Aerosmith. Odds are you have an opinion about them, and odds are that opinion is unmovable and unchangable. That sort of happens when a band is omnipresent in the pup-culture pantheon for 40-odd years. I fuckin' love 'em. I was raised in the suburbs of Boston, and I'm from a huge family of rock 'n' roll-loving weirdos — when my cousins split up the vinyl in my grandparents' attic there were enough copies of Toys in the Attic for each of us, and my uncles once opened a restaurant named after
this band. I have no choice but to love Aerosmith. It's in my damn DNA.
But it also hasn't always been easy: The '90s were basically a series of diminishing returns, the Aughts were like a gift to comedy writers and detractors everywhere, and the less we speak of Steven Tyler's American Idol run, the better. With only two albums in the past 10 years — 2001's sorta-good Just Push Play and 2004's good but atrociously titled Honkin on Bobo — there hasn't been a lot of music to counteract the awkwardness, or material with which to keep the haters from screaming, “The first five records are perfect!” It's a tough slog being the last Aerosmith apologist under 40, but that hasn't stopped me from sticking up for them.
So when I got the email asking if I'd be interested in interviewing a member of Aerosmith, I responded with an immediate and emphatic “YES!” I mean, how could I not take that interview, right? It's maybe the first time in my career that I can go home for the holidays and have people (normal, non-music people) recognize the artists I've interviewed! There will be a dramatic reduction in awkward conversations at Christmas, I'm so pumped! (Get it? Pumped? Nevermind ... ) Seriously, this interview is pretty much the zenith of my career/life as a rocker and/or roller.
Anyway, my interview with the other Bad Boys from Boston was broken up into two phoners: one solo session with bassist Tom Hamilton and one tag-team event with The Toxic Twins themselves, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. All three of the guys were super-nice, really friendly and totally fun to talk to (i.e., totally indulgent of my nerdy questions), though I really wish I could have gotten a solo Perry interview. (It seemed uncouth to ask about the minutiae of The Joe Perry Project with Tyler on the phone). And there is no stranger feeling than hearing Steven Tyler — who sounds exactly like you think he would — saying your name on the other end of the line. If I still used voice mail, that would be my voice mail message for sure. Aerosmith will play Bridgestone Arena this Thursday, Dec. 13. I'll have a feature on that in this week's forthcoming dead-tree edition, but for now, see my chat with The Toxic Twins below. Tom Hamilton to come.
