Chapter 65 : Concert Session (4)

The man is big.

The black t-shirt has the logo of a band I don’t know.

He has a gold necklace around his neck, and his arms are full of tattoos.

His head is shaved close, and he has scratches.

It’s not that I’m discriminating against people, but there’s something you can feel from the appearance.

Isn’t there someone who you can feel their personality just by looking at them? The kind who has a loud voice for no reason.

‘It’s not like they give you a stipend for being a band master.’

Does he like to wear a badge? Ha Su Yeon  thought so.

A band master is in charge of the session band.

They also proceed with the session, catch parts that the singer doesn’t know and inform them.

They also arrange according to the song, and adjust the sessions according to the singer’s feedback.

In that respect, experience is also necessary, and skill is also necessary.

But, that’s all.

There is nothing to gain.

It is a position full of only annoying things.

Ah, of course, if you say you were a band master at a certain concert, there is a part that is a plus in the session career.

It’s just a job that’s only that much.

But that doesn’t mean you can just let go and say, ‘Ah, I don’t want to be a band master~’.

If a good band master comes in, it doesn’t show, but because it is a position where it is obvious if a bad band master comes in.

After the man who discussed experience and skill spoke, there were no particular answers from the people. Taegyeong looked at the sessions with an uneasy heart.

But there were no movements from the people.

‘Can’t someone else do it? I have a feeling that person’s personality isn’t good.’

If it’s just someone you see on the street, there’s no problem.

But as a staff member in charge of communication with the session band, Taegyeong wanted to work with a band master who had a decent personality.

This is because Ju-hyun’s team has never had a ‘session band manager’ position until now.

Therefore, he can’t ask anyone, and even if that person makes an absurd request, he doesn’t know whether it’s right or wrong.

“If there are no objections, I will do it.”

“Wait a minute.”

A hand went up in response to the man’s thick voice.

Taegyeong breathed a sigh of relief inside and immediately looked for who the owner of the hand was.

The leader of the main session band, Ha Su-yeon.

“The band master is in charge of the whole thing anyway. I think we, the main session band, should take on the role.”

“Main session band?”

The man looked at Taegyeong with a look as if he didn’t know there was such a thing, then opened his mouth again.

“Even if that’s the case. Either way, we don’t have to follow all the requests of the band members. You seem to have short experience. The session part, um, do you know a little bit about it?”

A question with the feeling of ‘Do you even know about sessions?’.

But Su-yeon answered calmly.

“If you’re talking about experience, it’s short. But I don’t think I’m lacking in terms of skill or knowledge. I know the session work well too.”

“Huh?”

The man retorted with a truly absurd feeling.

Usually, people of that age don’t react that harshly.

But even Taegyeong thought it was a part that didn’t make sense.

Mainly physically.

How can a high school sophomore have good knowledge, good skills, and also know session work well? Taegyeong knew that it didn’t make sense because Ju-hyun’s team hadn’t brought in a session band, but Taegyeong had not experienced communicating with the sessions.

“Um, it’s a bit much to ignore you with this, but. You’re young.”

Taegyeong thought that the words ‘Does that make sense?’ were omitted at the end, and the staff and the remaining sessions at the scene also thought so.

Heads turning in the scene that looked like a battle of nerves.

But Su-yeon smiled and said.

“Does age matter? Skill is what matters.”

“… You’re talking about skill.”

Feeling somehow ignored, the session’s voice tone lowers.

Su-yeon was smiling slightly, and the others were watching the situation with the feeling of what was going on.

“Are you good at guitar? I’m not someone who hears that I’m not good at guitar anywhere. Let’s see?”

“No, well, it’s not like you can be a band master just because you’re good at guitar. You also arrange and communicate. In that respect, it’s easier for me, the leader of the main band, to take on the role.”

The session guitar’s voice lowered even more, and Su-yeon turned the words slightly as if to manage the situation that was going strangely.

“So are you good at it? If you’re a band leader, you must be good. How good are you? Are you this good?”

But as Taegyeong saw it, the session guitar seemed to be slightly excited already.

Why is he doing that?

‘Is it because he feels ignored by a young kid?’

Taegyeong thought that could be the case.

Just by looking at it, he looks less experienced than him, but because she is the leader of the main band, and she says that her skill and knowledge are better than him, he must be burning up with anger.

In the meantime, the session guitar connected a line to an amp and showed off his speed.

And then something quickly plucked the strings.

At the quite fast speed, the staff made ooh sounds.

But Su-yeon chuckled.

“Is guitar skill evaluated by speed? If you’ve done sessions to some extent, you should know that it’s not possible at all.”

“So, can you play this much?”

“No, well, um… haha. Well, I can play that much normally.”

Ha Su Yeon  answered in a self-defeating way.

Why is this person doing this? There’s nothing you can know from speed.

It’s not like he’s a child from the days of playing Canon Rock, and he looks like he’s in his 40s, so why is he clinging to such an illusion.

Of course, it is good to say that we should evaluate by ‘skill’ without making the story longer.

It’s not complicated and comfortable.

There is no need to go through the process of persuasion either.

He plugs the line into the amp and touches the knob slightly.

He can’t create it perfectly with this amp, but he can recreate it to some extent.

He adjusts the tone so that it is heavy but doesn’t erase the color of the Strat, which can be produced with a single coil.

Then, after stomping his feet a few times… Ha Su Yeon started playing the guitar.

One of the songs that Ha Su Yeon sometimes plays when she loosens her hands, Yngwie Malmsteen’s Far Beyond The Sun.

Iseo looked at the session guitar’s expression.

At first, he looked at it as if it was ridiculous, but after a while, his expression distorted as if he couldn’t believe it, and later his expression itself changed to a blank one.

Whether he did or not, Su-yeon’s performance continued.

The session guitar showed about 30 seconds of performance, but Su-yeon is different.

I don’t know what the genre is, but she is playing a metal speed song that feels a bit classical for almost 5 minutes.

The people around her don’t stop the performance, but rather feel immersed in the performance.

“Is this enough?”

Finishing the last note, Su-yeon asked the guitar again.

The guitar, whose expression was already out of his mind, scratched his neck without saying anything at those words, then packed his bags and went outside.

“I think I need to buy a new guitar?”

At someone’s muttering among the staff, a low chuckle spread out.

Iseo thought, ‘Why did you suddenly pick a fight with her…’

The session practice that started after that was smooth.

It was inconvenient to have to practice without the rhythm guitar, but isn’t that unavoidable? It’s not that important of a part, so if a new one comes in next week, they can match it again.

“It’s not easy.”

While everyone was out of the practice room after taking a break.

Seo-ha, who approached Su-yeon  who was drinking canned coffee, said that.

“Well, there’s no easy job anywhere in the world…”

“Do you realize that you sometimes sound like an old man when you say things like that?”

Su-yeon was startled.

It wasn’t ‘something like a real old man’, but he was a real old man.

But Seo-ha didn’t notice such a sign from Su-yeon and sat down on the chair with a thud.

“Why was that person like that earlier?”

“I don’t know. I think… maybe he was angry because of his age?”

When estimating the age by appearance… over forty years old.

In addition, Su-yeon , who had put his feet in the session world here and there, was a session whose name he had never heard of.

It’s a bit much to rashly speculate about other people’s circumstances, but no matter how I think about it, it seems like an age problem.

A girl who looks obviously young is doing the leader of the main concert band, but he is the session rhythm guitar.

In addition, if you’re talking about ‘skill is more important than age’, then the ‘artists’ who are already emotionally unstable can’t help but get angry.

Su-yeon had also been angry at talented young kids, so he could understand the situation.

‘But that’s different from doing that to me directly.’

“Anyway, that person has nothing to do with us anymore. But since it’s really a concert session band, there are a lot of things we need to pay attention to.”

“That’s right.”

The size of the concert session band is truly varied.

There are cases where they simply set up five or six people, and there are also concerts where thirty or forty people go in.

For example, string parts (string instruments used in classical music), percussion instruments (drums and bongos, etc.), bass parts, guitars (lead, rhythm 1, rhythm 2, rhythm 3…), other instruments such as castanets, tambourines, and harmonicas.

Su-yeon felt that this size of session band was not that large.

There is a string part, rhythm guitar, and lead guitar.

And a few other special instruments and a band.

But Seo-ha seemed to feel a sense of responsibility as a solo drummer.

I feel like everything is shaking if I don’t catch it.

We have already matched our breaths, and because Su-yeon, you are completely on the beat, there are parts where I match by looking at you if I shake… but the others don’t know that.

“Did I do it too weakly? The drum doesn’t match the beat? This won’t work.”

Seo-ha makes a horrified expression at those words.

Su-yeon chuckled and shook out the canned coffee.

“Still, if you experience this kind of thing once, your skills will improve a lot.”

Isn’t it said that pleasure comes after suffering? By practicing and matching in some way until you can control situations that don’t go your way, you can discover yourself whose skills have improved significantly.

“I’m looking forward to it, the concert.”

“Isn’t it too early to talk about that? There are still a few more practices left.”

“Can you not ruin the emotion?”

Su-yeon laughed again at Seo-ha’s words.

It was becoming increasingly enjoyable to throw these silly jokes at the kids was becoming more & more enjoyable day by day.