Chapter 37
"And a good afternoon to you all... I'm Tom, and I'll be with you for The Afternoon Show. Got a couple of special guests for you too..."
So, our girls are about 30% the way through their tour, and have a few days break in London, before they go over to mainland Europe later on tomorrow evening. Ziggy flew back home to Aberdeen to sort her life out, and will fly down to join the rest of the team tomorrow morning, while Linda is being looked after (well, 'spoiled' is probably a better description!) by her parents and another paid helper. Originally, the plan was for the bands to fly back to London, but Linda decided that, whilst it would take longer, she'd be more comfortable on the bus than getting special stuff done so she could fly.
Last night, Carol and Tom had gone to the mansion, and spent the evening with Jenny's family, which is where the idea for todays interview had come up.
"So, my first guest is Carol! It's always good to have you on the show, Carol! She is, of course, in the middle of a European tour with both CJDL and Northern Girls. So, Carol, what's it like to have a couple of 'days off'? I know it's been pretty full-on with your tour."
"Yes, nice to sleep in my own bed! And have more than just one day off. But the tour isn't quite as full-on as you might think, we have a day's break between venues, so it's not quite so bad."
"I guess the first thing I need to ask about is... how is Linda? Maybe you can explain what actually happened?"
"Linda is doing well, she's currently being looked after by her mum and dad. So yeah, we were up in Aberdeen, and Linda and Dianne had gone into town to do some shopping and have an early dinner. They were on their way back to the Arena in a taxi when a big van smashed into them..." Carol went on to briefly relate the rest of the story.
"You decided not to cancel the tour then?"
"No way! That would be a sure-fire way to upset our fans. We've had to make a few changes, but our fans have been amazingly supportive."
"So what has been the response to you tour so far?"
"Well, everything I've seen is pretty positive. We've been quite surprised how positive our fans have been about the 'extras' in the show."
"Extras?"
"We have a few 'fun bits'. Crew Karaoke, where one of us sings with one of the crew. Then there's 'Linda's bass riffs', where Linda, and maybe some others take a song with a strong and well known bassline. The most popular has been 'Walk on the Wildside'. I mean, the stuff she plays is nothing like ours or Northern Girls music, but our fans seem to like it. We also have a 'solo spot', and when Jenny played the Tequila Song on her sax, they loved it!"
"The Tequila Song? You mean THIS one?" asked Tom, and he played the original track.
"Yup, that's the one. Now imagine a tropical backdrop, and we all come on with silly cocktails and that sort of thing. I will admit, we all enjoy doping the 'extras', because it so different."
"So are you playing 'Give Me Cereals' again? That is is a song based on the Baby Metal 'Give Me Chocolate, it's lead by Linda, and involves a bit of running around the stage.. which is a problem right now!"
"Yeah, Linda was gutted about that: clearly, with her leg in plaster, she can't run around! We dropped it for a few nights while we worked out what to do... So now we have our dancers moving Linda around... so not quite as boisterous as it was, but at least we're playing it. By the way, I have to give a big thanks to our dancers, they are doing some excellent stuff.
"When we talk about you guys being on tour, I think people forget the huge army of people you need to make things work..."
"Yeah... whilst you might think 'surely the four of you can put your own clothes on?', when you have to do it fairly quickly, and make sure you're putting on the right bits of clothing, you need someone to help. Same with our hair, make-up and so on. And all made more fun by Linda having her leg in plaster! Also, we need people to keep an eye on the time, to make sure we're back on stage at the right time. And that's before you think of all the stage crew, who make the actual performance happen."
"Which nicely brings us to our second guest on the show today. Why don't I just let you introduce yourself?"
"Hi there Tom, I'm Callum Stevens, I'm Jenny's little brother, and part of that tech team."
"So what is it you actually do?"
"I'm the sort-of liaison between the bands and the various members of stage crew..." replied Callum.
"For us, it's nice having someone we know well, who understands us, to sort out any issues... things like an in-ear monitor playing up, or a guitar string breaking.... we just go to Callum, he then organises getting it fixed." added Carol.
"So you're very much a techie person then?"
"Yup. Back at 'the CJDL mansion', I look after all the kit, sort out any issues, do recordings and that sort of stuff."
"Ok, and it sounds like you're happy to 'stay in the shadows' whilst the girls are out there centre-stage!"
"Absolutely! I mean, I can play a bit of guitar, sometimes play along with the girls, but I'm not a musician in any way!"
"So, last night, Carol and I joined you all for the evening and I spotted the way you and Jenny interacted... little looks, comments, leg-pulling. It's very clear you two are very close, and I thought it would be interesting to find out a bit about you, Jenny, and the relationship between you. Plus, of course, it would be interesting to find out more about what it's like working with eight lady musicians. Anyway, lets play a record, then we can start to chat..."
Tom had built up a good relationship with the members of CJDL, and had chatted with them on air many times. He'd also interviewed the Northern Girls, as well as met them on several occasions now. He'd had less involvement with Brian, Lisa and Callum, Jenny's family, so he was looking forward to learning more about Callum.
"So, Callum, you are Jenny's younger brother... two years, isn't it?"
"Yes, that's right, I'm the little baby of the family, Jenny is two years older than me, and Mike is four years older than Jenny."
"So, I get the feeling that you and Jenny are very close, how does that compare with your relationship with Mike?"
"Oh, that's a very different sort of relationship."
"Any idea why?"
"I think it's a different sort of relationship between an older brother and younger sister, compared to an older sister and younger brother. Then add in the wider age gap - 4 years - plus Mike is quite a different personality to both Jenny and me."
"In what way?"
"Well, he's a lot more serious, a much better 'scholar'. He went to Uni, got a degree, now has a 'proper' job." Callum laughed quietly when he said that: he know that Jenny earned FAR more than Mike did, in his 'proper' job. Mind you, HE probably earned more than Mike too!
"So I'm guessing you didn't 'interact' with him in the way you did with Jenny?"
"Well, put it like this, when I started primary school, he started at secondary. When I started secondary, he was already at college. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Mike, but with a six year age gap, it's just a very different sort of relationship."
"Ok, so back to you and Jenny... I guess, when you were very young, Jenny was always there: what's your first memories of Jenny?"
Callum smiled as he remembered. "Playing with me. Singing to me."
"Singing?"
"Yeah, mum would sing us silly songs, and while mum was busy, Jenny would repeat the songs, which kept me happy and quiet. I'm talking kids songs."
"So how old would you have been then?"
"Maybe two or three."
"So, a four or five year old Jenny singing... was she a good singer at that age?" Callum smiled.
"I don't really remember, but she certainly wasn't bad. We both used to love listening to music on the radio too."
"So I guess when you were three, she went off to school?"
"Yes, which let mum have a bit of on-to-one with me for a few hours, but Jenny would play with me when she got home."
"Did things change a lot when she went to school? I'm thinking that she must have made friends, so she maybe didn't have as much time for you?"
"Sometimes she'd play with someone else after school... I guess she was probably six or seven then, but when her friends came around, they always tried to include me."
"Do you remember how musical Jenny was at school?"
"Oh, she loved singing, always had a solo in the school concert."
"What about musical instruments? Did she learn to play anything at primary school?"
"Not at school, but she found Mike's recorder, and once mum showed her the basics, she loved to play it."
"I'm guessing Mike isn't as musical?"
Callum chuckled. "Chalk and cheese! Just like dad. I don't think either of them have a musical bone in their bodies!"
"So, she started on the recorder... what was next?"
"Hmmm... so when she was... must be about 9, I remember visiting Uncle John: he'd given our cousin, Trevor, a small guitar. She was playing it within the hour. Needless to say she got one for Christmas!"
Callum paused, and a lovely smile appeared on his face.
"Callum has a huge smile on his face right now... what you remembering?"
"Well, not only did she sing 'normal songs', I remember her making up silly songs too... more the tunes than the words. Words never were Jenny's strong point!"
"Ok, lets have a short music break, we'll be back chatting with Callum soon..."
....
"So, you were just telling me that Jenny got her first guitar aged about 9. Did she play anything at school?"
"No, not till secondary school."
"So was that when she started playing keyboards?"
Callum giggled. "No, that was a few years later. At school she learnt the trumpet."
"The trumpet? I never knew that... Does she still have it? And was she any good?"
"Yeah, she still has it somewhere. She was ok, but I don't think she liked it as much... the problem is that, at school, if you want to play music, then it's the school orchestra.... and the orchestra doesn't do guitars! So she played trumpet in the school orchestra for a year or two."
"I always think of Jenny's main instrument as being the keyboard, so when did that start?"
"About year 10, you got to learn things like keyboards in the music lessons, so that's when she started. And she was good, she just seemed to 'understand' what keyboard music was about."
"No doubt she got a keyboard that Christmas?"
"Birthday, actually!"
"So, Carol, I know you first met Jenny at secondary school: how old were you?"
"It was probably in year 10, so was about 15. We were both studying for music GCSE, but we were in different classes, so we never met in class, just at lunchtime."
"You got on well?"
"Well, to be honest, we were in different social groups, so whilst we were aware of each other, we never got to know each other all that well: that was later, when we both went to college."
"Ok, well we'll come back to that in a moment. So, Callum, was Jenny composing songs at that point?"
"She mainly just played stuff from the charts, singing along. I remember she did a solo in the end-of-year concert. But she used to 'play around' on the keyboard, experimenting, working out for herself what sounded good. So not really songs. Besides, by year 11 she was busy doing exams."
"Ah, the dreaded GCSE's! How did she do?"
"Well, an A+ in music, of course, but she did well in most of her other subjects too."
"So, she then went to college, and studied... what?"
"First year it was Music - of course, plus Music Tech, Drama, Computer Sciences and Media Studies. She dropped the Music Tech and Computer Sciences for the second year."
"Carol, you said you met Jenny at college: what did you study?"
"Music, but of course, Drama, Media studies, History and Computer Sciences"
"Computer Sciences... an interesting mix with music..."
"Not as crazy as you might think: we use computers a lot when creating music, Callum can probably tell you more."
"Yeah, I did Computer Sciences and Music Tech all the way to A-Level, but the girls use computers - and often tablets now - to compose, to play back what they compose, create multi- part arrangements and all sorts of things. Diane's new electronic drum kit effectively contains a computer, which she can use program up , and save settings for dynamic recall. Jenny's keyboard can also work with her laptop, same sort of thing. So having a good working knowledge of computers helps them all a lot."
"Ok, so I'm guessing Jenny met Carol and Dianne fairly early on at college?"
"Yes, they did. All three of them enjoyed music, they started playing and singing together, so would usually end up at one of their places after college, and mess around together."
"Mess around?"
"Yeah," replied Carol, "music, games, girl-stuff, TV, just hanging around. At college, the teachers realised how close we were, and tried hard to keep us apart, but after a few months, they realised - at least as far as music was concerned - that we three seemed to know what we were doing, so started to encourage us, as a trio."
"What was it like for you, Callum, seeing these three girls together?"
"I helped them set up some drums, guitars, keyboards, and computer in our garage, so they could play together. Which let me spend time with them all too. It was fun to watch them: they were all determined to try and be able to play all of the instruments, and play them well."
"Yes, Carol told me about that, how they'd be on different instruments for different songs. But, Carol, you don't do that so much now."
"No, we kinda settled down on our favourite instruments... but it's helpful to have a good knowledge of each others instruments.."
"So, Callum, I guess you were around, making sure their tech stuff worked?"
"Yes, and once they started to actually perform, I ran the mixer for them." Callum laughed. "I remember once, we had a bit of a... 'disagreement'. I walked off, so someone else had to do the sound for them. I believe they were rather unhappy with how they sounded that night. They now all respect their sound team."
"You were at secondary school together for... three years. How did that work out?"
"I was 'Jenny's brother' for the first couple of years, but I didn't mind."
"Was she popular at school?"
"Reasonably so, yes. Whilst we never sought each other out, if we did meet, there was never any issues: she was always big sister, I was her little brother!"
"So, Jenny is at college, you're still at school: you still got on ok?"
"Yeah. In fact, because we saw less of each other, I think we appreciated our time together more. She was spending a lot of time with Carol and Dianne, but I always felt welcome."
"I think we all liked having Callum around. He was 'one of the gang', I think we all just treated him like a brother." commented Carol.
"Carol told me about their final concert at college. Were you there?"
"Oh, yeah, I did their sound. They called themselves 'Just Three Girls', and they opened the show, which is never an easy thing. But they didn't let their nerves get in the way: good training for the future. I guess I don't need to say that they pretty much stole the show!"
"I guess you were both doing exams at the same time? Must have been hard."
"Yeah, that was hard for us both, and I think we were all glad when it was over. But the concert was a month or so before exams."
"So, they all then went on to spend a year at Music School: at this early stage, did you think they really had it in them to 'make the big time'?"
"I would say a bit of yes and no. They all had determination that they wanted to become musical performers, but back then, they were still a bit... how do I say this... 'rough around the edges'."
"Yes, I think Callum is right: we wanted to make it, but we still hadn't finished our training."
"Was it easy for your parents, being asked by their teen daughters, to support them in their dream?"
"From what I've heard since, Mum and Dad, and Carol's parents were both in a financial position to back them, but I think Dianne's were a bit more worried - still - that it's not easy to make a living from music."
"So, they all went to Music School: what happens there, Carol?"
"At college they teach you about how to play music, all fairly simple stuff. But what they don't - and probably can't - teach you is how to actually perform. There's been a few TV shows about how K-Pop stars are trained... they spend several years learning singing, dancing, acting, performing... we got less than a year."
"So Callum, you're watching the girls through that year...?"
"Yes, and it was interesting watching them develop. Through the year they did small gigs, which I of course mixed, and I could see their actual performance skills getting better, they were playing and singing together better, 'tighter'..."
"Tighter?"
"Yeah, they were consistently improving their timing: so the piano and drums in better sync, ending the song crisply and all together, that sort of thing."
"So, a year later, the same question: did you think they really had it in them to 'make the big time'?"
"Hmmm. Certainly much more so. I think at that point they just needed to 'do their apprenticeship'... go out and get used to performing, writing together, and so on."
"Were they earning enough to survive at that point?"
"Definitely not, but our three lots of parents got together, and agreed to fund them for a maximum of two years. And that's when dad offered to be their manager, he didn't want to see them get ripped off."
Tom took another break, and played a record.
"So the girls were starting their 'work life'... what were you doing at this time?"
"Well, immediately they left Music School I was in my A-levels year, but still making time to look after their needs. The year after, I did various things: I was able to 'roadie' for a few local gigs - paid for! - but also did temporary work. And of course do the sound for the band."
"You must have had faith in their abilities to invest so much time with them?"
"Jenny was... and is... my sister, and I so wanted her to succeed. I would have done anything I could to help her, along with Carol and Dianne, to make her dream come true."
"What about your dreams?"
"Oh, I wanted to work with a band, so whilst I wasn't earning anything, I was starting to fulfil my dreams too."
"I can feel a lot of love there between the two of you..."
"Yes, there was, and still is."
"So then what happened to the band. When did they become CJD by the way?"
"Oh, that was when they were at music school: it was felt that 'just three girls' had a bit of a negative feel to it, and were told to think of a new name. They came up with all sorts of stupid ideas, I think it was Jenny who came up with 'CJD'"
"If she invented the name, how come it isn't JCD.... oh yeah, ok.... maybe not so clever!"
"And I think there was a certain amount of ironic humour in the final choice, a sort-of in-joke."
Callum went on to describe how the girls worked at a 'Holiday Camp' for a season.
"Oh, yeah, that was just soul-destroying, but it gave us a regular income!" added Carol.
"Then they stepped in at last moment to work on a cruise ship for a couple of months. I wasn't with them, for obvious reasons, which let me earn some money, but when they returned, I could feel that they had 'finished their apprenticeship'. Soon after, dad, got them a record contract, which helped a bit with the cash-flow, their first song was one written by someone else, but they didn't have an instant hit, which knocked them back a bit. But at the same time, made them more determined to do better. Jenny spent a lot of time working on her music writing, Carol and Dianne on the lyrics. Sadly there wasn't a lot I could do to help..."
"Oh, come on, Callum," interrupted Carol, "you were always there for us, making sure our tech worked, even just doing things like making coffees... just 'being there'!"
"So how long was it before they had that first 'hit'?" asked Tom.
"Amazingly close to the two-year mark. I hate to think what would have happened if that one had also bombed. Ok, it didn't make the top ten, but it WAS in the top twenty, and that started to give them the exposure they needed."
"At what point did you start working for them? Paid I mean!"
"They did a tour, and I ran the PA system, and got paid for it! Pretty small venues, nowhere near what we're doing now. But it was such a joy to sit there and watch them doing what they were good at: performing their songs to an audience!"
"Well, I just heard that we have a phone call... hello, who's there?"
"Hi Tom, it's Jenny... Jenny Stevens..." Her voice sounded fairly soft, maybe a bit emotional.
"Hi there, Jenny, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I'd just like to say something to Callum..."
"Go ahead..."
"Callum, I've been listening to what you've been saying, and just want to tell you that I love you so, so much! I'm so lucky to have such a caring brother!" By now, Callum could hear some tears in her voice.
"Hey sis, thanks, I love you loads and loads too." At this point Carol whispered into Tom's ear.
"Tell you what, lets take a bit of a break there..." said Tom, and went to an advert break and a song. By the time he got back to the phone, just moments later, Jenny had hung up.
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