Best of 2025: Over the holiday season, GW is shining the spotlight on some of its biggest stories of the year.

Joe Perry and Brad Whitford have recalled the time when Rory Gallagher served as a support for Aerosmith during a festival in the 1970s – and ended up proving such a hit with fans that he stole the band's thunder.

The two Aerosmith icons sat down with Rick Beato for a career-sprawling interview, and a particularly memorable show starring the late Irish guitar hero cropped up during the conversation.

“I don't wanna hear about that,” Perry quips as Whitford begins to spin the tale, which took place when Aerosmith was set to headline the Schaefer Music Festival in 1974 in Central Park.

“It was before we were accepted in New York at all. Rory Gallagher probably had one of the most stunning shows of his entire career,” Whitford recalls. Perry puts it more bluntly: “He kicked our ass. We headlined. He went on first, and he kicked our ass.”

“He went off stage, they made him come out for an encore,” Whitford continues. “He did this encore. Went off. They made him come out again. Another encore. They wouldn't stop. He came out for three encores. Oh my god.

“And then we got on the stage, and I just remember watching people walk away before we even started playing.”

That sinking feeling must have been horrific. The band were on the upswing at that point. Their third album, Toys in the Attic, had saved the band from getting axed by their label and reversed the fortunes of their career. But Gallagher was an unstoppable force that day.

“It was like the show's over, and who are these guys? They didn't care,” Whitford adds. “I swear, it had to be one of his best concerts.”

That Gallagher made such an impression shouldn't come as a surprise. The late Irish guitar great is widely considered to be one of the most influential blues-rock guitar players of all time and a true guitar one-off who inspired the likes of Brian May and Jimi Hendrix.

In fact, it's oft-reported that Hendrix was once asked how it felt to be the greatest guitar player in the world, to which supposedly responded: “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Rory Gallagher.”

Gallagher was revered for his distinct blues-rock style and famed for his heavily relic'd 1961 Stratocaster – believed to be the first to reach Irish soil – which sold at auction for almost $1,000,000 last year.

Harrison Whitford isn’t chained to his dad Brad Whitford’s sound or aesthetic. Evidence of the younger musician’s distance from Aerosmith is clear in Best of Kings, the debut release by his latest project, Attention Bird Utopia.

“I’m looking for sounds which excite me,” Whitford says. “it’s somewhat subversive, and the means of getting there changes with every song.”

He continues: “I find it’s the responsibility of an artist to at least aspire to pull from as many sources as one can. So inspiration, for me, is about keeping your ears and eyes open to the fullest possible extent.”

Some of that approach could be attributed to Whitford’s time beside Phoebe Bridgers. “Playing with her taught me how it feels to situate oneself within great songs. If they’re truly great – as Phoebe’s are – they’ll tell you what needs to be there and what doesn’t. She’s a fantastic rhythm guitar player and I’ve always attempted to complement that.”

He confirms that his dad is an inspirational figure. “He instilled in me a strong work ethic when it came to practicing early on, and to have a strong grasp of the fretboard and the location of every note.”

He says of their musical divergence: “I don’t know how conscious or unconscious it was, but I’m sure it’s a mixture. I knew on some level that I wanted to carve my own path and have my own voice.”

What sort of player do you identify as?

“I don’t know that I identify as any one kind of player – I’ve always felt nebulously between genres and styles. I plan on making more music and art, and hopefully getting to play on more records and songs that I love.”

What are the origins of Attention Bird Utopia?

“Eli Hirsch and I met on a project he was producing, that I’d been hired to play guitar on. I think we were drawn together by a shared love of songwriting – we began to help each other finish each other’s songs, and recording them was the natural next step.”

Do you have a shared philosophy on guitars?

“If we do, it’s that we’re both attracted to the attitude and sonic characteristics a guitar can provide to the landscape of a song. Tonally, we lean in the direction of drier, more direct-sounding guitars that feature some level of texture – which can often just be the result of overdriving a preamp.”

How about songwriting?

“I’d say we have complementary approaches. Eli has a strong grasp of songform and structure, and how to make something effective both formally and lyrically. I tend to fixate on the expressionistic quality of a song and lyric, finding the line between abstract and plain language. We both value clarity in songwriting – there shouldn’t be much to push past to experience the power of a great song.”

What type of gear tends to find itself into your hands?

“I gravitate towards instruments which produce an even and balanced tone. I like guitars to have body and clarity across the frequency spectrum.”

Which songs from Best of Kings came about first?

“The first one was Best of Kings itself, which Eli had started writing and shared with me. It already felt nearly fully-formed. We recorded it the same day that it was finished, and it’s one of my favorite captures on the album, particularly Eli’s vocal and the guitar tones.

“The electric guitar is one track throughout the song, and the solo sound is just a byproduct of riding the volume knob at that section while feeding into an overdriven tape machine preamp.”

Do you ever get into alternate tunings or weird gear?

“I often write and play in alternate tunings, primarily open D. I gravitate towards voicings that are more naturally at one’s disposal in open chord tunings. It’s so much easier to place a nine on a chord in the middle register and start accessing all the different chordal and melodic opportunities there.

“It’s a great method for breaking up your usual physical habits on the guitar and return to using your ears as guideposts – which is everything, after all.

“I tend not to gravitate towards weird gear as much. Perhaps I’ll pick up a different guitar or sit down at the piano if I’m feeling stuck. I’m not an outright purist, but I lean somewhere in the middle. I prefer a guitar plugged directly into an amp, or to grab an acoustic, than using effects for inspiration.”

How does your tone preference affect your gear choices?

“I like tones which are either very dry and direct, or distant and obscured. I like the sound of an electric guitar amp with some distance on a mic, or a blend of that and a more direct signal. In sessions, tones which obscure the attack of the instrument can be quite useful.”

Are you precious about gear and the songs that you create?

“I’m not precious about gear, really. I’m precious about the instruments I own that I cherish – but any instrument is usable in most circumstances. I try to approach everything from the perspective of what will serve the song.

“I try not to be precious about songs either. If there’s anything I get truly precious about, it’s more often performances.”

How much of an inspiration is your dad, Brad Whitford?

“The aspects of his playing that inspire me most are his sense of rhythm, his use of vibrato, and the emotion in his playing – all of which are uniquely his own. I think he’s written some of the heaviest, greatest rock riffs of all time, and laid down some of the most inspired and creatively fortified leads. That’s served me tremendously.

“When I was beginning to write and record my own songs, he was a helpful listener and a strong advocate for performance when it came to a recording – the fluidity of a performance is paramount.”

• Best of Kings is on sale now.

Joe Perry and Brad Whitford have recalled the time when Rory Gallagher served as a support for Aerosmith during a festival in the 1970s – and ended up proving such a hit with fans that he stole the band's thunder.

The two Aerosmith icons recently sat down with Rick Beato for a career-sprawling interview, and a particularly memorable show starring the late Irish guitar hero cropped up during the conversation.

“I don't wanna hear about that,” Perry quips as Whitford begins to spin the tale, which took place when Aerosmith was set to headline the Schaefer Music Festival in 1974 in Central Park.

“It was before we were accepted in New York at all. Rory Gallagher probably had one of the most stunning shows of his entire career,” Whitford recalls. Perry puts it more bluntly: “He kicked our ass. We headlined. He went on first, and he kicked our ass.”

“He went off stage, they made him come out for an encore,” Whitford continues. “He did this encore. Went off. They made him come out again. Another encore. They wouldn't stop. He came out for three encores. Oh my god.

“And then we got on the stage, and I just remember watching people walk away before we even started playing.”

That sinking feeling must have been horrific. The band were on the upswing at that point. Their third album, Toys in the Attic, had saved the band from getting axed by their label and reversed the fortunes of their career. But Gallagher was an unstoppable force that day.

“It was like the show's over, and who are these guys? They didn't care,” Whitford adds. “I swear, it had to be one of his best concerts.”

That Gallagher made such an impression shouldn't come as a surprise. The late Irish guitar great is widely considered to be one of the most influential blues-rock guitar players of all time and a true guitar one-off who inspired the likes of Brian May and Jimi Hendrix.

In fact, it's oft-reported that Hendrix was once asked how it felt to be the greatest guitar player in the world, to which supposedly responded: “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Rory Gallagher.”

Gallagher was revered for his distinct blues-rock style and famed for his heavily relic'd 1961 Stratocaster – believed to be the first to reach Irish soil – which sold at auction for almost $1,000,000 last year.

He was also a hero of Joe Bonamassa, who spoke at length about the influence that Gallagher had on the guitar scene – before embarking on a run of Rory Gallagher tribute concerts earlier this year.

With Aerosmith’s gigging days now behind them – although Perry reveals there has been talk of at least one more show – the pair are about to head out on the road as The Joe Perry Project.

Meanwhile, Perry has spoken about his new favorite piece of gear. He’s also revealed that he planned to take Jeff Beck's Strat on tour with Aerosmith, but found it wasn't half as good in his hands.

Joe Perry and Brad Whitford rejoined Aerosmith in 1984 after being away for four and two years, respectively. Soon after, the Bad Boys from Boston launched their successful Back in the Saddle tour, which spanned the summer of ’84.

“It was a pretty tumultuous decade,” Joe Perry says while looking back on Aerosmith’s mid-’80s reboot. “It always felt like ‘us against them.’ But we really hung together as a band. Nothing was going to break us up, because we [already] went through all the stuff that usually breaks bands up.”

Perry recalls the fans being there for Aerosmith, proving that the now-sober rockers had the juice that made them stalwarts of Seventies rock. This led to Aerosmith hooking up with Geffen Records and making their first record as a reunited force, 1985’s Done with Mirrors.

It would’ve been fun to say that Mirrors was a smash hit loaded with notable songs that topped the charts. It would’ve been cool to say that because of Done with Mirrors, Aerosmith claimed the ’80s as their own, just as they’d done in the ’70s. But that’s not what happened.

Sure, Aerosmith would eventually shine in the ’80s – but not because of Done with Mirrors. The reality is the album basically failed to launch, sported some difficult-to-understand cover art and featured zero chart-topping hits.

In fact, the sound of this record, which dropped at the onset of the hair- and glam-metal era, was more akin to 1976’s Rocks than anything that Ratt, Poison or Quiet Riot – with whom Aerosmith was competing – were doing in the mid ’80s.

But Mirrors does have its moments. In fact, had it dropped just after Rocks or 1977’s Draw the Line, odds are it would’ve been a hit. What’s more, it’s become something of a cult classic. But in the ’80s, Done with Mirrors left Perry feeling torn. Of course, time – and a string of subsequent world-beating records – heals all wounds. Now, when Perry looks back on the album, it’s with a fresh set of eyes (and ears).

“I got a call some years ago about Done with Mirrors being on a list of, I don’t know… top rock records,” Perry says. “I forget what it was. But it was on a list, and people were regarding it as something that reminded them of our first record.

“I started listening to it, and I was really surprised. I saw it from a whole different viewpoint and saw what they were talking about. It’s really rough and raw, and there are a lot of things about it that reminded me of the first couple of records.”

Aerosmith had reunited in ’84 and gone on the road prior to Done with Mirrors.

“We had just gotten back together. We had done a tour and were getting comfortable playing together again. I had left for almost four years, and Brad had been gone, so we were getting comfortable with being together; that was part of the reason we went out on the road without a record deal. Well, [another] one of the reasons was that we couldn’t get a record deal...”

It’s hard to believe you guys couldn’t get a record deal.

“We had burned so many bridges that nobody would sign us. But we wanted to see if we had the old spark. We went out and toured for the Back in the Saddle tour that summer, and the fans showed up for us. That’s it. They were there for us.”

How did that impact the sessions for Mirrors in ’85?

“When we got into the studio to do that record, we were still learning how to write again. After doing records like Rocks, Draw the Line and even the first three records, you would think we’d be able to pick up from there and go on, but the pressure was on. People were looking at us like, ‘Okay, what are you going to come up with?’”

It must have helped that you were working with producer Ted Templeman, who had struck gold with Van Halen earlier in the decade.

“We got to work with Ted, who had an amazing reputation, obviously, with Van Halen, which was incredible. They sounded monstrous, and I guess we were expecting more from him, so we were both kind of nervous. We were nervous to work with him, and he was nervous to work with us, which kind of surprised us.”

How did those nerves impact the sessions?

“I always felt like that record could have been better if we had worked on it some more, or if everybody got in the control room together and said, ‘We kind of feel uptight about working with you,’ but I don’t know… it’s just how it went.”

Aerosmith covered Let the Music Do the Talking, which came off the Joe Perry Project’s first album from 1980. How did you approach that?

“We brought it to a whole ’nother level, I think. I love the way we did it on my first solo record, but having the band play it – you know, Aerosmith! – really put it into fifth gear. And then, the rest of the songs just had a vibe to them.”

Would you do Done with Mirrors over again if you could?

“I still wish I could have maybe polished a few more things and put a couple more overdubs on. All in all, I think it did what it was supposed to do. It kind of showed me what we needed to do for the next one.

“We had to do that record to get to the next step and take ourselves out of the usual way we were writing and recording. After that, we took off up to Vancouver and tried a whole new way of doing things [for Permanent Vacation, Pump and Get a Grip], and even worked with some other songwriters. That started a whole new thing for us.”

And none of that happens without the learning experience of making Done with Mirrors?

“We did three amazing records up in Vancouver. It was a really creative vibe, but anyway, I think we had to get through Done with Mirrors. One of the things we joked about is, like, ‘What did we do wrong?’”

What did you come up with?

“The first thing we did was print everything backward on the label, you know, with the artwork. [Laughs] We made it one step harder for people to figure out what it is. But the band was also at a point where we weren’t using mirrors for horizontal things [cocaine].

“We were using them vertically, the way they should be used… It was kind of a subtle hint that the reason we’re back and able to continue on is because we made a lot of changes in our personal lives.”

It seems your feelings on Done with Mirrors are ambivalent. Do you still relate to the album the way you do Aerosmith’s other records?

“It’s more bits and pieces of each album. There are certain things that strike home with me for the kind of music that I like personally, but if we just stuck to one kind of music, I think we would have been able to do what we did.

“We wouldn’t have had as much balance as we did. We brought different things to the party. I mean, all I wanted to do was turn up and rock. [Laughs] It’s more about the bits and pieces that we all put there for each record to make it what they were.

“A lot of different spices went into the pot, and some records were more fun than others. But as far as musically, or one record, or another, it’s like I said: it’s more bits and pieces of every record, you know?”

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Joe Perry is set to return to the road in August, with members of Aerosmith, Black Crowes, and Stone Temple Pilots making up the lineup for his revived and revitalized solo band.

Aerosmith were forced to retire from touring last year in light of Steven Tyler’s ongoing health issues, but Perry has been keeping busy with solo material since, recently revealing the one amp that’s been a game-changer for him as he looks to ignite his post-Aerosmith era.

The Joe Perry Project tour, which starts in Tampa, FL on August 13th and wraps in Port Chester, NY on the 23rd, sees the guitarist making full use of his Rolodex: the band hinges on the classic Aerosmith guitar tandem of Perry and Brad Whitford, with touring keyboardist, Buck Johnson, also involved.

The Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson will front the band, while the Stone Temple Pilots rhythm section of bass player Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz rounds out the group.

The eight-date tour is tragically brief for such a superlative group of musicians, but it may yet prove the precursor for a more comprehensive tour further down the line.

It’s unclear what material will be performed across those dates, but with Perry alluding to new solo material, that will likely play a key role alongside cuts from his fairly extensive solo back catalog.

The tour marks the first time the two Aerosmith guitarists have worked together since the band's 2024 tour was brought to a premature end. Perry may also be hoping the new band will help shine a brighter light on his co-guitarist’s talents.

Speaking to Guitar World in 2023, he said, “It's always rubbed me the wrong way when people put Brad down and refer to me as the lead guitarist. Some of the best solos in our catalog are ones Brad did.” So expect solos aplenty from the pair.

Whitford echoed those frustrations in an interview that same year, explaining how many music critics and fans assume Aerosmith's best guitar moments come from Perry's fingers and not his own.

“After Rocks came out, Aerosmith was touring England, and I was sitting in a bar in London reading a review of the album in Melody Maker,” he had said. “And when they got to talking about Last Child, they started talking about how it sounded like Jeff Beck, which was very flattering. But then I kept reading, and they gave Joe credit for the guitar solo and kept comparing it to Jeff Beck. I read that, and I fucking went nuclear.

“I was just so pissed off. It’s like, here I am, having my fucking work being compared to Jeff Beck, and they’re crediting Joe Perry. It was bullshit, and I was so upset.”

Robinson is also no stranger to working with Perry, having featured on his 2023 album Sweetzerland Manifesto MKII. He released his first new music with the Black Crowes in 15 years last year, calling their record, Happiness Bastards, “our love letter to rock n’ roll”.

In related news, Perry has reflected on the band’s hit-and-miss album Done With Mirrors, which saw the group link up with Van Halen super producer Ted Templeman, while the makers of Perry’s new favorite amp have spoken about what his support means for the growing company.

Head over to Joe Perry's website for a full list of upcoming tour dates.

US rock icons Aerosmith have announced their retirement from touring after over 50 years on the road.

In a social media post, the band attributed the “heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision” to frontman Steven Tyler’s vocal injury.

“It was 1970 when a spark of inspiration became Aerosmith,” the post begins. “Thanks to you, our Blue Army, that spark caught flame and has been burning for over five decades. Some of you have been with us since the beginning and all of you are the reason we made rock ‘n’ roll history.

“It has been the honor of our lives to have our music become part of yours. In every club, on every massive tour and at moments grand and private you have given us a place in the soundtrack of your lives.

“We’ve always wanted to blow your mind when performing. As you know, Steven’s voice is an instrument like no other. He has spent months tirelessly working on getting his voice to where it was before his injury. We’ve seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side. Sadly, it is clear, that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible. We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision - as a band of brothers - to retire from the touring stage.

“We are grateful beyond words for everyone who was pumped to get on the road with us one last time. Grateful to our expert crew, our incredible team and the thousands of talented people who’ve made our historic runs possible. A final thank you to you - the best fans on planet Earth. Play our music loud, now and always. Dream On. You’ve made our dreams come true.”

Ticket holders for the band’s canceled tour dates will be refunded.

In September 2023, Aerosmith postponed the remaining US dates on their farewell tour due to Tyler’s fractured larynx.

Founded in Boston in 1970, Aerosmith are one of America’s most iconic bands, and hits including Sweet Emotion, Dream On and Walk This Way have been part of rock’s pantheon for decades.

“I’m just so thankful to the fans because without them we wouldn’t still be here,” guitarist Joe Perry told Guitar World last year.

“Our career has been a blessing, and sometimes I still can’t believe it. When we started, I never imagined we’d be here doing this 50 years later. To have it be the same guys out there together at the end is amazing, and I’m very thankful for that, too.”

Brad Whitford has been on the move – but he’s finding peace in a pocket of downtime. And he’s going to need it, ahead of Aerosmith’s epic Peace Out farewell tour. Some would say it’s been a long time coming, while others hoped the road would never end.      

But none of that matters to Whitford; he’s got a job to do, and for now, at least, all is well. “It’s kind of early on,” he says. “We’ve still got a ways to go, but if rehearsals are any indication of anything, it’s just slamming. It’s sounding so good. I’m just smiling from ear to ear. I love being out there with the guys.”

Whitford has long been a positive and calming influence within the ranks of Aerosmith’s tornado-like existence. But despite his accomplishments, which include iconic solos and heavy riffs, Whitford’s Wikipedia page long led with: “Bradley Ernest Whitford is an American musician who is best known for serving as the rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Aerosmith.”

If you’ve followed along for the last 50 years, the idea that Whitford is just a “rhythm guitarist” should infuriate you. After all, this is the man who penned or co-penned tracks like Nobody’s Fault, Round and Round and Last Child. Not to mention well-known solos on classic cuts like Kings and Queens and alternating leads with Joe Perry on Back in the Saddle and Love in an Elevator.

These days, though, the misnomer doesn’t bother Whitford much; but during Aerosmith’s heyday, his perspective differed.

“After Rocks came out, Aerosmith was touring England, and I was sitting in a bar in London reading a review of the album in Melody Maker,” he says. “And when they got to talking about Last Child, they started talking about how it sounded like Jeff Beck, which was very flattering. But then I kept reading, and they gave Joe credit for the guitar solo and kept comparing it to Jeff Beck. I read that, and I fucking went nuclear. 

“I was just so pissed off. It’s like, here I am, having my fucking work being compared to Jeff Beck, and they’re crediting Joe Perry. It was bullshit, and I was so upset. But I realized stuff like that wasn’t worth worrying about because the people who actually listen – and know what they’re talking about – can tell the difference.”

Like Perry in the late ’70s, Whitford jettisoned himself from Aerosmith when things got too hot in the early ’80s. And like Perry, despite riding through the darkest valleys of an unrelenting business, Whitford returned to Aerosmith in 1984, holding down the fort since. 

If you were to ask Whitford, he’d tell you Aerosmith’s second act was a “miracle,” as is the fact that they’re still here today. There’s no denying that, along with the big hits, huge shows and legendary albums, when it comes to Aerosmith, things have rarely been easy. To that end, without Whitford’s cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-pillow vibe and his tasty licks, the “miracle” that is Aerosmith probably wouldn’t be here today, 50-plus years strong.

Given the bottomless depths of Aerosmith’s valleys and hazardous heights of its peaks, it’s sometimes tricky for Whitford to fathom: “It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years,” he says. “But there are two versions of that. Sometimes, yes, I can believe it. Other times, I just can’t. Because as I recollect the many things that have happened in 50 years, sometimes it seems more like 75.” [Laughs]

Steven Tyler is the band’s face, Joe Perry his partner-in-crime. But there is no Aerosmith without its second lead guitarist, Brad Whitford. When asked how he balances Aerosmith’s inherent light and shade, Whitford says, “After this call, I’m going to be standing next to Joe Perry pounding out songs all afternoon, and I’ll be as happy as a clam. That’s what still makes this all worth it. But I can’t deny that there was just so much struggle, so much drama and so much pain – and that still comes through sometimes.

“It comes through as not changing the direction of things you want to do because you know you’re not doing that again. It’s like, ‘I know how this ends; I’ve seen this movie before; I can recite every line.’ I’ll take the popcorn and the M&Ms, but you can have the rest.” [Laughs]

As Aerosmith embark on their final tour, remember this: for 50-plus years, Brad Whitford has been the counterbalance to the wild, the provocative, the outlandish and the unbelievable. Through bouts of off-the-cuff bravado meets Berklee-bred brilliance, Whitford has been one-half of what’s amounted to the greatest guitar duo in American rock ’n’ roll history.

For many, Joe Perry embodies what it means to be a lead guitarist. But in Brad Whitford, Perry found his foil through a profoundly intuitive bond that’s bred licks bonded through six-string DNA. Together, Perry and Whitford changed the music world, rupturing it to its core and injecting over-amplified energy that still reverberates. 

So, as you’re basking in the glow of Aerosmith’s final performances, remember that as Brad Whitford trades solos, riffs and glances with Joe Perry, as he always has, you’re not only watching greatness, you’re witnessing a lead guitar paradigm that all who came after have tried – and mostly failed – to duplicate.

How did you first become aware of Aerosmith?

“I first became aware of Aerosmith in the summer of 1971. I was playing with a couple of guys who also hung out in New Hampshire, where Aerosmith was born. They would talk to me about Joe [Perry], Steven [Tyler] and Tom [Hamilton], but beyond that, I didn’t know them or anything about them. 

“Then I played a show up in New Hampshire around that time, and Joe came to see us play, and that was how I first met him and Tom. They watched us play, and we talked for quite a bit afterward. It was really friendly – just a bunch of young guys talking about gear and all that.”

What led to you joining after Raymond Tabano left?

“About two weeks after I’d met them, I got a call from Joe, and we hung out a bit and got to know each other better. Shortly after, he mentioned something about me maybe joining Aerosmith, and I told him I wasn’t [interested]. I wasn’t jumping up and down or anything, and was like, ‘I don’t even know who you are and what you do yet.’ Then I said, ‘Well, I’d like to see you play something.’ So that’s what we did, and they played great. I loved the show and loved what they were doing, so I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to be a part of it.’

Considering Raymond went way back with some of the guys, were there growing pains? 

“It was all very strange because there was a little bit of a civil war going on, even at the beginning with Aerosmith. Joey [Kramer], Steven and Raymond were longtime buddies growing up in Yonkers, and I don’t think Steven and Joey were 100 percent on board with asking Raymond to step down and Joe asking me to step in. So that was the beginning of the amazing drama and tense moments in and around Aerosmith for me. It was there from the moment I joined, and remains to this very day.”

It seems that particular aspect of Aerosmith is deeply tied to the creative process, along with the chemistry between you and Joe Perry. Was that chemistry also immediate?

“As far as the chemistry goes, yeah, I think it was immediate. But it was also a very unique chemistry, unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced with other guitar players. It’s 100 percent intuitive, where we’ve never sat down in a couple of chairs across from each other going, ‘You do this, you do that.’ 

It’s always been on the fly from the playing and even with the writing. It was like, ‘Okay, I’ll play this to complement Joe,’ and he’d play something to complement me. That’s just how it works. It’s a unique gift of symmetry that Joe and I have. It’s unlike other relationships with other players, and all I can say is it works, and it’s still a lot of fun.”

How would you say your style differed from Raymond’s?

“I’m not sure how we differed as far as playing, but one thing was that I’d show up. [Laughs] Raymond was a guy who would pull up on his motorcycle 30 seconds before showtime, literally. But Raymond was also one of Steven’s good friends, but there’s a dynamic between Steven and his good friends, which is kind of like how it is between him and Joe; it can be extremely volatile. 

“It was the same thing between Steven and Raymond, so I differed from that. But as far as playing is concerned, I was at a much higher skill level at that point, which took the band up a couple of notches, in my opinion.”

How did the volatility inherent in Aerosmith’s ranks impact the sessions for the debut record?

“We were very well-behaved on our first record with Adrian Barber producing [1973’s Aerosmith]. We were just blown away that we had this opportunity, but there was plenty of funny stuff, too. Remember, this was ‘old era’ recording, meaning some of the equipment inside the studio literally was made from cardboard. [Laughs] 

“We had EQ systems that were like out of Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory, bass and treble knobs the size of small clocks, and all sorts of gear that seemed like it came out of the 1940s.”

And how did that impact the sound of the record?

“We did the record in a small room where we set up and recorded live. And the first thing that became apparent, which is really funny, was we had the old-school Hollywood studio’s green and red light outside the soundstage door. We’d be inside the room, and this red light was inside our room, and it would go on when the tape was running and recording. So Adrian would yell, ‘Okay, we’re ready to go,’ and I can only speak for myself, but I was like, ‘Oh, God, don’t fuck up, whatever you do!’ 

“But it was rock ’n’ roll, you know? You’ve just gotta shoot from the hip, and we quickly realized that while we’d be loosey goosey during rehearsals when the red light came on, we became stiff as boards. But we got around that, had fun and did what we could with the limited opportunity for overdubs that we had.

“ We had to be very creative because it’s unlike today, where you have limitless ways to fix things. Back then, you had to wait for the tape to rewind. But the end result was just magic.”

Joe has echoed your sentiment that there wasn’t a lot of conversation about who would do what. But he did mention that an effort was made to create contrasting sounds using different guitars. Is that your recollection, too?

“Yeah, that’s true. We wanted to create different dynamics through different guitars and the sounds they could make. With the first record, for example, I think the difference in sounds is pretty apparent. I believe Joe was using his black Strat, but I couldn’t tell you what year it was. 

“These days, whatever it was, it would be an awesome vintage Strat, but then it was pretty much a new Strat. It was probably a couple of years old, but it sounded great. As for me, I used my ’68 Les Paul goldtop, which had P-90s in it. We used two guitars on the whole record, which is crazy. Some of the tone we got was pretty wild, and we haven’t strayed too far from that.”

How so?

“Even today, my thought is still based on the belief that a guitar to a cable to an amp is the best sound. That’s the only way you’ll know what a guitar and amp truly sound like and the only way you’ll find out if a guy can play. It’s all between the heart and hands, you know?”

After you and Joe handled the guitars yourself on the first record, Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner were called in while recording Get Your Wings. We know they played on Train Kept A-Rollin’,” but was there more? 

“Steve and Dick played on Train Kept A-Rollin’. By the way, S.O.S. (Too Bad) is Steve Hunter, too. And he played those [parts] fucking incredibly beautifully. I don’t think I was on Lord of the Thighs either, but I remember playing the last little solo section of Seasons of Wither. There wasn’t a whole lot to it. And then Same Old Song and Dance was Dick too.”

What led to that?

“By that point, all the basic tracks were cut at the Record Plant in New York City, and our producer, Jack Douglas, was talking to his boss, Bob Ezrin, the brains behind Alice Cooper’s records, and probably some management people at our record company, too. Jack said, ‘Listen, I’ve got these great tracks, but they need superior leads over them to sell them.’

“Joe and I had tried multiple times to do something interesting, but I wasn’t there yet, and neither was Joe. And if you listen to Steve Hunter’s stuff from that time and the level he was able to perform at, it’s incredible. So they decided, 'Let’s bring in the Alice Cooper team and see what they can do.'”

Were you and Joe frustrated by that decision?

“It was Jack who had the difficult task of breaking the news to Joe and me, and of course, that went down like a lead balloon. [Laughs] At first you fight, and you’re a little bit angry, and then you get sad to where you’re like really bummed out that you can’t do it. 

“And the thing was that we’d done some good stuff and could play good stuff, but the tracks required some real finesse, you know? But I mean… listen to Train Kept A-Rollin’ today; those are some fucking genius rock leads. That was some great stuff and probably some of the stuff that they were most proud of out of anything they’d done. That solo is blistering.”

Were you there while he recorded it, or did you hear it after the fact?

“I had the unique pleasure of being in the studio when Steve came in to cut the Train solo. It was fucking amazing. He came in with a little Fender tweed, with a ’57 Les Paul Junior with a P-90. He set the amp down, grabbed the guitar, they started rolling tape, and Steve did several passes. Then Steve says, ‘Okay, I think I’ve got it now,’ and then he did his final pass, which was just mind-blowing. 

“I listen back to it even today, and it’s still a lesson on guitar. Since then, Steve has had so much influence on me as a player because his playing is very much up my alley. I continue to learn some of the nuances in his playing. And Dick was a bit more like Joe, so it worked out very well.”

After that experience, did your and Joe’s approach change during the recording of Toys in the Attic and Rocks?

“A lot of the guitar sounds we recorded were done through such a simplistic approach. It’s something I can’t make work today because it takes a lot of work and searching around. But pretty much all of it was done with 100-watt Marshall half-stacks. 

“We had all these great vintage Marshall amps full of greenbacks; we just plugged straight into those. That’s what you hear on Toys and Rocks. For us, it was all about the attitude. The approach was about making it tight and having the guitar parts pop but also groove. That’s what made it for us. That’s the sound and the attitude. 

“But there was a fair amount of precision on those rhythm tracks. There’s a cool Japanese import of Rocks that’s just the guitar tracks. I listened back to it, and I had to put a diaper on; I loved it so much. Have you heard it?”

I have. It’s outstanding. 

“It really is. And another thing about the Japanese version is the drums are turned up, which is a story in and of itself. When we made Rocks, certain people behind the mixing console weren’t going out of their way to make the drums sound good. Our drummer had a certain amount of attitude, which wasn’t really appreciated. [Laughs] 

“Jack Douglas and Jay Messina were the kind of guys that if they didn’t have a lot of love in their hearts for someone, they’d take it out on them. And Joey was famous for turning people off with his attitude, so they turned the drums down. So there’s a little personal vendetta that no one knew about. I honestly don’t think the rest of the band even knows this. [Laughs]”

There’s an argument to be made that the attitude within Aerosmith’s ranks is part of what made the ’70s era great, no?

“Well, yeah, but what was nice about that period was that we could still do what we call ‘practice.’ We rehearsed a lot, so we knew exactly what we were doing, unlike later albums where we’d have to come up with stuff while there were no vocals or anything. 

“We’d have no direction and no real idea what we were gonna do. And Steven was usually very involved in arrangements, but if he didn’t know what the fuck he was going to do, he couldn’t have anything to say about the arrangement.”

I can imagine that being difficult to navigate.

“You can hear it on some throwaway tracks on later records where there are guitar riffs, and then there’s some stupid yodeling from Steven because he never did his work. I would have loved to have B-sides like the Stones, but we didn’t because we weren’t mature enough or ready to admit it or able to get Steven to do the work he was supposed to do. 

“After Toys and Rocks, that’s what we were up against. The bucks and the drugs started to flow, and a lot of it was such a waste. But right now, we’re rehearsing, and we’ve got a list of about fucking kickass songs out of all that. So I would never complain; I’m just telling you the truth. What we have is great, but unfortunately, there was a lot of wasted tape.”

Do you feel Aerosmith reached their full potential?

“I think we were at our full potential on day one. I don’t know if we realized it, but I say that because of one guy and one song, and that’s Steven bringing in Dream On. I don’t know what it is, but to this day, it’s still everywhere. And Steven had that in his back pocket when we started the first record.

“So when we talk about potential, looking at Dream On, Aerosmith was sitting on a nuke. And like I said, we went through Toys and Rocks, and so much of it slipped away. But there were still some shining moments here and there.”

Given your chemistry with Joe, was it difficult when he walked away during the Night in the Ruts sessions?

“I can only tell you what I experienced, so I can’t speak for anybody else. But Joe left, and I said, ‘Okay, now what are we gonna do?’ So we auditioned players, and there were a bunch of great guys, but in the end, we chose Jimmy [Crespo]. And looking back, Jimmy had the same look as Joe, with dark hair and a very dark mood about him. 

“But don’t get me wrong – Jimmy is a great player. The dynamic between Jimmy and me was very different from how Joe and I worked. Jimmy and I would sit down and work things out in fine detail. Jimmy was very into that, and I loved it, so I loved playing with him, too.”

What was the point of no return that led to the end of Aerosmith’s first era?

“After Jimmy came aboard, we were trying to do a new album. So the record company said, ‘That’s fine. What is it? What are you going to do?’ But we didn’t even have a demo, so the plan became that in the summer of 1980, we were going to go in and work on trying to make three demos.

“And at that same time, I was writing with Derek St. Holmes for the first record we did. I was working on that and had about four weeks before I needed to head back to New York and be with Aerosmith at The Power Station.

“So I get up there to New York City, and it’s me, Tom and Joey showing up each day at the studio, and we’re waiting for Steven to arrive and hopefully come up with something. And then he’d arrive, and we’d literally do nothing. Steven would show up, and they’d carry him into the reception room, and he’d be on the chair or the couch like a bag of potatoes, and that’s where he’d stay. 

“We were doing this day after fucking day, and the ‘fucking’ just came out because I still remember how pissed I was. I was like, ‘This is a joke. We’re spending money on this.’”

Is that what led you to quit?

“I decided to take some time off and go home to Massachusetts for a couple of days. After that, I was supposed to go back to New York, but I was a total wreck. I got to Logan Airport in Boston, called our manager David Krebs, and said, ‘I’m done. I can’t do this. You will not see me in New York.’ I hung up the phone, and that was it. 

“I felt like I’d just moved a mountain off my back. I felt like I could breathe again. All this weight was off my shoulders, and I honestly didn’t care. I was also happy about the Whitford/St. Holmes thing. It was productive. It worked. It was real. It was tangible. It wasn’t this thing that had just slipped out of our hands, which was sad, ugly and covered in drugs.”

Do you feel Columbia Records properly supported Whitford/St. Holmes?

“I look back on that stuff, and yeah, I think they were gung-ho about it. They were ready to go with it. There were two-page ads in Billboard, and a lot of people seemed to really love the record. 

“Budgets went down, and there was only a finite amount of money that could be used for promotion. But we had a pretty good start and a lot of fun. I still love that record. I still listen to it along with the new one we did side by side, and I think what we had is pretty unique.”

What led to the classic Aerosmith lineup getting back together in ’84?

“The whole time I was doing the Whitford/St. Holmes thing, and then when I started playing with Joe again, I’d be in the studio with other Leber-Krebs clients, and they’d say, ‘When are you going to get back together with Aerosmith?’ And I always had the same story: ‘I’ll tell you what – it comes down to Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. If they can find some way to bury their hatchets, I would follow them.’ But I honestly thought it would never happen.”

But it did happen. Going in, did you have concerns about being able to contend in a scene that had changed so much?

“I don’t think I really got that far ahead. I was so elated to be working with the guys in Aerosmith again. Being back with the guys was refreshing, and the fact that we were all in the same room together again and rehearsing those songs was incredible. 

“We didn’t have a grand plan beyond getting to that point, so we didn’t really think about the level of success we could have. I was just so pleased that things seemed to be on some kind of road to somewhere again.”

Was it a surprise to see Aerosmith’s second wave of success come by way of a crossover collaboration with Run-DMC on Walk This Way? 

“Of course. No-one knew how gigantic that was going to be. And I’ve always believed that the spirit of collaboration broadens the scope of anything. So I definitely thought it was a very cool idea. 

“The only problem was that it was originally proposed to us as something the whole band was going to do, but then it was only Joe and Steven who went into the studio to do it with them. And truly, that was all that was needed, and it was done right. But the rest of us were kind of miffed about it at the time. 

“We disagreed and thought we should at least sit on the couch in the control room and be a part of it. But it wasn’t an artistic decision… probably more of a budgetary decision. But looking back, it was just such a huge moment in music history from that period.”

The record that followed, Permanent Vacation, catapulted Aerosmith into the heart of the MTV era. I’ve always loved your leads on the title track. Any memories? 

“Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Recording it is a little blurry, but I recall wanting to go for a sound that was a little more like what Stevie Ray Vaughan was doing. I believe I did that by using a Strat, so it was more a matter of going in knowing how I wanted the solo to sound. 

“It’s kind of like when you put a song on, and you hear it, and you like the sound when you listen to it. I knew the sound I wanted, grabbed one of my Strats and did the solo.”  

Did Aerosmith feel comfortable during the MTV era, given its status as an “older band?”

“A story that puts that into perspective had to do with Dude (Looks Like a Lady) and what inspired it. For as much as Steven, or any of us, looked like young girls with all the makeup and the hair, Steven was really pushing the envelope. [Laughs] And that’s where the impetus of that came from. 

“I think Steven had actually said to himself, ‘Dude looks like a lady.’ You had younger bands like Mötley Crüe doing the glam thing and even other older bands like Kiss, along with us all being listened to by young kids. It was an interesting time and kind of outrageous. The kids who were listening to us didn’t care about our amps; it was about having good hair. [Laughs]”

You mentioned the unspoken chemistry between you and Joe, which seems devoid of ego. An example is your alternating leads heard on Love in an Elevator. How does something like that come together?

“Yeah, that’s true. The thing about Joe is he likes to construct his solos beforehand, whereas I shoot from the hip with just about everything. I was always the one-take, ‘get it on the first try’ guy. So with most of the solos – and this was the case with Love in an Elevator – Joe would listen and then try some different things. 

“I’d typically come up with an opening section that would then break down into a rhythm part and lead into Joe’s entrance. And when Joe comes in there, that part he does – wow, it’s just so cool, right? It’s classic and such a great lick that he came up with. It’s so badass. So I’d just shoot from the hip or throw out some ideas I may have had in my head. A lot of what you hear is what came right off the bat.”

There are no defined roles between you and Joe, but people still incorrectly label you the rhythm guitarist and Joe the lead. Has that been frustrating for you?

“It bothered me for many years, but then I realized, ‘Okay, anyone that thinks that is someone who simply does not listen.’ And you’re right; we don’t have defined roles; we’re both just guitar players in this band. If someone specifically labels us as one or the other, they’re not listening. That’s their problem. It’s not my problem that they can’t hear the difference. 

“Sure, there have been times over the decades when Joe and I can imitate each other, but that’s only because we’re huge fans of each other’s styles. But I’ll tell you what – I cannot play like Joe Perry. I can’t do it.”

What makes Joe unique?

“Joe has such an elite sense of timing, rhythm and note choices. I don’t do that. I’m more Berklee-inspired. I’m always thinking about intervals, scales, chords and how they’re supposed to fit together. 

“Joe is very different; he’s not schooled. So sometimes it doesn’t work for him, and sometimes he’ll try playing over something, and he doesn’t realize it’s not pentatonic, but he does find notes, and while he doesn’t always know how or why it’s working, he doesn’t really care because it does work. And truthfully, that’s a real gift that Joe has. 

“I doubt Robert Johnson knew what fucking intervals he was working within a musical sense or what that looked like on paper – but who gives a shit? It’s the same with Joe, so who cares if he knows what he’s doing, because what he’s doing is fucking killer. Joe is gifted, talented and uniquely his own, which is rare in a world where there are tens of millions of people with guitars in their hands.”

It’s probably a generational thing, with younger fans often feeling Get a Grip [1993] is Aerosmith’s definitive album, while older fans tend to choose Rocks [1976]. Which is it for you?

“I think you’re right about the generational way of thinking because, to me, it’s Rocks. If I had to go to a desert island with just one of our albums, Rocks would be it. So put that on my gravestone – it’s Rocks. I hear that, and having been a part of that and understanding the vibe and the spirit that went into that, I know it’s all in there.

“But that’s me. I don’t know what other people think. Everybody will always have a different opinion, especially the guys in the band. But for me, Rocks is the defining moment for us.”

And where does Get a Grip fall within the Aerosmith canon, considering it netted the band a Grammy and a massive success in the thick of the grunge era?

“It was huge. And with the grunge thing, we were never gonna let the flag for rock ’n’ roll come down. When Kiss decided to do a disco record in the late ’70s, we were like, ‘Oh my God.’ We said, ‘Is this really where it’s going? It’s all slipping right out of our fingers.’ But we’ve never been a band that would let go of it. So with Get a Grip, we were just so proud of it and how well it did. So it lives on.

“But as far as punk and grunge, maybe it’s because I’m a bit of a Berklee-head, but it took me years to appreciate that. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that bands like the Ramones were right in my pocket. 

“I don’t know what I was thinking; I wasn’t into it then. But there’s so much freedom in the performances, and I love how those bands went for it by sticking it to the people who deserved it.”

Aerosmith have released just four studio albums in the 30 years since Get a Grip. Why is that?

“I cannot put my finger on it. I guess I’ll call it out-and-out laziness. Because I’m still writing, and I still play guitar every day. I don’t know… I can’t figure out what happened. Other than maybe frustration because sometimes it was like a woman being in labor and not wanting to do that, I can’t figure it out.”

Is the desire to make new music still there?

“Maybe six or seven years ago, we were on the phone having a meeting with everybody, and the subject came up. So I asked, and I had a very simple plan; I said, ‘Let’s pick a city or studio, and we’ll book it for one day; it can be a day that works for us all, maybe a Saturday.’ I said, ‘Everybody can fly in Friday and Saturday morning; we have an open-ended session with one goal: to make a song and have one demo.’”

That sounds reasonable, given the band’s recording history.

“Right. I play every day. I pick up the guitar, and out of my hands comes something that I’ve never played before. Maybe it would be an intro or even the main riff. I know Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton do that, too. So I said, ‘We go in and come out with at least a one-song demo. I don’t even care if Steven just sings ‘blah, blah, blah.’’ 

“I said that, and they just said, ‘Oh, we can’t do that.’ I was in shock; it’s not rocket science for us. It’s not impossible, and we’ve done it before. I don’t care if the song was a piece of shit; it was to be an exercise in creativity. But nobody wanted to fucking do it. So I threw my hands up in the air, and that’s where my hands remain to this day.”

Is Music from Another Dimension! Aerosmith’s final studio record?

“Yeah… I think that it is. And that’s sad because, I hate to say this, and we were talking about the idea of potential earlier, but that was just a piss-poor record. It’s like… where is that certain something? I guess it got left behind somewhere. 

“I think there are just a lot of scars, I guess I would say. And, God knows, we love the shit out of each other; we’re brothers through and through. But there’s a lot of dark stuff from the past, and I guess, like with anybody else, it’s hard to get past that.”

Looking back on 50 years, how do you reconcile the good with the bad?

“Those emotional bruises don’t go away. When you lose a part of that, it’s not something that goes away. And that’s how close we are; Aerosmith is a very close-knit family relationship. We’re extremely tight and deeply bound together. But when you have that many disappointments over time, it really hurts. I’ve let go of as much as I can. And in doing that, my goal is to always bring positive energy and love to whatever we do.” 

Do you still feel as close to the guys as you once did?

“Well, there’s a vacuum, and like I said, I love all the guys; we have great affection for each other. We all have that; it never went away. And oftentimes, we’ll be standing in a little circle while we’re rehearsing or just talking, and Steven will say, ‘Can you believe we’re still doing this?’ And we’re like, ‘No. It’s honestly unbelievable.’ 

“There’s more appreciation for the higher powers as we go along because it’s truly a miracle that we’re still here doing this. And we tried to keep it the original five for as long as we could, and even though Joey isn’t here on drums for this last tour, we still have so much love and respect for each other. That’s something that will forever be frozen in time.”

Bands often announce farewell tours, only to return a few years later. Is this really it for Aerosmith?

“In my mind, it’s not possible to keep going. I don’t bullshit anybody; I just don’t do it, and sometimes that upsets people. That’s just the way it is. People have to be willing to accept that. And I was probably the last person to sign on for this tour because even though this is a multimillion-dollar business, the reality is you’ve got to work awfully hard to end up in a good place financially. 

“But it’s not really rocket science, and it should always be more fun than you’ve ever had, right? There shouldn’t be any drama; we humans have enough shit going on. So when we finish this tour, that’s going to be it.”

Who is America’s greatest rock and roll band? Kiss or Aerosmith?

“That’s a really tough one. I think you’d have to come up with things to sort that out categorically. But what I love about Kiss is they can go on forever because of their makeup. So that’s one aspect of what they do that’s very different from what we do. But the last Kiss show I saw was absolutely brilliant, and there are days when I’ve come off the stage with Aerosmith and just went, ‘Wow. What the hell was that? How do I recreate that?’

“Some shows are great, and you search for ways to do it again, but that’s the beauty of this. You never know when you’re going to have one of those supernatural shows. It’s not something you can rehearse; a lot of it comes down to the band and the audience. Sometimes you end up with a magic moment you can’t predict; I think all the good bands have those moments. We have them, and so does Kiss. I don’t know how you choose.” 

Joe Perry has said that he’s never understood why people describe him as Aerosmith’s lead guitarist, noting some of the “best solos in our catalog” came from his co-guitarist, Brad Whitford.

Both players are interviewed about Aerosmith’s 50-year wild ride in the new issue of Guitar World, which features an extensive exploration of their (somewhat bumpy) journey to rock guitar’s highest echelons.

In his interview, Perry points out that Whitford’s lead ability is often overlooked when people discuss Aerosmith and that their six-string dynamic is more about alternating, rather than a straight split between rhythm and lead duties.

“We've always kinda shifted back and forth where maybe Brad takes the first part, I take the second, he takes the third and I take the fourth”, explains Perry.

“That's basically what we did on Love in an Elevator. And then, during the breakdown, that's me playing. But it’s always rubbed me the wrong way when people put Brad down and only refer to me as the lead guitarist. 

“We're both guitar players in the band, you know? Brad is a wicked soloist. In my book, some of the best solos in our catalog are ones Brad did.”

Alongside Love in an Elevator’s opening solo, other notable Whitford contributions include the second solo on Dude (Looks Like a Lady), the co-lead on Back in the Saddle, Last Child, Round and Round, Kings and Queens, Milk Cow Blues (first solo)... The list literally goes on. 

Perry points out that Whitford went to Berklee and is in many ways a far more musically-adept player. Despite 50 years of playing together, though, he says they’ve never really talked about who would play what. 

“It was more about who would play a Strat and who would play a Gibson,” says Perry.

“Because we wanted to have two different guitar sounds in there… In my mind, we could be like the Yardbirds in those rare times when you had Jimmy [Page] and Jeff [Beck] together. That's what we wanted Aerosmith to be.”

There are, however, a few songs from 1974’s Get Your Wings that we know neither Whitford or Perry played on. Indeed, in his own interview, Brad Whitford recalls the time Aerosmith’s producer called in session pro Steve Hunter to replace his and Joe Perry’s lead lines. 

To read Perry and Whitford’s full interviews, in which they discuss the performances, gear, and personal fallouts from 50 years of Aerosmith – pick up issue 571 of Guitar World.

Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford has discussed his feelings around the hiring of ‘ghost guitarists’ Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on the band’s second album, 1974’s Get Your Wings.

Whitford and Joe Perry are interviewed in the new issue of Guitar World, which celebrates the first 50 years of Aerosmith’s tumultuous-yet-remarkable career and was asked about the band’s second album sessions.

As Whitford outlines in the piece, the session players, best known for their roles with Alice Cooper, were brought by producer Jack Douglas in to add a little fretboard flair to certain tracks, with Steve Hunter’s solo on Train Kept A-Rollin becoming the stuff of legend.

“It was Jack who had the difficult task of breaking the news to Joe and me, and of course, that went down like a lead balloon,” says Whitford.

“At first you fight, and you're a little bit angry, and then you get sad to where you're like really bummed out that you can't do it. And the thing was that we’d done some good stuff and could play good stuff, but the tracks required some real finesse, you know? 

“But I mean... listen to Train Kept A-Rollin today, those are some fucking genius rock leads. That was some great stuff and probably some of the stuff that they were most proud of out of anything they'd done. That solo is blistering.”

Whitford clarifies that Hunter also played on S.O.S. (Too Bad) (“fucking incredibly beautifully”) and says Same Old Song and Dance “was Dick, too” and – in a direct contradiction of popular myth (or, at least, Wikipedia) he notes, “I don’t think I made it onto Lord of the Thighs, either.” 

Despite his initial anger, Whitford says that Hunter’s involvement made him a better player.

“I had the unique pleasure of being in the studio when Steve came in to cut the ’Train solo,” says Whitford. 

“I listen back to it even today, and it's still a lesson on guitar. Since then, Steve has had so much influence on me as a player because his playing is very much up my alley. I continue to learn some of the nuances in his playing. And Dick was a bit more like Joe, so it worked out very well.”

It’s not the Alice Cooper duo’s only notable cameo on another artists’ material, either. Around the same time, Hunter and Wagner were also brought in to reinvigorate Lou Reed’s solo material – a move that resulted in one of the most underrated two-guitar solos of the '70s.

Hunter’s influence continued to reverberate throughout rock more than a decade later, as the guitarist’s ‘Hunter Burst’ Les Paul copy later passed into the hands of Slash, becoming “the seed of his Les Paul addiction”.

With episodes featuring the likes of Slash, Joe Bonamassa and Rick Nielsen, Gibson TV’s The Collection series is a goldmine for guitar fans.

To continue its impressive form, Gibson TV has tapped Brad Whitford for its latest The Collection episode – a 55-minute marathon that sees the Aerosmith icon dissect his most beloved models.

From a mysterious 1953 Les Paul Goldtop that came with black parts all the way to his mental custom-made “Bitch Blue” B.C. Rich 8-string guitar, Whitford’s collection is quite the sight to behold, with episode host Mark Agnesi working to help unpick the history behind each model.

A particular highlight from the collection, though, is a 1958 Les Paul Custom Reissue model, whose hardcase still carries the mud it collected way back during Woodstock ‘94. An early Gibson Custom Shop piece that was hand-delivered to the gig by Tom Murphy, the zebra humbucker-loaded single-cut was used for Aerosmith’s entire set at the festival.

“I just fell in love with it,” he said of the guitar. “It’s got that terrific neck, with something different about it but something familiar.”

Elsewhere, Whitford showed off another instrument that personally connected him with the host: a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Standard Goldtop that Whitford bought from Agnesi when the latter was working at Norman’s Rare Guitars.

The “time capsule” guitar was previously owned by a particularly precious owner, who cleaned it after every use and kept it stored in its case under the family sofa. In fact, the guitar came to Norman’s Rare Guitars in such perfect condition that the team were at first skeptical of its authenticity.

Whitford – along with Derek St. Holmes – can be seen jamming with that same guitar in a separate video posted to Norman’s Rare Guitars' YouTube channel six years ago.

Other honorable mentions from Whitford’s The Collection episode include a ‘68 Goldtop – purchased to replace Whitford’s first-ever Les Paul, which featured on the first Aerosmith album – a 1960 Les Paul Special Double Cut, and even a ‘56 Fender Stratocaster.

A common theme throughout Whitford’s collection is his evident love for the Gibson Les Paul – an affection that began way back when Whitford was listening to Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page, whose iconic tone first encouraged him to buy a Les Paul.

“I was into Zeppelin when that first record came out,” Whitford replied when asked about some of his biggest guitar heroes. “I got to see them on their second tour in the States, and their second album hadn’t come out yet but they were playing some tracks.

“Jimmy was playing his 'Burst through two stacks, and it was the best I ever saw him play,” he continued. “He played the solos from the first album note for note. I never saw Jimmy play like that again.

“I saw him play so beautifully and so spot on, and the very next day after that performance I bought my first Les Paul.”

Aerosmith returned to the stage for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, as the rock ‘n’ roll heroes reunited for a show at the Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor, on Sunday (September 4).

In a show that also marked frontman Steven Tyler’s first live outing since returning from rehab, electric guitar players Joe Perry and Brad Whitford linked up with their Aerosmith bandmate Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer stand-in John Douglas for a 19-song set that spanned the band’s repertoire.

Fan footage shows Aerosmith making their way through a cover of The Shangri-Las’ Remember (Walking in the Sand), which had followed renditions of Back in the Saddle, Same Old Song and Dance, Rag Doll and Mama Kin.

Multiple clips from the evening captured the energetic dual guitar action of Perry and Whitford, with the former paying thanks to the audience for attending the show – despite the fact “none of us have been on stage for two-and-a-half years” – before launching into Stop Messin’ Around.

The setlist had plenty of room for other Aerosmith favorites, including Hangman Jury, I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing, Love in an Elevator and Dude (Looks Like a Lady). For the first time since 2017, the band also performed ballad Full Circle.

A 17-minute video that shows the entire encore – comprising mega hits Dream On and Walk This Way, as well as a cover of Bull Moose Jackson’s Big Ten Inch Record – has also been posted.

Before the Maine Savings Amphitheater show, Aerosmith had last performed on February 15, 2020 as part of their Deuces Are Wild Las Vegas Residency. Their scheduled European and UK tour appearances for that year were then canceled due to the pandemic.

Though the band didn’t tour in 2021, Aerosmith did announce they had plans to continue their Vegas residency in June of this year, but this was delayed after Tyler was admitted into rehab.

“Our beloved brother Steven has worked on his sobriety for many years”, the band said in a statement at the time. “He has recently relapsed and voluntarily entered a treatment program to concentrate on his health.”

A further delay to Aerosmith’s return came when drummer Joey Kramer announced he would be taking a “temporary leave of absence” from the band. It was announced that drum tech John Douglas would take his place for the band's 2022 live shows.

According to NME, the multiple delays have resulted in Aerosmith’s longest period off stage since their formation.

Aerosmith will perform one additional warmup show at Boston’s Fenway Park later this week (September 8) before resuming their Las Vegas residency on September 14 at the Dolby Live at Park MGM stadium.

For a full list of dates, visit Aerosmith’s website.

An Ernie Ball Music Man EVH electric guitar, once owned and heavily played by Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, has gone up for sale on Reverb.

But, as if Whitford’s ownership didn’t already season the six-string with an ample amount of celebrity spice, the guitar itself was actually a gift, and was given to Whitford by Eddie Van Halen himself back in the early ‘90s.

The early run Ernie Ball Music Man model – authenticated as number #127 – was manufactured on October 24, 1991, and was gifted to Whitford by Van Halen shortly after it had been produced.

After acquiring the guitar, Whitford then used it extensively for almost two decades, with the six-string seeing plenty of action on stage throughout 1991 and 2017.

For the past few years, the guitar has been retired, and has been residing in the Brad Whitford Collection at Donn Bennett’s Drum Vault

At around the 24:00 mark in the video below, Whitford can be seen using the purple Ernie Ball Music Man during Aerosmith’s 2017 gig in Moscow.

No spec sheet has been given by Reverb, but owing to its production year most of its appointments can be surmised. After all, the original EVH Ernie Ball Music Man template was only produced in the early to mid-'90s.

At the time, it was the first guitar Van Halen and Ernie Ball Music Man made together following the late guitar legend’s departure from Kramer. Following its development, the EBMM EVH was used extensively by Van Halen for the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance tours.

Thus, it can be speculated that the guitar – which paved the way for the Ernie Ball Music Man Axis – has a basswood body with a purple flamed maple top, as well as a select maple neck and fretboard, and color-matched headstock.

In the hardware department, there’s a Music Man locking tremolo and a locking nut, both of which line up alongside Schaller locking tuners. Furthermore, the Zebra humbuckers are probably DiMarzio customs, and are wired to a three-way selector switch and – in true EVH fashion – a sole volume control labeled “Tone”.

Some more model-specific extras include a “Property of Aerosmith” sticker on the headstock’s rear, a Whitford-played guitar pick and a certificate of authenticity that reads, “This is to certify that the item to which this certificate is attached is genuine and 100 per cent authentic and this item as documented below was owned and played by me, Brad Whitford of Aerosmith.”

Unsurprisingly, the guitar carries a pretty hefty price tag – $25,674, to be precise. To find out more, head over to Reverb.

It’s the latest guitar associated with Eddie Van Halen’s name to go up for sale. Earlier this year, a similar Ernie Ball Music Man model from the ‘90s – which had been borrowed by Van Halen to record with Black Sabbath – hit the auction block.

Another notable sale came from Van Halen’s guitar tech Tom Weber, who last year parted ways with an Eddie Van Halen-signed Kramer that Van Halen himself had gifted to him back in 1988.

Rufus Publications has joined forces with Brad Whitford for an all-new book, which will take a deep-dive into the life and career of the iconic Aerosmith electric guitar player.

Titled Listen To Whitford and compiled by esteemed music photographer Ross Halfin, the 300-plus-page piece contains an abundance of photos and features taken from Halfin’s own personal collection, comprising unseen snaps of the band live and behind the scenes.

Each copy in the 500-book run, due to go up for pre-order tomorrow (September 2), will be personally signed by both Whitford and Halfin, and will feature an introduction from Metallica man Kirk Hammett.

“He’s a monster of a player,” writes Hammett, “and deserves every inch of credit that’s coming to him in his book, so yeah… check out his solos. Listen To Whitford, you’ll be surprised.”

Other literary contributions come in the form of forwards by Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro and Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean DeLeo.

After replacing Aerosmith’s original guitarist Ray Tabano in 1971, Whitford became a stalwart in the band’s lineup, helping them record all 15 of their studio albums.

It’s the most recent addition to the publishing house’s extensive library of guitar-related literary pieces – and the newest one authored by Halfin – following the recently released Randy Rhoads by Ross Haflin.

Other titles available in Rufus’s catalog include the Peter Green-dedicated The Albatross Man, the Eddie Van Halen photo collection and a number of other works dedicated to AC/DC, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and many more.

Listen To Whitford will measure 240mm x 340mm, and will be designed, printed and bound in the United Kingdom.

The book will be available for £200, with pre-orders set to open on September 2 at 3pm BST (10am ET).

To find out more, visit Rufus Publications.

Brad Whitford has thrown hopes of Aerosmith playing live in the future up in the air in a new appearance on Joe Bonamassa's Live From Nerdville podcast.

In an episode with the blues ace – which aired last week (June 2) – the Aerosmith guitarist comments on the band's scheduled European tour. 

“They tried to plan one last year, and [now] they're talking about next year,” he told Bonamassa. “It's a pipe dream right now. Nothing's going to happen for a long time. Sometimes I'm not sure what my partners are thinking when they think that's going to happen.”

Following a conversation regarding Brexit and difficulty obtaining work visas for European dates, Whitford adds that he has his “doubts about Aerosmith ever really performing again,” noting that “age is becoming a real factor”.

Back in late 2019, Aerosmith scheduled a tour in June and July of 2020 in celebration of their 50th anniversary. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the run was postponed until summer 2021. The rescheduled dates were ultimately postponed again in February this year.

According to the band's website, the dates are now scheduled throughout summer 2022.

The podcast also sees Whitford and Bonamassa discuss the paranoia associated with bringing an original 1959 Fender Stratocaster on tour, making eye contact with the crowd during small shows and Aerosmith's blue-collar appeal.

Brad Whitford might be known primarily as a Les Paul and Strat guy, but the Aerosmith man recently went on record about his long love affair with PRS electric guitar models.

“What’s cool is that, from day one, Paul was striving to be the best – and he’s never stopped. Especially when it comes to his pickups – they’ve come so far,” Whitford told Guitar.com.

“My PRS 594 can sound as mellow as a kitten or as vicious as a panther. When you want that thing to bark, wow! And it’s got sustain that’s just – I’ve never heard a guitar sustain like it.”

Whitford also handed out high praise for one of the guitar maker’s most recent – and controversial – models, the John Mayer-designed Silver Sky, which he called his “favorite.”

Said Whitford, “That’s the one that I sit around and play more than any other. I love the way it feels. To me, [Smith has] taken the Stratocaster but he hasn’t just stuck a different headstock on it. He’s come with all these modern views about how to use the idea of this instrument, and evolve the body, the neck and that sort of thing. 

"It’s Strat-like in its sound, yeah, but it’s not a Strat. It’s kind of created this whole new family of sounds.

“I play it every night. I could literally play the whole show with it if I wanted to. But I’ve got all these other pretty guitars that I like to show off.”

And Whitford, who calls himself PRS’s “first endorsee,” knows a thing or two about Smith’s guitars.

“PRS has been a part of my career for a long time, going back to when Paul was building guitars in his garage,” he said.

“He liked my style and, one time, [Aerosmith] were playing near his home in Baltimore, so he came to the show with his guitars. At this point, nobody really knew his guitars because he was still a small garage builder. But they were incredible. They were so well built, so well thought out, and really cool looking.”

Joe Perry has announced a new leg of tour dates in support of his 2018 solo album, Sweetzerland Manifesto. Perry will be joined by a band featuring his Aerosmith co-guitarist Brad Whitford as well as Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone.

The shows kick off November 30 in Iowa and include stops in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles and other cities.

Earlier this year Perry spoke to Guitar World about how Sweetzerland Manifesto came together: “It’s actually been kind of a work in progress over the last few years,” he said. “Between the Aerosmith tours and then the [Hollywood] Vampires, it was something I would work on when I had time. I think the first track was actually done in 2012. But [in 2017], since January, I had quite a bit of time on my hands in L.A. and I was able to finish it up. I just boiled everything down to what sounded like it would make a good record and I started working on it.” 

The full tour itinerary is below, and you can visit JoePerry.com for more details.

Nov. 30  Sioux City, IA @ Anthem at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 

Dec. 01  West Dundee, IL @ RocHaus 

Dec. 02  Detroit, MI @ Crowfoot Ballroom 

Dec. 04  New York, NY @ PlayStation Theater 

Dec. 05  Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory 

Dec. 07  Cherokee, NC @ Harrah's Cherokee Casino 

Dec. 11  San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall 

Dec. 13  Pasadena, CA @ The Rose 

Dec. 15  Beverly Hills, CA @ Saban Theatre 

Dec. 16  Agoura Hills, CA @ The Canyon 

Slash took time out from playing stadiums with Guns N’ Roses to perform at a 500-seat club with Whitford/St. Holmes, the side project of Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford and Ted Nugent singer Derek St. Holmes.

The band was performing at Nashville’s Exit In on July 7 when Slash made a surprise appearance to jam on Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House.”

Slash is, of course, currently on a reunion tour with Guns N’ Roses that marks the first time he has played with the group since 1996. As it happens, Whitford and St. Holmes are on a reunion tour of their own. The duo made an album in 1981 after Whitford briefly quit Aerosmith and reformed last year to record their album Reunion.

It's often said in music that you have your whole life to write your first album but only a year to make your sophomore album.

That certainly wasn’t the path longtime friends Brad Whitford of Aerosmith and Ted Nugent vocalist/guitarist Derek St. Holmes took when putting together their new album, Reunion. Time and a music kinship brought these two veterans back together to pick up where they left off more than 30 years ago.

In 1981, Whitford, who had left Aerosmith, teamed up with St. Holmes to release their self-titled debut. Tracks like “Sharpshooter” and “Whisky Woman” carried on the same "stadium rock" style that made each guitarist famous with their respective bands. The album received critical acclaim, and they turned in a successful round of tour dates before returning to their "day jobs" and shelving the duo. Until now, that is.

It's been 35 years since your first album together. What brought you guys back together?

WHITFORD: It was a simple matter of geography. Over the past 30 years, we had been living in different parts of the country. In the past few years we have been neighbors living outside of Nashville. We are always playing. We play around town and jam at home. This was the result of really reconnecting on a musical level because it was much easier for us to get together. The result is the record.

ST. HOLMES: We had a chance to start hanging out again. When we were hanging out there where guitars all over the living room and we started picking them up and playing. We came up with ideas for songs. That’s how it got started.

Can you take me back to the early Eighties? What was the impetus for you to go your separate ways?

ST. HOLMES: We did a couple major U.S. tours. At the end of the last tour in 1981, Aerosmith called Brad and asked him to come back. Within a week of that, Ted Nugent called and asked me to come back. We went back with our bands and went back on tour again. We just went our separate ways.

Did the two of your stay in touch much over the years?

ST. HOLMES: I’d see Brad when they’d come through town and I’d go see them. He’d come out and see me play. I used to drive from Annapolis, Maryland, to Atlanta and Brad was living in Charlotte. I’d call him and stop by. We’ve always had a really go rapport with each other. We really respect each other. Brad has so many great ideas that he can’t use in Aerosmith. I couldn’t use my ideas in Nugent. For some reason these guys are on a different agenda. They don’t want anyone’s input. Until you have input they can take away or borrow as their own.

Did you guys colocate to write in the same room, or were these ideas you had that didn't fit your respective day jobs?

WHITFORD: A lot of both. We did a lot of sitting together putting this music together. When we weren’t together we would be scratching out ideas for lyrics, etc. We had a lot of fun working on it. It was a labor of love. We were into it really deeply.

ST. HOLMES: I had about three different ideas to start with and Brad had three different ideas. Things we would just jam on. Sometimes I’ll have 75 percent of the lyrics and Brad will listen to it and come up with the rest. On a couple of these songs I had nothing and Brad would grab a pad of paper and he’d come up with exactly what I was feeling.

It’s one thing for two musicians to sit together and enjoy making music together. But when someone first said, "Let’s get a band together and do this again for real," was the thought to do live shows or was creating new material the goal from day one?

WHITFORD: It wasn’t so much a commitment, it just kept on taking more of a life of its own. The band grew one person at a time. Our bass player, Chopper Anderson, was someone we met when we first moved to this neighborhood. He was the natural choice on the bass. He helped a lot to put this material together. We got very lucky getting Troy Luccketta (Tesla) on the drums. He fit like a glove on this project and brought so much to the table. We brought in Buck Johnson (touring keyboardist for Aerosmith) on vocals and keyboards. It did not feel like work at all.

Did you have any hesitation doing a new album over just touring—based on the state of the music industry these days?

ST. HOLMES: Not really. We all know the music business sucks. We have resigned ourselves to going out, playing, having fun and in the process hopefully selling merch. I think it’s the only way you make your money. The only reason we want to make the money is to keep paying for buses, musicians and the crew. A little bit here or there for the mortgage is good. We don’t have any big plans of being megarich off of it. Those days are over. Unless you have a machine behind you like a Taylor Swift then it is a whole different ballgame. We don’t have that in our genre. I hope it changes but right now it hasn’t.

Both of you have been in bands with somewhat, shall we say, larger-than-life characters. When it was time to go back out and do some of the initial shows you did together with you two as the focal point, did you feel more pressure or was it more relaxing?

ST. HOLMES: We find it relaxing. The two of us together are dynamic enough to make it happen. We also get to turn it on a little bit more than we do in our own bands. This is ours. Brad comes on stronger and people get a chance to see him differently and the same with me. It’s not even a challenge. This is the most fun band I have ever been in.

WHITFORD: Definitely more relaxed. We don’t bring airs about us other than the music. The focus is on music and not on the personalities. It makes things a lot easier and more relaxed. The atmosphere is good times.

I could be wrong but I would assume with Aerosmith, you are a business as well as a band. This is being more a band has to make that easier.

WHITFORD: The business comes easier when the focus is on the music and we are not dealing with any bigtime personalities. This is very much starting out with a garage band. It’s a lot easier to deal with.

When you go out on the road do you expect the audience to be familiar with the first album?

WHITFORD: Not at all. The first album became kind of a cult classic with industry people. It never got out there. We are focusing what we do now on the new record and we know most people haven’t heard that yet. We have found the new music seems to be very accessible. People seem to really enjoy this music even though they have never heard it. I think we are having so much fun delivering it and the crowd can see that. It has an infectious quality.

In terms of the tour you are about to start with Whitesnake, what are you anticipating as far as a setlist?

WHITFORD: It will be primarily the new record. In the fall people didn’t know it but they liked it. We want to promote it. We think the songs are that good and they are a lot of fun to play live.

ST. HOLMES: We aren’t really sure how much time we are going to have. If we get a longer length set we will do a medley we worked up. It doesn’t take up to much time but we do two Aerosmith and two Nugent that we both wrote or played on. We really want to hammer home this new album. Most of the crowd I expect will look at us almost like a new band.

I think a lot of people might find it a little criminal if they didn’t get a taste of a little Aerosmith or Nugent.

ST. HOLMES: Criminal? [Laughs]. I think you are probably right. We are probably going to do “Sharp Shooter” from the first album.

They melodies are very strong on the record.

WHITFORD: In the case of Aerosmith I have been involved in all sorts of recordings and songs and stuff. I really feel I know what connects with people. What connects is just honesty. Honesty in the lyrics and honesty in the fact that you remember a song is a song. It is not about guitar solos and just riffs. What you really have is a song to sing. You have to have something you can grab onto. We let the songs dictate what is going to happen with our music. We don’t let anything get in the way of that.

As far as the guitar work, did you split that up or did you do more solos, Brad?

WHITFORD: That was really easy. We split it up. It was very organic. It was a matter of listening back and hearing a great lick. It didn’t matter who played it. We just went with what worked regardless of who played it.

The new material fits very nicely with the first record, although it's perhaps a bit more mature. Was that a conscious effort?

ST. HOLMES: We just decided to make a rock record and have fun. We wanted to play and write things we wanted to play live. We didn’t even think about the first album. Occasionally when we first came back together we would put the first album on and neither one of us can believe at our ages back then that we accomplished all that. We did that in two weeks. This was a clean slate.

As far as the touring lineup, are you taking the band from the studio out with you?

WHITFORD: The only guy that will be coming in and out is Troy, due to his commitments with Tesla. We have another drummer, Sandy Gennaro, who will be sitting in when Troy can’t. But he’s adamant that he wants to be at every show he can.

I know you have dates through July with Whitesnake and Aerosmith has some South American dates in the fall. Is the rest of the year going to be centered on promoting this album?

WHITFORD: The Aerosmith schedule is pretty wide open. We are only down there for about a month. The rest of the time, for the time being, I'm going to be concentrating on this band.

Whitford/St. Holmes' new album, Reunion, will be available June 3 worldwide. For more information, visit whitfordstholmes.com.

WHITFORD/ST. HOLMES ON TOUR
All dates with Whitesnake unless noted.

• Fri 06/03/16 Dallas, TX The Bomb Factory
• Sun 06/05/16 Houston, TX Revention Music Center
• Mon 06/06/16 San Antonio, TX Majestic Theatre
• Wed 06/08/16 Indianapolis, IN Old National Centre
• Thu 06/09/16 Traverse City, MI Ground Zero (with Tom Keifer)
• Sat 06/11/16 Northfield, OH Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park
• Sun 06/12/16 Whitsburg, KY Appalshop Theater (Headline Show)
• Tue 06/14/16 Cincinnati, OH PNC Pavilion At Riverbend
• Wed 06/15/16 Huber Heights, OH Rose Music Center At The Heights
• Thu 06/16/16 Pittsburgh, PA Hard Rock (Headline Show)
• Fri 06/17/16 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre
• Sun 06/19/16 Farifield, CT The Warehouse (Headline Show)
• Mon 06/20/16 Brooklyn, NY Kings Theatre
• Tue 06/21/16 Montclair, NJ The Wellmont Theater
• *Wed 06/22/16 Sellersville, PA Sellersville Theater (Headline Show)
• Thu 06/23/16 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
• Sat 06/25/16 Boston, MA House Of Blues Boston
• Sun 06/26/16 Portland, ME Maine State Pier
• Tue 06/28/16 Lewiston, NY Artpark Amphitheater
• Wed 06/29/16 Silver Spring, MD The Fillmore Silver Spring
• Thu 06/30/16 Annapolis, MD Rams Head On Stage (Headline Show)
• *Fri 07/01/16 Londonderry, NH Tupelo Music Hall (Headline Show)
• Sat 07/02/16 Pawling, NY Daryl’s House (Headline Show)
• Sat 07/30/16 Elgin, IL Festival Park (with Lynyrd Skynyrd)

This classic "Rock This Way" column by Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Brad Whitford is from the August 2003 issue of Guitar World magazine.

JOE PERRY: The great British blues guitarists of the Sixties—people like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Peter Green—could play like virtuosos, but they also understood the importance of energy and intensity.

For me, Beck is the most fascinating of all. It always seemed that Jeff had bigger demons to conquer; with a brash sense of daring, he was willing to do anything to find a new way. His career has reflected that, too. He has always tried to top himself as a player and as a guitarist playing instrumental music. He has the drive to constantly go to new places.

BRAD WHITFORD: I find that whatever it is I'm playing, in part of my mind I am wondering what Beck's approach would be. And this is true every time I pick up the guitar; his impact is that strong. Beck's influence is always there because his playing is so beyond. From the very beginning until today, the fire and the spontaneity of his playing always leaves me shaking my head.

What those British guys were doing back them is virtually the same approach we're taking with our upcoming blues record (2004's Honkin' on Bobo). All these years later, it's still a viable route of musical creativity. We'd like to shine a light on the great blues music of the past while also creating something new. Taking a close loo at how our heroes twisted the blues into new sounds is just as inspiring today as ever.

PERRY: As far as I'm concerned, Beck stretched the concept of modernizing the blues further and anyone. He never really played blues in the traditional sense anyway, even in his earliest days with the Yardbirds, which was close as he ever got. (2015 Editor's Note: Be sure to check out Beck's pre-Yardbirds blues playing with the Tridents.)

Beck took great liberties; he always made it funky, twisted it into heavy metal and wrapped all of that stuff around the lyrics, which was an exciting thing to hear. His early records display such a left-field take on the old traditions. He was busting down the doors and the walls of the accepted standards. If you listen to the live recordings of the Jeff Beck Group from that era, with Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass and Mickey Waller on drums, they really did cut loose. That was a wild band on the live stage.

WHITFORD: Beck's greatest influence on me came from seeing him play live. He floored me every time. The first time I saw him, he was playing the oxblood Les Paul, made famous by the Blow by Blow album cover (shown in the photo gallery below). Beck's playing is so unique and expressive that even being able to emulate his sound with a single note or phrase adds a lot of fuel to your own arsenal.

PERRY: In the original jam band I had with Tom Hamilton, we used to play "Rice Pudding" (top video) from Beck-Ola. The way Beck played the stuff was very punk; so much brash attitude combined with blistering virtuosity. He didn't give a shit, and he was an incredible player. He knew the rules, and the he obliterated them. In art, you can't go outside the box until you know how to paint one, and he'd done his homework well.

WHITFORD: The truth is, we took that "Rice Pudding" lick and twisted it around melodically and rhythmically, and it became the main heavy riff in "Sweet Emotion."

PERRY: Beck's version of Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" (bottom video) from Beck-Ola is so intense. His approach finds its roots in the blues, but blues had never been played like that before. Beck-Ola was even a huge departure from Beck's first solo record, Truth. It seems that Jeff really doesn't concern himself with what people think he'll do next. He's always followed his muse and pushed the envelope as far as he could.

FIGURES 1-3 are three licks that are representative of Beck's style. FIGURE 1 is played at a fast tempo with a shuffle/swing feel. These licks reveal the influence of the great Les Paul, as well as Paul Burlison of the Rock and Roll Trio, who was known for flashy pull-off-to-open-strings licks, like the one in bar 4.

FIGURES 2 and 3 illustrate some bluesy licks in Beck's style that he might play over a slow blues; FIGURE 2 is based on the B minor pentatonic scale (B D E F# A) and reveals his unusual sense of phrasing. FIGURE 3 is based on the F# minor blues scale (F# A B C C# E) and utilizes some more cool pull-offs to open strings.

01. A shirtless Joe Perry and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith discuss their set list while backstage at their August 18, 1990, Monsters of Rock show at Donington Park in England.

02. Jimmy Page—wearing a shirt—walks in and asks for his cue during "Train Kept A-Rollin'," a song he performed with the Yardbirds during his tenure with the band and which, of course, Aerosmith covered in 1974.

03. After a few minutes, Perry and Tyler give Page the required information. Page leaves.

04. Page joins Aerosmith on stage for a strong version of "Train Kept A-Rollin'." Perry, Brad Whitford and Page take turns playing solos, with Page getting an extra solo at the end.

05. Enjoy!

In his unwavering pursuit of success, particularly through the challenges of Aerosmith’s early years, Brad Whitford displays a kinship to the ultimate tenacity of the Les Paul design: the time-will-prove qualities and heroic achievements of a guitar that wasn’t fully appreciated until half a decade after it was deleted from the Gibson catalog.

In both cases, time proved that commitment can outwait fleeting opinion, and that talent and craft are ultimately undeniable. The end result: Aerosmith became one of the world’s most important rock’n’roll bands, and the Les Paul became the most significant guitar in rock history.

Brad’s original 1959 Les Paul is an absolute tone-monster, and a guitar of exceptional feel and authentic, road-worn patina—not to mention the long-time favorite playing companion of a major hit-making artist—so when he offered it up for Gibson Custom’s Collector’s Choice series, the opportunity resonated on every level.

Following the side-by-side collaboration between Brad and Gibson Custom’s Nashville luthiers, Collector’s Choice #26 1959 Les Paul “Whitford Burst” captures every nuance of look, tone, and feel of Brad’s original, from its individual neck profile, to the output of its original PAF pickups, to the dents, dings, and finish fade that are all part of its “just right” vintage Burst appearance, this is the closest you could possibly come to owning Brad’s actual ’59 Les Paul, and a truly stunning acquisition for player and collector alike.

Collector’s Choice #26 will be crafted in a strictly limited run of 300 guitars (with qualifying materials ultimately determining the final number), so reserve yours now at your authorized Gibson Custom dealer.

For more about this guitar, visit gibson.com.

Aerosmith have just premiered the latest single from their upcoming 15th studio album. Stream "Lover Alot" via the SoundCloud player below.

"Lover Alot" is taken from the band's upcoming album, Music From Another Dimension!, which is slated for a November 6 release via Columbia Records.

The album marks a renewed focus on Aerosmith by frontman Steven Tyler, who recently announced his departure from American Idol to focus on the band.

“After some long ... hard ... thoughts, I’ve decided it’s time for me to let go of my mistress American Idol before she boils my rabbit,” Tyler said in an official statement. “I strayed from my first love, Aerosmith, and I’m back -- but instead of begging on my hands and knees, I got two fists in the air and I’m kicking the door open with my band."

Joe Bonamassa's next album, Driving Towards The Daylight, will be out May 22. Among the guest stars are Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford and Whitford's son, Harrison, also a guitarist.

Other guests include guitarists Pat Thrall and Blondie Chaplan, drummer Anton Fig, bassists Michael Rhodes and Carmine Rojas and keyboard player Arlan Schierbaum.

The album was produced by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley (Aerosmith, Black Crowes, Led Zeppelin, Black Country Communion).

"This is definitely more influenced by the stuff that the guys and musicians in this room love, early '60s English and American rock and blues," said the elder Whitford, speaking from Studio At The Palms in Las Vegas, where the album was recorded. "I guess we'll never get that out of our system and its fun to come in here and find our own path down that highway."

The album features four Bonamassa originals, including "Dislocated Boy," "Driving Towards The Daylight," "Heavenly Soul" and "Somewhere Trouble Don't Go." Other tracks include Bonamassa's versions of Tom Waits' "New Coat Of Paint," "Lonely Town Lonely Street" by Bill Withers, "A Place In My Heart" by Bernie Marsden of White Snake and "I Got All You Need," by Willie Dixon.

Bonamassa's label, J&R Adventures, posted the video below, part of the "Countdown to Daylight" series of videos to promote the new album.

Here's our interview with Aerosmith guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford from the March 1990 issue of Guitar World. Click here to see all the GW magazine covers from that year.

"Last night I looked at some pictures of us in the old days and I looked dead. I looked really dead. And I felt dead. I remember that." -- Joe Perry

Call it luck, fate or happenstance, but Aerosmith has survived. They side-stepped disaster and came back with a vengeance to reclaim their old turf and more. The group's latest album, Pump, is a deranged plunge into sex and the big beat that flips a bird at the slick, generic rantings of their youthful competition.

Unabashedly raw, rude and cocksure, Pump is more than Aerosmith's best album since ... ." It's Aerosmith's best album ever. Better than Rocks, better than Toys in the Attic. And better than any Aerosmith's Greatest Hits anyone could buy or sequence.

But the Aerosmith that created Pump is an altogether different animal than the classic version of the mid-Seventies.

Back then, the group was a non-stop rock 'n' roll party machine, living on the edge 24 hours a day and roaring into town in search of your sisters. They were Van Halen before there was Van Halen.

That Aerosmith is a memory, preserved only in the lust-heavy lyrics of singer Steven Tyler (the first songwriter to make a sexual metaphor of the FAX machine). The new, just-say-no Aerosmith kicks ass way, way harder than the old incarnation ever did. Bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Krammer have developed a sledgehammer attack that could anchor a battleship in a hurricane. But the heart of this band is where it's always been -- in the bump-and-grind guitar rush of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford.

The old Aerosmith went down the toilet when Perry and Whitford -- both of whom were integral to the band's sound and chemistry -- split from the group (Perry departed in 1979, as Night In The Ruts was being finished; Whitford left in 1981, during preproduction for Rock In A Hard Place).

Their reasons for departing were typical: drugs and alcohol, burnout, slave-driving management and creative, personal and financial tensions, the last despite a decade of sellout tours and hit albums.

"We were being told we owed money," says Whitford. 'You're in arrears of $80,000 or $100,000.'”

“They were even saying my room service bill was really high," adds Perry, who claims his solo deal came about when management said he was broke and needed the bucks it would bring in. ''Now, I used to have a lot of room service, but certainly not that much. I started counting the money we made in past years on my fingers and said 'Something's wrong here."'

Perry and Whitford rejoined Aerosmith in 1984 on the condition of a complete housecleaning. "No old management, no old road managers, no old coke buddies. None of the old shit," says Perry. "From getting ourselves clean to sweeping the whole business clean took years."

The decidedly mediocre Done With Mirrors reintroduced the group with a yawn, proving little more than that the band was alive and could actually produce a record. Rhythmically and lyrically leaden, its best feature was the reversal of all copy type on the sleeve -- a visual pun on the title.

The infinitely better followup, Permanent Vacation, yielded three Top 20 hits. Still, half the album sounded as if it could have been recorded by any pro rock band -- good product, but nothing extraordinary. Then came Pump -- stripped down, rock 'n' blues jambalaya. Definitive Aerosmith.

Guitar World met with Perry and Whitford at Aerosmith's cramped Boston rehearsal space. Signs of the band's new health consciousness were everywhere. Instead of empty beer cans, Crystal Sparkling Mineral Water bottles littered the studio. Two 100-wafer bottles of chewable vitamin C tablets sat atop Joe's amp. Still, some old habits die hard. At the foot of Steven Tyler's scarf-draped mic stand sat a crate full of raunchy, low-grade porn mags -- the kind with few words and titles such as Young Chicks and Motorcycle Sluts (to be fair, such reading material was scattered throughout the studio. But this placement appeared a little suspect).

Perry and Whitford looked fit, alert. Apart from their rock 'n' roll attire and faint New England accents, they appear to be exact opposites. Blond and recently bearded, Whitford speaks slowly and thoughtfully. Perry is the sharp fast-talker. Dark and lean, he radiates the benefits of his recent workout obsession. Both come off as extremely regular guys, lacking any rock star pretensions.

We retired to a quiet room and spoke among a crew of roaming cats.

GUITAR WORLD: Did things change a lot when you got back together?

BRAD WHITFORD: We did a lot of house cleaning during Done With Mirrors, but we hadn't swept our brains out yet. We were trying to use the same songwriting process we used in the mid-Seventies. We'd start with four or five songs and try to write the rest in the studio.

JOE PERRY: There were only eight or nine cuts on our records because that's all we would have. That worked for Rocks and Toys In The Attic because we were playing live a lot. We tried the same approach on Mirrors, but the ideas were not there. We realized by the end we were not happy with the record's quality.

WHITFORD: By the time Permanent Vacation came, we were in such a different head space. Suddenly we were much healthier and the music was flowing like it did in the early Seventies. Pump was written in the same way the first album was. We did tons and tons of playing and woodshedding -- just letting ideas flow.

What about changes in terms of guitar competition?

WHITFORD: We thought a lot about that, but Aerosmith's beauty is that it is an incredible band. I don't have to be concerned about being a virtuoso.

PERRY: I definitely felt some heat when the West Coast surge started. We were originally influenced by the English. They had a stranglehold -- if you had an English accent, chances are you were fucking happening. By the end of the Seventies it came around to having kneepads and striped guitars. We could feel that shift when Eddie came out with his classically based style. He put his guitar through an Echoplex and it was killer. I felt some heat, but it's a matter of focusing on what you got.

When Permanent Vacation hit, I was surprised how you guys were seen as very current -- not at all musty or old.

PERRY: The only negative thing I remember hearing was that some of the real hard core head-hitters accused us of "selling out." They were saying things like, "I don't know why you're doing a song like ‘Angel.'" I would counter with, "What about 'Dream On'?" The difference between us and a band like the Stones is we keep changing. Every album has a different texture. We're always re-upping. It doesn't seem too stagnant. I think we'd all be fucking bored if we put out an Eliminator and then came out with an Afterburner. That isn't how we do things.

Yeah, a lot of bands who have a successful record say they're not going to repeat it, but they do. Pump sounds like you guys said, "Hey, we just had a big hit. We can do anything we want." Then actually did it.

WHITFORD: We never sit around and say, "It's gotta be more like that," or "We gotta be careful we don't do that." What's done is done.

Does it get harder to put out rock records as you get older? Does it affect you that your peers might not listen to rock anymore?

WHITFORD: Not really. It's got to clear with me first, and then I don't give a shit about anyone else. It's the same for everyone in this band.

PERRY: We're going to start getting some shots about our age, I'm sure. But who gives a shit? People like the music, and that's all that matters. I don't see anyone avoiding the Stones because DJ's make jokes about them being a part of the Geritol set. All it does is make the DJ's look stupid.

But do you ever reach a point where you say, "Hey, I'm playing to kids half my age"?

WHITFORD: It's wonderful it translates to so many people. I was reading this thing yesterday about Dr. Porsche. Back in the Forties he built this car because nobody else was building a car he liked. His theory was, "If I build a car I like, maybe some other people will appreciate it." That's what we've always done – played the music we like. It so happens that a lot of other people appreciate it. So I never had a problem. I really like what we do and I really like rock music. I like it so much I just produced a record for a Boston band called the Neighborhoods. I just love sitting in a control room working with guys playing guitar rock. That's still really where it's at for me.

What do you think of Permanent Vacation now?

PERRY: Some songs are real high points, and I think they get close to what Aerosmith is about. On other cuts I think we kind of went in the wrong direction because we were like trying to change our songwriting. After Mirrors we were ready to try anything. We'd been writing together for years and years, so it was good to have somebody come in and go, "Why don't you just try this?" People put us clown for that, but I wonder how an AC/DC record would sound if they'd pull somebody like Jim Vallance into the songwriting process. Would they get another one-song record with "Heatseeker," or would you get a whole album that was that cool?

In my notes, I wrote, Vacation good songs, good players, very professional, but a lot could be done by other bands."

WHITFORD: Vacation showed off all our influences -- a Beatles cut and "Heart's Done Time," which is what we were really all about. But then it drifts away from that. "Girl Keeps Coming Apart" is almost funky and dancy. We were searching.

PERRY: "Girl Keeps Coming Apart" was fun and a great workout. When I started playing the riff, that's exactly what I envisioned -- something funky and wild with horns pumping away. But when we played it live, it went right over our fan's heads. Phshew! We played our hearts out on that song, and it went right over their heads because our audience is not like that. They wanna hear rock 'n' roll. That's what Aerosmith is -- a rock 'n' roll band. So we found ourselves with our clicks in our hands on a lot of those songs. You can't do that. But I think they're good songs and everything was performed well. Except for one song, every thing was done to the max.

WHITFORD: What song?

PERRY: "Simorrah." It doesn't go anywhere. Where did it come from and where does it go? But you got to do that stuff -- you can't not try. So if I'm an Aerosmith fan, sitting there six months later, I'd say some of Vacation washes and some of it doesn't.

It's a long record. I guess "Simorrah" doesn't make the cassette you make for the car.

PERRY: That's exactly it. By the same token, when you put a bunch of songs on the record, sometimes things like "St. John" get overlooked.

WHITFORD: On Pump, because we had had more time to write and woodshed, that f1uff and stuff burned off. If you go in and play things for a few days, invariably you end up getting down more to blues and real street level rock. We didn't have to rush. If something was a bit fluffy it went out the window after five or six days. Pump is really more about Aerosmith.

It's great how you achieved such a loud, full sound, yet one that's relatively uncluttered. You can really hear individual parts, as opposed to Vacation's wall of sound.

PERRY: That whole wall-of- sound is the worst thing about Vacation.WHITFORD: We hated that. When you see us live there's a guitar here and a guitar there, and that's the way we like to keep it in the studio. It keeps a record listenable.I notice that when you guys are really on, it's as if no one is actually playing the beat -- it's just there. It's when everybody tries to hammer the beat that it's lost and things feel too heavy. PERRY: As far as rhythm goes, all these notes going up and down are just an excuse to build the rhythm. The ultimate thing is the rhythm track. The snare drum is what fucking happens. That's the primal thing that holds it together. I think it's what Aerosmith is -- how five guys get that rhythm locked in their minds then add stuff, adding color to make it interesting.Maybe the feel I'm hearing is that suggested rhythm? Or maybe it's the way things are kept sparse. WHITFORD: It's all part of it. Creating a feel comes from experience and experience only. You have to play a long time or practice a lot. You also have to be able to listen. Did you ever see any of those old clips of big bands from the Thirties and Forties on David Sanborn's “Sunday Night Live” show? The whole band is sitting there with smiles on their faces, holding their horns. There's not a lot happening but, man, the groove is deadly.They swing. WHITFORD: Yeah. These guys stand up and blow their solos, sit down, play their part and everybody's got these shit-eating grins on their face. You just go, "Wow!" All of a sudden you know why they're smiling -- because it's just so locked in. That takes a lot of practice and experience and study. A lot of bands miss the mark. They just hammer away.PERRY: That's where a lot of metal bands lose me. It's really important to be able to swing. Steven was the one who turned me on to picking apart songs and figuring out why. It's easy to put on a Deep Purple record and say, "That sounds great." But why? Part of it is individual practice, but by playing together, a talent of meshing happens. There's a talent Aerosmith has when we're all playing together -- it's really special. Like when you hear the Beatles playing together, it's always better than when they're apart, ya know? Not to say we're as good as the Beatles,
but ...It's funny you mention the Beatles. You guys always took flack for being the American Stones. But listening to your records, the thing that stands out with Aerosmith at its best is sort of a hard rock extension of the Beatles’ last few albums – very song-oriented rock 'n' roll. PERRY: I think people who wrote the Stones comparison stuff did it because of the way we looked and that's all. We never really sounded like the Stones. We're in the business to make music, not fashion statements, but that's what they picked up on. The Beatles had a lot more to offer, musically. If you listen to some of the heavier John Lennon things, you can hear where Zepplin got a lot of their stuff. I mean, there was some heavy shit in there. I know Steven's really influenced by the Beatles. We all are. And regardless of all that stuff about the Stones, the Beatles were nastier in a lot of ways. A lot of their music got glossed over because of their image -- another case of image. But listen to the sound of “Revolution.” Man, that is a fucking monster.And most of the stuff on Revolver. PERRY: Yeah. Distorted guitars and fucking nutsiness.WHITFORD: Some of the best guitar tones ever were by the Bettles, on old ZZ Top records and, of course, the Hendrix records. But the Beatles had some killer, killer guitar sounds. That's another Beatles comparison. Pump has amazing guitar tones. There's none of that "Let's plug in the distortion and crank it" stuff. You actually hear different guitar sounds. WHITFORD: We try not to let the amplifier get in the way too much of how the guitar sounds. A lot of times, amplifiers will kill you. You get on stage, crank up your amp and think that's how you sound big. In the studio it's exactly the opposite. If you go in the studio and put your amp on 10, the guitar is gone. Then you start with "Let's double it and get it to sound bigger." Then it's gone twice as bad. Now I bring in one of my favorite Marshalls and, instead of running it at 8 or 9, I run it at 1 or 1.5. Suddenly, the amp's out of the picture and the guitar is in the picture. That's how you do it. Miking techniques are really important too, but basically, you've got to have a good guitar -- and if you can play it, that helps too. But you can't let the amplifier get in the way.What were your basic setups for Pump?PERRY: I mostly used a ’57 Strat for my rhythm parts with a Hiwatt or a Marshall or a Soldano through a 4-x-12. I found the Soldano was pretty cool for really quiet volumes. Live, as soon as you crank it to get some volume, they completely over-amp and make noise.WHITFORD: I used my gold top Les Paul a lot.Kind of a reversal from what people expect from you two. WHITFORD: Well, way back, on the first record, I used mostly a gold top with P90's, and Joe played his black Strat.You got all those different tones with that gear alone?WHITFORD: I brought many guitars but a lot of them turned out to be useless. I love the part of making a record where you scrutinize and really find out if a guitar sounds good. My gold top just turned out to have a terrific sound. Some of the Strats I had worked a little bit, but not too many other guitars I brought were happening.Joe, did you use any of your Guilds? PERRY: Yeah, I used the T-250. It's shaped like a Tele, has EMG pickups, and is real, real clean and twangy. It's got a triple Hipshot stringbender on it, and I used the Supro for slide.Let's roll through the tunes and get an idea of who's doing what and what's going on: "Young Lust." PERRY: Both of us are playing rhythm. On almost all the songs we're both playing rhythm. Brad's on the left and I'm on the right, just like when we're on stage. I do the short lead on a Spector going through an Eventide 300 Harmonizer."F.I.N.E." PERRY: Not really any leads. There's a slide thing over the bridge."Love In The Elevator." WHITFORD: We trade off on the first lead break. I start it, then Joe plays the whole breakdown section."Monkey On My Back." WHITFORD: I did the rhythm acoustic on an old Gibson with a few different tunings. Used a Nashville stringing. I remembered it from Keith Richards’ interview.They do that on a lot of metal records to double lead lines. WHITFORD: Yeah, they gotta do that because they record with such distortion.PERRY: I do a slide solo, plus a slide rhythm track. We weren't even sure we were going to put "Monkey" on.WHITFORD: It was on our "B List." Pretty good for the B List. PERRY: We had all this extra material, and it wasn't just a bunch of licks. On Vacation we had a bunch of licks and then we had the songs we finished. This time we literally had an A list and a B list of songs and the B list had five or six tunes three quarters done. "Monkey" was completely done, but it was really basic. That's one of the reasons we're so proud of it. We played it live in the studio, just laid it down -- even the lead is live, and it's really raw. I think the only overdubs were Brad's acoustic parts. And Steven did a cool thing on a Korg M1 synthesizer.Are we going to hear the rest of the B List stuff? PERRY: We want to put out an ep in the summer or fall.WHITFORD: We have out-takes from Vacation, and there's some things from earlier than that. Sometimes, it was only by the skin-of-its-teeth that stuff didn't make a record. But I think it's cool and it'll be interesting to hear.PERRY: It'll probably have eight or nine tunes on it because we want to give people their money's worth. But we don't want to call it an album because it'll take on a whole different aura. All it's supposed to be is a scrapbook of our shit, you know? A little side thing -- just a part of what we're all about.You guys seem to work well with such a loose attitude. PERRY: We did Pump for ourselves, just to have fun. Basically, it was real selfish. It's great to make money – I like that part – but fortunately, that's not why we're in it. Otherwise, I'd get a fucking ulcer for sure."Janie's Got A Gun." WHITFORD: That was layered. I bought a new Tele and it had a great sound right off the rack -- a Fender American Standard Telecaster. I just recorded some swells in the beginning. Then I did some rhythm work in the chorus. Joe did the solo and a lot of other little things.PERRY: Things I will never remember when we play it live. I played the solo on a Chet Atkins electric acoustic. That piezo pickup is so hot. When you plug that in, all you can do is turn it on. After that it's all distortion, and it just gets wilder and wilder."The Other Side." WHITFORD: I don't think I played on that. Joe played the rhythm with my gold top.PERRY: We recorded with the whole band and the horns and stuff, but we just couldn't get the feel Steven was hearing with Jim. We ended up tearing the whole thing down, keeping the drums, bass and horns."My Girl." WHITFORD: I think I used a Roy Buchannan Tele. It's pretty neat. Joe's doing a "not-quite-the-same-rhythm" on the other side of the mix. This is a good example of how we play rhythm together really well. It's almost like a counterpoint rhythm. It's not quite the same, but we're working along the same lines. But we don't do it the same and we don't throw any extraneous bullshit in there.PERRY: I think I used my Guild Tele. We really wanted to do a rock 'n' roll tip of the hat to the Kinks."Don't Get Mad, Get Even." PERRY: Just an excuse to play loud, that's all. I play some leads in the background, but there's really no leads per se. I came up with that song on one of those days ... I was bummed I didn't have a track to play because every day we'd go into the studio and try to come up with a cassette. That's how we do it. Come home, put it in the cassette player, and show your wife you were really at rehearsal. I didn't have anything, so I put "Rag Doll" on a quarter-inch track backwards and it inspired that kind of chord change. Steven came in and said, ''Sounds angry to me. Don't get mad, get even."I was kind of surprised it even ended up being on the record. It’s such a simple statement. But then we started playing it together -- it's just so fucking powerful. It turned into a monster. But I didn't think it was going to be anything other than just a blast."Voodoo." WHITFORD: Joe played a rhythm track. I played a solo track with that new Kramer Sustainor Guitar. It's a fun guitar to mess around with. I laid down two tracks the first just fucking around. Then I did another. Then I tried to get one for real, but we had it on the first two takes."What It Takes." WHITFORD: It was a keyboard song to begin with. Somewhere along the line we knew it was special, so it had to be approached in a different manner. And that's where Joe did that really cool Leslie solo.PERRY: It started off sounding really country western. We didn't want to write a song like “Angel," and for Desmond (Child), that's where his heart and soul is. He's into big, dramatic ballads. But we wanted to do something different. So we kept playing it and Steven started singing with a twang in his voice. I'm playing the Hipshot guitar going, deeow. Then it was just too on the other side. I was afraid of another "Girl Keeps Coming Apart."Great song, but country stations aren't going to play it. So we made it a little more rocked out. The thing that made it for me was when the guy put an accordion on it. That gave it the flavor it needed. Otherwise it would have just been nice chords and nice changes.I get the feeling you guys let nature take its course when working out guitar parts. PERRY: Very rarely does the situation crop up where we don't come up with something that way. Obviously we have to talk about it, but for the most part it just flows.Do you ever have to stop and ask, "Hey, what are you playing over there?"'WHITFORD: Sometimes I'll tend to drift away or make it too busy. When I keep it simple - -that's when it really works.Any disagreements about parts? PERRY: Nah, there's plenty to argue about with Steven!WHITFORD: We don't have too many differences.PERRY: There's lots of space in the band. Because we both play everything, it's not like, ''I'm the lead guitar player, I've got to do all this." I love to play rhythm guitar, but on this record I did more leads. On the last record Brad did more leads. The next record will be different.Do you start thinking about the next album the minute you finish the last one? PERRY: Things happen as you go along and play the songs. You listen to the album and get response. You get tired of the record and figure out what's wrong with it. It's just pop music.After a while, no matter how much you love any pop song, you're going to get tired of it. That's the way it is with any entertainment. It's good when you first hear it or see it, you like it for a while, then it gets old. It gets chewed up and spit out and it's done. So there's a point where I feel, "The last record is done. Now I want to hear some new Aerosmith music." Then you start the whole process again. But right now I'm just ready to play the shit out of “Don't Get Mad, Get Even."