much is true. Considering he’s 73, you’d think he’d be slowing down, but here’s the thing — he’s not. Perry is as nimble-fingered as ever. And as I prepare to settle in for what amounted to a two-hour call with the veteran gunslinger, it becomes apparent that Perry is not only nimble but busy, too.
“I’ve been running around all week getting ready for the [Hollywood] Vampires tour,” Perry says. “It’s been crazy. It blows my fucking mind how busy we’ve been. When we started, I never expected to be this busy, but it’s been great. I’ve got all my guitars loaded up, and we’re ready to go.”
Indeed, those 73-year-old hands still traverse the fretboard of his array of well-loved Fenders and Gibsons with tenderness and ease. Anyone who has seen Perry live lately will tell you that his swagger remains, only to be matched by an unmistakable tone that — for 50-plus years — has defined America’s greatest rock band, Aerosmith.
And what of that tone? What’s more, what of the notion that Aerosmith — which after 50 years of breakups, shake-ups and extended pauses, is still composed of Steven Tyler, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer and Perry — is America’s greatest rock band? Cutting to the chase, despite what some will say, Aerosmith is America’s greatest rock band.
As for Perry’s tone, boy, it’s sweeter and sleazier than ever. Of course, gone are the drugs, drinks and drama, but make no mistake, Perry can still summon the ravenous ghost of his stage-struttin’ past with ease. Now unencumbered and staring at the end of Aerosmith’s road down, like an outlaw would the barrel of a gun, there’s nothing left to prove. For Perry, though, the end doesn’t mean complacency. What he’s built is too important for that. And so it’s not over until he says it is. He’ll show up and burn it down like he always has. And it’s that same fire that leads Perry to sling his trusty “Burned Strat” over his shoulder, whip his grayed and frayed hair back, take a breath and swagger with utter confidence while wailing away at the riffs and solos that made him a legend.
Perry has seen it all — sometimes (but not anymore) through a hazy lens of too many illicit substances. And there’s an argument to be made that he’s forgotten more than he remembers. Not that Perry harbors many regrets when he thinks back,
