Otter Band!! best thing EVER!!

Last week me and Teddy formed a band, and it’s the best band EVER! Being in a band is a really great thing to do. We’re a 3 piece and we’re called “the Kate fighters”. I do the singing because this is the most important job in the band, Teddy plays drums and our new friend Gertrude the plastic cow plays the keyboard. Otter Keeper is also sort of in the band, he says he’s a “roadie”… which means he carries things for us (I suggested he played an instrument because that’s much more fun – but he declined, he’s strange like that).

Being in a band is so much fun! You get to do loads of things and it means people like you and will think you’re cool. The other night we even got to do an exclusive band interview with Otter Keeper. This is because we’re getting to be a really good band and people will want to hear about us. We’re going to be famous.

The only problem is that I hardly seem to have any free time now I’m in the band and I’ve got to go already. But here is our band Interview we did with Otter Keeper last night.

(sorry about this but – Teddy has approached me and said that he thinks Gertrude may be involved in other musical side projects that she’s not telling us about. I’m not sure I believe him, I think he’s Jealous but we are going to have a band meeting to resolve the issue.
Little does Teddy know that I will also be using the meeting to bring up the issue of his bad drumming.)

• where did you all meet?
  Me and Teddy have always been friends. I met Gertrude in the toy box the other day when I was looking for additional band members, we just hit it off straight away. Gertrude is a very nice cow. I couldn’t believe it when she said she played keyboards and was looking for a band!
• Where have you performed? What are your favourite and least favourite venues? Do you have any upcoming shows?
  We like performing in the living room and we’re doing a secret show for Otter Keeper in the bedroom and he doesn’t know about it yet and…
  Oh no you’re not! we agreed no band practice in the bedroom remember?
  Oh …we only like performing in the living room
  Good
• Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?
  We write all of our songs about KATE. Kate is our next door neighbour and she is really horrible, everyone hates Kate and she is a really really big….
  Otter there’s no need to go into this now, why don’t you answer the rest of the question. Do you think these topics will change over time?
  Nope, definitely not
• Describe the song writing process
  Well often I will think of some words. Then I’ll help Gertrude press a few buttons on the keyboard until we find a backing track that we like. Once we’ve pressed the button Gertrude can keep things going. Then I’ll move over to help Teddy try and come up with a beat. Teddy says it’s cheating to use the buttons on the keyboard – but he’s just jealous because he can’t play the drums properly.
• What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?
  We have been practising lots, mostly in the day when Otter Keeper is at work. but the other day we were spontaneous because we were watching TV and suddenly Teddy had a really good tune in his head so we did band practice which really annoyed otter keeper… didn’t it otter keeper…
  I was only a little annoyed because you’ve made your rehearsal space directly in front of the TV…which I did advise you against didn’t I
  …Don’t you like our band Otter Keeper?
  Of course I do, but I was very tired and trying to relax
  Well ok Keeper … but Teddy says your being mean and you want the band to split up
  Teddy didn’t say that Otter you did
  ……..
  Shall we move onto the next question Otter?
  …. yes please Otter Keeper
• How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
  ummm I think Gertrude has done very well and is getting better at using her buttons….
  Otter Keeper who invented our door bell… was it the postman? I bet he had something to do with it didn’t he Keeper because…
  Otter.. are you concentrating on the interview?
  yes Keeper

• What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
  The other week we had an electric problem! But then it was ok because Otter Keeper found us some new batteries for the keyboard. Otter keeper is very helpful
  I love you Otter Keeper
  I love you too Otter
  and Teddy and Gertrude too?
  …yes I love the whole band very much
• What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?
  Yes definitely. But me and Teddy are also seeking other things because we are explorers in our spare time. We’re currently seeking his red bouncy ball, we lost it the other week. Can I talk about the ball Otter Keeper?
  Its not really what you do in a band interview Otter
  …ok…. I didn’t actually want to talk about the ball anyway
• How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?
  umm no we don’t actually . ….Otter keeper we need a website don’t we?
  I can’t build you ANOTHER WEBSITE Otter!
  …But Otter Keeper we Need a ..
  Shall we talk about this later otter..?
  …….But Teddy says we REALLY NEED..
  Later Otter…
• Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge for offering financial or emotional support?
  Well before the last question I would have said Otter Keeper but now..
  Do you still want me to do this interview with you Otter?
  Yes?
  Well shoosh then
  ..Shoosh Teddy..this is an important interview and you’re ruining things
• Any last words?
  Umm can I say hi to the postman
  Yes
  Hi postman!!

If you want to leave me a comment (and please do because otters love comments – Keeper reads them to me and it makes me happy) about this story please go here: www.iamotter.co.uk/story

otter Stories band, famous, gertrude, light, living room, music, otter, pictures, show, tv

How NOT to use an Otter Star Chart

Sometimes things happen and you don’t know why. A good example of this would be last week when according to Otter Keeper mine and Teddy’s behaviour was “unacceptable”. Now I didn’t think we had been particualy bad last week. I suppose we did hold the first ever sofa bouncing championships, and naturally an exciting occasion like this does entail some mess. However, I specifically pointed out to Otter Keeper that I had delegated the job of tidying up to Teddy, and it’s really not my fault if he doesn’t do as he’s told.

There were other things too. Otter Keeper wasn’t happy that he had tripped over a half built Kate trap that had been left in the hallway. OH and I also found out last week that posting presents to the postman the opposite way out of the little otter door is “very naughty”, but I was only being nice, I wanted to give him something “useful” (Otter Keeper told me “useful” presents are one of the best types you can give)… and I thought he should have our TV remote control, it was the most useful thing I could think of.

After we had our talk Otter Keeper then explained the star chart to me. The Star Chart lives on the fridge and basically if you don’t do “bad” things then you get stars. If you get enough stars then you get an Otter treat! (he wouldn’t tell me what it is, but apparantly I do have to share it with Teddy – which is a bit annoying)

At first I liked the star chart and Otter Keeper very kindly gave me a few stars to “get things going”. After a while of looking at the star chart and explaining it to Teddy I decided I wanted to do something else… and this was where the problems with the star chart began.

You see it turns out you can’t do anything fun when you have a star chart! it causes real problems for most otter activities and it soon became clear that doing things in secret was the only option. It was around that time that teddy hit upon the idea of changing the sofa bouncing olympics to the bed bouncing olympics. But Otter Keeper found us, and we actually got one of our “getting things going” stars taken away!

So the other day when Keeper was at work me and Teddy made a plan which was a bit more his idea than mine. We found where Otter Keeper keeps the stars and then between us managed to scale the fridge to stick them in place (it’s not that hard to climb the fridge if you know how to do it – and me and Teddy do because we have to do a lot of climbing when we go exploring). Anyway, this way I could explain to Otter Keeper that whilst he had been at work we had been trying extra hard and actually managed to achieve all the star chart goals in just one day! He would be really proud, we would receive our prize and hopefullly that would be the end of the star chart. It was really a very clever plan.

Sadly our plan didn’t work and now there is a new line on the star chart “leave the star chart alone”. I pointed out this would be more accurate if it said “Teddy must leave the start chart alone” … but Otter Keeper pointed to point number three “don’t blame things on Teddy”. I pointed out that Otter Keeper was being unreasonable and mean.

Lots of pointing went on actually…. and in the end I decided that star charts are really hard and confusing … I also have a theory that Kate invented them. But I think it’s best I don’t talk to Otter Keeper about this for the moment.

If you want to leave me a comment (and please do because otters love comments – Keeper reads them to me and it makes me happy) about this story please go here: www.iamotter.co.uk/story

otter Stories olympics, otter, otter behaviour, otter keeper, postman, present, star chart, tv