The Problems With Being Young and In a Band

I'm Caitlin. I'm nearly sixteen, I'm in school, and I'm in a band who regularly play gigs in Manchester, have an album out and are on iTunes, Spotify and Reverbnation (we're called Remote Control Universe, check us out!)

I love being in a band, but there are quite a few drawbacks to being in one at my age. Obviously, one of the main ones is the assumptions made about us when people know our age. They assume we're just some kids who spend lunchtimes at school hitting drums, strumming guitars and shouting tunelessly. Which I can assure you, is not the case.

I think many people are usually pleasantly surprised to hear that we're not just some youths who got guitars for Christmas, desperately trying to be the next Billie Joe Armstrong.

However, one of my main troubles is writing lyrics.

WHAT THE HELL DO I WRITE ABOUT?

Lyrics are, obviously, better if written about your own experiences. In my fifteen years and ten months of being on this earth, I have spent the majority of my time in school. Who the hell wants to hear about school?

And I'm not even one of those cool, rock 'n' roll kids that you see and want to be in the movies. I was never one to say “Fuck this!” then run out of lesson and light up a fag.

The closest I get to being a rebel is drinking tea in class-my Maths teacher said to me “Put it away, you're getting a little too comfortable.” and my French teacher saw me and merely commented delightedly on the fact that we both received new flasks for Christmas. So school definitely has no interesting source of inspiration.

My family life is completely fine and normal. (I say normal, me and my Mum sing heartfelt renditions of musicals to each other as we clean the pots-but that's another story). I get along well with my siblings and my parents split before I could speak fluent English, so I have no lasting ache in my heart to have some sort of functional, nuclear family (why should I? I get two rooms and double the amount of presents at Christmas and Birthdays!) The most fierce arguments I have with my Mum or Dad are usually about the state of my room. There's another part of my life that's completely angst free-damn!

The other day I came across a book filled with lyrics I must have written around the age of twelve or thirteen. Being the delightfully deep, dark and highly embarrassing twelve/thirteen year old I was, they are the kind of thing that, well, make me want to invent a time machine just to go back and slap my former self in the face and say “Shut up, you annoying little shit. You're twelve, go and worry about sparkly vampires and cool clothes.”

But, as I am a fool who for some reason feels the need to give the world yet more ammunition to mock me with, I shall impart some of the said lyrics with you now.

(Please imagine them being read out in a dramatic and heartbroken tone to achieve full effect- clenched fists always help).

“She always wanted to be a ballerina, but it all went terribly wrong one day. Her leg and her dreams broke beneath her, and her chances were taken away.”

“I wish lived in a video game. I'd come from Japan, have an Italian name. The only worry in my life, would be losing all my lives, and destroying the bad guy.”

This next one was potentially around the time I started listening to the positive chirps of Thom Yorke (which probably helps explain the immense jolliness throughout the previous lyrics). I was clearly going for the words don't make sense on the surface but have deeper meaning when you listen to them sort of style. However, it appears I just threw up some words and thought they sounded cool.

“Why is it 36? Then again does anything make sense? What are all these tricks? Forgotten scorpions in our heads.”

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I suggest you never employ anyone under the age of fourteen to write lyrics for you. Annoyingly, however, even though they are horrendously bizarre, cheesy, and wannabe-ish, it seemed I had more inspiration then than I do now. Hmm.

Caitlin Lang

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