No. 1 Party Anthem// Alex Turner

2 Major Mess

Arabella's pov
Lowlands Festival, Netherlands, God knows how we arrived there.
I loved the weather, even if it was August, it was warm, but not too hot. I was wearing dark washed low waisted jeans, a tight white crop top, over a fishnet shirt and I wasn't sweating or freezing, but I wasn't on the stage yet, under all the scalding lights.
The band before us, the Arctic Monkeys, was on stage, playing their last songs. They were pretty huge, which made me nervous; we were just the band in between, that people used as a bathroom break.
«Stop it,» Evie slapped my hand, making me stop ripping the skin off of my fingers. «you're gonna be great, why are you so scared?» she asked.
I pointed at the band playing. «Don't you hear them? They love them,» I said referring to the audience. «they'll see the differences between that cocky, confident dude and me.»
She shook her head slowly and her blonde high ponytail followed it. «You're a great guitarist, with a great voice, people already love you and the people that don't, are gonna love you now.» she said resting a hand behind my back.
«Thank you everybody,» the frontman said so confidently. «we're gonna leave you now with this one.» he said before strumming once on his guitar and start singing.
The crowd sang along every word of the song.
«I should be the one scared, did you hear the drummer? God, he's killing it.» Evie said.
Jess sighed in frustration. «Knock it off,» we turned towards him. «we are great and they'll love us, right Chase?» he said without looking at him, but just touching him with his elbow. He didn't receive any response, so he turned to him. «Chase?»
Chase was staring at the band playing. «We're fucked.» he said.
Jess pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. «What could even go wrong?» he asked.
«I could loose a drum stick.» Evie said.
«You have more than two.» he reminded her.
«I could miss a note.» Chase said.
«Nobody even hears the bass anyway, you'll be okay.» he said, still teasing him as always.
I stepped in. «What if I forget the lyrics?» I asked.
«You're not gonna forget the lyrics and if you do, you can pretend like you want the audience to sing,» he said. «you're not gonna loose your drum sticks» he said turned towards Evie. «and you're not gonna mess up, it's gonna be fine.» he said facing Chase.
«He's right,» Chase nodded hyped up. «we're gonna have fun on that stage like we did in the campus.»
We all nodded.
After the last song of the Arctic Monkeys, we had ten minutes, before going on stage, the time needed for the staff to take off the Arctic Monkeys' instruments and put ours.

Alex's pov
The show was over and next to Miles, that came to play '505' with us, and Jamie, I was walking behind Nick and Matt, to the backstage.
Matt and Nick turned around, so we stopped walking. «Wanna stay a bit and listen to the next band?» Matt asked.
«Mate, I'm knackered.» I complained.
Jamie shrugged. «We could listen to a couple of songs.»
Miles nodded, so we stayed there, waiting for the band to come out. A big applause grew as they showed up, taking their positions. A very tall blonde guy was the nearest from us, putting on the black guitar strap that held a Gibson Les Paul; a blonde girl sat behind her drum kit and tied her hair in a high ponytail; in front of the drums, there was the lead singer, with a red Fender Stratocaster; on the other side of the stage from where we were standing, there was a dark and curly haired guy, with a bass.
The lead singer's hand, full of rings, grabbed the microphone, to fix it to her height. «Hi everybody,» she spoke to the microphone. «I hope you're ready, 'cause we are a 'Major Mess'.» she smiled.
The crowed cheered and she turned around to face the drummer, that started counting the tempo with her drum sticks.
Matt and Nick softly chuckled, whilst Jamie and Miles smiled at what she said. «What did I miss?» I asked.
Nick didn't take off his eyes from the band. «The name of the band is 'Major Mess', I think it's kinda like their inside joke.»
I nodded and got back to watch the performance. The lead singer played the main riff intro with the other guitarist, as she moved her head in time, along with her foot. The music was catchy and fun. She approached the microphone stop playing her guitar and bringing a strand of her brown hair behind her ear. She had a nice voice, fitted the type of music.
«They're good,» Matt said. «look at the drummer.»
As he said, I looked at the drummer, violently smashing her drum sticks on the drums and occasionally doing some tricks with them. She seemed like she was feeling the music inside her, as well as the other band members.
«I like 'em too.» Miles said.
They crowd appeared to like them as well, they were shouting the lyrics at the top of their lungs and the people who didn't know the lyrics, were moving their arms in time.
After the third song we left, to finish the night at a pub, except for Miles, that stayed since he still had to perform.

Arabella's pov
The adrenaline inside me was driving me crazy. I felt like I could have stayed up all night long, playing all the songs I knew.
I smiled when I saw the audience singing along the songs and laughed at some of the signs, such as one saying 'Jess I bet your hair isn't the only thing long'. Jess took the joke and laughed.
His hair wasn't even that long, he had medium length curly hairstyle, but he let them grew instead of cut them and he looked hotter than before.
I looked at a girl raising a sign saying 'I would sell my family for you'.
While playing the bridge of the song, where Jess had a solo, Chase approached giggling and pointed to a sign, saying 'Arabella u make me question my sexuality'. I laughed and pointed to another sign saying 'Cut me with your jawline' with pictures showing how sharp Chase's jawline was.
«Thank you so much for the wonderful night.» I spoke to the microphone once the last song was over, blowing a kiss to the audience.
Once we were off the stage, I hugged Jess, tightening him with all my energy. «We did it.» I said jumping around.
«That was amazing,» Evie said. «I threw my drum sticks and saw people fight to get them.»
«Celebrate in a pub?» Jess asked.
We all nodded and after we stow all our things in the tour bus, we found the nearest pub.
We were still full of energies and happier than ever.

Alex's pov
Jamie squinted, so I followed his gaze to the door. «Aren't those the folks from 'Major Mess'?» he asked.
The others turned around and looked at them. «Yea', we should ask 'em if they wanna join us.» Nick said.
«I'm going,» Matt stood up. «I had to take other beers anyway.»
I followed him with my eyes, approaching the group at the counter.

Arabella's pov
I turned around as I heard someone approaching. A familiar face showed up, after a couple of seconds I recognized him: the drummer from the Arctic Monkeys.
«Hey I'm Matt... from the Arctic Monkeys,» he said. «I'm 'ere with me pals,» his accent was very thick. «mind joining us?» he asked.
I looked at my friends, waiting for someone to answer. «Sounds good.» Jess nodded.
Evie passed the beers around and we approached Matt's table, where the guitarists was sat next to the bassist, the frontman between the guitarist and then, there was an empty spot, where clearly was sat Matt. We grabbed other chairs and I sat between Chase, who was next to Matt and Jess, who was next to Evie.
«We listened some of ya songs,» Matt broke the ice, after introducing everybody. «you killed it.»
We awkwardly chuckled, not knowing what to say. «You were also great,» Evie said. «we already knew some of your songs.»
«Yeah in the campus everybody played your songs, especially 'I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor'.» I said.
«Can I ask you summat?» Nick asked. «Where does the band's name come from?»
«I chose it,» I said. «basically we met in this shitty college, where the principal never checked the students, so we could do whatever we wanted and we played very loudly,» I explained. «then someone rat on us, the principal came just to hush them up and when he entered our room, he said something like: "I expected to see a band, not a major mess" so we became 'Major Mess'.»
«Like he knows anything about music.» Evie said bringing her beer to her full lips.
«We then sent a magazine talking wonderfully about us to the principal and our debut album to the guys that rat on us, so that they could listen to our music again.» Chase said.
«That's a good story,» Matt said. «for us it was just Jamie saying to call the band 'Arctic Monkeys' for no apparent reason.»
«It's a dope name though.» Jess said.
«Exactly.» Jamie proudly said, happy to be understood for once.
«But wait,» Nick frowned. «you played in your dorm room? How did you fit the instruments?» Nick asked.
«We sold the desk to some other kids,» Jess said. «we wouldn't have studied anyway.»
«They also sold the wardrobe to some girls that needed more than one, and kept their clothes in their suitcases.» I added.

The night continued talking about music and funny memories, Chase needed some time to open and talk, since he was slightly shy, meanwhile Alex said a couple of few word occasionally and responded with nods or short answers.