While my introduction to music was the Beatles and then later on bands like Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, KISS, Queen, and Deep Purple to name a few, I guess I came off age, in terms of music in the 1980s when I was in high school and the New Wave era was in full swing. It was there I bought my first vinyl records and began to expand my music horizons. I eschewed the 70s and went for the anti-establishment that was punk, reggae, and ska.
If you were a serious music fan back in those New Wave 80s then you would have heard of Rough Trade Records. At first, they were the purveyor of indie music that made the genre available to the culture-starved like me. But you still had to be a moneyed person to get the releases coming out of Rough Trade if you lived in Manila.
Eventually, Rough Trade branched out and became their own record label. I have the complete catalogue of British Sea Power in addition to picking up music from Microdisney, The Fiery Furnaces, The Libertines, and The Strokes.
I finally made the connection the other day as I journeyed to Rough Trade East (the original in Kensington is closed). It was musical nirvana. I thought of old friends and my youth. It was an affirmation of myself as a music fan and as an indie music fan. And stepping inside the stores was like visiting an old friend.
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