Let's get musical!

The text message instructions for Easter were simple and riddled with good intentions:

"Heading to Mother Goose's place for Easter. BYO guitars. Mother's request."

"Excellent," I thought to myself, letting my internal monologue run wild with my head tilted slightly like JD's many moments from the show Scrubs.

"At long last I'll be able to jam with my brothers and they'll finally realise we should definitely be in a band."

It wasn't the first time we'd played music together.

Rewind to 1998. I was in grade six and had written lyrics for a song I thought was the next big hit.

Titled, 'Sitting watching TV'…how could it not be a hit?

I had run into my brother's room, "Nick, Nick! I've written some lyrics!"

Enthusiastically he also thought I was onto a winner and graciously matched my carefully crafted words, "Sitting watching TV, hear the phone ring…is that for me?" with some very imaginative chords….probably AABBG…(If it wasn't for the G the chord progression could have also resembled the rhyming rule for a limerick).

My dad and auntie thought we were also onto a hit and our younger brother Benny joined us as the percussive contingent, playing on an ice cream bucket before we could borrow a bongo.

My sister Katie was the pink Wiggle… She didn't feature. Too cool I think…or just purely knew better.

The Melting Butters (play on words of surname Butterworth…get it?) debuted at the Hey Hey It's Saturday Red Faces audition and then upon not getting past the first round, the egos of an eight-year-old, 11-year-old and 13-year-old must have gotten the better of the group.

The band folded soon after, much to the dismay of our manager, Dad (with Katie giggling knowingly in the corner glad she hadn't been part of this mess).

So with this in mind, at Easter, I headed for Mum's place, guitar in the backseat, thinking Easter 2015 was the time to regroup The Melting Butters of 1998.

After a delightful dinner we adjourned to the living room and that's when the 'tone' of the evening suffered a 'decrescendo'.  

First of all Nick made a capo out of a pen and hair tie and wouldn't let me share the computer so I could see the chords. I was extremely impressed with Nick's capo ingenuity, however this soon faded when he decided 'sharing' was not part of his repertoire.

It was a 27-year-old and 29-year-old's, "Mum! Maree looked at me funny!!!!" type scenario.

Then the three of us couldn't get through one song without saying, "That's not how it goes. No this is how it goes? Maree why are you even here?"

We almost got through Cold Chisel's 'Flame Trees' until we got to the bridge and couldn't agree on the chord changes.

All the while Mumsy sat there patiently sporadically providing song requests we didn't oblige.

Benny ended up getting frustrated and went to bed. I endured knowing Nick would eventually tire and then I could sing Mum's requests, and while I wouldn't have regrouped The Melting Butters, I could at least remain Mum's favourite for keeping my composure.

The next morning Mum said over breakfast after a sigh, "You guys are all very talented….individually. So maybe don't work together."

In the end, The Melting Butters wasn't reformed.

No one won. Oh…except Katie probably being smug all the way from Perth.

Katie…let's show those boys how it's done. How about a duo? 

Ends.