Zimmers shimmer UK music scene

Wrinkly rockers defy stereotypes

By ARCHIE THOMAS

LONDON -- Rock 'n' roll has always been the preserve of the young but all that may change as wrinkly rockers the Zimmers shake up the status quo in Blighty.

The 40-strong Zimmers -- whose lead singer is 90 and includes a clutch of energetic centenarians -- have recorded a cover of the Who's "My Generation" that is spreading like wildfire online and looks set to storm the U.K. singles charts when released May 21.

The band was brought together for an upcoming BBC TV doc by Brit docmaker Tim Samuels in an effort to challenge preconceptions about senior citizens.

And the results are startling. Banging out the angsty lyrics "I hope I die before I get old" and "I'm not trying to cause a sensation" the musicvid includes authentic punk rock moments including a bout of guitar smashing from the oldsters.

The video, directed by Band Aid vid director Geoff Wonfor and produced by U2 producer Mike Hedges, hilariously spoofs Bob Dylan's iconic Subterranean Homesick Blues. In the Zimmers version, band members hold up white boards with provocative messages including "I'm bored in old people's homes" and "don't write me off cos I'm 90."

With a combined 3,000 years experience, the Zimmers are not a band to miss a trick and, as is de rigueur these days, they have their own MySpace page complete with influential friends including rising Brit songstress Amy Winehouse and Simon Cowell.

The Zimmers phenom is no isolated happening.

Hip London nightclub the Notting Hill Arts Club hosts a bimonthly night headed up by DJ Derek, a dorky white sixtysomething ex-accountant who is adored by local trendies for his encyclopaedic knowledge of Jamaican reggae and patois-tinged toasting over obscure ska tracks. And reformed Cuban band Buena Vista Social Club, who rocked the Caribbean long before Fidel Castro took power in 1959, remains hugely popular with British world music fans.

Profits from "My Generation" will go to charity Age Concern.