Page 18 of Never Too Late
‘If there’s anything you want to know about building up a studio, I’d be happy to help.’
She was pleased and relieved to see him nod again. ‘That would be great, thanks, Steph. I imagine the technology’s moved on quite a bit since the last time I was in a recording studio…’ His voice tailed off and Steph spotted concern on Lottie’s face, but he rallied. ‘Maybe you might have a few minutes one of these days to show me what sort of gear Keith’s got. Would that be possible?’
‘I’d be delighted. Just say the word.’ Steph was celebrating internally. This was real progress. And while she had him in the studio, she toyed with the idea of playing him Keith and Johnny’s demo tracks but decided it might be a bit too soon. Remembering Johnny’s fishing analogy, she resolved to bide her time and see if he would rise to the bait.
That afternoon Steph joined Ethan in the studio to prepare for another session with Keith and Johnny. Outside, the clouds were gathering and there was an oppressive humid feel to the air. Inside, Ethan was looking unusually subdued, and she hoped he wasn’t still brooding. When the two men arrived, Steph mentioned what Ben had said earlier about wanting to come down to the studio to take a look and Keith’s face lit up.
‘Great stuff, Steph. Just go slow with him, though. A bit at a time, okay?’
Johnny gave her a little smile and mimed slowly reeling in a fish. ‘Easy does it…’
Today’s session saw Keith and Johnny performing two more of the new numbers and for both of them Keith asked Steph to join in again on the keyboard. As before, Ethan and she were then able to mix the different tracks together, enhancing here and fading there until the result was impressive enough to have Keith and Johnny high-fiving each other in delight.
‘If only we could get Ben on board… We really have something here.’ Keith then came up with a fascinating offer. ‘Steph, how would you feel about playing keyboard on all the tracks? There’s no question that we need that extra instrument, and you manage to reproduce the Royalty sound so perfectly. I think you’d be great.’ As if realising that he was sounding a bit too bossy, he turned to Johnny. ‘What do you think, Johnny? She’s what we need, isn’t she?’
‘Keith’s right, Steph.’ Johnny nodded in agreement. ‘It’s like having Vince back here with us.’
Keith was thinking of practical matters. ‘And of course this means you’ll get credit on the record and you’ll get paid. So, will you do it?’ He glanced across at Ethan who was standing there with an expression on his face that was hard to read. ‘You don’t mind if Steph helps out on the keyboard, do you?’
Ethan nodded mutely while Steph struggled to come to terms with what had just happened. Ethan’s prediction had been right. She was being offered the chance to participate in a world-renowned group’s new album. Considering that her last gig had been playing at an eightieth birthday party in Golders Green in exchange for little more than cake and cab fare this was an amazing step up. She could hardly control her excitement as she replied, doing her best to resist the temptation to hug both Keith and Johnny as she did so.
‘If you’re sure you want me, you know I’d love to. I can’t think of anything better. Thank you so much.’
‘That’s great.’ Keith gave a satisfied smile. ‘In fact, if your boss can spare you today, I’d like to take you through some of the other songs I’ve written. Ethan, could I borrow Steph for a few hours later on?’
Again, Ethan just nodded. It was only after the two men had left the studio that he found his voice and Steph was struck by the sullen resignation in his tone. ‘So that’s the way it’s going to go down. First you dump me and then you go off and leave me in the middle of a job.’
‘I’m not leaving in the middle of the job. Thisisthe job and I’m not going anywhere. Besides, haven’t you ever heard about the customer always being right?’
‘And you end up with a good few thou in your pocket and your name on the album cover.’
He sounded like a grumpy teenager. The softer tone of that morning was conspicuous by its absence and this sudden mood swing was unexpected and concerning. She decided to reply in kind.
‘And your name’ll be on there as well, and you’ll be well paid. And of course I had to say yes. You’d do the same if you were in my position. You told me so this morning. Now, stop behaving like a child and let’s go through what we’ve done this morning and give it a few tweaks so it really hums.’
As it turned out, Cesare appeared a little while later to say that Keith wasn’t going to be able to go through the new songs with her until the next day as he had an important Zoom meeting coming up. This gave Steph an idea and she turned to Ethan.
‘Why don’t I ask Ben if he feels like coming down to the studio to take a look? You never know – we might even be able to persuade him to play something.’
Although Ethan was clearly still miffed at her amazing good fortune at being offered a place on the new album, Steph felt sure he was pragmatic enough to realise that this was too good an opportunity to miss. They both knew that if they could help get the group back together again, this would be a major achievement. Still looking a bit truculent, he agreed, but told herhewould go and speak to Ben. Steph didn’t object. He was her boss, after all. For how much longer of course remained to be seen.
Seeing as she had the studio to herself, she settled down at the keyboard and launched into another of her classical favourites, Beethoven’sLes Adieuxsonata. Much as she enjoyed the modern stuff, her first love was still classical music, and she somehow felt she owed it to her father to take every opportunity to play something he would have appreciated. As so often happened, she lost herself in the music – and it wasn’t an easy piece by any means – and she emerged at the end of it feeling refreshed.
Half an hour later she was joined in the studio by Ethan and Ben. Ethan talked him through the equipment, and Ben expressed amazement at the way the technology had progressed in just a decade. While Ben was poking around, Ethan asked Steph to go over to the keyboard and play something so he could demonstrate to Ben the degree to which he could modify and improve the resulting sound. Deciding it was worth taking a chance, she launched into the same solo from Royalty’s big hit, ‘Getting Back on Top’, that she had played for Keith and Johnny. When it came to an end, she waited anxiously for Ben’s reaction.
‘Wow, Steph, that was magic. It was like hearing Vince all over again.’
There was a catch in Ben’s voice, and he looked suddenly serious, so Steph didn’t reply. To give him time, she changed to a piece of Mozart, but the seed had been sown. When she finished, Ben was looking more cheerful and he applauded her skill. Taking advantage of his buoyant mood, Ethan came up with a proposal.
‘There are some of Keith’s guitars over there. Why don’t you play something or even join Steph? Having two instruments will give me more scope to demonstrate the range of all this recording gear.’
Ben didn’t react for almost a minute and Steph held her breath. At last he walked over and picked up the same acoustic guitar Keith had used earlier and perched on a stool, running his fingers lovingly across the smooth woodwork and stroking the strings. Finally raising his head, he looked across at Ethan.
‘Want to hear something new? I wrote it last year. Steph, if you feel like joining in at any point, please do.’
To her delight, he began to play. Unlike so much of Royalty’s earlier stuff, this was a gentle ballad, and the lyrics were both personal and moving, clearly autobiographical, as he sang of grief, loss and loneliness. Slowly at first, she joined in with a little bit of backing, and by the end the two of them were beginning to play in unison, and she was even humming along in harmony with him. As the last chords faded, she looked up from the keyboard to see Ben with tears in his eyes, looking shell-shocked, and her immediate thought was that maybe this had been too much, too soon. Neither she nor Ethan said a word, apprehensively waiting for him to react. They had to wait several minutes before he finally rested the guitar against the wall and reached for a tissue in his pocket. He wiped it across his eyes before looking straight at her.
‘That was beautiful, Steph. Thank you.’ He blew his nose. ‘And now I think I need some fresh air.’ He walked to the door but stopped on the threshold, turning back towards the two of them. ‘Maybe we could do that again?’
