Claire Lim of A Badge of Friendship fame has made us very happy by agreeing to do a regular blog for our site.

Her first blog is a humorous recount of the recent Aerosmith album playback in London.

Last night we went along to Aerosmith’s album playback in Soho. We were there to see my friend but it was full of journalists and industry types of course. We walked in a little late (as I’d gotten distracted by a comic shop across from the venue, whoops!) and found the entire room staring at a white screen emblazoned with Aerosmith’s logo and the title of the song that was playing. It was very weird, like walking into a strange sycophantic cult with Tyler howling in the background. Once we’d found our spot (at the back, away from everyone naturally!), we got into it. No seriously, we did. I’ve never been a huge fan of the band but it’s so Aerosmith, it’s hard not to hark back to that nostalgic part of my youth when guitars were actually plugged in.

I’m open to all genres but I love rock, that’s where my heart is. I like guitars turned all the way up to eleven. I think we’ve been so starved of proper hairy bollocked music to the point that I found myself enjoying this Aerosmith album. It was rock. Yes, it’s not “cool” but it was definitely rock. I was imagining the band live; it would be a proper show, not four bored people on a stage, Topshop shirts buttoned up to their necks, sockless in loafers, strumming tinny sounding guitars.

After the six song teaser session had finished, they wheeled out Steven Tyler and lead guitarist Joe Perry for a Q+A. One of the questions asked was if there was any merit in making a “proper album” these days considering people can skip tracks or pick and choose what parts to download via iTunes. They mentioned that they were putting the album out on vinyl but didn’t really address the download “problem”. They seem like a band trying to roll with the times but are still harking back to an era where you could purchase an album that told a story, appeasing their older fan base.

Fair play to them I say. As I mentioned, I’ve never been a proper Aerosmith fan but they may be the last of the classic rockers and there’s something sad about that. There are still new bands out there rocking their balls off, namely Fat Goth. A band that’s focus is making hard rocking tunes, not hair gel and designer neck tattoos. However, these bands are very few and far between.

I just wonder when music became so soulless. Was it always like this? My Mum tells me it was and she had to go looking for things in the 70s that weren’t in the charts. However, it seems to me that harder music, prog, rock; alternative sounds had more of a chance to be popular back then. Would bands like Yes achieve any chart success these days? Or bands from the last twenty years like Soundgarden? As I write, Mumford & Sons’ album ‘Babel’ is sitting firmly at the top spot. It’s the sound of music, clean shaven and castrated. The “harder” sounding bands in the top ten are Muse or The Killers but, let’s face it, they’re not exactly “out there” are they?

So, for now, I’m going to sit firmly in Nostalgia World. I like it here. Here, I get to listen to the Deftones and Tomahawk on rotation and forget the chart dominating, waist coat wearing, faux farmers of music. Until rock comes back to save the day, this is where you’ll find me. Join me if you will, it’s a good place to be.

Wee Claire

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