AEROSMITH To Begin Recording Blues Album

AEROSMITH will likely enter the studio sometime in the next two or three weeks to begin recording their much-discussed blues album for Columbia, guitarist Joe Perry told Billboard.com.

Among the songs being worked up by the band are BLIND WILLIE MCTELL's "Broke Down Engine", LITTLE WALTER's "Temperature", and "I'm Ready", the latter of which was previously recorded by both WILLIE DIXON and MUDDY WATERS.

"By the time we're finished here, I think we're gonna have some tracks we're gonna have to beat when we go into our studio," Perry said, referring to the band's Boston-area recording facility, which is nearing completion. "At this point, looking at what the song list is, I'd say it's about two-thirds old standards and a third original.

"We're putting our spin on our influences," he continued, "There are some things we're taking kind of a cue from more modern versions. Some of it, like, 'Broke Down Engine', [Bob] Dylan recorded that in '94, but it was a BLIND WILLIE MCTELL song that I think was recorded in 1930-something. So we're listening to both versions and making our own version of it.

"We're not making an album for blues purists, we're not making an album to educate people in the blues, we're not making an album to try and copy MUDDY WATERS. What we're doing is taking songs that when we heard them made the hair on the back of our neck stand up and playing them the way we feel.

"In the end, we're gonna have some songs that sound kind of traditional, and other songs that sound like they come from the 'Rocks' era," he added.

The band have thus far prepared about 10 songs for the release, which the group is co-producing with Jack Douglas, who helmed such band classics as "Get Your Wings" (1974),"Toys in the Attic" (1975),"Draw the Line" (1977),and "Rocks".

AEROSMITH are hoping to release the as-yet-untitled record in September, not long after the band begin an amphitheater tour with KISS, whom Perry has called an "icon onto themselves."

"Just to be touring with them is cool," Joe said. "And then the whole thing about, 'Well ... they're cartoony,' and all that. If you have that kind of attitude, then you're taking your rock'n'roll way too seriously. To me, it's all about entertainment. I went to see them on this comeback tour and I didn't sit down the whole time."