AEROSMITH Bassist: 'I Really Love The Spontaneity Of The Internet'

Greece's Rockpages.gr web site recently conducted an interview with AEROSMITH bassist Tom Hamilton. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Rockpages.gr: Tom, you've been in the band right from the beginning. How did it feel when you had to step down in 2006 in order to follow a health treatment?

Tom Hamilton: I had cancer two years ago… It was a strange feeling! The band had a tour that has been booked for a long time, so we had to find a replacement… It was a very strange feeling! But there wasn't much thinking to do… It was the cancer that I had to fight and nothing would be more important than my health. The rest of the guys knew that and they were really really supportive! I had to follow the doctors' orders if I wanted to return to the band healthy and in great shape. But it was difficult… because this band means everything to me and I had to be patient.

Rockpages.gr: AEROSMITH is one of the very few bands of the '70s that still get a considerable amount of airplay in TV and on radio. Do you think that the good public relations and the clever management moves are as important as the proficient musicianship?

Tom Hamilton: Yeah…(pause) I think that it is a good assessment… For instance, we are working on putting online some interesting pieces… I mean video and audio…on our website for our fans. But, I agree… it is important to communicate with the media. Sometimes, when you read the press, you stay in touch with the reality. You know what I mean? We could have easily been absorbed in our small worlds! AEROSMITH has been in the music business since the early '70s and someone could ask, "Why should AEROSMITH do press?" But, that's not true! We must remain true to our fan base and one of the ways to communicate with them and let them know what we are up to is through the media. In addition to all that, I must say that I really love the spontaneity of the Internet… the fact that you could log on to a chat room in our forum and talk to your fans! That's great! When I was a teenager, I waited to see a picture of my favorite band in a magazine or a newspaper… and this could take days or even weeks! Now we play on the other side of the world and the same night all our fans can check photos of our show on our official site. Hopefully, one day in the future we can do something similar with our songs… maybe, our fans can get a taste of our upcoming album by logging on some exclusive areas of our website. We still have one album to do with Columbia and then we will think if we want to continue by signing a regular contract or carry on all by ourselves. After all, the music business is rapidly changing.

Rockpages.gr: When should we expect your next studio album?

Tom Hamilton: Oh, I don't know! (laughs) The band is kinda working individually for the time being. So we haven't gathered as a group to listen to everyone's ideas…but that will happen soon. We'll probably do that in the next month or two and hopefully when we tour next year we will have a studio album out to support! I am pretty optimistic about it! I've been in my studio recording riffs and making a pile of cool sounds which I think they could be useful to the band.

Rockpages.gr: Tom, what's your favorite AEROSMITH record and why?

Tom Hamilton: Let's see…I have to say the "Rocks" album is my all-time favorite one. Every time the band entered the studio to cut a new album, we were better and better! I feel that with this album we reached our peak! It's not just the songs on that album that makes it so special for me…we also had a lot of fun recording "Rocks". We had a warehouse where we used to practice outside of Boston and we decided to do the tracks there…so we used a remote recording studio and the outcome of our practices in that warehouse is the "Rocks" album. We finished that record really quickly and it still stands the test of time! Great stuff… pure inspiration!

Read the entire interview from Rockpages.gr.