EPISODE 4
FLASHBACK TO FIRST DAY OF TOUR: The kids are hanging out of the caddy as it flies through empty landscape at 90mph. They are howling like wolves with the hot dry desert wind in their hair. Inside the car, FIN is howling like a madman too. He hears CLEMENTINE screaming about KEITH MOON and her dream to play a drum solo in front of thousands. His face lights up with joy. Outside the car we see her scream “I WANNA PLAY LIKE MOON THE LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!”
CUT TO:
The rain falls and falls and falls. The caddy and truck drive along a long skinny road raised above the flooded land around them. Outside the car is strange. Animals on roofs, families in row boats. What was desert is now sea.
There’s a checkpoint at the edge of a makeshift town to house those displaced in the flood. The car is stopped by the National Guard.
A soldier is in military mode as he shepherds the lost and the homeless. He sticks his head in the caddy and tells FIN where to go. He’s professional and courteous until he looks in the backseat and double takes. “HOLY SHIIIITTTTT, you them mutherfuckers off of the TV? “
Driving through the town, they realise that something is different. The rain is easing and the town is brimming with life. People are pointing and staring at the car. An old lady flashes her boobs and a toothless grin. Kids run out and chase them as they pass. Their arrival has created a buzz. It seems the signal from God’s Earth’s radio tower reached all the way to Sodom and Gammorah.
FIN meets an old friend CHOOK. He has organised the gig and he is told that the tickets are sold out. People are desperate to have their spirits lifted and also since the radio show, BIT IN THE FACE have achieved a certain notoriety.
Before the gig, the kids wander the streets ducking in and out of the rain, meeting the nomads and the homeless. They jam with a couple of old timers in a makeshift saloon. An old witch warns FIN about the future but they have wild old people sex regardless. FATS and AUDIE drink and teach LENNY to gamble. The whole entourage is in good spirits before the gig.
Later, FIN sits at the bar with AIDEN after soundcheck. He is quite drunk and has been popping his pills all afternoon but is in a convivial mood nonetheless. AIDEN is silent and rocking back and forth in a nervous trance. He plays with FIN’s Waterfall lighter firing it over and over.
AIDEN notices FIN staring at him smiling and thinks he is being mocked. FIN knows he is anxious and tells him he’s not going back in the fucking cupboard to sing. FIN drops his guard and tells AIDEN how happy he is being back on the road. He says that hearing them play makes him feel alive again and that he’s proud of how far they have come. AIDEN looks at him like he’s talking in a foreign language.
The gig that night is rammed. Thousands of lunatics are baying for rock and roll blood.
The band huddle in the wings with the roar of an impatient crowd behind them. They are so nervous LENNY has shit in his tennis shorts but doesn’t have time to change. CLEM looks white as a sheet and says she can’t go on. Her tics are wild and she can’t stop swearing. AIDEN has never seen her like this and holds her. He tells her that tonight is the night that she will play her Keith Moon drum solo and the crowd will go apeshit.
With newfound strength, she and Lenny hold hands and walk onto the stage and the crowd indeed goes wild.
Now AIDEN has to steady himself. He found some strength that he didn’t know he had to help CLEM but now his own world won’t stop spinning.
On stage CLEM is playing a wild drum solo and as foretold, the crowd is going apeshit.
Side of stage FIN grabs AIDEN just before he collapses. “They’re almost ready for you sunshine” he says as he stands him up straight. FIN is beaming. “All those fuckers have come to see to see you and your potty mouth sing. Now get out there and do what you do…” We hear the final blast of CLEMS solo behind them. He looks in AIDENS eyes to make sure he’s listening. “I love you kid”.
Shocked at what FIN has just said, AIDEN creeps onto the stage and the crowd goes crazy. It’s a heaving mass of mud stained flesh. AIDEN takes his place at the front of the stage but his world is still spinning. CLEM and LENNY are ready to rock but AIDEN stands silent like a statue at the front of the stage. The crowd also goes quiet in a mix of anticipation and confusion.
CLEM and LENNY look a little worried. The crowd will most definitely riot if AIDEN can’t play the show.
In the uncomfortable silence LENNY steps forward to a mic and jokingly asks if they have any requests. “Yeah, Get Fucked” is one from the back of the silent room.
AIDEN closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Then, finally opens them… a different person. “Thank you, merci beaucoup” he says.
“This song is about a man.. who had a lot to do with music. A good musician might I say so. This man was named BEE-THO-VEN. ‘
AIDEN has become Chuck Berry on his television debut in France, mimicking his every intonation completely.
“THREE,FOUR” Clementine yells. The band tear into a searing version of ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN. Aiden is possessed and pogos across the stage and is soon in the mosh, crowd surfing upon lofted hands.
LENNY sees STARMAN in the crowd and points him out to CLEM. FARK.
FIN sits side of stage happy and glowing. He is coughing fits but loving what he sees. Tears stream down his craggy old face.
WE SEE A MONTAGE OVER THE MUSIC. We see gigs equally as wild. We see sunsets and sunrises. Wheels on the road and laughter. Good times, and more good times. AIDEN and the kids look ALIVE!!! The gigs all rise to similar crescendo as the montage and tune completes. The Crowd SCREAMS for more.
The band exit the stage ecstatic and rush to FIN who is still sitting side of stage. They find his empty pill bottle on the floor and a cigarette burnt to the butt still in his fingers.
FIN IS DEAD.
FADE TO BLACK.
In the gloaming we see AIDEN wade through a field on the edge of town, weeping uncontrollably. He is muttering and sobbing as he struggles through the ankle deep mud. Eventually he falls, unable to continue.
Back in the town FATS and AUDIE are arguing with CLEM and LENNY. They insist that the tour is finished. The MIN MIN have won. It’s time for home.
Back in the field a strange colourful bird picks the ground near AIDEN as he lies face down in the mud. It sees AIDEN and hops over and looks him in the eye. Hot tears rolling down his cheek, AIDEN lies motionless staring back.
The bird looks deep into his eyes and to AIDEN it appears to speak. It has an effeminate south London accent and sounds remarkably like David Bowie. The Bird asks AIDEN if he is ready to go home and senses that he is not. “What would FIN want you to do?” the bird asks.
Back in the town and covered in mud, AIDEN searches for the band. He finds them as the truck doors are being closed. He convinces them that they are going to finish the tour and they are going to take Fin to the magic waterfall.
A plan is hatched and in the morgue we see FIN’s old friend CHOOK rise out of the body bag laughing, scaring the bejesus out of the hospital staff.
We cut to the BAND and CREW in front of a giant funeral pyre dancing and singing saying farewell to their hero and friend. It’s a beautifully sad moment.
We see a shot of an old cake tin full of FINS ashes sitting in the caddy next to a tiny CLEMENTINE who is at the wheel. The car and truck disappear into the distance with the sun rising in the distance as we hear ELVIS’s How Great Thou Art play out it’s glorious climax.