Hey everyone, to those of you who celebrate it, I hope you had an awesome Christmas! I know the year’s not over yet, and there’s still plenty of 2015 left, in fact, I’ve often said it myself, a helluva lot can happen in a week, but I CAN’T HELP IT, I am already super freaking excited about the magic of music and gigs and bands that I’m going to see and hear next year!!

One of the bands I’m most excited about is Aiden. Just typing the name gives me a little shiver! I think it’s even more exciting for me because for a while there I thought I wasn’t going to see them. For weeks I was trying not to think about it, and if I accidentally did, I got this horrible, I-just-ate-something-nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach. The reason for this is that Motörhead are playing on the 29th of January next year – which also happens to be a date that Aiden are playing at Camden’s Underworld. On the farewell tour. Their last tour EVER.

When it comes to Motörhead or Aiden, well, I had to pick the Godfathers of Metal. I am so sorry, Aiden, but I am pretty sure they’d understand. It’s Motörhead for Goth’s sake. So how did I solve the problem without building my own personal time machine, or summoning the Doctor and his tardis?

It happened on a day that started off kinda crappy. Crappy stuff started happening from the moment I woke up and just escalated, and by late afternoon, all I wanted to was eat chocolate and crash with a Kerrang! and some really loud music. So I went and bought myself a copy of said rock mag and a packet of four Galaxy Ripples (yeah, it was that bad), came home, and collapsed on the sofa. I flipped to the gig section, which is the bit I always check first, even if Gerard Way is looking very dapper on the cover. My heart missed a beat. Aiden’s tour dates had increased and there were now TWO extra dates, one of which was the 31st of January at Underworld in Camden!!

This made me happy because:

• I have wanted to check out Underworld for flipping ages!! It’s supposed to be the hottest Goth scene in Camden and I haven’t as yet had the pleasure.
• Camden is my favourite place in London. Possibly in the world, alongside Finland. It just feels like home.
• I get to have my cake and eat it, I FREAKING GET TO SEE AIDEN as well as Motörhead!!!!!!!

So you see, sometimes, a crappy day can get magically better. You can rest assured I bought a ticket then and then after having a little cry of happiness and thanking the Mighty Gods of Rock for being so damn awesome and granting my wish!! That’s it, I’m officially allowing myself to be excited. Usually, I’ll try to control the excitement until at least a couple of week before the gig, but sod it, I’m going to town!

I think I’ve always been drawn to the bands that are a little bit on the controversial side, the ones that embrace the misfits and make them feel right at home, and the ones that look like they probably just stepped out of a Tim Burton movie. Aiden are just that. It will be incredibly sad to see them go, although hopefully wiL Francis will still continue to crack his whip and seduce us in William Control. Which I really hope he will ’cause I can’t deal with all this heartbreak, man!

It’s hard to pin down exactly what I love about this band, there are so many things. It could be their raunchy, confident, singalong punk rock choruses, it could be because they have a sound entirely their own, it could be because there’s an underlying hint of sarcasm under every lyric, it could be because wiL Francis is just a whole other world of cool, delivering the message, all the while looking a bit like there’s a slightly unpleasant smell under his nose.

Whatever it is, they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I know it’s going to be a freaking wild and emotional night, and I can’t freaking wait to sing along to, hopefully, Die Romantic, Hysteria, Horror Queen, Crucifixion, and *sigh* the Last Sunrise, and basically have the time of my damn life!

Maybe I’ll see you there!

Amanda