The Rise of the Scream Queens

Hellraiser

The Scream Queens were in the studio. Not the shitty studio that they usually rented with Guy producing. This was nothing like that, it was a polished, clean studio with expensive equipment, technicians, and a proper producer in the other room. They all watched as the new arrival, their supposed "collab" tuned his SG. Marceline was still unsure about this proposal.

"Why would we need a collab?" Marceline had asked.

"We have just signed another promising young artist to our roster, with a very similar style to the Scream Queens, if you two make a song together it will introduce you to his fanbase and vise-versa, since he is based in San Francisco there is not much overlap between the two."

"Fair enough but..." Marceline trailed off. "I'm not sure."

"Also, the rock community is one of the most purist out there and having a male vocalist in your song will help them accept a female vocalist much easier."The "collab" finished tuning and adjusted his headphones.

"Hey guys," He spoke into the mic. "I have an idea for a riff."

"Play it." Keila responded. He played a distorted guitar riff with silences in between, on the third repeat Keila harmonised with it and Marceline added a bass line underneath, after a few reps they stopped.

"Paul, that actually makes a great intro!" Guy told the collab.

"Thanks," Paul said. "I really liked the bassline you did Marceline." Marceline hummed in acknowledgment.

"What about the harmonies?" Keila asked.

"I like both with and without, to be honest." Paul scratched the back of his neck.

...

Marceline drank her coffee alone at the Cafe around the corner as she contemplated what a shit day it had been. The band had no chemistry with Paul, it wasn't his fault, it was almost definitely hers because she couldn't bear to think that their success was dependent on this collaboration because according to Prismo women can't sing Metal. Marceline's thought process was interrupted by a voice.

"Mind if I join you?" Paul asked.

"I was actually just gonna-"

"Please hear me out first." Paul interrupted and after a few seconds of staring at each other Marceline gestured for him to sit down. Paul sat down with his and started to think about what he was going to say.

"Aren't you British? Shouldn't you be drinking tea?" Marceline asked and Paul smiled.

"I have an extremely sweet tooth you see," Paul answered as he took a sip of his Hot Chocolate. "Coffee and Tea are both too bitter for my taste. In fact, back in England, we have this Coffee chain called Costa, which is way better than your Starbucks by the way, that serves white hot chocolate."

"I agree that Starbucks is shit..." Marceline started. "But white hot chocolate? Seriously? What the fuck!" Paul exploded in laughter and soon Marceline joined him, when the laughter died out Paul spoke.

"But seriously, I get that the fact that Geffen Records is forcing us to collaborate is not ideal. But we're both rockers, there is no reason for us to not be able to make a banging song that both of us can be happy with." Marceline took in what Paul had just said and took a sip of her coffee."

"How did you end up in San Francisco?" Marceline asked.

"No label touched me with a 10-meter pole in the UK so I moved to Cali to try again, I then got signed to Geffen and asked to come to Seattle to record with you guys," Paul answered. "The label sent me the demo you guys recorded and I really think we should work together."