Aerosmith's Joe Perry addresses his rock 'n' roll subjects.
BY RICHARD MARTIN, rmartin@wweek.com
The Rolling Stones may be England's rock royalty, but in America, Aerosmith is king. Led by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Boston's answer to Jagger and Richards, the quintet has survived break-ups and label changes, overcome addictions and kept near the top of the charts with each album. Now in its 27th year, Aerosmith is touring off its 12th studio album, Nine Lives, its first since signing a new $30 million deal with Columbia, and celebrating the release of an autobiography, Walk This Way, co-written with Hammer of the Gods author Stephen Davis.
With Nine Lives, Aerosmith reestablishes itself as America's king of arena rock with songs like "Ain't That a Bitch" and the title track and explores exotic sounds in "Taste of India" and "Pink." Nine Lives features the Aerosmith trademarks: Joe Perry's sinister riffs, Steven Tyler's unrivaled howls and sexual innuendo, Brad Whitford's nuanced rhythm guitar work and bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer's pummeling rhythms. The book meanwhile allows Aerosmith to divert questions from nosy journalists, who became increasingly curious last year when the band dismissed longtime manager Tim Collins; embittered, Collins told the press, "There's a certain element in the group that hasn't totally chosen sobriety." Still, Walk This Way puts an entertaining spin on the tribulations and triumphs of the institution that gave classic rock stations the staple tunes "Dream On," "Walk This Way," "Sweet Emotion" and others. Though they can no longer be called the Toxic Twins and they're nearing the age of 50, Perry and Tyler continue to thrill arena crowds with their antics. Perry spoke to WW from a tour stop in Dallas. WW: You must be tired of playing "Walk This Way" after all these years. How do you do it? Joe Perry: Let me put it this way: We don't have to rehearse it. When we're getting ready for a tour, that's the last song we'd play for fun. But as soon as Joey hits that drum beat and I play the riff, the audience goes berserk. That's what keeps it fun. After all these years, how do you come up with new guitar riffs? It just takes me hearing some good rhythms. That usually catapults me into a state of ecstasy where my fingers do the talking, and as long as I keep my head out of the way, they seem to take care of it themselves. When you're at home, do you ever pick up a guitar and practice or play an old Aerosmith song? Actually, I have a guitar in every room of my house for just that reason. I don't go downstairs and work for five hours at a time. Sometimes I'll just pick one up, and that's why I leave them around. I always have a guitar within about eight feet. What are some of the music trends you've appreciated over the years? The last thing I thought was great was the so-called alternative movement. It wasn't something that record companies thought of. It wasn't like, "Here's the new trend." I know, because I talked to all the record company people and they were shaking their heads and pulling their hair out. It was another upheaval, but it was creative and there was some great music that came out of it. It's too bad that some of the bands haven't been able to sustain themselves past their first or second record. Drugs stopped a lot of modern-rock bands from even making it to their second or third record. How has Aerosmith made it this far despite all your partying? Without getting too metaphysical, I think we're lucky, or fortunate, or fate had it that we weren't ready to go down. We made every mistake those other bands made. Did you ever feel like you were living out the rock 'n' roll stereotype? Yeah, there's definitely a lot of Spinal Tap in there. But it was pretty real. We were just lucky that some of us didn't end up like Jim Morrison or Bon Scott. Aside from the five years when you left the band, the same five guys have been going on the road as Aerosmith for three decades. What do you think of the Rolling Stones' never-ending reunions? I think it's great. If they have the will and want to go out and play, I think there's millions of people who want to hear them do it. They go way back, and they wrote a lot of incredible songs. So if they want to keep going until they're 65, I don't care how old they are. The last time I saw them play I thought they were great. People take shots at them because they're commercial and all that crap--I don't give a shit. As long as I don't have to buy anything. All I have to do is buy a ticket and go see them play. Did you actually buy a ticket when you saw them? Well, at that point, no. What's one of your favorite rock 'n' roll memories? There's been a lot of amazing things, but one that stands out for me was playing the Marquee Club with Jimmy Page. That weekend, we played at Donnington and the Marquee, and we must have played like six or seven songs with him. We played some Yardbirds tunes and some Zeppelin tunes, and he sat in on some Aerosmith songs. That was like a dream come true. |
