The Banshee Rocks

The Banshee Rocks
(By Steven Burns)
In Irish legend, a banshee wails around a house if someone in the house is about to die. There are particular families who are believed to have banshees attached to them, and whose cries herald the death of a member of that family. (wikipedia)

For more information on Banshee’s please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banshee
A young, female, music journalist goes to interview rock star Trevor Vice about his critically acclaimed and controversial third album, “DUGGA MARDUK”. The sit down interview (intended for print) is Trevor’s first official interview since the album was released three weeks ago. Even at this point the album is infamous and approaching legendary status. The facts: This is Trevor’s band’s first Gold Album. It was recorded in an isolated castle in Ireland. During the albums production two founding members quit and one studio musician was found dead (the police said it was drug induced, however, they couldn’t explain why the man’s jet black hair was white). In addition, four members of the community, all loosely related to the family which built the castle die within the small rural community. Even more frightening is the fact that since the album has been released it has been linked to an alarming five fan suicides. The strange thing is that the deaths are not only with teens but have occurred with one fan being 43 years old. The album has also been linked to bad moral decisions, and violent behavior.
The sound of the album is haunting. Not as aggressive as their previous works. Going into the recording Trevor publicly stated “I want to make a beautiful, atmospheric, and reflective sound.” After listening to the album one would say that Trevor and his band achieved their goal; this makes its link to horrible violence and decisions even more confusing.
(The story is told in a flashback style. We keep cutting to the interview which is being held in Trevor’s Hollywood mansion between acts.)
We find out that after breaking up with his long term girlfriend, being heavily pressured by his label, struggling with a cocaine addiction, and suffering from horrible writers block, Trevor and co. decide to flee from the US and have some writing/jam sessions abroad. The idea is to get away from all the things that seem to be getting in the way of them making music.
The bands talented agent lines up a recently restored castle dating back to the 16th century located in Ireland. Just as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nine Inch Nails have recorded in the Sharon Tate murder house, the idea behind the castle is to get an outside source of inspiration from the historic surroundings.
When the band arrives at the castle they have fun, get fucked up with the locals at the nearby pub, and continue to experience a creative road block. On the bright side they are at least all showing up to practice and are playing some stuff.
After meeting a local girl who captures his heart and finding some old literature in the attic of the castle, Trevor finds inspiration and begins to pen a few new songs. Things seem to be going well and after a bit of procrastination the band starts to lay out some tracks working in excess of ten hours a day.
One evening the bands lead guitarist seems to be having trouble concentrating. Each and every time he messes up he goes back to his equipment, complaining of hearing a loud, screeching, high pitched noise in his headphones.
The next day a new friend that the band has met during their stay is found dead outside of the local pub. The property manager swings by and interrogates the group asking them if they’ve been hearing anything strange. When the guitarist tells him about the sound he goes into a long “campfire tale” about the family banshee who’s spirit lurks inside the castle.
Trevor and his friends don’t take the man’s tale seriously. Instead, they make a joke of it and draw inspiration from the story. They begin to write songs regarding a banshee.
A week later a small girl, who is also in the family tree, dies while playing in the playground of her school. The lead guitarist becomes spooked and pleads with Trevor to leave saying “We’ve got a good vibe going here. Lets just take it with us before we get blamed for another death!” Trevor says no. That night the guitarist has a haunting vision of a transparent naked woman. She looks as if she has been violated. “the way she looked at me, she stared right through my soul” he claims.
Without any further debate, the lead guitarist abruptly quits the band. A major part of the groups signature sound is gone forever. For the next week the group takes a break from recording. Trevor begins researching the legends behind the banshee of the castle that cost him his musical soul mate.
In the meantime he encourages the rest of the group to take time off and explore the area. They are thrilled to have a break. Trevor, however, decides to stay in the castle and invites his new fling to join him and stay there. The two go on a week long bender full of drugs, sex, and song writing. One day while doing some demos within the castle grounds under the moonlight, Trevor looks up to see his new love standing on the top floor balcony. She asks “Did you hear her?” Trevor does not answer. He just looks at her confused. “You didn’t did you?” she asks. At that point she jumps from where she stands committing suicide before Trevor’s very eyes.
The cycle continues… and throughout the madness more people surrounding Trevor lose their lives including two more towns’ people. Trevor eventually gets to the psychotic state where he believes he can see the banshee. He records with willing members of the band (all of which refuse to stay at the castle with him.
Eventually Trevor completes his album. In one track he claims that the sound he achieved with his voice was not done with a computer or any sound equipment, but with the back up vocals provided by the Banshee herself.
Trevor claims it was the banshee who wanted to extend its song of death beyond the castle walls but never had a medium to do so. Trevor provided just the channel that she needed.
This is the general idea. A vague beginning to a story which would need a lot more development, the idea would be to somehow incorporate a bizarre twist in the end. One that could make peoples hair stand up.