10.01.06
Halloween Feature: MUSICIAN GHOST STORIES

The following submissions came directly from the musicians themselves and appear exclusively in Babble & Beat. We want to thank each and every one of them for sharing them with us!

Personal Experiences

Submitted by John Wheeler of SCREAMING MECHANICAL BRAIN
Metal / Industrial / Punk
http://www.smbband.com

"One time we were staying in someone's house after playing a show in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They trusted us to sleep alone while they went out to a different party. After they were gone, we kept hearing something slide and roll around on the carpet. I got annoyed by this sound and went around the house looking for it. It sounded like something kinda flopping and dragging around. But every time I went in a different room it sounded like it was coming from everywhere else. It disappeared later and I went to sleep thinking it must have been something like a cat or whatever. In the morning though, they said they had no pets or roommates. To this day it's creepy and I don't know what in the hell it was.

That, and one time when we were in Tampa, Florida, my bass player and I were pretty sure we saw a UFO. Pretty DAMN sure. Even though it was just for a second. Not much else to tell about that one though." John Wheeler (SMB Vox and Keys)

Submitted by Dani of BELLADONNA
Rock / Other / Alternative
http://www.belladonna.tv

"I’ve had very many strange, spooky occurrences in my life, but the funniest of all happened to me a few years back while I was staying in London.

In those days I was living the dandy, decadent rock’n’roll lifestyle to the full, up all night every night, busying myself in various not-so-moral and not-so-legal activities and then sleeping it out all day in my squat. This was a tiny and candle-lit flat at the top floor of a very old and pretty much deserted building, in a little alleyway close to the seedy London’s train station Kings’ Cross area.

I was sharing the squat with a good friend and partner in crime and one night we took a break from our escapades in the sleazy Soho clubs to stay at home and chill out. It was well past midnight, and such were the surroundings of our abode that somehow inevitably after a while the conversation switched to all things supernatural.

I had just finished reading the most notorious gothic novels of all, 'The Monk' by Matthew Gregory Lewis and I started tracing out its plot in some detail to my friend. He was intently listening to the unfolding of the story of the violent downfall of 18th century monk Ambrosio: regarded as pious and saint-like, after being tempted by the Devil he goes as far as raping his young sister and killing his mother. He’s finally captured by the Inquisition and holed up in an underground prison cell. The next morning he’s to be tortured and executed.

Tormented by the thought of soon being inhumanly tortured to death he stays awake all night and at dawn he finally conjures up the Devil to ask for help. The Devil appears and offers him to get him out of the prison in exchange for his soul. Ambrosio is uncertain whether or not to accept this otherworldly pact but the Devil urges him to sign right away, telling him that within minutes the soldiers of the Inquisition will come and take him to the gallows pole, and it’ll be too late. In that very moment Ambrosio hears the steps of the soldiers coming down to his cell to pick him up and putting the key inside the cell’s lock.

Just while I was doing with my right hand the gesture of someone turning a key in a lock, me and my friend heard, unmistakably, the sound of someone inserting a key in our flat’s lock.

Unbelievably, we did just what people do in cheap horror films: we run to the door and opened it! There was no one out there - not unsurprisingly since it was the middle of the night – but nevertheless we were now scared out of our wits. When you live in a small flat you know the sound a key makes in your lock, and in a quiet night that sound reverberates all around the flat: you can’t possibly mistake it. We just couldn’t believe that we heard that sound in exactly that moment.

After some aimless, nervous pacing around the flat we finally sat down again, and tried our best to change the subject of our conversation entirely. Normally in this sort of situations you never can, but somehow we managed to, and we spent the next couple of hours chatting away about something totally different.

Since I had spent so long telling almost the whole of 'The Monk' 's plot, it was understandable that my friend wanted to know how the novel went on. By then we had totally relaxed and the commotion caused by the previous incident was gone, so he asked me to tell him of the story of Ambrosio ended.

I agreed amicably and repeated briefly for him the events that brought Ambrosio to the Inquisition cell, his summoning of the Devil, the sound of the soldiers coming down, and of course the sound of them inserting the key in the lock. While I was making again with my right hand the gesture of someone turning a key in a lock I was almost smiling, in reference to what happened a couple of hours earlier. But my smile stopped dead in my face when we heard that sound again.

It was too much. We didn’t even get up this time, we just stayed there laughing hysterically, totally terrified and amazed by what we had just heard again.

A ghost playing a practical joke? I don’t know. All I know is, if you now ask me how the story of Ambrosio ends, I am not going to answer you." Dani

Submitted by the DANDY WARHOLS
Rock
http://dandywarhols.com

"In our old studio, the one we had before we bought the Odditorium, there was indeed a ghost. This was 2001-2002, during the recording sessions for what was to become 'Welcome To The Monkey House'. We dubbed the ghost "Bill Dinsmore", due to an award certificate left from the previous tenant which stated "Master Multi-Tasker Award, given to Bill Dinsmore". The award certificate was found stapled to the wall of what became the control room. When we moved in, we thought it was funny, so we left it up.

Yeah, hilarious. Until we started having all sorts of computer and electrical problems during recording sessions. Although nothing was ever officially seen in the studio, every person who was involved in the sessions, even the ones who didn't believe in ghosts or spirits or otherworldly nonsense of any kind came to feel that there was something, some presence that was lurking.

When we packed up and moved out after purchasing the Odditorium, Courtney left specific instructions NOT to bring the award certificate with us, hoping that the ghost of "Bill Dinsmore" would not follow. (Unbeknownst to Courtney, however, and you shouldn't tell a soul, was that Peter packed up the Dinsmore award anyway. It's been sitting in storage, somewhere in the Odditorium, now, for almost four years.)"

Submitted by Ryan O'Neal of SLEEPING AT LAST
Alternative / Indie / Rock
http://www.sleepingatlast.com

"Here's my little lame ghost story. It's not going to be scary, I can promise that.

We mixed our record at a very, very old barn (a real live one with horses and all) that was turned into a live-in studio, outside of Boston. Before we flew out there for the mixing process, we had read somewhere and heard that it was "haunted".

When we arrived at the barn it was real late at night (which was a real bad idea), and we were taken on a little tour of the barn, through each of the strange-proportioned bedrooms that we'd be sleeping in, all laid out in a huge maze inside the barn.

There was the "Alice in Wonderland" bedroom room that had a 5 and half foot tall ceiling and very creepy mini antique furniture, it was the size of a large closet. There was a bedroom underground, with no windows, and so many more eerily lit antique farm bedrooms that were connected by strange, small, awkward hallways (very similar to the haunted mansion at Disneyland, actually).

So, needless to say, we were scared out of our minds, but we had to each choose a bedroom for ourselves. On the first night, our manager, who ended up sleeping in the no-natural-light-bomb-shelter-room underground, swears that she saw something walking back and fourth in her bathroom, at several different points in the night, while she was in bed. And so, the next morning she booked a hotel for herself for the rest of our time there. We, however, stayed at the barn, in our scary, creaky bedrooms.

Thankfully we didn't see anything ourselves and only heard strange noises at night (like the sound of several people walking on the roof of the barn). All in all, we had a very nice visit and the studio staff was very pleasant and were not ghosts at all.

Alright, that story wasn't even close to scary. Sorry, it's all I've got. However, we do have an album called 'Ghosts'... but that's not about spooky ghosts, it's about beautiful and nice ones." Ryan

Submitted by Cat Mantra of MANTRA II
Pop Punk / Electro / New Wave
http://www.mantra2.com

"When I was 17. It was a very good time. It was a very good time... We did daft shit, like Ouija boards, in my Dad's house. And how I regret it now. Even as we did it we laughed, and were pissed on a coupla cans of Carling. After which about 6 of us slept (or tried to) in the lounge. It was weird. The whole place felt COLD as fuck... and then as dawn broke... suddenly it was ok. We discussed it later and found that we all had experienced the same thing.

Thought nothing of it after that.

Later on my younger sister experimented with her friends and the Ouija. Just for a laugh. Well, believe me, it's NOT a LAUGH. For the first coupla years after those "experiments", there were just strange happenings. Just things like, if I was alone in the house... EXTREME cold.

A bit later, (about a year) my parents were on the verge of splitting up. And on one night, they were sleeping in separate rooms. My dad woke up to a spine chilling vision of a figure at the end of his bed. My mom was woken up by being thrown across the bed in my sister's old room.

They had an exorcism. It didn't work. Apparently the "evil" was focused on, or centered on, on my sister's room. People who stayed there always had vile dreams. And after I had worked abroad for a couple of years I went back to stay with my (by now) single Dad. I was staying in "the" room. But we didn't think anything of it as it had apparently been exorcised. Whatever. I had nightmares EVERY night. And there was one that made me call the priest out I will NEVER forget.

I was floating through some kind of 18th century line-up. People on either side of me, in all the wigs and pomp. I was floating through this hideous display, and all faces were staring at me... And I said, "If you want to speak... SPEAK THROUGH MEEEEEEEEEEEE......" And as I said that in my dream I had SAT UP and SAID IT.

The next week we had the priest around. And he prayed in the room with me and I sweated like... I don't know why. Well, I do know why. I would LOVE to say that there is no such fucking thing as ghosts! But there fucking is. God bless." Cat.x

Submitted by Andy Crofts of THE ON OFFS
Powerpop / Indie / New Wave
http://www.theonoffs.com

"This little story isn't really scary but it did happen to me.

Years ago, I used to work in an old peoples home in Northampton and was the person who had to do some of the night shifts (on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday if I remember right). I didn't always mind doing the shifts 'cause I could sit up and watch films all night and play guitar.

One evening at about 3:30am I went to the kitchen to get something to eat. Whilst waiting for the microwave I decided to have a look through my wage packet that was in my pocket to make sure I had been paid right. Just to my left was the kitchen door with beads hanging down to the floor. Just as I looked up from counting my money a dark blue figure rushed passed the door with a gush of wind making the beads swing all over the place. At first I thought who the hell was that? I had a look around but everyone was asleep and could only walk about 3mph anyway. There was no way a block of wind could carry through the house to make the beads swing. All I can say is that I kind of freaked out a bit and left all the people all night with out checking them. I just sat and stared at the television.

It ain't the best story but it did happen to me." Cheers, Andy Crofts

Submitted by Damien DeVille of NOSFERATU
Rock / Gothic / Indie
http://www.nosferatu.fsworld.co.uk

"Many thanks for the offer of a ghost story. Well, I have one for you:

Halloween Ghost Story (on the grounds that Halloween isn't Halloween without a ghost story):

This happened in the late 1980’s and is indeed true. I was driving my hearse back from a friend's house late one night, or early one morning, and as I was driving I caught site of something out of the corner of my eye...a figure sitting next to me...exactly the same as me...in fact, my doppelganger.

I had owned the hearse for several years and traveled many thousands of miles across many countries and thought and probably hoped that some form of apparition would rear itself one day. Having been pre-empted to hold a séance in the back with a Ouija board, I declined, but nevertheless, it was strange seeing myself sitting next to myself and looking across at me and clocking the profile of my nose and then driving the hearse from a 3rd Person perspective...In hindsight, I would assume that this could have been some type of Astral Projection, except rather than look down on myself, I was looking across at myself.

It seemed to go on for a long time, but looking back on it, it must have lasted no more than 10 minutes. Once I was off Roman Way and past Mitcham Common I materialized back into myself and thought no more of it. Was I over-tired? Was it a ghost? Was it the right side of my brain separating from the left? I do not know...but it was a spooky occurrence." Damien

Submitted by Sheila of THE GO-SHEILAS
Pop Punk / Alternative / Punk
http://www.thegosheilas.com

"Ok- this isn't really scary, just unexplained. Our band started in January. In 8 months, we've gone through 11 back-up singers (al la Spinal Tap drummers). Anyways, whenever we lose a singer, we can still hear the part being sung at our practices and shows... even when there's no backing vocalist there. And no, we're not playing a vocal track in back. It's like there's a ghost that wants to be our back up singer. Well, we have one backing vocalist for now, who we hope will stay, but she shares the mic with the ghost singer." xoxo, sheila go sheila

Submitted by Rick of THE LAST DANCE
Gothic / Alternative / Progressive
http://www.thelastdance.com

"Okay as for TLD, as a band, there are not really any official ghost stories that we all experienced...as for myself, I have a few, one of which did happen on a TLD tour, the other two while I was on holiday. I'll keep it brief; I have not much time. Feel free to use whatever you wish.

1. On tour 2005, east coast... I will leave the city out as it happened at someone's house and I would rather not reveal that personal information. I was sleeping in a room by myself on an air mattress. The band was split up around the house. I was the last to go to bed; I spent hours outside on the porch not being able to sleep and just feeling strange about being inside... but then decided to go to sleep, went into 'my' room and was lying on the air mattress getting things in order before lights out when something jumped onto the mattress! I did not see anything, but something pushed down on the corner of the air bed causing the rest of the bed to jump upwards... it was a bit strange. It felt like someone jumped on the corner on the air bed. After the lights were off, it happened two more times, and when I slept I had terrible dreams, very disturbing. The next day, I was talking with our driver and told him about it, and he told me he had the same experiences in his room... odd... then later, talking to the movie person who was on tour with us and telling him, he told me the same thing happened to him.

2. On holiday in Lisdoonvarna, Ireland... staying in a cottage, very old, just outside town with my wife and a couple from the UK who are good friends of ours. Spent 8 nights there. On the last night, we came home early and went to bed early to catch a morning flight. Our room and the other couple's room were separated by a living room attached to a kitchen. About 3am I woke up hearing the front door open and close, and assumed it was one of our friends going outside to smoke, as we did that each late at night sometimes. At 4am I heard all the pots banging around in the kitchen and assumed one of our friends was up early making breakfast as they did each day we were there already... only not that early... and we felt a calming presence that everything was okay and went back to sleep. Upon arriving in London I mentioned to our friends that I heard them going out for a smoke at 3 and up in the kitchen at 4:30... they freaked out, saying they heard it as well and thought it was us... which it was not. Everyone was happy that was our last night there.

3. Hotel Del Coronado. Last year I spent my anniversary with my wife there for 4 days. My wife being very interested in the ghost hunting thing was all about Kate, their resident ghost. So, we visited her room, and then later visited the other "haunted" room which when we got to the door we could not go any further... neither of us... apparently that is the more 'bad haunted room'. Anyway, while there, staying ocean front in the middle of a very long twisted hallway on the same floor as Kate's we had a knock on our door one night late, opened the door within 3 seconds and no one was there, or in the long hallway. The next evening while taking a bath I heard footsteps above our room and thought wow the walls and floors/ceilings are thin... but when out at the beach later, looking up at our room, I realized we were on the top floor! Then on our last day I was using my cell phone, calling home to check on our kids, and it worked fine, except each time I mentioned Kate and our experiences the phone would go to static and cut out. Apparently, all of these things have happened to others before as well.

That is it, maybe nothing too dramatic... but yeah... my stories... Have fun!" R.

Submitted by Tim Finn of TIM FINN, CROWDED HOUSE & SPLIT ENZ
Pop / Alternative / Rock
http://www.timfinn.com

"I was staying a night in an old house in the Kent countryside, England, with a friend with whom I had a conflicted past, but that's another story... although it provides context of unease and apprehension.

Anyway, I went to bed, and was woken by the clear sound of feet pacing across the floor of the attic, which was my ceiling. The pacing went on for a minute or two. It sent a shudder through me, and a cold fear gripped me as I lay awake for hours, completely unable to sleep, till the comforting sound of birdsong lulled me into an uneasy slumber. I spoke of it in the morning but my friend was unwilling to discuss in any detail... after all, he had to go on living there.

I have always been suspicious that it was him, trying to freak me out... he was known for his cruel jokes. Once he followed me down to a store where I had driven to buy some items. He climbed into my back seat and waited till I drove off before pouncing. However, on this occasion, in the strange bleakness of the English countryside in winter, I prefer to think I experienced a Ghost." Tim

Submitted by Adam Bomb of ADAM BOMB
Rock / Glam / Metal
http://www.adambomb.com

"On tour, my 2nd time in Italy, I stayed in the guest bedroom in an apartment of a friend in Padova. There wasn't much in the room but a bookshelf with some old books & a makeshift bed.

Every night when I went to sleep I was terrorized by some force that seemed to scream at me, leaving me in a frozen state, not asleep but unable to move.

It would only go away if I left the light on in the hallway & the door open. The guy I was staying with was cheap, so he would always come out & turn off the light, and just before I would almost get to sleep the ghost came back.

My friend told me that it was probably "the old woman", as there was an old woman who died in that house. I wasn't the only one who had trouble sleeping in that room.

Not much of a story, really, but I was definitely convinced that there was a ghost in that room that came from those old books... and I think she had a good laugh fucking with me when the lights were out." Adam Bomb

Submitted by Viktor Von Strange of ADAM ABSINTHE
Industrial / Rock / Pop
http://www.adamabsinthe.net

"When I was 4, I was visiting my great grandmother with my family in Florida. I remember it being the middle of the night when I woke up in my bed after having a nightmare. I walked out of my room and pushed open the door to my grandmother's room. Since there was a mirror on the outside of the door, as it swung open I could see the inside of the room. I ran back down the hallway after seeing in the reflection, her desk covered in blood with someone face-down on it.

I ran to the kitchen to see if my grandmother was still awake. When I entered the kitchen, all the lights were off and the air was stale and quiet. When I turned and looked back down the hallway, the person who was laying on the desk was slowly creeping out of the doorway. I screamed and tripped backward, hitting my head on the kitchen cabinet. When I woke up, it was morning and it was as if none of it had happened. I was back in my bed safely and nobody acted like they'd heard anything that night... but the cut on the back of my head told me otherwise." -Vikt0r

Submitted by Rohan of ROHAN
Rock / Psychedelic / Folk
http://www.rohanforsale.com

"Hello, today I'm writing the story of what was the most strange and scary time of my life. My story is set in the year 1992 or 1993, making me 6 or 7 years old at the time. Please forgive my foggy memory, it could be that I just want to forget this time. I was living in North Dublin with my family in a small block of flats. I would say there were only maybe 6 to 8 flats in the place. I remember that we had a TV that's screen was on an angle so that you had to put books under one side to see the picture correctly. I also remember that it was at this time that I stopped watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I used to watch the Ninja Turtles everyday, then one day I missed the show and when watching it the day after I realized that I didn't like it anymore. It was a sad day for me. The same thing later happened with the Power Rangers, another sad day.

Anyway anyway anyway, right, the story. These flats were owned my a man called Joe who's elderly uncle lived on the ground floor. Joe's uncle was totally senile and had no control of his bladder which made the entire ground floor reek with the stench of the old man's urine. I remember every morning when I'd leave for school having to hold my breath as I walked down the final flight of stairs and get out the door, the same applied when coming home. Every morning I'd make that brisk walk hoping to God that the old man would not see me and engage me in senile conversation. Every so often he would spot me walking out, and I'd be obliged to humour his ramblings while doing my best to endure the old man's pissy aroma. Another strong memory of mine was that of his nightly wailings of "Jooooeeee, Jooooeeeee. Will ya make me an auld egg?". Each night at 12 he would call out to his nephew the landlord, and plead for him to make him an egg. You could set your watch by it.

This particular block of flats was no doubt haunted. The whole place had a strange feeling and I'll tell you of one occasion that is still crystal clear in my memory. I'll not waste words telling you of this as it's not the focal point of my story, but I think it's important to tell of the kinds of things that were happening here. As I mentioned before I was going to school at this time and I was dressing myself, as I did each day, in my school uniform. This flat was tiny, myself and my parents all slept in the same room so I was always careful not to wake them in the morning. I was almost dressed needing only to don my school jumper to be ready to go. My jumper was there, as it always was, hanging over the chair (we only had one chair). I walked slowly and quietly over to my jumper. I reached for it when suddenly, and I swear this to be true, a ghostly head appeared from under the chair and physically moving my jumper chased me across the room. I ran backwards screaming until I hit the wall where the head simply went through me and I slumped onto the ground crying and whimpering. My parents who were now wide awake and had witnessed my fear came to comfort me, but I still didn't get the day off school. Needless to say, not one of my classmates believed my story which made it even worse.

My god, as I write this it sounds so mental. I guess I'm just used to telling this old story. But when I write it, it seems crazy!

Well, believe it or not, my story focuses not on the old man at all, nor is it about my ghostly encounter, though I'm sure volumes of spooky tales could be written on those things alone. No, my story involves a man, who for the purposes of his privacy and that of his family, I will call Steve. Steve was a man I guess in his 20s. He came from the north of Ireland and was a rabid Manchester United fan and knew how the do the "Haka", the pre-match tradition of the New Zealand rugby team, The All Blacks. I remember he babysat me a few times and I would always ask that he exhaust himself performing the Haka for me.

One night Steve, his girlfriend and my parents went upstairs to Steve's flat to watch Stephen King's 'The Shining' starring Jack Nickelson. I was left alone in our flat with the comfort of knowing "we're only upstairs", it did little to help. I was only 6 or 7 at the time and having had the scary experience I had in that flat, spending a few hours there on a dark night was not a prospect I savoured. Still, I did my best. I got out my Legos and began to construct, to the best of my ability, a big Lego truck. I was almost done when I heard screams from upstairs but, being the rational person I am, I figured that screams are common when watching a scary film.

Now before I go any further I'd like to fast-forward to a time in Australia when I was about 13. Somehow in conversation the stories of our time in this flat came up and it was revealed to me that one night my father and Steve had snuck out the back of the flats to have a look around and see if they could scare themselves. The garden area was full of old junk. They rummaged around for a while before stumbling upon some old photos, again I swear that this is true. They picked up the photos and looked at the first one, this may seem hard to believe but stay with me here, the first photo showed a very small coffin. The second photo showed what seemed to be taken at a funeral, flowers, black clothes. As you could imagine the two men at this point were getting a little freaked out, each doing their best not to show their fear. The third photo was slowly slid from behind the second to show a very small child laying in an open coffin in a beautiful white dress, but when the men looked up a few inches at the child's face they saw what was described to me as "a caved-in skull", this child had no face. They dropped the photos immediately and ran back to the house like frightened animals.

But anyway back to me and my Legos. Steve was always a bit of a mischief maker, always looking to prank. He was not going to allow my mother and his girlfriend to sit through a scary film without adding a little fright himself. He had done it before, he would say he's just going down stairs to do something and then he would climb up the outside of the flat and as the chairs in his flat had their backs to the window he could easily put his hands through the window and give the girls a real fright. But that trick had gotten old and he was looking to do something really scary!

Before I knew it the movie was over and I had built myself a nice big truck out of Legos. My parents came home, they looked a little shaken, a little strange, but I guess that's normal after watching a scary movie. Sure I heard some screams from upstairs, even Steve had a scream at one point, but nothing of note. My fears were unfounded, everything worked out ok.

Steve moved away the next day. I didn't see him go, but I had guessed he left when I was at school.

"All is well that ends well," right?

Well, no...

Up until a few years ago, yes, but as I was only very young my parents of course didn't want to warp my mind with the truth. The truth is that Steve did try a new trick. As usual he climbed up the outside of the flat using the balconies, bricks and drainpipes to support himself. But as he reached the top he slipped. He called for help but before anyone could get there he fell, and fell to his death. When my father ran down to see if he was ok he found not only that he was dead but in his left hand was a photo, the photo of the dead, deformed child. His plan of course was to scare the life out of the girls with the picture, but it went horribly wrong.

Now, I'm not saying that it was the photo that made him fall, but in this place I wouldn't be at all surprised.

The end." Rohan

Fiction

"Fireflies" written by Ben Golomstock of MIRANDA SEX GARDEN
Copyright © 2006 Ben Golomstock. All rights reserved.
Alternative / Gothic / Experimental
http://www.myspace.com/mirandasexgarden

Brian Johnson was a man who had had an uneventful life, although it was somewhat unfamiliar – even to him. His friends were few and far between, so when the doorbell rang, he was not uneager to answer it. In fact, he rushed to the door, hoping for good news of some kind. In his current mood, he would have been perfectly happy to receive a market researcher, or even somebody trying to pitch him some religion.

On the other side of the door was an oriental gentleman who introduced himself as Mr. Toh. Mr. Toh was a small, balding man, on the plump side, and a little rough around the edges. His distinguishing features were his extraordinarily long and prominent nostril hairs, which were of an unnaturally white colour. They almost reached down to his upper lip, and at first glance they seemed to take the form of a most peculiar moustache.

Mr. Toh asked if he could be granted entry. This was granted. Brian was not busy, as was often the case. Mr. Toh sat down a little wearily, and explained the nature of his business. He was from “Network Q”. “Network Q”, apparently, offered an unparalleled mobile service which involved no bills, no credit top-ups, and so on. In fact, it was entirely free. Brian could see no reason not to accept the offer.

As soon as his visitor had left, his phone began to ring. But when he answered it, all he could hear was the sound of screaming.

For the next few weeks, Brian was inundated with calls. For some reason, even on his brief visits to the city, he always felt inclined to answer them. Most of them involved the sound of static, wailing, and howling laughter. He occasionally heard certain words, but they made no sense to him. He often tried to lodge a complaint, and failed dismally. By no means could he find any trace of “Network Q”.

The last time the telephone rang, Brian was spending the evening in his local pub, and when he answered it, he was rather startled by the pleasant, lucid sound of a woman’s voice.

It said: “Is this Brian Johnson? My name is Tracy, and I’m calling from Network Q. I hear that you’ve been having problems with your contract.”

Brian was surprised, because he had signed no contract with his visitor, or had mentioned his own name.

Regardless, Brian said “Yes. Would it be possible to change the contract?”

Tracy said “Of course! There are two options – living, or dead?”

At this point, confused and somewhat perturbed, Brian managed to simultaneously spill his beer, and, fumbling frantically, disconnect the operator. He immediately tried last call redial, and was connected to a most peculiar sound, the likes of which he had never heard before. Assuming that he was on hold he hung on for a while, and then considered his options. He decided to hang up and then have another beer.

And then he went home and went to sleep.

He awoke to the startling sensation of flying out of his own window. Naturally, he assumed that this was a dream, but was surprised by how realistic it all seemed. So he pinched himself, and felt nothing, which was somewhat reassuring.

By this time, he had sprouted wings, and was flying high above the streets of London.

He suddenly realized that if this were a dream, it was the best dream that he would ever have. All of the city lights were spread out beneath him like beacons. Whooping, hollering and flapping about, as Brian swooped towards the London Eye, he noticed hundreds of amorphous, iridescent shapes sporting colours that he had never seen. As they floated up towards him, they grew wings and took shape, like human fireflies, lighting up the London night with an incandescent glow.

With a jovial screech, he swooped off randomly in the direction of Canary Wharf, veering off into the sky of the London night.

They found him a few weeks later – the stench had become unbearable, and they eventually had to break down the door. Brian was a solitary man, and nobody had enquired after him for a while. Because it was late autumn, the rot had not had not entirely taken hold, so they were rather surprised at the peaceful and beatific expression on what was left of his face. A mobile phone began to ring. Somebody answered it.

A few days later it began to snow. And it was beautiful.

Spoken Word & Poetry

"Zombies" written by Gerry Miller of LETTERS & COLOURS
Copyright © 2006 Gerry Miller. All rights reserved.
New Wave / Alternative / Indie
http://www.tagworld.com/lettersandcolour

The people I want in my life
Strong with complex lives,
The people I don't want in my life,
Weak with confused minds,
Dribs and drabs take tentative steps,
Nearer they're drawn to gates and death,
Lifeless and dull, gradually worn,
The people I don't want in my life.

"Liberation London" written by Andreas of ANDI SEX GANG
Copyright © 2006 Andi Sex Gang. All rights reserved.
Gothic / Acoustic / Alternative
http://www.andisexgang.com

There is no cure for dead people, so, do you remember love? The blood and flowers I sacrificed to you? My naked smiles talking loudly, burning brightly, looking at you in the mirror... all or nothing, while for several days the gunshots played and the wind changed, waiting for tomorrow. Spray on sun, with a gun, down in the alley where I danced with a stranger, but my Guardian told me "You're losing touch with reality"... stepping out of Paradise and desperate. Spray on New York with a gun,... Liberation London.

"The Devil's Hand" written by Andreas of ANDI SEX GANG
Copyright © 2006 Andi Sex Gang. All rights reserved.
Gothic / Acoustic / Alternative
http://www.andisexgang.com

Holy David that road was long, so I roped myself in black drunkenness and every fibre in my body did so rage like the very Devil himself. I fought the Goddamns and the Hunchback Toads, I saw the Mother of all Numbered Bones, the Moorish Maidens and their Happy Days, I will follow in the Holy Flame. I touched the Devil's Golden Hand in a place where there was no door, you need the strength of a Superman to fight the Reptiles of the Underworld. I fought the Goddamns and the Hunchback Toads, where they danced in the Valley of Smoke, the Moorish Maidens and those Happy Days, I will follow into the Holy Flame.