be wild and driven by your emotion, not the notes in your head,” Randy said.
“I’m working on it,” Olivia lied. She had spent the last week transcribing her guitar solo to paper and had religiously practised it, note for note, every day.
“Let’s hear it Liv!” Steve prodded.
Olivia felt uncomfortable with all the attention on her, but she knew they wouldn’t let it go. She picked up the slide. She counted in her head and then wailed out the notes – it was perfect. She had hit them all – even the tricky part she added in the night before. She watched their faces as she played but couldn’t tell what they were thinking.
“That was pretty good, Liv,” Steve said.
Pretty good?Olivia was disheartened. It was perfect.
“I can tell that you’re still thinking about it. It was technically spot-on, but I didn’t feel any emotion in there.”
“I don’t know how to infuse emotion into my music.” Olivia scuffed some of the dirt off the barn boards with her combat boots.
“I guess they don’t teach that at the conservatory, do they?” Steve stood up from behind the drums.
“No. No, they don’t.”
“Well, just keep your chin up. If you can try to stop thinking, that will really help you out. Try to feel the music, not think it.”
“A little reefer never hurts either.” Randy laughed.
“Shut it, Randy.” Steve flicked a pick at him.
Olivia smiled. She loved hanging out with these old dudes.
“More Cowbell!” They heard a voice yell out from the barn door. Maddie poked her head in and smiled.
“Maddie!” Steve yelled. “Come on in!”
“I’d love to Steve, but Olivia left me strict instructions to get here with the car by 6:00.”
“Oh. Shit!” Olivia looked at her watch. “I’ve gotta go!” She slid off the guitar and placed it back on the stand.
“Bye Steve, bye Randy, bye Laurie!” She shouted as she grabbed her light canvas jacket and ran out the door.
