Veteran Rockers Aerosmith shows no signs of slowing down
The Press of Atlantic City, NJ
Aerosmith is that rock 'n' roll rarity: a veteran band that has managed to survive - make that thrive - with its original lineup intact. Except for a five-year blip in the early 1980s, Aerosmith has been fronted since the early '70s by Steven Tyler, with Joe Perry on lead guitar, Tom Hamilton on bass, Brad Whitford on guitar and Joey Kramer on drums.
Overcoming well-documented substance abuse problems, the hard rock outfit has managed to gain iconic status but still seem current, in large part due to its raft of radio-friendly hits like "Sweet Emotion," "Janie's Got a Gun" and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing."
Bassist Tom Hamilton, who sat out last year's tour due to a battle with throat cancer - he's healthy now - spoke to At The Shore about Aerosmith's past challenges, present state and future plans.
Q: You're just wrapping your first world tour in nearly 10 years. What's it been like?
A: Some of the countries that have been traditionally poor have growing economies - places like India, Russia, Estonia and Latvia. All of a sudden, they're on the map for places you go to tour. That's an exciting thing for me, to be caught up in the global economy, to have people in the middle class in countries where they've been impoverished before.
Q: Did performing in Dubai seem much different from a typical tour stop?
A: I just couldn't stop thinking about what it was going to be like: all men in Arab dress or jeans and T-shirts. Will it be women? The thing about Dubai is that most of the people in that city at any given time are from somewhere else. The audience ended up being not that different from a lot of gigs we do.
Q: Given your catalog, your setlist must be a challenge. What are you playing these days?
A: We get a certain skeleton we work from and certain structure that has spaces in it, where we can plug songs in and take them out and change them. We have to have "Sweet Emotion," "Walk This Way" and "Dream On," and some of the ballads, and then we can interchange different album cuts. You have to figure out which era to draw from. Right now, we're drawing more heavily on the '70s stuff.
Q: Are you playing anything from your upcoming album (No. 15), which is in the works for a 2008 release?
A: We've got the framework for a bunch of stuff we really like, but none of it is ready to be played live. It's rock songs - fast and crunchy. We're really psyched because the fields are so fertile for loud guitar-based music.
Q: The band has (mostly) been together for almost 40 years. What's your secret to not driving each other crazy?
A: We went through some bitterness for sure - bitterness turbocharged by being hung over and burned out. Luckily, it worked out. A lot of bands try to work it out and all it does is reconfirm that they think the other guy is an a--hole.
Aerosmith is that rock 'n' roll rarity: a veteran band that has managed to survive - make that thrive - with its original lineup intact. Except for a five-year blip in the early 1980s, Aerosmith has been fronted since the early '70s by Steven Tyler, with Joe Perry on lead guitar, Tom Hamilton on bass, Brad Whitford on guitar and Joey Kramer on drums.
Overcoming well-documented substance abuse problems, the hard rock outfit has managed to gain iconic status but still seem current, in large part due to its raft of radio-friendly hits like "Sweet Emotion," "Janie's Got a Gun" and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing."
Bassist Tom Hamilton, who sat out last year's tour due to a battle with throat cancer - he's healthy now - spoke to At The Shore about Aerosmith's past challenges, present state and future plans.
Q: You're just wrapping your first world tour in nearly 10 years. What's it been like?
A: Some of the countries that have been traditionally poor have growing economies - places like India, Russia, Estonia and Latvia. All of a sudden, they're on the map for places you go to tour. That's an exciting thing for me, to be caught up in the global economy, to have people in the middle class in countries where they've been impoverished before.
Q: Did performing in Dubai seem much different from a typical tour stop?
A: I just couldn't stop thinking about what it was going to be like: all men in Arab dress or jeans and T-shirts. Will it be women? The thing about Dubai is that most of the people in that city at any given time are from somewhere else. The audience ended up being not that different from a lot of gigs we do.
Q: Given your catalog, your setlist must be a challenge. What are you playing these days?
A: We get a certain skeleton we work from and certain structure that has spaces in it, where we can plug songs in and take them out and change them. We have to have "Sweet Emotion," "Walk This Way" and "Dream On," and some of the ballads, and then we can interchange different album cuts. You have to figure out which era to draw from. Right now, we're drawing more heavily on the '70s stuff.
Q: Are you playing anything from your upcoming album (No. 15), which is in the works for a 2008 release?
A: We've got the framework for a bunch of stuff we really like, but none of it is ready to be played live. It's rock songs - fast and crunchy. We're really psyched because the fields are so fertile for loud guitar-based music.
Q: The band has (mostly) been together for almost 40 years. What's your secret to not driving each other crazy?
A: We went through some bitterness for sure - bitterness turbocharged by being hung over and burned out. Luckily, it worked out. A lot of bands try to work it out and all it does is reconfirm that they think the other guy is an a--hole.
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