#band rehearsal shenanigans lol

[homogremlin]

Who the FUCK is playing Careless FUCKING Whispers?!?

-Me, at my band rehearsal

[curiousquail]

Album art by Joey Guthrie

It's been ten years since After the Lights Failed, and that's long enough. We proudly present the sequel

Empty Victories

May it bring you joy, sorrow, solidarity, closure - whatever you'd like it to mean to you. It means the world to us.

Purchase:

Bandcamp - https://curiousquail.bandcamp.com/album/empty-victories

Itch.io - https://curiousquail.itch.io/empty-victories

Mirlo - https://mirlo.space/curiousquail/release/empty-victories

Stream:

Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/album/empty-victories-ep/1750536709

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/4MnI5Xuisp0odiSBBWAWBT?si=bT-MZtvSTGqet-_O0_eTxQ

--

Let's dive into the behind the scenes on this record and why it took ten years lmao:

ATLF is a very special record to us as a band and to me as an artist - we were a bunch of little shits making nerd music and thought 'hey what if we tried to use kickstarter' and had no idea how successful that would be.

Once the record was released we pretty much immediately started work on what was going to become the follow-up. If you saw us perform live between 2016-2019, you may have even heard a few of these songs in their early iterations. Hell, our Tiny Desk TWENTY SIXTEEN entry was the title track.

Joyce tracking her solo in Empty Victories - a parting gift to the band before she left the country to join the Queen Musical 'We Will Rock You' as the lead guitarist (hand-picked by Sir. Brian May because of course she was).

Principal tracking for the record began in 2016 at Rhythm Academy - a drum school where Joey taught - they had given us permission to use the place after-hours. Most of the photos throughout this piece are from these sessions.

Getting ready for Drum preproduction at our rehearsal studio in San José. I lost this Life is Strange shirt in 2017 when I moved to the Coachella Valley. No idea what happened to it.

For a story about the future and time shenanigans at the end of the world(s) I think it's fitting that part of this new record was recorded over the span of ten years in between other projects. Some of the songs have drums from 2016 with percussion from 2019 or gameboys added in 2021, Erin or I harmonizing vocal takes with ourselves from nearly a decade ago - Empty Victories has been a process and we're proud to get it out to you now.

Group vocal session - we also recorded group vocals for a Petriform song that night.

Most of the band proper lived in the Bay Area until about 2016; Erin moved to the PNW, in 2017 I relocated to the Coachella Valley and we continued working on music remotely as well as syncing up for live shows when schedules allowed.

Nobody puts Joey in a corner

Except Joey, I guess

In 2018/2019 we put out Twelve Months, a songwriting/video exercise where each month we'd get random restrictions assigned and write a song / film a performance video of it before the month was out - the idea was it would be a smaller, more rapid fire release approach while we worked on Empty Victories in earnest. Rarely were any of us in the same room for these sessions but there was hope that we'd get to do more shows of those songs live - again, while working on Empty Victories on the side.

I was hilariously bad at remembering to turn the fan off during acoustic takes and having to start over

I can't say that we had a bunch of concrete plans (in fact the two concerts we had locked in for 2019 - MAGFest in Maryland and a PDNF reunion in San Francisco - I missed for health reasons, and the band performed with recordings of my vocals) but in my heart, in January of 2020 I put out into the universe that this was going to be the year we finished Empty Victories and got back on the road.

but it turned out both the hard drive with all of the mixing session files for the record and the backup drive....had died.

and then Covid hit.

Lol, lmao

Josh's energy is always infections (on stage or in the studio)

but hey! In 2021 I found an external USB drive that had all of the raw audio tracks from the recording sessions. No mixing, no processing, just the straight-from-the-microphone takes from the various recording sessions we did throughout 2016

The seagate USB drive of hope (sponsor us you cowards)

So while it wasn't quite starting back at zero with everyone needing to re-track their parts, it was a massive step back towards actually having a finished product. A lot of work needed to go into it getting cohesive.

Listen, if you get the mic's for the violin positioned correctly and you have a violinist who is incredibly expressive and a talented dancer, you have to put down some fucken ground rules

Michael "Gunther" Chiang, the engineer who worked with us at Dirt Room on ATLF reprised his role and came up from Santa Cruz to help with tracking

We had a fair amount of our own gear but Gunther brought his rig (again, a bunch of which we used on ATLF)

And there were some omissions - things that weren't on the drive that caused some panic. Most notably, Joyce had tracked for three of the songs before she left for her Queen journey and the only thing that survived was her guitar solo from the title track.

ERIN WAVEFORMS

At this point she'd moved out of the Bay Area already and so scheduling her time in the studio was tricky but absolutely worth it.

There were fevered calls to members of the band "Hey uhh can you re-track this part" or "I need drums for track 3, we didn't do that in the first session". Everyone was a real sport about the whole thing - and I wasn't entirely on-top of it because we were working on other music or other projects or life was happening.

For frame of reference on how all over the place this was, I had to do Gameboy retracks in 2023, and Erin wrapped her final vocal parts for the record this month - so when I say there are times when she's harmonizing with herself from a decade ago I'm not fucking around.

I don't remember why we had so much New York Seltzer - I think I was bringing it but it became this like ongoing joke. (Sponsor us you cowards).

Since After the Lights Failed, we've put out some music that I'm super proud of - Twelve Months and Branching Paths were a LOT of fun - but due to the incredibly hostile nature of streaming services, most of these have not made it outside of Bandcamp or Itch.io - I don't know if that'll change, but it did feel wrong to not push for this sequel to ATLF to be as available as its predecessor was so it will be. (Just most likely not on release date)

That said, the best way to financially support any artist is to buy from them directly when available, and in most cases Bandcamp is as good as that can get (though Mirlo looks really promising). Streaming a song earns an artist fractions of a cent. I'm not gonna make a 1:1 comparison but I can say if we had more financial stability in 2016/2017 we likely would have finished and released this record much sooner (and hopefully before the drive failures).

Anyway, thank you for reading this far, and for supporting the band even though it's been a weird trajectory for us. This won't be the final Curious Quail release but we are saying goodbye to an era and heading toward the future.

A future that - despite the lyrics of track six - will hopefully come.

[mooifyourecows]

Only if you’re comfortable! How did you and your partner meet? It sounds like you’ve been together for a while 🥰

You guys can call him Orion if you want.. thats how ill refer to him from now on because "my partner" sounds so stuffy lmao

We met in high school when I was a sophomore and he was a freshman (hes only like 3 months younger than me but got held back a year in the 1st grade so lol idiot).

He played trumpet in jazz band and they were going to a jazz festival. I was only in concert band for that year but the band teacher asked me to play bari sax for them and I was like yeah sure so I went with

The jazz festival was like 8ish hours away so we stayed in a hotel for a few nights. The one guy from the jazz band I was kinda friends with was boring af and wanted to always wait around for one of the other guys I didn't really get along with so I was like bye. I was walking around town where our hotel was and ran into Orion on his way to get dinner, and was like "I'm hanging out with you this trip".

We had never really talked before that, though we knew of each other's existence from rehearsals and shit. But he was like... super nice and goofy and gave me the correct amount of attention so we bonded over the trip

Then after we got back from the festival, we became friends and started hanging out at school and on the weekends. Hes a total extrovert and EVERYBODY likes him so my friends didn't mind me inviting him along on our shenanigans and such

I could tell he liked me because hes really obvious and texted me like EVERY day so yeah eventually I gave him mercy and bullied him into asking me out.

And we've been together ever since! (not for a lack of his ultra religious bigot parents' trying to break us up 🤷‍♂️)

[icouldntfindquiet]

Hope you’re well! Yet again another ask x you’re in a four piece band and the lads take you on tour with them, it’s a 2 month long American tour, and you all spend every day together

Who do you get along with most?

Who do you spend most time with?

Who is the most irritating?

Who do you sneak off with most?👀

And who do you fall in love with?🤭

Hello! Hope you’re well. ☺️

A two month tour? 😵 I think the longest I’ve been away from home was 3 weeks, lol.

I’d probably get along most with Bob as our personalities are pretty similar and we both love taking photos. Going off that, I’d probably spend the most time with Bob.

Two months with the band, I’d probably find Van or Bondy the most irritating. They seem like the type who are up to no good so I’ll probably get fed up of their shenanigans. 😂

I’d sneak off the most with Bob but it’s not what you think! We’ll explore the city together and take photos when we should be rehearsing or resting.

And I’d fall in love with Van. I mean...I’m already in deep, aren't I? 😆 But I won’t show it to maintain professionalism. 😔

Thanks for the ask! x

[syncogon]

i just realized that starting a music up 2 commentary is a really great idea. because i have a lot of thoughts and might as well compile them.

personally even without the rest of the backstory i think it’s SUPER funny and in character that jiang haoxu would spend x years obsessing over ye feng and ye feng literally had to do a google baidu search to figure out who he was (and he still didn’t even figure it out until halfway through the performance LOL)

ok TOP’s song kinda slaps. even though they’re still assholes. and the dancing is a bit wack. but their costumes are hella nice love how they’re all different to suit their indv styles but all fit the theme

im screaming at this “i wanna perform my new song” like BRO that’s not how it works?? the time to announce that was days ago not 3 minutes before performance?? you can’t just sight-read with 0 rehearsal and expect it to be good - yo it’s not even sightreading yall won’t even have music up there it’ll just be improv on a song you’ve never heard before arghhhhhhh that’s not how any of this works?? 

omg backstory. loving all these baby scenes. MAGGIE’S BABY VOICE HOLY CRAP. 

oh my god they’re all so cute i’m losing it. maggie’s missing a tooth. this is also pretty convenient how it all lines up but it’s super cute so i don’t care i’ll accept these scenes of first encounters

“why didn’t you say anything” BECAUSE HE’S A COWARD. wait hmm this “ctg is a coward” sure seems familiar huh wow continuity (jk there’s like no continuity btwn seasons as we’ve already seen but whatever i’ll point stuff out.)

man i hate this dude’s voice. i’ve had enough of this dude! they’re ugly bc they’re smug ass bastards. 

“7 years ago he beat me once” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW OLD WERE YOU? LIKE 9?? just imagining a fuckin 9 year old harboring such a deep resentment for seven years like god damn you’re a kid what the hell do you know

also like damn what’s with this obsession over new songs anyway? so risky, plenty of times artists have debuted a song to mixed reactions. it’s not inherently bad choice to stick to a classic everyone already loves? man maybe i just don’t know the competitive high school music band scene well enough :pensive:

have i mentioned how much i hate that they’re translating all the english things in the subs? OPEN is now “开门乐队” tf? bitch i’ll kill you. the whole point of OPEN was that it could refer to opening many things! like doors but also windows and hearts and minds and feelings. smh 

YE FENG IS RIGHT ARE YOU FUCKING EXPECTING TO SOLO THIS? BROOOOO arugh im dying here

oh my god what if you sang TWO songs. imagine. consider. revolutionary. or is that forbidden in the code of competitive high school music bands

aw the candy thing is kind of cute but would’ve been better if spaced out over more episodes and also feels super out of place with this music and tension hahaha. still it’s very earnest and honest-hearted and i respect it 

ok so this is super cheesy but also like THEY’RE FRIENDS i like this so much more than bs rivalry shenanigans like god damn they’re friends they’ve earned it let them be friends wahhhhhhhh and also like yf sending away everyone else prob bc he’s too embarrassed to show this side of him ahaha

big fan of seeing yf and cr together too ofc let them be a happy mutually-understanding couple 

(insert lots of pleading emojis)

i am also tbh a big fan of ctg using his piano/keyboard skills to make his song tho like - embracing and reconciling that part of yourself instead of wholly rejecting it! that’s char growth!

why is “self” “我的狂”???? damn they’re so unoriginal with all these song names

xiao yun is the only member of TOP that has any rights omg. you’re great and i love you. he saw through the plot all along! god im so weak for outgoing competent chars that are smarter and have more depth than they appear. you can be an asshole and still likable! god your seniors could take a lesson.

man if i wasn’t already expecting this ending to the ep i’d be super mad and frustrated. this is so dumbbbb and the cut is bad and unrealistic too i wanna hear the whole song! no one should have even heard the accusation and even if you do you still just gotta keep going show must go on come on! (tho the song isn’t my type... i’m less a fan of these kind of ballad-y songs. kinda too angsty. although that fits ctg lmaoo.) 

ok finally done! alas it was only 480p but at least i can browse the weibo posts now

i don’t even understandd tho like open is the only group here that’s a real instrumental band the others are like singing/dancing idol groups?? totally incomparable how can you do battle when you’re on like totally different planes?? is this also part of the competitive high school music band code??

[klaineship2]

TDB Rewatch  Hurt Locker 2 Episode 6x05

“I don’t thinks this a real elevator.”

Sue is going out of her way to assure the audience that Klaine will be endgame, no matter what. Despite Walter’s creepiness in last week’s episode I like how unfazed he reacts to Sue.

Sam has some good points when he tries to convince Spencer of joining Glee club and I loved the reference to Finn and how he managed to be quarterback AND glee club member at the same time (altough I still don’t really get the incompatibility of both) BUT still nobody has ever seen Spencer perform anything, so how can they all be so sure that he will be a good addition to glee club? And why is everything Spencer says completely contradictory to the things he told Kurt in ‘Homecoming’? Back then he stated that he doesn’t have to hide being gay because he is well respected by his teammates and now he says “I don’t want anyone to think that I’m gay.”  huh???  

Someone pointed out to me that the only real audience at invitationals being an excited clapping and cheering Sam is actually meant to be the devoted little circle of fans still watching Glee until the very end.

Kitty’s characterization of Rachel is very spot on. I totally agree. I understand why she hesitates to join glee club, her vulnerability is obvious, but having Kitty back with ND’s is great - she is much like late-s4/early-s5 Kitty and she has developed quite a bit of criminal energy, lol.

“Each team will perform at this invitational. Even if one show choir’s co-director is kidnapped and held against his will, causing him to miss the performance.”  I really don’t like the creepy Sue puppet on its tricyle and all the blatant ‘go kiss and be endgame because everybody wants you to’. But I have to say I enjoy every little one of these elevator scenes, and them being completely at ease and playfully bantering before they even enter the elevator. This whole scenery is like the most obvious Klaine fanfic that has ever been written. ‘They were trapped in a snowbound cabin an elevator and there was only one bed bathroom’. When I ignore all the Sue stuff I can see their time trapped together like a mirror of their relationship. There is easyness at the beginning, but soon, they are annoying each other and starting to argue over small things but this time they can’t just run away. They have to stay and deal with each other, annoying attitudes and little quirks included. And since they have good food and wine (and a bathroom) they can focus on ‘geting over all the resentment and bitterness they were holding in’. Them watching each other sleep is probably one of my favorite scenes. And that kiss might be the hottest Klaine kiss we ever got... it’s a shame that it was a forced one under the threat of drug use....

Kurt-Blaine things:

Kurt is so tired of Sue’s shenanigans... and I am, too.

Blaine feeling grown up while using the faculty bathroom, lol

Kurt’s little shriek when the light in the elevator goes out.

Funny, but nobody bats an eye when they appear out of nowhere after being missed for so long, dishevelled and only half dressed... ^^

That tiny smile they share at the end of the ND’s performance.

At Sue’s office Kurt and Blaine are back to being the old married couple they’ve always been. Kurt going on a rant while Blaine illustrates/mimes Kurt’s words with gestures. And the best is Kurt’s incredulous “Don’t actually thank her!” And their faces are priceless!!!

Other Things

The new Warblers are lacking the charisma of the old ones :-/

There is only one show choir rule. You need 12 members... and Kurt and Rachel didn’t even care to tell their kids. Jane looks really flabbergasted - and then they just fill the ranks with the band members.

“Why don’t we just do what we rehearsed?” Oh, Roderick, you uninformed little baby. Because that’s the way the NDs do it every time.

It’s a bit weird for a 16/17 yo to sing ‘I’ll be your daddy’ but I love Roderick’s voice too much to not enjoy Father Figure.

while VA and the Warblers did some impressive choreography - the New Directions were much stronger vocally and since it is a CHOIR competition and not an acrobatics, they truely deserved their trophy (even though there was a little pig on it - lol, where did Sue get that from?)

"This doesn’t mean anything. The only reason that we’re doing this is... because Sue is forcing us.”

@todaydreambelievers​

[togetherinspirit7]

[FAN ACCOUNT] 171230 INFINITE Begin Again - Day 2

Hi all! Before I start with the second day things, I wanted to add some first day things that I forgot when I posted. So, I forgot to mention how cute the opening vcr is. It is so cute! It’s like the mature version of the end of ‘White Confession’ where they all bring presents. Then it ends with them outside with sparklers and it’s just so pretty~ Besides that I also forgot to mention that the stage this time around is a lot higher than ‘That Summer 3′ which makes viewing so much better. I remember I was in a similar spot for TS3 and could only see from their knees up, but I could pretty much see everything this time around! Also, I forgot to mention that they were telling us not to push each other cause it hurts them to see us get hurt. And Dongwoo was like, ‘You wouldn’t want to see us pushing and hurting each other, right?’ and he pushed Woohyun a bit and Woohyun almost fell out of his chair for real lol. It was cute but I swear I saw the flash of fright in Woohyun’s eyes lol. Also, as the boys were doing their intros, Dongwoo stopped crying and was back to his energetic self, which Gyu later teased him for by saying, ‘He was just crying a few minutes ago!!’ lol. Dongwoo was very energetic all night, the boys had to calm him down a few times lol. He kept dancing while they were talking and they were like ‘Whoa whoa’ lol. I also forgot that while talking about Sungjong’s solo songs they mentioned ‘Good Morning’ and tried to get Sungjong to sing it but he was like, ‘Uhhh’ so they tried to get Inspirit to sing but it was super quiet so everyone was laughing. Speaking of solos, did I mention Dongwoo’s pelvic thrusting??? Or Woohyun copying him? Well yeah, that. And it was amazing. Oh and I remember a bit of what they were talking about during the Instagram section. The question was about what they do after they wake up. Myungsoo checks to see if his eyelids are doubled or not lol. Namu said he needs to put on makeup and that’s what prompted Sunggyu to tease him about getting ready and the difference between Myungsoo and Woohyun lol. Tbh, it seemed like the first day was a bit like a rehearsal. They changed a lot for the second day. Keep reading for more second day shenanigans!

So I had a much better experience for the second day, although the meet itself was an hour shorter than the previous day. I did see a lot more intentional, rude pushing by fan in front of me, but luckily my area was quite tame. So the biggest take away from day 2 was the fact that they changed quite a lot of stuff. The boys had their hair done, some minor costume changes, chair changes, confetti changes, bg changes, and most importantly... they completely cut out 1 whole hour of talking time. It was most likely because 3.5 hours is quite long in itself but also because Myungsoo had the MBC Drama Awards to attend at 9pm (the meet ended around 8:30). So they didn’t do the dice talk AT ALL! They also did only about half the questions in the Golden Bell section too. They also got rid of the Inspirit Chance, I guess since it didn’t help them anyway lol. Oh and I’m not sure if it wasn’t working yesterday or I didn’t notice or people just weren’t wearing them, but the LED bands lit up automatically and even vibrated at certain parts of the show. Kind of like what the SM artist bands/lightsticks do. Another cute thing the boys (mostly Woohyun) did was instead of saying 2018 in the normal Sino-Korean numbers, they used the Pure Korean way of saying it instead because 18 sounds like the f-bomb a bit if pronounced incorrectly. (There are 2 counting systems, one using pure Korean and the other based off of Chinese characters).

Anyway, these next few things might be out of order, but I’ll try to organize it as best as I can! I think it was some time at the beginning, Woohyun started doing this dance and the members all freaked out cause Woohyun was giving out spoilers. Dongwoo had to hold him back lol. And judging by the members’ faces, it was a real spoiler lol. Since they skipped the dice part, the beg of the meet went by really quick. 

Before the solos, they were teasing Sungjong for having the highest fees for his stage. They said since he has all these props and a hat and stuff, his fee was highest. They also tried to get us to sing ‘Good Morning’ again but... crickets. Sorry Sungjong! But it’s hard to know a song that was never officially released! Also, there was another mistake at the beg of Myungsoo’s solo. He sat down and looked offstage and was pointing to his mic. Apparently they forgot to turn it on. Then I guess they told him they turned it on so he made like an okay sign and tested the mic, all while the bgm was still going. Hopefully, his stage will go smoothly today. Woohyun said someone gifted the song to him, but I can’t remember the name he said. Dongwoo also said he helped take part in making his song with someone, but once again, I’m not too sure who. Sunggyu said that Nell’s Jonghwan wrote the song for him, but he wrote all the lyrics, and he made it clear that he does not want to name the song ‘Laser’ lol. He was just like, hard no lol. Sungyeol said that he wore a different jacket (it was a big blue furry one similar to Dongwoo’s red one) today because he saw Dongwoo’s jacket from yesterday and told the stylists he wants that one lol. So cute. They made a joke about how they look like the Korean flag and that it works out cause Dongwoo is red and red is on top and since he’s the hyung, he’s on top lol. Yeol also revealed that he was curious about who’s stage was actually the most expensive so he asked and it was actually Yeol’s lol. He said he didn’t realize the fireworks were that expensive and that his new jacket added onto the total lol.

The instagram section was next and this time they only answered one question. It was if they had daughters, who would be the most loving to their daughter. Sungjong said that you’d think it would be Woohyun but.. and after hearing that Woohyun got all mad lol. But Sungjong said he think it’d be Sungyeol. Sungyeol agreed and said he wouldn’t even let her wear a skirt and everyone was like NOOO. Sunggyu said it definitely wouldn’t be him and that he hasn’t even thought about having kids. Dongwoo said he would want sons and daughters and that he wants 5 kids who all have different interests. Woohyun told him good luck on finding a wife lol. Sunggyu said he thinks Myungsoo would be really good to his daughter. Soo agreed and said that he would totally treat his son differently than his daughter. He’d be really worried with a daughter but really tough on the son lol. Yeol joked that Myungsoo would hate to have a son like Yeol. Someone (maybe Myungsoo) said that Sungjong would be good to a daughter and Sungjong agreed kinda blatantly as he does lol.

Like I said before, the quiz section was cut super short. They did the ‘Korean’ class, like last time and the first answer was ‘Second Invasion Evolution Plus’ and everyone was like wtf! But the thing is they didn’t give it with any spaces inbetween the words so Sungyeol was complaining lol. The second answer was ‘Be Back’ and it was hilarious cause Dongwoo wrote all kinds of things that started with ‘BB’ and Woohyun wrote ‘Babo for inspirits’ and Sunggyu wrote ‘Big Bang’ LOL. Everyone was like wth! The ‘Science’ section was a pic of Dongwoo’s ear, which everyone got wrong. Sungjong really thought it was his and Dongwoo was surprised it was his. He said he has more earrings than in the picture and was almost in denial that it was him lol. The next pic was an outfit pic of Sungyeol. The ‘Music’ section was Infinite F’s ‘I’m Going Crazy’. Gyu and Jong tried to cheat a lot by asking Inspirit. Namu was cute and kissing the dolls and having the dolls kiss each other and kiss him and Yeol was staring at him with this judging look lol. So Dongwoo lost again lol cause he got 0 points. But he said it’s boring to punish him cause he lost yesterday so he convinced everyone, very easily, to punish the second place loser, Sunggyu. So he spun the wheel and got ‘Fashion King’ like everyone wanted. He went off stage to change and the boys stole a few more dolls to throw into the crowd. Sungyeol came back on stage after getting more dolls and said that Sunggyu’s costume was hilarious and to try to film it secretly lol. Then Woohyun said to film freely since it was okay in this section. So as you prob know by now, Gyu comes out wearing a Mario costume and he had to perform ‘Entrust’ and ‘Cover Girl’ like that. Also, Sungyeol tried to get his dolls to the 2nd floor again but to no avail.

During the next ment, Gyu tried to sneak off stage to change but Dongwoo dragged him back and made him dance ‘The Eye’ in the costume lol. He said he doesn’t mind but didn’t wanna wear the mustache cause it was hard to breathe, so Woohyun told him not to breathe lol. Gyu had previously tossed the hat out to a fan but the members wanted him to wear it so they asked the fan if they could borrow it and that they’d give it back to her. Then Dongwoo put it sweetly on Gyu’s head and that’s how we got the funniest vers of ‘The Eye’. Dongwoo was excited cause he said we’ve never done a Halloween or Christmas party but now it’s like we have lol. At the last ments, we were all cheering and congratulating Myungsoo for his Newcomer Award nomination. Yeol said that everything we’ve been wanting (for the dice and wheel) had come true so hopefully this will too. During the last ment, there was another airplane event. Namu picked one up and was reading the instructions printed on the paper out loud. He said, ‘Please write down a message filled with love for Infinite... this paper is blank.’ LOL 

All in all, even though it felt a bit less interactive than usual, it was a good time! Sunggyu was a lot quieter than normal and it did feel a bit more routine event-like than the usual free for all Infinite style, but I had a much better experience. I know I’m writing this really late, but hopefully it interests someone out there! Once again, make sure to show your love to our boys and Happy New Year everyone! May 2018 be the year of INFINITE!

[fanta-ceo]

SF9 in a (school) Orchestra

Taeyang:

-First Violin, first chair

-Talented and hard working

-Practices so much

-Chats to his stand partner nonestop

-Cheerful and gives good advice

-Rlly hard on himself when he messes up

-Gets secondhand stress if ppl aren’t prepared for performance

-He tries not to show it tho

Zuho:

-Doesn’t take orchestra srsly at all

-This is all a big joke to him for some reason

-Started out as a violinist

-Violin is hard tho

-So he switched to viola lol

-Screws around during warm ups

-Pokes ppl in the back with his bow in the middle of songs

-Thinks he’s hilarious

-Gets lost a lot because he doesn’t count

-Rlly good at pretending to play

Inseong:

-Second Violin

-Sweetheart

-Calm and pleasant and makes you feel good even if you suck

-Always tries to make his section laugh

-Only his stand partner ever hears him tho cuz he talks so quiet

-Flirts with his stand partners

-Subtly

-He’s a subtle guy (lol)

Youngbin:

-Second Violin, first chair

-Unofficially the orchestra mascot

-Always turning around to give extra instructions cuz he wants to help everyone

-Writes down EVERYTHING the conductor says

-Plays strong and confidently

-Which means when he makes a mistake, everyone can hear it

-Sometimes ppl turn around to look cuz it’s so loud and obviously his fault

-Always encouraging ppl to work harder and achieve their potential

Jaeyoon:

-Cello

-Practices consistently

-Inseong fanboy

-Girls just love him cuz he’s chill so he’s friends with all of them

-Knows all the gossip for some reason

-Ppl just tell him stuff

-Interpretive Dances with Dawon whenever the conductor is in the mood to let them

-Polite and nice to everyone except Zuho (cuz Zuho)

Dawon

-First violin

-Competent and works hard

-Answers the conductor’s rhetorical questions, loud & proud

-(“See, can’t you hear it? The rubato makes this sound a lot better!” “oh WAY better!” “Thanks Dawon”)

-(“Did you guys even practice this last night?” “I did!” “Thanks, Dawon”)

-Tries to maintain a good atmosphere in rehearsal

-Will randomly start playing solos with frenzied, manic intensity during warm ups

-If you’re stressing, he’ll find you and give you a pep talk

-Isn’t afraid to tell ppl to practice

Rowoon:

-Learned every instrument for some reason

-Also does percussion in band

-He’ll just pick up other ppl’s instruments if they’re set down and start plucking on them

-Plays bass because he likes to be close to Chani

-Harasses Chani a lot

-First Chair, does good solos

-Gets randomly super stressed before performances

Hwiyoung:

-First chair viola

-Really feels the music

-Patient and calm and makes stand partners feel so comfortable

-Has befriended everyone in the orchestra

-Practices diligently

-Gets kind of annoyed when ppl talk during rehearsals (lol Chani)

-Doesn’t like it when ppl pick up his instrument

-Also knows he can’t stop it

-Tries to be ok with that

Chani:

-Bass

-Doesn’t worry too much about being in tune

-Practices never

-Youngbin is always cheering him on & telling him to practice

-Wants to live in peace

-Also likes to troll ppl tho so?

-Will fight you if you insult bass players

-Is always talking to girls in the Second Violins

-Spends his time trying to fend Rowoon off

-Plays Hwiyoung’s viola whenever Hwiyoung sets it down

-Somehow the conductor notices none of their shenanigans

a/n: No one asked for this lol. Jongecca and I just thought this was funny. We love your requests! Please keep sending them ^-^ they inspire us!

—Baekbek

[sawthingsiimagined]

A New Me - 2

We Can’t Be Friends

JACE

It felt like old times. I was so happy. Here we are again at a Diner the night before I open for the musical sensation Miguel. It was reminiscent of the night I shared the first time I met my crew the night before our first show with the superstar pop group SASSY. This time I knew most of the crew and over the last 2 days had grown to enjoy the new additions. I was both nervous and excited about opening for Miguel. I had grown to love his music a couple of years back and won’t lie, his music made me think sexual thoughts. I was anxious to see him perform his music live and prayed that my set was impressive to the fans since I would be the first act they would experience the night of his show. Talking to my grandad, the Bishop, and my parents back home reassured me that things would be fine. They informed me that they wouldn’t be able to attend the first show, as they did when Jada and I performed our first show on the SASSY tour but the assured me they would attend a show soon. I understood because Jada was currently dealing with her pregnancy news and grandpa was still recovering from his heart attack. 

The seating chart at the table reminded me so much of the night I joined my crew at the diner and had my first drink, as well as first drunken night. I didn’t plan to get as drunk as I did that time but I was definitely planning on celebrating. My music was great, the show was going to be great, I felt great and I looked great. I was growing more confident being alone on the road without my sister. This solo gig may just work in my favor. I was wearing some grey-washed, skinny jean shorts with an oversized marble colored tank top and some white Yeezy Boosts. I had cut the sides of my hair and let the top grow back out longer than my previous haircut. My hair was in a slick man-bun and I was definitely feeling myself. Beside me was TJ, my bro who was currently drunk and talking loud as ever, on the other side of me was my new assistant Ashley, Mona’s niece who was a gorgeous girl with squinty eyes, soft copper skin tone and a stylish short hairstyle. She was a little tomboyish but in a very chic way that accented her shape and feminine features. Also at the table was my new stylist, Bryson a very attractive guy with a weird sense of fashion. He had about 6 piercings and tattoos along his neck and the sleeve of his arm. He was Dominican and bilingual, rocking a goatee with a mustache that complimented his full pink lips and slick bald head that made him look like a trendsetter. I was excited to learn a lot from him about being myself and embracing who I really was. The band also came to dine with me and across from me was...him. Demarion really knocked the wind out of me in ways I couldn’t prepare for me. A part of me wishes I would have suggested more ladies be a part of the crew. All of these males working for me really played with my imagination especially since they behaved as if they were indebted to me. Still, no one mattered on this crew like Demarion did. He was wearing a vintage, navy Atlanta Braves baseball jersey which he left the top four buttons unbuttoned to expose his chest and top set of abs. He also was wearing a fitted cap that covered his eyes, although I could still see them. We made a lot of eye contact sitting at the table. He had grown a beard since we started rehearsing for the new tour. It was something about the jet black color of the hair on his face that contrasted against his chocolate colored skin that made me want to risk it all. At this point, I had admitted that I was VERY attracted to him. I still hadn’t identified with gay, bi or curious. I wasn’t quite aware what each label meant and didn’t want to disrespect either group until I gained proper knowledge. As far as I was concerned I didn’t need a label to tell me that I wanted him. After 2 shots and 2 rounds of 1800 Tequila and pineapple juice, I felt I not only wanted him but I needed him. 

We finished our meals and I paid everyone’s tab thanking them for all of the hard work that I trusted that would deliver for the tour. Everyone jumped in the Mercedes Sprinter that was loaned to us by Miguel so we could all travel together around the city. No sooner as we pulled away from the diner everyone dozed off. The alcohol was definitely was working on us. I fought hard to stay awake. Demarion sat in front of me I noticed that he was still awake so I shot him a text message. I changed my name in his phone so no one would know who he was texting if they happened to see his phone. My name his phone was Dream. His name in my phone was an emoji of the snare drum. 

MY TEXT : “My room or yours? I don’t want to sleep alone tonight. I’m anxious”

I saw him jump as he felt his phone vibrate. It was so cute to see him speedily reply after he knew it was me. 

DEMARION’S TEXT: “I’ll come to your room. I didn’t clean up haha”

It’s funny that we text ‘lol’ and ‘haha’ and don’t be laughing. I didn’t even see him laugh but I understood. He lived out of suitcase and usually had clothing items thrown all over his hotel room. 

MY TEXT: “Thanks my friend”

I noticed he titled his head to the side and stared into space. I checked my message to see if I said something wrong. I didn’t see an error. 

The sprinter pulled into the hotel and once parked everyone immediately piled out, Demarion leading the way. Before I could step out the door closed in front of me also slamming on my leg. I looked through the window and saw Demarion talking to Walter, our driver/audio guy. I tried to open the door but it was locked. I was about to get annoyed because I figured they forgot about me and I just bought all of them food. I was too drunk for the shenanigans. I suddenly noticed Demarion hopping in the front seat and cranking up the ignition. 

“Um.. excuse me. Where are we going?” I said with a confused attitude. 

He looked at me through the rearview mirror with a serious face. 

“I want to take my Friend somewhere is that cool,” he replied with a flat tone. 

“Man I didn’t mean anything by that,” I said noticing that’s what offended him about my text. I sat back in my seat and he pulled into traffic. We road in silence for about 15 minutes until we pulled into the loading dock of the auditorium where we’d be performing tomorrow. I was confused. The place was a ghost town. The trucks that carried our tour gear were parked outside but everyone had retreated to the hotel for the night. Demarion parked and jumped out the car. I sat up waiting to see what he was about to do. He opened the back door and climbed inside.

“Scoot over,” he said. 

Without putting up a fuss I obliged but I’d be the one with the next demand. 

“What are we doing. I thought we were going to go to bed in my room. No one..,” I said before he broke my next statement with a kiss. He thrust his tongue into my mouth. He slightly broke the kiss and begin talking to me in begin kisses. 

“You were right. A pretty boy like you has probably had experiences kissing your friends. That’s all we’ve done is share a kiss. But I don’t want to be your friend. I want to be your man. So I wanted to show you the difference real quick. If you let me,” he said in a low whisper tone. It felt like we were in a movie. I was speechless. I could still taste the alcohol on his breath. He had been drinking Hennesy but Demarion never seemed to be drunk so I knew he wasn’t in this moment. He was fully functioning. 

I reached in and kissed him deeply. As if he didn’t like it, he pushed me on my back causing me to lay on the seat. He lifted my legs and reached for the button and zipper of my shorts. 

OMG! I was not ready for this. I’m not going to lie, I wanted him but I was a virgin and I’ve never expressed that to him. I had never been with a guy or girl but I knew what sex with both parties entailed. I was not ready. However, for some reason, I couldn’t put up much of a fight. I let him pull down my shorts followed by navy blue H&M boxer briefs. He reached down and kissed me. 

“Demarion,” I said with my hands on his chest, “I’ve never done this before.”

“So. Neither have I. But I want to with you. Bad,” he said with an evil grin that lit my insides on fire. I don’t know how to do anything but I was going to figure it out. 

He began kissing me on my neck and lifted my tank making a trail with his tongue down to my belly button. I squirmed trying not to make any noises. In all of my years, I had never been touched like this. My private area was hard as a brick. I had never been harder. Before I knew it, he grabbed my thighs from underneath, pulling my knees apart. He lifted my legs high and I clenched my eyes shut to prepare for what I expected to be painful. However, I remembered he still had his jeans on. Next thing I knew he buried his head in between my legs using his tongue to spread my cheeks apart. Afterward, I completely understood what Jhene Aiko meant when she said: “eat the booty like groceries”. At this point, I could no longer hold in my moan. I breathed heavy and let out a moan. That made him go crazy. He started using his tongue faster. I grabbed my privacy to keep it from hitting him on the top of his head. I could no longer feel my toes. He slapped my hands down so they would fall beside me. Without letting up, he started stroking my manhood, slowly and I knew then that I wouldn’t survive the night. No one had EVER touched that area besides me and my mom when she changed my diaper as a baby. I breathed harder and harder trying to contain myself. I felt myself about to climax but I tried to avoid it so I wouldn’t spill my liquid on him. That would be weird. He made the mistake by talking.

“Your friends do this shit to you? Huh? ” he asked him between strokes of his tongue and hand. 

I tried to answer but words wouldn’t leave my throat. 

“So you gonna let me be your man Jace? You gonna let a nigga be your man baby?” he asked a little more aggressive and louder than the last question. 

I managed to find words. “Yea MAN!” I screamed. Before I knew it I climaxed, shooting my load onto the top of his Nike fitted cap and on his hand. I immediately felt embarrassed I had never climaxed so hard. I start shaking involuntarily and he pulled up and leaned down burying his face in my neck while I grabbed on to him. 

“You like that? I ain’t your friend. I’m your man. You got that?” he asked.

Exasperated I answered “Yes.”

He laid on top of me for a few minutes and I felt tears swell in my eye. What did this mean? My heart was beating fast and all I wanted to do was lay here all night. I knew that we would have to leave but I felt something deep for this guy. What should I do? We sat at the arena another hour and he told me how infatuated he was with me and how he wanted to protect me and be the man of my dreams. Only thing is that I never really dreamed of a man but I told him we could attempt to try this together. He would be my first. My first sexual encounter, first boyfriend and possibly first love. I was terrified.

“Oh and I’m sorry for cursing. I know you don’t like that. But just had to let you know I ain’t your lil’ friend,” he said. We both burst into laughter. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We Can’t Be Friends

JADA

It was rather ironic that I was sitting at the airport gate waiting for my flight to board and listening to Adele belt her hit song “Hello”. I was headed to surprise Jace for his first show. I told him that wouldn’t be able to make it because of pregnancy issues but I really wanted to be there for my brother. Besides, the only pregnancy issue I was having is that I didn’t know who the baby’s daddy was. I texted Ernest earlier that day and he agreed to meet me back in Augusta at the end of the week. He seemed to be rather calm about the whole ordeal which caught me off guard because he never expressed interest in me besides my legs being wrapped around his waist. 

I watched the people deboard the plane that I was about to get on. Luckily the flight was not delayed. I caught Spirit flight for cheap and every knows Spirit is notorious for cancellations and delays. I had just realized that I had Adele’s song on repeat when I heard her sing the intro to  “Hello” for the third time. It was at that moment that I noticed him. Q walked off the plane. My heart fell to my feet. He didn’t notice me. I really wasn’t 100% sure that it was him but I gathered my things to get a closer look. He was wearing a gray bomber jacket with gray joggers. He looked rather normal. His sunglasses gave me the impression that he was incognito and I didn’t see anyone with him. I started to second guess myself even more as I followed him closely a few feet away from the gate. I was a silly hoe but not a stupid hoe. I know who I gapped these legs open for. I may don't know his mom’s name but I knew what he looked like. 

I decided to tap him on the shoulder when I was a few inches away from him. Startled he turned around with a frown on his face. It quickly softens when he recognized me. 

“Jada!” he said loudly as if he had seen a ghost. He grabbed my hands and I pulled away. He could tell I was upset.

“Let me explain,” he said.

“You have 5 minutes because my plane is leaving,” I said with my hand on my hip and the neck roll of every woman on Love and Hip Hop when they do their confessional interviews. 

“I’ve been calling you. I told Jace to let you know,” he said. 

“You what? Wait. You talked to Jace?” I asked. 

“Yes briefly. Look do you trust me?” he asked. 

“HELL NO NIGGA! HELL YOU MEAN?” I shrieked. I was almost embarrassed at my reaction but this boy almost had me killed and then went ghost on me and now I may be pregnant with his baby. What is trust? 

“Look come with me. Where are you going? I can get you another flight,” he pleaded. I could tell by his eyes that he was desperate. I looked back at my gate watching passengers board and without thinking it through I waved my hand in the direction he was headed to signal that I would go with him. I take it back. I am a stupid hoe. 

We go to the pickup area and I notice one of his crew members standing outside of a black truck. We both get inside. Once we were inside he reached over and hugged me and I begin hitting at him. Tears filled my eyes. He grabbed my hands. 

“Baby! I’m sorry,” he said. “There is so much that happened. There’s so much I didn’t want to introduce you to so fast dealing with me. Look I’m not these other rap niggas out here. I’m street. Real street. So you have to understand, these clothes, my jewelry, and these cars.... that’s the most glamorous shit about me,” he said looking me directly in my eye. 

I started bawling and laid my head in his lap. “I was so worried Q. I didn’t know what to do,” I said in between sobs. 

“To the W,” he said to the driver.

“I know baby. I’m gonna make it up to you. I swear,” he said running his fingers through my hair.

We rode the rest of the way to the hotel in silence. I had driven my car to Atlanta to catch a flight from here to meet up with my brother. Q was the last person I expected to see. Luckily the show wasn’t until tomorrow night so it was possible that I could still make it to support him. 

Once we got to the hotel we went immediately to his room. When we walked in Q went straight the bathroom shutting the door behind him. I sat on the bed and contemplated how I was going to tell him that I was possibly carrying his baby. After a few minutes I heard the shower turn on. ‘This nigga didn’t even say give me a few minutes or nothing’ I thought to myself. A few more minutes went by and I heard him call my name. I called back but he didn’t say anything. I walked to the bathroom door and opened it. He was standing in the middle of the bathroom naked with steam floating around him like he was in some kinky music video. A part of me was turned on and a part of me wanted to slap him for thinking he could whip out the dick and all would be forgotten. But I had something in store for him. 

I looked at him and rolled my eyes.

“Come shower with me. I just got out of jail and hopped on the first flight leaving for Atlanta. I came here to hide for a few days until the press dies down. A nigga feels dirty. Come help me get clean,” he said grabbing his leg....and by leg I mean the tree trunk of a dick between his legs. I felt my nipples harden and my garden moisten. I took off my clothes and proceeded to join him in the shower. 

“Q you know I was almost killed messing around with you?” I asked sincerely. 

“Yes, I know. And they were looking for you after the fact as well to try and get back at me. But I got you. Ok?” he said. I scoffed. 

“I said OK?” he repeated himself.

“I’m not a damn child,” I said pushing away from him. 

“You’re not a child. Because if you were I wouldn’t be able to do this,” he said reaching from behind me palming one of my breasts and using another hand to find the gateway to heaven between my legs. I was sold. “But you are my baby,” he said in my ear before taking it in his mouth. I let out a soft moan while he fingered me. The warm water running over my body stimulated me more. Before I could think further, he inserted himself inside of me from behind. It had been a while since I had sex so it hurt in a pleasureable way. He enjoyed how tigh I was becuase I could hear him trying to surpress his moans. He picked up my right leg to help balance himself and to give me the death stroke. I literally felt like my soul was leaving my body. If it was possible he would possibly get me pregant again tonight.

I thought about how much I wanted to understand him and how I really would rather him be the father of my child more than Ernest. Before I knew if he grabbed my hair and begin growling. I knew he had climaxed. For the first time having sex with him I did not. My mind must have been elsewhere. I pullled away from him and used a towel to lather soap and begin washing our bodies. He kissed me in between wipes and told me that I was his Queen and shit. He also excused himself for climaxing so fast. Something about him not jerking off because he had been in jail and the sight of me made him horny. Eye roll. 

I decided to wait until the morning to tell him the news. It was already late so I knew that there were no more departing flights but I was for sure getting on a plane to see my brother at Q’s expense. He flew out on me, I’m going to fly out on him.