Musical Q&A (rp for vavarner)

[fey_fire]

Rory took another pass through his living room to ensure that the premises looked at least decent, sprinkled with a little comfortable clutter instead of out and out messy. Normally he did a better job of keeping his Woodside apartment tidy, but lately he had been too busy. Practice, meetings, interviews, planning sessions, photo ops and more practice had sucked up the last dregs of his free time, until he barely had a few minutes even to keep in touch with his family anymore.

Of course, if he had more time at home, there would be more mess needing cleaning. He supposed it evened out in some ways.

But today he'd managed to wedge open a slice of his schedule for an interview he actually anticipated with pleasure instead of resignation. Instead of talking to jaded music industry reporters on the hunt for shallow gossip material, he'd be discussing Breaker Street's debut CD with a young man who actually shared Rory's passion for music. Instead of gritting his teeth and reminding himself that he was doing all this to help his band, he could enjoy the fact that he was helping a friend spice up his class assignment. Rory whistled a few bars from Automatic Panic as he arranged his electronic keyboard and six-string acoustic guitar ready to hand for demo purposes.

Only then did it occur to him to glance in a mirror. Eh. He'd do. Jeans, a blue sleeveless t-shirt and a mane of dark hair that wasn't any more rumpled than usual. A buzz from the intercomm told him that his guest was right on time. "Hello, is that you Val?"

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[vavarner.livejournal.com]

Val listened intently, taking a few notes despite having the recorder going.

"So you were a singer first, and the instrumentation came later? Then you moved to New York, and played solo - how did you move from solo performance to forming a band?" Valentine asked, trying to segue seamlessly into the next question on his list.

"Was Breaker Street your first band?"

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

Rory nodded a bit as he took a swallow of his tea, appreciating Val's way of confirming information from one question as he moved on to the next. His smile widened a bit when he heard what those next questions were. Breaker Street was of course one of his favourite topics.

"By the time I hit New York, I was also getting deeper into writing my own music," he replied. "It soon became obvious to me that I wanted a greater depth of sound with my songs than I could create with my own two hands and voice. Therefore I needed other musicians."

His dark eyes gleamed as he warmed to his subject. "And yes, Breaker Street is my first band. First, last and only if all goes well. We were some time coming together because I very much wanted to get it right the first time."

[vavarner.livejournal.com]

Val smiled at his obvious love for his band. It was nice when bands got along like that - he hoped they would stay tight like that throughout their career.

"So how'd you meet the other members of your band - and how did you settle on the name Breaker Street?" he asked.

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes." The memories brought more nostalgia, even if the events were recent from his point of view. What was it, six or seven years ago now that he began his search?

"I'd played in the clubs long enough to listen to and jam with quite a variety of other musicians, plus I knew I'd need experience to fill in the gaps of my own knowledge. So I approached Nil Cameron and Marcus Kreske first about joining as bass guitarist and drummer. Nil had more than a decade of session work in the studios under his belt, and Kreske also had some studio experience in addition to knowing all the ins and outs of the club scene. They had the sound I was looking for, and also the ... the soul, for want of a better word."

He nibbled thoughtfully on one knuckle for a moment. "You see Val, I was looking for people with talent and a style that would mesh with the songs I was writing, but I wanted more than that. I wanted passion in my bandmates, not just for music, but for people and life as well. If they had a good attitude and sense of humor to go with, so much the better."

As he often did when discussing something that aroused his enthusiasm, Rory found himself talking with his hands. "So we had a long, drawn out audition process before we found Dave Rackley for keyboards ... he was between bands at the time ... and Junie Cabriano. Not only does she catch fire on that Fender Strat of hers, she's equally good on electric cello. Sascha Brockmann we found at Juilliard through a friend of my sister's about a year and a half later, when Dave and I were talking about bringing on another keyboard player. Of course we were already Breaker Street by then."

A soft chuckle. "The name resulted from a few evening bull sessions about what kind of message we wanted it to convey. I've always thought of music as a connection, a conduit that lets energy flow from musician to audience and back again. Breakers do the same for electrical current, and streets connect buildings, cities, people." He smiled and spread his hands. "So, Breaker Street."