Joe Perry
Joe Perry
Anthony Joseph Pereira, better known by his stage name Joe Perry, is the lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the American rock band Aerosmith. He was ranked 84th in Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Aerosmith, and in 2013, Perry and his songwriting partner Steven Tyler were recipients of the ASCAP Founders Award and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth10 September 1950
CountryUnited States of America
I don't spend much time listening to the records when they're done. Usually I let go of it. Especially in the Eighties and Nineties - they were like product, almost.
This time it wasn't like I had some deadline or any agenda or was even thinking like that. This was an absolutely no-pressure situation, just an at-home project, totally different from any kind of record I've made before.
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.
It's about just trying to top our last effort. We always feel like we're being chased. I look back at some of the records that we've done recently, and there's things about them that I like, and some that I don't. Those are the things that you lean on for inspiration.
Some of the best rock riffs ever written were by Jimmy Page, and I can't really name the songs, but some of the stuff he did on his first and second records is beyond brilliant.
I really didn't like 'Done With Mirrors.' I really didn't like 'Just Push Play.' Then there are other records I really think were good for their time, like 'Toys and Rocks.'
You can always pound out demos and send them to record companies, but most of the successful bands I've seen are the ones that can sustain themselves.
We went back to the beginning of the band's career for some of these songs. We had fun knocking the dust off them but it was a little nerve-racking too, because we hadn't played some of the songs in a while. I think we've only played 'No More No More' live a total of 20 times in our entire career. We were going on muscle memory for some of these, which gave our performance an edge.
I've seen bands split up for five years and do nothing. That sounds great to me, but it just hasn't worked out that way.
I've been fascinated with all kinds of weapons my whole life, and as I have been able to afford to acquire pieces, here and there I started to collect.
I've been into guns ever since I was a little kid, and the ones that fascinate me most are the black powder guns that people used back in the 17 and 1800s.
There's something about it that still works. To draw on a sports analogy, there's a certain excitement that you get from watching that ball go in the hoop. That's still there, even though the sneakers are fancier.
Practice has gone well and I am really looking forward to Sheffield.
People spend their careers trying to figure out what makes a hit single. But I learned a long time ago that you can't anticipate what people want, because it's always going to change.