Tom Hamilton: Aerosmith Soars Back Into Fresno
Fresno Bee, CA
February 20, 2006
That image of a perched Steven Tyler, mouth agape, scarves flailing from his microphone stand, doesn't leave much doubt about who we're talking about here, does it?
Aerosmith is just that recognizable.
The band, still rocking after more than 30 years, swoops into the Save Mart Center on Monday, sure to give a huge crowd everything it expects: A prancing Tyler, a high-energy show and, of course, "Dream On."
We nabbed a little time with Aerosmith bass player Tom Hamilton before a recent Portland, Ore., concert and grilled him about the band's place in rock 'n' roll history, the nifty staging for this tour, how they landed Lenny Kravitz as an opener and their crazy Grammy night.
Question: Last week, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were in Los Angeles to perform at the Grammys, then flew back to Oakland for an Aerosmith show just a few hours later. That's crazy. How did all that work out?
Answer: It worked out. I was pretty worried about it, ya know, but it actually worked pretty well. We went on, you know, about 45 minutes late, but the show went well.
Q. How does that rank among crazy pre-show situations that you guys have had over the years?
A. Stuff like that this is starting to lose its intensity as far as, you know, the drama behind it. We have done stuff like that so many times and it's worked. Everyone knows you should know not to get worried about it.
Q: A lot of people call Aerosmith "America's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band." Do you think you guys have sealed that spot in history?
A: I don't think so. [laughing] That's not something for any of us to ever say. It's really moving that people say that about us. But you know, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band? Of what, of the century? Or the millennium? Let's get clear here [laughing].
Q: What else is there for you guys left to achieve?
A: Well, we need to make a [kicking] rock record. It might sound corny, but every show is a new thing. I can think of a golf analogy: Every show is like teeing off on a new hole. You can't assume you're gonna play great.
Q: You guys have been able to stay relevant in every decade since the '70s. That's quite an accomplishment. What's the secret to that?
A: Oh, I don't know, it's some kind of hunger. When you put a band together you have to find four other people that are as desperate about it as you are and that they are willing to live through a lot ... to try to do something that feels like the feeling you got when you went to a Led Zeppelin show.
Q: With all this material, what goes into picking set lists for your shows? How does that work?
A: It's pretty hard. We usually do the main structure of the set list when we are rehearsing before the tour. Because we do have songs that people are expecting to hear. Sometimes we do not always play all those songs, but people are going through a lot of trouble and paying a lot of money to come to the show, so to a certain extent, there are songs that you need to play: "Sweet Emotion," "Walk This Way" and "Dream On." We consider that.
Then we consider our own head, what would be fun to play for us, and what would be fun to hear for people who are into sort of the esoteric, vintage Aerosmith -- more album cuts rather than the songs that everybody knows, so we need to cover that.
Then we need to cover stuff that we feel we don't know if the audience might like, but we really need to take a leadership position and show it to them and see what they think.
Q: One thing I've always wondered, where does Steve get the different streamers for his microphone stand? At this point, are people mailing him this kind of stuff?
A: Probably. I really don't know. It's funny, I really don't think about it anymore. You're making me remember back when he started doing the scarves on the mike stand.
Steven loves ornaments. He loves to take something and change it and make it look different. It's the basis a lot of his personality.
Q: Last time you were in Fresno, in 2003, you guys were with Kiss. This time, Lenny Kravitz. That's definitely quite a difference.
A: The Aerosmith/Kiss tour was fun because it was just totally bombastic, shallow entertainment which we enjoy doing sometimes.
Lenny -- this is a special opportunity. We are all fans -- I am a Lenny Kravitz fan from way back. We always run into each other from time to time. He's just a really good guy. I have so much respect for his writing and his musicianship, and his whole band is awesome musicians.
So having him available to do this tour, this idea of combining the two bands, there was a window of opportunity, which is a classic no-brainer.
Q: We've heard a lot about the staging for the tour. Can you explain the staging and what's so special about it?
A: Well, we've got these huge ramps that go right out into the crowd from the stage. If you were looking at the stage from above, they would go straight out from either side of the stage into the audience, and then they kind of hook in and to almost join, but there is a space there. If one of us wants to, we can go down to these steps into this little gap where the crowd is right there on the floor with you.
What the ramps do is get the band up closer to people who would typically not have great seats. It shrinks the room. That's the effect to me -- it shrinks the room and makes it much more intimate. It's just a by-product of technology that I can be, you know, 200 or 100 yards away from Joe, but still play really tight with him. We can play really good without being right on the main stage."
Q: With this intimacy, has anything really crazy or weird happened with fans?
A: Oh yeah. I'm usually kind of cautious. But I know Steven lost some jewelry. It basically got yanked off his neck.
The other night, Joe had to fight for his guitar. It was incredible. He was out on one of the ramps, he whipped his shirt off, and he was going to do this funny thing he does with his guitar, and somebody grabbed it and started pulling it into the audience. He was literally pulling with all his might from on stage. It was really weird. But there was Joe not giving up. He was like, "That's my guitar."
February 20, 2006
That image of a perched Steven Tyler, mouth agape, scarves flailing from his microphone stand, doesn't leave much doubt about who we're talking about here, does it?
Aerosmith is just that recognizable.
The band, still rocking after more than 30 years, swoops into the Save Mart Center on Monday, sure to give a huge crowd everything it expects: A prancing Tyler, a high-energy show and, of course, "Dream On."
We nabbed a little time with Aerosmith bass player Tom Hamilton before a recent Portland, Ore., concert and grilled him about the band's place in rock 'n' roll history, the nifty staging for this tour, how they landed Lenny Kravitz as an opener and their crazy Grammy night.
Question: Last week, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were in Los Angeles to perform at the Grammys, then flew back to Oakland for an Aerosmith show just a few hours later. That's crazy. How did all that work out?
Answer: It worked out. I was pretty worried about it, ya know, but it actually worked pretty well. We went on, you know, about 45 minutes late, but the show went well.
Q. How does that rank among crazy pre-show situations that you guys have had over the years?
A. Stuff like that this is starting to lose its intensity as far as, you know, the drama behind it. We have done stuff like that so many times and it's worked. Everyone knows you should know not to get worried about it.
Q: A lot of people call Aerosmith "America's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band." Do you think you guys have sealed that spot in history?
A: I don't think so. [laughing] That's not something for any of us to ever say. It's really moving that people say that about us. But you know, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band? Of what, of the century? Or the millennium? Let's get clear here [laughing].
Q: What else is there for you guys left to achieve?
A: Well, we need to make a [kicking] rock record. It might sound corny, but every show is a new thing. I can think of a golf analogy: Every show is like teeing off on a new hole. You can't assume you're gonna play great.
Q: You guys have been able to stay relevant in every decade since the '70s. That's quite an accomplishment. What's the secret to that?
A: Oh, I don't know, it's some kind of hunger. When you put a band together you have to find four other people that are as desperate about it as you are and that they are willing to live through a lot ... to try to do something that feels like the feeling you got when you went to a Led Zeppelin show.
Q: With all this material, what goes into picking set lists for your shows? How does that work?
A: It's pretty hard. We usually do the main structure of the set list when we are rehearsing before the tour. Because we do have songs that people are expecting to hear. Sometimes we do not always play all those songs, but people are going through a lot of trouble and paying a lot of money to come to the show, so to a certain extent, there are songs that you need to play: "Sweet Emotion," "Walk This Way" and "Dream On." We consider that.
Then we consider our own head, what would be fun to play for us, and what would be fun to hear for people who are into sort of the esoteric, vintage Aerosmith -- more album cuts rather than the songs that everybody knows, so we need to cover that.
Then we need to cover stuff that we feel we don't know if the audience might like, but we really need to take a leadership position and show it to them and see what they think.
Q: One thing I've always wondered, where does Steve get the different streamers for his microphone stand? At this point, are people mailing him this kind of stuff?
A: Probably. I really don't know. It's funny, I really don't think about it anymore. You're making me remember back when he started doing the scarves on the mike stand.
Steven loves ornaments. He loves to take something and change it and make it look different. It's the basis a lot of his personality.
Q: Last time you were in Fresno, in 2003, you guys were with Kiss. This time, Lenny Kravitz. That's definitely quite a difference.
A: The Aerosmith/Kiss tour was fun because it was just totally bombastic, shallow entertainment which we enjoy doing sometimes.
Lenny -- this is a special opportunity. We are all fans -- I am a Lenny Kravitz fan from way back. We always run into each other from time to time. He's just a really good guy. I have so much respect for his writing and his musicianship, and his whole band is awesome musicians.
So having him available to do this tour, this idea of combining the two bands, there was a window of opportunity, which is a classic no-brainer.
Q: We've heard a lot about the staging for the tour. Can you explain the staging and what's so special about it?
A: Well, we've got these huge ramps that go right out into the crowd from the stage. If you were looking at the stage from above, they would go straight out from either side of the stage into the audience, and then they kind of hook in and to almost join, but there is a space there. If one of us wants to, we can go down to these steps into this little gap where the crowd is right there on the floor with you.
What the ramps do is get the band up closer to people who would typically not have great seats. It shrinks the room. That's the effect to me -- it shrinks the room and makes it much more intimate. It's just a by-product of technology that I can be, you know, 200 or 100 yards away from Joe, but still play really tight with him. We can play really good without being right on the main stage."
Q: With this intimacy, has anything really crazy or weird happened with fans?
A: Oh yeah. I'm usually kind of cautious. But I know Steven lost some jewelry. It basically got yanked off his neck.
The other night, Joe had to fight for his guitar. It was incredible. He was out on one of the ramps, he whipped his shirt off, and he was going to do this funny thing he does with his guitar, and somebody grabbed it and started pulling it into the audience. He was literally pulling with all his might from on stage. It was really weird. But there was Joe not giving up. He was like, "That's my guitar."
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