Read Online Steven Tyler: The Biography by Laura Jackson - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Laura Jackson
Ads: Link
testosterone-driven music appealed predominantly to guys with attitude. Rolling Stone once described fans rolling up for a particular Aerosmith gig as akin to ‘a boozy army of hard hats coming to dismantle the place’.
That year Aerosmith headlined in their strongholds around New England, playing sold out shows at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre, shining too as emerging stars in pockets across the US. Though Steven was gaining a reputation as a flamboyant frontman, a role that came completely naturally to him, he has revealed that he often regrets not playing on tour. ‘I miss playing instruments very much. I play on the albums, a little guitar, drums here and there, but I definitely miss that when I’m touring. It’s something to do. There are a lot of dead spots up there on stage so I just hide behind my scarves.’
The fractiousness inherent in Aerosmith was not the only source of tension. Elyssa Jerret accompanied Joe Perry wherever he went and her constant presence was later said to have aggravated matters, while Tyler and Perry’s ever escalating drug use further fuelled feelings of resentment which could only add to the cauldron of unrest. By Tyler’s own admission he was stoned much of the time - it had become essential to him constantly to chase the elation he craved, for without that feeling he became nervy and irritable. He could not do without a fix even for the couple of hours each night he was on stage, which was why he had pockets stitched into some of the long flowing scarves dangling from the mike stand to hold his back-up stash of drugs. During performances, he could feed what was becoming a serious habit.
Steven’s stage style was now very much the ragamuffin gypsy look - torn clothes made of floaty material that swirled around him as he gyrated manically about the stage. Joe Perry, the black-clad epitome of Mr Cool, once groaned: ‘Oh man, he definitely gets dressed in the closet, with the light off!’ But visually, it was extremely effective. Steven’s lurid stagewear had started off being provided by friends who would run him up outfits as favours, but he had progressed beyond that and soon he rasped to journalists: ‘You have no idea how much it costs to look this cheap!’ Despite his cheek, Steven was still not at all secure, a fact that showed when the rock media began knocking on Aerosmith’s door for interviews. Looking back, he wished that he had been a little less nervous when sitting down with journalists but, having received bad reviews and criticisms from the press in the past, his distrust of the music press was understandable.
When Aerosmith returned to Boston in late 1974 after such a hectic year the rewards were plain to see. The reception at gigs was now so wild, state after state, that cops were becoming nervous about controlling hyper fans on the verge of spiralling out of control, and the money the band coined in was at last steadily rising. With a real feeling that Aerosmith was taking wings Steven focused on writing songs for their next album. The ceaseless roadwork had sharpened the band, helping to infuse Steven with a positive attitude, but it is also true that their troubles behind the scenes provided grist for the mill. Brad Whitford believed that in the song ‘No More No More’, Tyler cleverly held up a mirror to life inside the band at that time. Joe Perry agreed, describing this number as representing ‘a page from our diary’. The pacy tempo of ‘Toys in the Attic’ appealed greatly to the lead guitarist, while Tyler was later not too certain where his head had been when writing ‘Adam’s Apple’. Tyler collaborated on numbers with Whitford, Perry and Tom Hamilton, and he fell back on a pre-Aerosmith song, ‘You See Me Crying’, which he had penned with Don Solomon. He also opted for a cover version of ‘Big Ten Inch Record’, but two particular songs written for this third album would stand apart from the others.
At the start of 1975 recording work
That year Aerosmith headlined in their strongholds around New England, playing sold out shows at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre, shining too as emerging stars in pockets across the US. Though Steven was gaining a reputation as a flamboyant frontman, a role that came completely naturally to him, he has revealed that he often regrets not playing on tour. ‘I miss playing instruments very much. I play on the albums, a little guitar, drums here and there, but I definitely miss that when I’m touring. It’s something to do. There are a lot of dead spots up there on stage so I just hide behind my scarves.’
The fractiousness inherent in Aerosmith was not the only source of tension. Elyssa Jerret accompanied Joe Perry wherever he went and her constant presence was later said to have aggravated matters, while Tyler and Perry’s ever escalating drug use further fuelled feelings of resentment which could only add to the cauldron of unrest. By Tyler’s own admission he was stoned much of the time - it had become essential to him constantly to chase the elation he craved, for without that feeling he became nervy and irritable. He could not do without a fix even for the couple of hours each night he was on stage, which was why he had pockets stitched into some of the long flowing scarves dangling from the mike stand to hold his back-up stash of drugs. During performances, he could feed what was becoming a serious habit.
Steven’s stage style was now very much the ragamuffin gypsy look - torn clothes made of floaty material that swirled around him as he gyrated manically about the stage. Joe Perry, the black-clad epitome of Mr Cool, once groaned: ‘Oh man, he definitely gets dressed in the closet, with the light off!’ But visually, it was extremely effective. Steven’s lurid stagewear had started off being provided by friends who would run him up outfits as favours, but he had progressed beyond that and soon he rasped to journalists: ‘You have no idea how much it costs to look this cheap!’ Despite his cheek, Steven was still not at all secure, a fact that showed when the rock media began knocking on Aerosmith’s door for interviews. Looking back, he wished that he had been a little less nervous when sitting down with journalists but, having received bad reviews and criticisms from the press in the past, his distrust of the music press was understandable.
When Aerosmith returned to Boston in late 1974 after such a hectic year the rewards were plain to see. The reception at gigs was now so wild, state after state, that cops were becoming nervous about controlling hyper fans on the verge of spiralling out of control, and the money the band coined in was at last steadily rising. With a real feeling that Aerosmith was taking wings Steven focused on writing songs for their next album. The ceaseless roadwork had sharpened the band, helping to infuse Steven with a positive attitude, but it is also true that their troubles behind the scenes provided grist for the mill. Brad Whitford believed that in the song ‘No More No More’, Tyler cleverly held up a mirror to life inside the band at that time. Joe Perry agreed, describing this number as representing ‘a page from our diary’. The pacy tempo of ‘Toys in the Attic’ appealed greatly to the lead guitarist, while Tyler was later not too certain where his head had been when writing ‘Adam’s Apple’. Tyler collaborated on numbers with Whitford, Perry and Tom Hamilton, and he fell back on a pre-Aerosmith song, ‘You See Me Crying’, which he had penned with Don Solomon. He also opted for a cover version of ‘Big Ten Inch Record’, but two particular songs written for this third album would stand apart from the others.
At the start of 1975 recording work
Similar Books
