CONCERT PREVIEW
Aerosmith
With Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. 7:30 p.m. Thursday. $49.50-$149.50. Philips Arena, 1 Philips Drive, Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com.
As the attrition rate of guitar heroes grows, so does the importance of respecting the ones still out there rocking — such as Aerosmith’s Joe Perry.
Perry, who turns 64 next month, has always been the Keith Richards to Steven Tyler’s Mick Jagger, the cool cat in the perfectly slouched rock star pose tossing out the gutsy riffs of Aerosmith classics (“Sweet Emotion,” “Back in the Saddle,” “Rag Doll” and yes, “Walk This Way”).
The band — which has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide — will play with another cool cat in the hat, Slash, on its “Let Rock Rule” tour, which visits Philips Arena on Thursday.
Perry called the first week of August from his backyard in Los Angeles — yes, the hard-core Bostonian moved to the West three years ago — to talk about the tour, the “guitar warrior” Slash, memories of Atlanta and what he thinks bandmates Tyler, Joey Kramer, Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton will think about his new memoir, coming this fall.
Q: You’re almost a month into the tour. How are you feeling about things?
A: Our biggest issue is picking the right set. We've got so many songs that can go in there and there are certain sections of the audience that would love to hear them, but we have to go with the majority kind of thing. So far it's gone pretty well. I haven't seen anybody walk out. But we really spend a lot of time on it. When you're in your seat waiting for us to go on, we're running around back there, set list flying around, trying to figure out what's going to get the most bang for the buck for our fans.
Q: You’ve been playing Atlanta a long time, going back to the Alex Cooley days, then the Omni and Lakewood and Philips Arena. Do you have any particular memories of shows here?
A: When we were coming out of Boston, we would make our trips to Detroit and play everything in between, and Atlanta was one of those towns that was known among the musicians for being a real rock 'n' roll town, the capital of the Southern rock. Because Atlanta was in the South, it was really breaking new ground for a band from the North — you're in Skynyrd, Allmans territory.
I remember playing Alex Cooley’s Ballroom and there are some stories about it in my (upcoming) book. That was a really exciting gig, to see how Southern fans were going to accept us. Atlanta has always been a great place for us to play. Lot of art there. It’s a vibrant town.
Q: This is the first time you’ve been on the road with Slash in a long time. What made this seem like the right time and the right tour to go out together?
A: Since Guns N' Roses ended the way they did, he's been out there becoming an icon of his own and working with different lineups of people. This lineup of guys he has playing with him is really good. He's a tried-and-true guitar warrior and his efforts have paid off.
Q: Your memoir (“Rocks: My Life in and Out of Aerosmith”) is coming out soon (Oct. 7). Is it finished or are you still tinkering with it?
A: I just got off the phone with our main guy at Simon & Schuster and there was literally a one-word change and he's heading downstairs to the printing room and they're going to start printing this week. It's been an intense learning process, doing an album compared to doing a book.
We’re planning a press tour to be everywhere at once. We’ll probably go out for a month. I’ll probably read parts of the book and do a Q&A with the people there or even an interview. We’re exploring different things.
Q: Is there anything in there that you’re worried about the guys reading?
A: I really can't say, but from my point of view, I really don't think so. They probably think there is worse stuff in there than there is. When you don't know, there's probably a certain amount of concern, but I really think they'll be pleasantly surprised. The main thing was, I took the gloves off and just wanted to tell the truth from my point of view, that was the most important thing. I probably read 30 autobiographies, 20 by musicians. This is definitely different than your average sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll book. We went over that ad nauseam in the first book (2003's "Walk This Way").
There’s a much deeper story here about my relationship with the other four guys, Steven in particular, and keeping a marriage together and raising kids on the road.
Q: You and Billie have been married for 30 years and known each other 32 …
A: For me and my wife, it's how we do business. This is it. I get phone calls from friends who say, "What's the secret?" We decided to make that one of the elements of the book. It's almost as stunning as the band being together for 40 years. It's something that you have to deal with, and if you want something, you have to work for it. There's no easy way about it.
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