Chapter 4
Actually, twenty-five or so people in the rest area wasn’t as crowded as she thought it would be. Some of the parents were looking at the display of awards, and others looking around at what looked to them like a big lounge/diner. Willow went up a few of the steps to the mezzanine.
“Can I have your attention, please. We are now in the rest area of the Summer Love Studio. There is a kitchenette with tea, coffee, and plenty of mugs when you want a drink. There’s more than one electric jug and also microwaves if you heat your water that way. Xavier will now open the door to the control room. I ask you please not to fiddle with anything in there. Frank, could you please go first and switch on the studio lights and open the doors. The rest of you; it is not a big space, but the studio is, so, when you’ve seen the mixers and other things, please go through. There will be time for the tech-savvy to be told what you’re looking at. If anyone needs a toilet stop, there are both male and female ones under the mezzanine with the usual signs.”
As the other door was opened, Frank went through and Xavier followed, with a line forming to inspect the new equipment. Max popped his head in.
“Willow, the van’s arrived.”
Willow saw that the guitarists were still waiting, along with Rick.
“Lads, the microphones and other things have arrived. Can you help Max bring them in?”
She watched as they brought in boxes of microphones, stands, booms, and then boxes of cameras, stacking then by the wall to the control room. With the last item carried in by Brent’s father, Willow asked him if he was parked out of the way of moving forklifts. When he said he was, she closed the outer door, cutting off the sounds from the outer world. With the inner door shut, they were in a world of their own.
They followed the rest into the control room, where Xavier telling Rick what was here. Rick wanted to know when the Hikers could record. Willow laughed.
“We haven’t even tried it ourselves. You carried in the microphones and stands just now. We’ll need to set things out and test drive it ourselves first.”
She looked through the big window and saw the band and the parents wandering around in the studio.
“Oh, good. The stage gear has arrived. I need to see what we ended up buying.”
She walked into the studio, noting that there were twelve speaker boxes and the six heads lining one wall, with the two keyboards in their boxes with the frames and seats next to them. The rest of the band were sorting through guitar cases and other cases. Vivienne came over.
“It looks as if we had back-ups for the back-ups. I knew that the guitarists had spares, but we now have another two of our instruments, which can stay here. Brent’s happy; there’s a second set of drums for him as well.”
Willow grinned as she looked at the surfeit of gear. Then she caught sight of an aluminium case. She went over to open it up, to find boxes of the pink earbuds they had used, and a sender unit which could be jacked into a mixing board. She picked up the case and carried it to the control room.
“Xavier. Is there a jacking point for the buds?”
“There is. Let me jack it in and we can test it if you put a pair in.”
She did as told and went back into the studio, with his voice in her ears. When she had been to the end and back, she told him that the sound was clear as a bell, and put the buds back, after wiping them with a wet wipe from a box in the case.
Frank and Dave were at the vision consol, with just the single camera view, practising tilting and swivelling it and zooming in on various people in the studio.
“The other cameras have arrived, with the microphones, if you want to get them inside.”
They jumped up and went to get them, coming back with boxes. The step ladder had been left under the first camera position, and it didn’t take long before they had all twelve installed and plugged in.
In the studio, the amps had been reassembled and plugged into the power sockets. The wind section had found all their spares and were trying them out. The guitarists had found the effects boxes, still with their names on, had plugged in and were playing some bits and pieces with the guitars that they hadn’t had a chance to use before. Gina and Maisie had taken one of the Nord keyboards out of its box, assembled it and was pulling the second one out. There was more than enough rolled up leads to get everything working. Willow had an idea.
“Xavier, tell me that we have speakers as well as the buds.”
He pulled the sender jack out.
“We have now.”
She leaned toward the microphone.
“Give me some sound, please.”
He moved a slider, set to one side of all the others.
“Can I have your attention, please. If we want to have a bit of a play, there are a big bunch of microphones and stands still in the rest room. Can some of the band go and get them in so we can set them out. Jacob, can you open the slider and unlock the back door so we can get all these cartons out into storage, please. Parents, if you can help, then please do so. When we play, we need you all back here in the control room if you value your hearing.”
Rick helped sort things out once the back door to the storage had been opened. The movers had left the pallets on the rack, so there were places to put the Nord cartons, the boxes for all the cameras, and the boxes for the microphones and such. The guitarists put the cases and extra guitars behind the amps. Brent set up one set of drums and got some parents to put the other set in the storage room. When there was order, the back door was closed and locked, and the slider pulled back into place. Xavier readied the board for recording, using all the skills he had learned during the tour, and Willow joined the band with the case of buds as the parents and others drifted to the control room, to stand at the back.
She handed them out and put a set in her own ears, then took the case to the control room where Frank put it next to his consol. She saw the twelve pictures on the three screens as she gave him a wink and went back into the studio, closing both doors as she went.
She sat at her keyboard and played a few notes, hearing them in her ears, along with the guitars tuning. They had set out microphones in front of the amps, around the drums, and four in front of the wind section. All four guitarists, and both keyboard players, had them, with the keyboard ones on booms so they didn’t have to lean to sing. It was what they had used when they played on tour. The voice in her ears was the same that they had heard in the latter stages of the tour. Xavier was now in charge.
“Can I have individual sound checks for amp and microphone, please.”
One at a time, they played or sang until he was set. Then, for the first time, the big tape reels started turning and he told them that they were clear to go. Of course, there was only one song they could play for the first time in their own studio.
Standing behind Xavier and hearing her daughter’s voice from the speakers, Wendy had tears in her eyes as ‘We’ve only Just Begun’ became their first home recording. It was followed by ‘Dust in the Wind’, ‘Nights in White Satin’ and ‘Dummy Spitter’. When that one ended, Willow called out.
“I think that’s enough to try the system. Time for lunch.”
She could see a line of smiling faces in the control room and looked around to see the smiling faces of the band. They left the guitars on stands, turned off the amps, and went back to the control room. They each took out their buds, gave them a wipe, and put them in the boxes as they were all hugged.
They all went back to the rest room and Willow asked if everyone was happy with pizza. She rang the pizza shop and asked for twenty assorted to be delivered to them on the second floor of the offices, paying with her debit card. Then she called out.
“We’ll eat in the office. Follow Gina and she’ll show you the way. There’s a box for your hi-vis when you get over there. The pizzas will be delivered. There’s a kitchenette over there as well. The big table is for the band.”
She turned to Xavier.
“All right if I leave you to switch off and close up?”
“No problems, Willow. This has been a wonderful day, so far. I can hardly wait to be back again to record your next album.”
Before she could leave, Mervyn came in.
“A good day?”
“A very good day, Mervyn. If you would like to join us in the upstairs office, we’ll have a meeting and give you some direction before we go home. What do you think of the place, now?”
He looked through the window into the studio.
“It looks a lot different now to when you first saw it. Are you going to play anything today?”
“We’ve just played four songs, including quite a loud one.”
“Wow! I didn’t hear a thing.”
Xavier cut the power to the studio and turned out the lights. He had a disc which he slid into a plastic holder.
“The first recording. I’ll copy it tomorrow and give you all one at school.”
He followed them out, made sure there was no one in a toilet, and closed the door to the rest room before switching everything off and locking up, smiling as he walked over to the office, his key to heaven on earth in his pocket.
Willow stood with Mervyn in the car park, waiting for the pizza delivery.
“Did you get a chance to look at the properties?”
“I did, thank you for sending the details. That one in Small Heath is perfect, but far too big for me.”
“Can it support a second tenant?”
“Yes, if you separate some areas to give two offices and workspaces.”
“Would you be happy sharing?”
“Not a problem. They’re asking five million, though.”
“So, the likely return on the whole site should be around three-fifty a year. Would you be happy with a five-year lease, starting at one-fifty and rising by five a year?”
“We could live with that. I’m sure my company would be agreeable. Do you think that you can push this through?”
“I don’t push. I lead.”
The pizza delivery arrived, and they helped the lad take them upstairs. Willow gave him a tip and told him that there may be more orders to come in coming months. The band were all sat at the table, and Mervyn and Willow took up the two remaining seats while the others spread themselves around the office. They all took slices of pizza and there wasn’t much talk for a while. When they were finished, Willow stood.
“Thank you all for being here today. This has been the beginning of a great future in the studio. Xavier has been our sound man today, just as he was during our tour. I’m sure that we can all agree that he should be designated the manager of the studio and the one to talk to about using it.”
There was agreement and a short round of applause.
“We don’t have employees, so will pay him, and his helpers, by the hour when we record. Rick, that will go for you and the Hikers as well. You don’t need to talk to us if you want to go in there to record. We bought a system that can record in twenty-four track, with video, and has all the post-production software to produce an audio album and a DVD for sending to the production company.”
“Got that, Willow. That’s great, especially dealing with friends.”
“Now. We have more serious business to discuss. Firstly, for those who aren’t aware, back when we were starting out, the seven of us formed a property syndicate. We have been putting a hundred thousand a month in. That has bought us a property in Coventry with a good tenant, and it brought us this property, with the surprise that was the old cold store, now the studio. Everything is paid for, and we don’t owe anybody anything, except our heartfelt thanks for jobs well done.”
There was murmuring and smiles.
“We are coming to another fork in the road, as our tenant here has a need to expand. Mervyn is the manager of this site and has been told to find somewhere else. He has looked at a site in Small Heath that is big enough for his needs as well as being big enough for a second tenant. I know this news may be a shock to some of you, but I’m proposing that we create another syndicate. Our wind section are now full members of the band and I’m offering them an opportunity to invest some of their last month’s earnings into property. I won’t go any further until the four of you confer with your parents. I’ll pop over the other side and bring back some mugs.”
She found a tray in the kitchenette and Jacob went with her into the studio, where they loaded it with mugs and had a kiss or two.
“You have a plan, my love?”
“Not a plan, darling, a proposal.”
“You want me to marry you?”
“Maybe, my darling, but not today!”
They carried the mugs up to the office, where the two girls and two boys were in a huddle with their parents. Willow and Jacob started making teas from the supply of bags and opened a carton of milk. They were handed out. Sebastian took his with a smile.
“Up to your tricks, Willow? This is turning out to be a real day of learning. That studio is going to be very popular if you want it to be.”
“Our approval from the council is on the basis that it’s not a commercial business. If some of our friends want to make a record and pay the technicians, that’s their business. If we get control of the whole site, then we can think about taking it further.”
Nancy came over.
“We’ve talked it over and want to be a part of this. Do you want to tell us what you have in mind?”
“Right, we can talk business.”
Willow went back to the table and pulled the file out of her bag.
“I want to let Mervyn tell you what happens here and what his orders are, then we talk money.”
He stood and explained that they were a distribution centre for a mail-order company.
“We get bulk deliveries, sometimes a container from the docks or by airfreight from Manchester. We break it down into the required orders. Some get picked up by couriers, some get taken to the mail centre for posting, and some larger orders within fifty miles get delivered by our own truck. This site is now too restricted for us, even with the use that the studio might have given us. I have looked at a site in Small Heath which will give us drive-through supply and delivery, with space to off load a container inside. It’s close to major highways. I see Willow has some pictures to pass around.”
The pictures went around the table, and everyone had a good look. Nancy’s father asked the obvious question.
“This looks almost new. It’s huge so must be several million?”
“The asking price is five million. If each of the band put in half a million from last month’s earnings, we can buy it outright and still have enough left in the kitty to make any changes. At the moment, the seven of us add a hundred thousand a month to the current syndicate to fund the studio development and any new projects. If the new syndicate does the same, we will have one point one a month, plus the income from the lease. So far, we have been building a portfolio for life, rather than a profit-making operation. None of our properties are liable to be less than we paid if we move them on.”
“Who is handling the portfolio?”
“That position has been a volunteer job by Jacob’s father, Wilhelm. I believe that we’ll be paying him a small stipend to continue. This office is the centre of operations, and he has been doing very well with it. If we have a new, and expanded, syndicate, there can be a place for others to oversee its operation. None of the band are old enough to make decisions, just to agree to a course of direction that the adults around us can follow through on. The current syndicate has an accountant as the registered business address, and all payments are made known through a monthly email. I’m sure that the other parents can verify this.”
Brent’s father spoke up.
“I’ve looked at Brent’s paperwork. The way the syndicate works is all above board and very tightly controlled. Brent’s share is through a company we set up with me and his mother as the oversight directors. The two properties bring in over a hundred thousand a year. What do you think the new one will return?”
“I’ve spoken to Mervyn, and he’s happy to start at a hundred and fifty, rising to a hundred and seventy-five over a five-year period. That’s for only half the site. The other half would be similar, depending on the usage. So, we’re talking about a bit over thirty thousand each, every year, for as long as we hold on to it. That would be a full return of the investment in about twenty years. That is, of course, projecting that we stop earning from today. With the albums we have on the market, and the ones swirling around in our brains, that’s never going to happen. We now have somewhere that we can be creative, without any need to ask to borrow a lock-up to practise in.”
Nancy’s father, who seemed to be taking the lead, then looked at Willow.
“What are your plans, Willow. Are you going to go solo and leave the others in limbo?”
“I find that offensive, sir. My own plan is simple, and I cannot speak for any of the others. I see me staying at the school and having good enough grades to go to university. When Gina and I were at Cambridge, recording a double album with the Kings College, we were taken around the different colleges. I expect that we, as the full band, will be producing music throughout our time at the school. We will come to a stage where we all will have to decide where we go in life then. I expect that we may tour during the holidays, especially the summer one, as long as we make albums and people buy them. I have no plan to go solo, and I’m extremely happy at being on stage with my friends around me. Does that answer your question?”
“It does, Willow. I’m sorry I sounded a bit strong, but this is the first time that I’ve been in the one place with all of you without sitting in a seat in the audience.”
“That’s alright, sir. Can I have a show of hands from the band, please. Those in favour of us forming a new syndicate?”
All of the others put their hand up.
“Do we have any dissenters among the parents?”
There was silence.
“All right. We will get Wilhelm to talk to the accountant about setting up a new syndicate with a bank account that we can seed from the current one. Once that is done, you will all receive an email with the account numbers to send the half million to, with a possible hundred thousand a month after that. With the existing syndicate, we can have another meeting to talk about leaving that one as it stands and just paying into the new one or supporting the two. Thank you all for being so supportive, and, unless there are any other matters to discuss, I think we can go home. It’s been a big day.”
Everyone agreed that they could go home, so the pizza boxes were collected for disposal in the big bin in the car park. They tidied up and neatened all the chairs. Jacob and Herb took the mugs back and rinsed them out. Brent’s father had already left with him, and the rest all settled in the coach. Sebastian backed out with Max guiding him, and then they were heading home. Willow leaned over to Jacob, across the centre aisle.
“Can you give your father a call and get him to the farm when we arrive. We have a bit to talk to him about.”
She sat back and Wendy cuddled her.
“What are you going to study at uni, love. Music?”
“I’m not sure. If I do, it would be working towards being a conductor or composer. The nicest place we visited was Newnham College. It’s all-female but they only accept two undergraduates in music in any one year. The facilities are great, and the rooms are good. It’s non-denominational so doesn’t have a chapel, so I wouldn’t get roped in to play an organ.”
“That would be a minus, wouldn’t it?”
“Actually, Mum, it would be a plus. I’m only in churches to play the organ. The rest of it has no meaning to me. There are a lot of good people who believe, but there are also a lot of bad people who do as well. I count myself as a good person who doesn’t need it.”
“That’s why I never hear you sing unless you’re in a choir.”
“That’s the music, Mum, just the music.”
“So, how do you reconcile with your friendship with Reverend Russell, or even the Bishop?”
“They’re good people at heart, that’s all that matters. Actually, the Coventry Uni offers a master’s degree in popular music, which I think might be nice. That’s only a one-year course, and they do a three-year course for a Batchelor of Popular Music and Songwriting. They may be easier to get into. Other than that, they also have a three-year course in business and marketing.”
“Who knows what you’ll want to do when you get to that point, and what qualifications you’ll have by then. You may not even have the time for further study if the band is going strong and if you’ve developed a reputation for directing.”
When they arrived at the farm, there was only the five of them left on the coach. Wilhelm was there and offered to take the ladies home in the people mover, so they thanked Sebastian and Max and went into the farmhouse. Racheal had made cake, so they all sat at the big kitchen table and Willow showed Wilhelm the folder.
“This property, Stella House in Small Heath, is on the market for five million. We had a meeting with all the band and decided to set up a new syndicate with all eleven of us, putting in half a million each. Mervyn will need to properly inspect it and get his company’s approval, and it will take a while to get him moved. We think that we’ll have to look for a second tenant, who is willing to pay a hundred and seventy-five thousand a year.”
“That’s a big step, you know.”
“We’re aware of that, but all the band had one parent or relative with them, and it was agreed unanimously. We will have another meeting of the ‘gang of seven’ to talk about carrying on with that syndicate.”
“All right, I’ll get this moving with our agent and accountant. I already have contact details for all eleven of you, and you’ll have to get the responsible adults to sign. It’s just these numbers keep getting bigger!”
“As long as they do, Wilhelm, we’ll be all right.”
Marianne Gregory © 2025