The Loneliest Band In France

Mistaking an ad to join the titular The Loneliest Band in France for one to sell his blood, Migara de Silva, the novella's narrator - a Sri Lankan student, new to Montpellier - finds himself, instead, under the sway of the band, drinking heavily and being recruited to play a battle-of-the-bands-esque concert (that night) at the local Cafe Bovary.