AEROSMITH Bassist Checks In From London

AEROSMITH bassist Tom Hamilton has issued the following update:

"Just got back to the hotel after a gig at the Hard Rock in London. There were probably all of a hundred and fifty people there. A nice cozy club gig. Our equipment probably took up more space than the audience.

"We've been in London for the last couple of days doing press to promote our first European tour in eight years. It starts in May and goes through mid July. I'm pretty psyched about it. I'm a history buff and they have a pretty big supply of it over there in the Old World.

"You'd be amazed at all the planning and logistics that go into this stuff. I mean technically its a few interviews and a club gig. Sounds simple but it ain't. It takes a lot of smart people a lot of time to plan it out so it works right. You have to make sure the radio guy from Latvia gets as much time as the newspaperwoman from Germany. The interviews were literally ten minutes each, one after the other for the whole day. It all worked well and everybody seemed reasonably satisfied. I had to keep reminding myself to watch the jet lag thing. You don't want to say something dumb because you're wiped out from the time warp.

"We all met up here Sunday afternoon after flying all night. Wait a minute….. Sunday morning. See — I'm already f-ing up the facts. After going back to sleep for a little while we went over to the club for a sound check/rehearsal. The stage was tight but the room had a nice sound. The fact that the back wall was only about thirty feet away probably helped. Everybody in the band was getting off on it. It was ballsy but tight and focused. It made us all look forward to the gig, which was the next night. We finished the sound check and then headed out to an Indian restaurant for a good pig-out.

"I promised myself I'd get to sleep early but of course it didn't happen. Too many distractions. No matter how hard I try 2:00 A.M. comes around way too fast. What the hell, sometimes you play better when you're exhausted.

"After all the interviews and press hubbub we went back to the hotel for a break. As usual I ordered something off the room service menu and put on the news channel. In England it's Sky News and the story of the day was about some pop singer shaving her hair off along with the usual stories about warfare and traffic congestion.

"We went over to the venue around 9:00 and went straight onstage. What a blast. It was a real treat having the band all close together while we played. Close enough to look at each other and revel in yet another milestone. We haven't done a club show in a long time so the novelty factor was there by the imperial gallon. The audience was right in our face splattering us with their energy and all we had to do was hand it back. Not to be too corny but I really did flash back to when we used play the Barn up in New Hampshire in the early days. It was a nice moment, not to be forgotten.

"So anyway it was cool to be in London where so many of our favorite bands came from. We soaked in the history.

"Speaking of legends. We got to see the vault under the Hard Rock where they keep some of their most priceless memorabilia. They had a guitar that belonged to Jimi Hendrix along with one from Jeff Beck and another from Duane Allman. They had a jacket that belonged to John Lennon and a necklace that belonged to Elvis Presley. My favorite item was one of those little bubble things that you shake and it makes a little snowstorm. It belonged to Kurt and Courtney. The little thing was probably worth a Ferrari, for cryin' out loud.

"Tomorrow it's back to Boston. Got to get there before the jet lag sets in for real."