Blank Banshee

***BLΛNK BΛNSHΣΣ***

 **Official Links** | Bandcamp
Website

**Patrick Driscoll** (born June 28, 1987), known by his stage name **Blank Banshee**, is a Canadian artist and musician from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada and based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He has released four full length studio albums and two EPs. His debut album *Blank Banshee 0*, is a pioneering album of the Vaporwave genre. His early music has been described as a balance of abstract ambience and dance-able trap. He has conducted few interviews and often appears masked live and in photos.

## History

Patrick Driscoll was born in Saint John, Canada on June 28, 1987. He began performing music in high school with vocalist and friend Curtis (Cormorant) Ferguson. In 2008 the duo formed ‘Shinjuku MAD’, a pop/post punk band with Driscoll composing music on guitar and Curt providing lyrics, melodies and vocals. As Shinjuku MAD they played several local shows & festivals and released two full length albums, “*Organic Thoughts From The Synthetic Mind*” in July 2009 and the self titled “*Shinjuku MAD*” in July 2010.  After announcing an end to the project in early 2010 Driscoll began focusing his efforts on electronic music production.

In 2011 Patrick and Curtis reformed under the name *Blank Banshees*. The duo played their first show in April of 2011 as featured performers on the Electro East Stage at the 2011 Canadian East Coast Music Awards in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.  As Driscoll continued to compose new music into 2011, Ferguson became increasingly focused on martial arts. By late 2011 *Blank Banshees* had matured into a solo project, with Driscoll adopting the singular pseudonym **Blank Banshee**. He and Ferguson’s collaborative partnership remained strong however with Cormorant appearing as a recurrent guest vocalist.

In the summer of 2012 Driscoll relocated from his east coast hometown to Vancouver, British Columbia on Canada's west coast, releasing his debut album "**Blank Banshee 0**" shortly thereafter.  *Blank Banshee 0* was composed using an Akai MPD26 with Ableton Live. The album features 1980s and 1990s sourced samples layered over original beats, instrumentation and vocals. It contains many references to computer technology. Several tracks blended trap style beats with elements of then emerging genres Seapunk and Vaporwave, such as OS start-up sounds and 1990s era video game music; pioneering a style of production that would come to be known as “*Vaportrap*”. Commenting on his use of sampling on the album, Driscoll states it “stemmed from a desire to separate myself from the guitar driven music I was making and listening to at the time."

Over 2012 Driscoll released several self produced music videos in support of the album.

On January 9th, 2013 Blank Banshee appeared live for the first time in his signature mirror mask at The Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver, British Columbia. The mirror tiled mask, designed by Driscoll, would go on to become a staple of his live appearances.   On February 21st, 2013 he played his first US show in Seattle, Washington, previewing material that would later appear on his sophomore album.  In early fall 2013 Driscoll shared artwork confirming the title ‘*Blank Banshee 1*’ and it’s imminent release.  **Blank Banshee 1** was released on October 20th, 2013.  The album was supported by a series of 6 computer animated music videos produced by Driscoll entitled 'Paradise Disc’ and released over the course of 2013.  *Paradise Disc* is presented as a fictional ‘found DVD’ containing the enigmatic visions of *Yang Fubatsu*, the CEO of Shipping & Technology company Doldrum Corp, prior to an apparent suicide.

In 2014 Driscoll & associates created Hologram Bay an imprint that would go on to serve as the official label and merchandise shop for Blank Banshee’s commercial activity.

In late 2014 social media posts by Driscoll all but confirmed a follow up to Blank Banshee 1 was in the works.  Throughout 2015 he continued to compose new material while playing shows around the Pacific Northwest. In July 2015 Blank Banshee performed live at Reed College in Portland Oregon, the performance was streamed live on YouTube via SPF420 and consisted largely of new material that would go on to appear on his next album.

In the summer of 2016 an untitled song (later Frozen Flame) appeared in the form of a short loop on Blank Banshee's official website. This kicked off a cryptic promotional campaign in anticipation for his next release. A countdown appeared on his web page and a Twitter account associated with Blank Banshee called *@anxiety\_online* initiated an ARG style promotional campaign involving an e-mail address that responded to fans via auto-reply with daily 'fragments' of a short story concluding on the eve of the album’s release. The story, ***"Zero-Day***", told in second person perspective, follows you, as you investigate a Meteorite that has crashed into your backyard and the apocalyptic implications behind it.  Several elements in the story make reference to song titles and themes presented on *MEGA*.  Blank Banshee’s third album **MEGA** was released on October 10th 2016. Cormorant would come to reunite with Driscoll on the west coast leading to his appearance on several tracks.

In support of *MEGA*, Blank Banshee embarked on a three leg world tour spanning 2017 called *The MEGA Tour*. The tour, beginning in Canada, took him through Europe in late summer and the US in the fall.   2018 would see Blank Banshee return to the studio and his discography to date pressed to vinyl for the first time via Hologram Bay.

On New Year’s day 2019, via a series of Tweets, Driscoll promised that new music would be released within the year, and that a new studio album would follow the next.   On May 6th Blank Banshee returned to Europe for what would become known as ‘*The Metamorphosis Tour*’ spanning 15 dates beginning in Warsaw, Poland and ending in Dublin, Ireland.  On June 20th, 2019 he released **Metamorphosis**, an 18-minute long suite composed of 15 short pieces. It was released on streaming services as an Extended Single, but made available in it’s 15 individually named parts on Blank Banshee’s official website as *Metamorphosis: Extracted*. The album artwork and track titles reference both the entomological and geological process of Metamorphosis. Additionally Driscoll also released “*MIDIMORPHOSIS*” an abridged version of the album comprised of editable MIDI files.

Following *Metamorphosis* Driscoll began a project known as **MissingNos**, short for Missing Numbers, *Missingnos* is an on-going compilation album of non album tracks made available for free download via Blank Banshee’s official webpage.   While Driscoll continues to actively add to the compilation as of 2022, it contains material from as far back as 2011.

On January 1st, 2020, Blank Banshee reaffirmed a new studio album would be released by the year’s end.  In late October Driscoll previewed new music and artwork in a promotional video, confirming the album’s title.

**GAIA** was released on November 30th, 2020 on all major streaming platforms, as a digital download, and on Vinyl and Cassette.  The GAIA Tour, a 25 date tour set for Europe & Canada was derailed by the Covid-19 Global Pandemic in 2021.  *GAIA* features a continuation and expansion of production styles first introduced on his first 3 records, often veering into experimental, ambient territory. Cormorant also returned to record new vocals for the album.

*GAIA* was supported by *Chaos Disc* throughout 2021, a long promoted project by Blank Banshee first referenced alongside *MEGA* in 2016. It consisted of 6 new computer animated music videos in the style of *Paradise Disc*.  *Chaos Disc* continues 10 years after the events of *Paradise Disc*, and follows the visions of a girl referred to as “*Test Subject 1*” partaking in a Beta test for *'Xenos Lens'*, a pair of smart contact lenses imbued with hidden power, connections to Doldrum Corp. and the ability to control avian drones called Sentinels.

After premiering the final instalment of the *Chaos Disc* series on January 1st 2022, Driscoll began promoting a new title (then known as *Project Orbit*) via the official Blank Banshee website.  On February 22, 2022 he released **Music For Menus**. The ambient project was recorded with KORG M01 for Nintendo 3DS and was released in conjunction with an hour long ‘visual album’ which cycles viewers through the menu of a fictional video game console.

## In Popular Culture

Blank Banshee’s early signature “*vaportrap*” style of production helped to popularize the electronic micro genre Vaporwave into the 2010’s and certify Blank Banshee 0 as a definitive album of the genre.

"Teen Pregnancy" appeared in a 2016 viral video associated with The Simpsons (Simpsonwave).

Music from the album appeared on the Netflix docu-series Unplanned Ameirca.

In a 2020 viral TikTok trend started by Charli D'Amelio, users shared their experiences with cyber bullying using the song ‘Teen Pregnancy’.

## Discography

Studio Albums:

* *Blank Banshee 0* (2012)
* *Blank Banshee 1* (2013)
* *MEGA* (2016)
* *GAIA* (2020)

EPS:

* *Metamorphosis* (2019)
* *Music For Menus* (2022)

Compilations:

* *MissingNos* (2011-)

## External Links

* Facebook
* Tumblr
* SoundCloud
* YouTube
* Twitter