Back in the Saddle
Rolling Stone Magazine
By Austin Scaggs
Aerosmith's Tyler and Perry on overcoming illness and injuries
to rock with Motley Crue
On September 26th, the five original members of Aerosmith performed live together for the first time in more than six months. The reunion at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, was brief but significant. Eight songs into the set, bassist Tom Hamilton - weakened by chemotherapy treatments that he’d received for throat cancer - emerged, mustering the energy to lay down his signature bass line on “Sweet Emotion” and send the group’s hometown crowd into a frenzy. “It was my idea to get him to come out onstage,” says front man Steven Tyler, who himself has persevered punishing setbacks this year, including surgery on a broken blood vessel in his larynx. “I knew the audience would embrace him and give him that roar he needs.”
It was a sign of hope that more than thirty-five years after they began, Aerosmith will rock on. “It was amazing and poignant,” says guitarist Joe Perry, remembering that moment. And although it’s not clear when Hamilton will return to the road (Perry’s longtime collaborator David Hull is temporarily sitting in on bass), the tour, which continues through December, “has been slammin’,” says Tyler. “Have you been reading the reviews on the Internet? We’ve never gotten so many good ones!” Perry says that beating injuries and illnesses has given the group a new perspective. “Even though we don’t talk about it, you kind of look at each gig like, ‘This could be the last time we’re gonna play here,’ ” he says. “It makes each show more intense.”
Aerosmith are currently two months into the tour - with opening act Motley Crue - supporting Devil’s Got a New Disguise, a greatest-hits CD that came out in October. The disc features two previously unreleased tracks - the vintage rocker “Devil’s Got a New Disguise” and the beautiful “Sedona Sunrise” - that the band plucked from recording sessions dating all the way back to the 1987 classic Permanent Vacation. These two tunes were intended to be part of a new Aerosmith album of outtakes and new tunes built around previously recorded material that was put on the back burner after the health issues arose. “There are some riffs that we’ve been dying to get to,” says Perry, who says the band will resume work on the album in February.
Tyler - who recently disclosed that he had been treated for hepatitis C - faced a series of other health problems last winter. On February 24th, when the band was in Florida, Tyler cut his hand while opening his suitcase. “I wound up in the emergency room,” he says. Two days later, performing at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando, he blew a blood vessel in his larynx. All remaining tour dates were canceled, and Tyler headed into surgery. In addition to undergoing laser treatment on his throat, he took advantage of his time off to get knee surgery - which was disfigured after decades of wearing tight boots. Two titanium screws now hold his knee together, and it took three screws to straighten out his foot. “I’m the bionic man,” he says, adding that returning to the road was just the medicine he needed. “It took me a month to get back into it, but I’ve never felt better, and I’ve never looked better.” He has reconnected with his muses: Aerosmith fans. “The road is my mistress, and I get to fuck the audience every night,” he says. “And believe me, they’ve been fucking me back.”
Article - thanks to: (AeroCarol)
By Austin Scaggs
Aerosmith's Tyler and Perry on overcoming illness and injuries
to rock with Motley Crue
On September 26th, the five original members of Aerosmith performed live together for the first time in more than six months. The reunion at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, was brief but significant. Eight songs into the set, bassist Tom Hamilton - weakened by chemotherapy treatments that he’d received for throat cancer - emerged, mustering the energy to lay down his signature bass line on “Sweet Emotion” and send the group’s hometown crowd into a frenzy. “It was my idea to get him to come out onstage,” says front man Steven Tyler, who himself has persevered punishing setbacks this year, including surgery on a broken blood vessel in his larynx. “I knew the audience would embrace him and give him that roar he needs.”
It was a sign of hope that more than thirty-five years after they began, Aerosmith will rock on. “It was amazing and poignant,” says guitarist Joe Perry, remembering that moment. And although it’s not clear when Hamilton will return to the road (Perry’s longtime collaborator David Hull is temporarily sitting in on bass), the tour, which continues through December, “has been slammin’,” says Tyler. “Have you been reading the reviews on the Internet? We’ve never gotten so many good ones!” Perry says that beating injuries and illnesses has given the group a new perspective. “Even though we don’t talk about it, you kind of look at each gig like, ‘This could be the last time we’re gonna play here,’ ” he says. “It makes each show more intense.”
Aerosmith are currently two months into the tour - with opening act Motley Crue - supporting Devil’s Got a New Disguise, a greatest-hits CD that came out in October. The disc features two previously unreleased tracks - the vintage rocker “Devil’s Got a New Disguise” and the beautiful “Sedona Sunrise” - that the band plucked from recording sessions dating all the way back to the 1987 classic Permanent Vacation. These two tunes were intended to be part of a new Aerosmith album of outtakes and new tunes built around previously recorded material that was put on the back burner after the health issues arose. “There are some riffs that we’ve been dying to get to,” says Perry, who says the band will resume work on the album in February.
Tyler - who recently disclosed that he had been treated for hepatitis C - faced a series of other health problems last winter. On February 24th, when the band was in Florida, Tyler cut his hand while opening his suitcase. “I wound up in the emergency room,” he says. Two days later, performing at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando, he blew a blood vessel in his larynx. All remaining tour dates were canceled, and Tyler headed into surgery. In addition to undergoing laser treatment on his throat, he took advantage of his time off to get knee surgery - which was disfigured after decades of wearing tight boots. Two titanium screws now hold his knee together, and it took three screws to straighten out his foot. “I’m the bionic man,” he says, adding that returning to the road was just the medicine he needed. “It took me a month to get back into it, but I’ve never felt better, and I’ve never looked better.” He has reconnected with his muses: Aerosmith fans. “The road is my mistress, and I get to fuck the audience every night,” he says. “And believe me, they’ve been fucking me back.”
Article - thanks to: (AeroCarol)
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