Chapter ten: The Monkees

Not long after the guys got their new instruments they went to work on their band. Since Micky and Davy were fairly unfamiliar with playing musical instruments, Peter and Mike took the time to give them a crash course in the field of rock music. Mike often took Davy off to the side in order to get him used to different percussion instruments, and showed him how to use them to keep a steady rhythm. He also showed Davy how to control his singing voice with less of a Broadway sound and more of a rock sound. Meanwhile over on the bandstand Peter, despite the fact that he was familiar with about every instrument in the book except the drums, was often busy teaching Micky how to play. They all thought that Micky would have been a natural at the drums due to his high level of energy. However they didn't take in count the fact that he had never actually played the drums seriously before, or the fact that he would be the lead singer. Micky already was having trouble learning how to play the drums and sing at the same time but Peter had absentmindedly set up the drums for a left handed drummer before their first lesson together. So from that day on Micky had to learn how to play left handed instead of right handed.

Micky let out a frustrated sigh as he sat the drumsticks down onto the snare drum.

"Pete I can't get this. Maybe I should switch to another instrument."

"What? No, Micky, you're doing great. Just try again."

"I've been trying again for an hour!"

"And you've gotten so much better in that hour. You're just not trusting yourself."

Micky sighed and rubbed the corners of his eyes "Remind me why I'm doing this again?"

"Micky just relax. Take a cleansing breath." He inhaled deeply before letting his air out slowly

Micky looked at Peter before looking away and shaking his head "Sometimes I don't know about you, Peter."

"Hey listen. You're an actor, right?"

"Well I was but I quit that for the band."

"You still know how to act though, right?"

"Yeah… why?"

"Just… act like a drummer."

Micky hesitated before grinning. He let out a small laugh "You may have something there, Pete."

Mike strummed on his guitar as Davy shook the tambourine. Davy hit the tambourine trying to keep in time with the music Mike was playing. He sighed and let the hand that was holding the tambourine in fall by his side.

"I don't see what this is going to do for the band. I might as well not be in it!"

"Don't say that. You've got a great voice. Besides what you're doing is more important for the band than you realize."

"Oh really? How's tha'?"

"Well… you help fill in for the bass when Peter's playing something else. You help keep the beat."

"Shouldn't that be Micky's job?" Davy sighed "I think he's right. All I'm good for is to just look cute."

"Oh nonsense! Every one of us is important to the band. The band wouldn't be complete if all four of us weren't in it."

"If you say so, Mike."

"Let's just keep practicing this. You'll think differently about it once we get the band actually going. I promise."

Davy hesitated for a second before he let out a small grin "Alright. I'll trust you."

"Good Ok remember hit the tambourine on the beat."

"Right."

"And try not to do that stupid little shuffle dance of yours."

Davy laughed and then Mike began strumming on the guitar again.

By the time the four of them joined each other on the bandstand for their first official band practice, their attitudes had improved. The first practice session they didn't really have any songs of their own but they didn't care. They were having fun just finally playing together. At first the music was shaky at best but as their practice went on they wound up finding a good flow. At one point however Micky complained about being a lead singer stuck behind the drums, Peter couldn't find the right key on the keyboard for a certain song, Mike had broken a guitar string, and Davy had dropped his tambourine twice in a row. Despite the small difficulties and complaints the four of them truly were having a lot of fun together. It felt to the four of them that this band really was what they were meant to do together. And it was the one thing that they were going to stick with as long as they were friends.

It seemed that every day for a week the four of them practiced together. During that week they had improved enough to have a complete song. They weren't entirely convinced that it was the greatest song ever, but they were happy with it the way that it was for the time being. Another week of practicing went by and they had a couple more songs under their belts. Sure three songs wasn't a lot but since they were just starting out as a band they were very proud of their three songs.

Since they had worked out a deal with Rudy at the music store for the special payment plan for their instruments, Rudy agreed to take on the role as their temporary manager. He suggested that the four of them should have matching stage uniforms for gigs, which they gladly agreed to. So with the money that Rudy had provided for them, they went down to a local clothing store to shop for new stage clothes. They wound up picking out many different things and modeled them for Rudy for his opinion. After a few nixed uniform ideas Rudy and The Monkees all agreed on the combination of the pale yellow button down shirts, dark brown vests and grey slacks.

One day Rudy called the four of them down to the music store. They held a small meeting in the back room of the store, where The Monkees were somewhat eager and apprehensive at the same time over the news Rudy was going to bring to them. It turned out that Rudy had lined up a couple gigs for the band. However the first one was more of an audition for a gig. They, Mike especially, didn't really like the idea of having to audition for a gig. But once Rudy told them that they'd get paid for it, they were more than glad to accept it.

The gig audition turned out to be at a fancy country club for a girl's sixteenth birthday party. They were skeptical that their band was going to be able to play at such a nice place as this club, but for the money they were going to give it their all. They didn't think they'd have a hard time winning over Vanessa, the girl whose party they were auditioning for, however it was her father that they were concerned about. The fact that he seemed so uptight made the four of them nervous. Davy was so nervous that when Mike asked him for a "G", he removed a string from the bass that was inexplicably placed in his hands, and handed the string to Mike. He played it off as he was trying to be funny, but to this Mike wasn't amused. Once they finally got themselves together they went right into the only song they had prepared for the audition: "I wanna be free." As they played the song, Mike Micky and Peter took notice to the fact that Davy and Vanessa seemed to have been paying an awful lot of attention to each other in an almost hypnotic trance. The imaginary stars twinkled in their eyes as they looked at each other. The other three Monkees decided it was best to ignore this and continue playing their song.

After the song was finished, Vanessa and her father briefly discussed hiring The Monkees for the party. Then before walking away, Vanessa's father quickly announced to The Monkees that they were hired. They were very excited that they had got the job. However, the moment the other three guys' backs were turned, Davy was busy scoring himself a date with Vanessa. The moment that they found out about the date they knew that this was going to be one long gig. Little did the four of them know, this date with Vanessa would only lead them into plenty of crazy adventures together as The Monkees.