Men have been picking up guitars for centuries to impress women. At least the ones who are honest about how and why they started playing. So, why shouldn’t turnabout be fair play and women have the same idea?
Of course, in the male mind, the hoped-for result, the vast majority of time they start guitar, is getting laid. For women, or at least Brinley Amicon, when she started playing at fourteen, it was more in hopes of meeting a hero.
“My best friend and I, at the time, desperately wanted to meet Aerosmith. And we thought, ‘What would be easier than getting a job, starting a band to meet them?’ We’re like, ‘Oh, we’ll surely make plenty of money, cross paths and that sort of thing.’ So, instead of getting a job at the local grocery store, we said let’s start a fucking band,” she says, laughing.
So, the obvious question: Did she ever meet the elusive Aerosmith? “Joe Perry, I’ve been trying to meet for years. He is the reason that I started playing guitar. And there are multiple occasions where I bought a meet-and-greet ticket for Joe Perry, but he got sick and had to cancel. Then I got tickets to their Vegas residency, but they canceled the day before. And then Aerosmith was supposed to do that grand finale tour, but they canceled that. But I did recently see him open for The Who, and he brought out Steven Tyler, and of course, Brad Whitford was up there as well. That was incredible, but I’ve not personally met them yet.”
But as the cliché so often goes: “Everything happens for a reason.” Amicon might still not have met Perry, but more than a decade after she started guitar in hopes of meeting her favorite band, and became hooked on Aerosmith through Guitar Hero, she is well on her way to becoming a guitar hero of her own.
A dozen years after she and her best friend began their first band, she is endorsed by Gibson, Marshall amps UK, Ernie Ball, and more. Her YouTube covers of artists such as Slash, Billy Idol, Eric Clapton, Ozzy, and more always generate thousands of views per video, and she has played with and been mentored by the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Halestorm, and others.
“I’ve had the honor and pleasure of really getting to know Lizzie and Joe from Halestorm over the past few years. They’ve been great friends and have always been around to chat and offer their expertise and their thoughts on all these sorts of things. And listening to Lizzie speak is so incredibly inspiring and important. Her dedication to kicking down these stereotypes that come along with being a woman in rock specifically is important; it really is. Along with Lizzie, someone who really speaks to me is Joan Jett. I resonate with strong personalities that take no shit, are commanding the room, have this commanding presence and are resilient no matter what obstacles are thrown in their way.”
While Amicon has her female role models, she has just as many male guitar players who have become, as stated, friends and mentors. “Adam Jones from Tool is one of the most genuine, kind-hearted people. The first time I met him, he invited me to his Fourth of July party with friends and family, and we were just chatting about guitars and music. Through that I’d go to some Tool shows, which are just one-of-a-kind insane stuff,” she says. “Then, of course, Joe is one of my closest friends probably, and he’s another one that has helped bridge worlds and kick down the doors. His name in the guitar world, along with Adam, holds quite a bit of weight, and the main thing with Joe is we’re just great friends; we have a lot of similar interests. If it’s The Simpsons, Mel’s Diner or the Sunset Marquis, we’re cut from the same cloth. Then with the guitar thing he’s always given me the opportunity to bring me into his world.”
With all the support she has gotten, Amicon is ready to take the next step in her music and move from her highly successful social media covers to releasing original music in a band. She has done it before, but never at this level.
“I was in a band when I started playing guitar. The first band that I started was two months into playing. So, honestly, I’ve been writing and recording since I really started playing. There was certainly some music from that band out at the time, but I intentionally wiped it to start over because this new project is really what accurately represents me as a guitar player/songwriter/musician,” she says.
It took some turmoil, which everybody who’s ever been in a band understands, but Amicon finally found the combination of musicians to bring out the music she can’t wait to share with the world.
“It’s certainly been an interesting journey, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Like you said, a band is such a complex thing, but once all those pieces fit together, it’s such a joy. It takes time, you’re in a four-way relationship, essentially, you get to know every part of these people. And part of that is learning how they communicate, what is the best way to collaborate, and what is the best collaboration process? How do you make sure everybody’s voice is heard? And with this tug-of-war, push/pull effect, sometimes there’s one piece of the puzzle that may not work, and then you’ve got to swap it out. It’s an ongoing learning process, but it’s one of the most rewarding things to be a part of,” she says, “I’m super excited for the studio and what we’re going to be cooking up in there alongside Mike [Elizondo]. I feel probably the best I’ve ever felt about the project and this collection of work.”
Now that Amicon has met so many of her heroes, when her record comes out, she may finally get the chance to thank Joe Perry in person for all the inspiration.
“It’s really Joe for me. I saw Aerosmith two weeks into my playing guitar. And after I saw that show and I saw Joe Perry, I was like, okay, ‘This is what I need to do for the rest of my life. He’s just so effortlessly cool and has so much style, attitude, and presence. And me at 14 years old, I was like, ‘Okay, that’s the one. That’s what I want to do.’ It would certainly be a dream-come-true moment to finally shake his hand and meet,” she says.
