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Post by selloutrus on Sept 3, 2014 16:13:58 GMT -5
www.blabbermouth.net/news/aerosmiths-tom-hamilton-on-next-album-we-need-to-get-closer-to-understanding-our-history/
AEROSMITH bassist Tom Hamilton believes that the group needs to find a more cohesive musical voice on its follow-up to 2012's "Music from Another Dimension!", which fell far short of the band's expectations. Released on November 6, 2012, the CD debuted at No. 5 on The Billboard 200 album chart, selling 63,000 copies in its first week of release. The group's previous collection of new songs, 2001's "Just Push Play", entered the chart at No. 2 with sales of 240,000 copies.
"I think that the band needs to have a unified concept of what AEROSMITH is to our fans," Hamilton tells Detroit Free Press in a new interview. "Without trying to pander and do market research, we need to get closer to understanding our history and the band that the world wants AEROSMITH to be. I think it's a combination of the stuff we did in the '70s when we really started learning the studio, like the 'Toys [In The Attic]' album and the 'Rocks' album, and then some from the later era of the band, when we did the 'Pump' album and the 'Permanent Vacation' album. I think those albums describe what this band is about musically."
Hamilton also spoke about the role that the producer should play in the making of AEROSMITH's next album, which the bassist believes should come together "within the next year or two."
"One of the flaws about our band is we really need a coach," he told the Detroit Free Press. "For 'Toys' and 'Rocks', we had [producer] Jack Douglas. He was a great leader and a coach. Then we had Bruce Fairbairn on those other two albums, 'Permanent Vacation' and 'Pump'. And he was a very strong leader character, like a coach on a sports team. We need that to do our best record. The thing is, you have to get everybody in the band to allow that to happen. Some people want to be the boss, and they want to say they did everything. And they want to have that attitude of: 'We don't need a producer. We know how to make a damn record. We'll produce it ourselves, by God.' That's a big mistake, I think, for 90% percent of bands. We've committed that mistake a lot.
"So when I talk about being back in the studio in a year or two, I mean, with a figure like that being involved. And that's something the band has to struggle with and go through whatever we have to go through to get everybody up and running on that idea."
AEROSMITH guitarist Joe Perry recently spoke frankly about "Music from Another Dimension!"'s shortcomings, and blamed some of its problems in reaching a bigger audience on both music and film business politics, revealing to Classic Rock magazine, "There is some ass-kicking stuff on that record, but there's also some stuff that, frankly, I'd rather we had left off. There were two big setbacks beyond our control. The president of our record label left three weeks before our record was released, and it got tossed in the bin. We'd been told that the lead song, 'Legendary Child', was going to be in the 'G.I. Joe' movie, and Paramount would put literally millions of dollars into the record."
Perry remembered the moment the band knew that the floor had fallen out from under them. "We were in the limo on the way to the TV studio to play the song on 'American Idol' when we learnt the movie was delayed by six months," he said. "I still feel the album didn't get to have its day in the sun."
Read more at www.blabbermouth.net/news/aerosmiths-tom-hamilton-on-next-album-we-need-to-get-closer-to-understanding-our-history/#i2zGRYkUrWocaaOJ.99
On a side note..you would think that the band knew what the fans wanted by their reaction to the "classic " songs during their most recent tour. Me thinks Tyler has his head up his ass and does not wish to revisit his hard rock ways in the studio.
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Post by pillis on Sept 3, 2014 16:38:52 GMT -5
Permanent Vacation and Pump are so cheesy and old that I really hope they won't be gettin inspiration from them again! What I like about MFAD is that they didn't try to re-duplicate too much what they did in the past although havin some throwback songs. As a matter of fact the most tired song on the record is Out Go The Lights which sounds like a Pump leftover. The whole idea to go back into the studio trying to focus on re-creating toys, rocks or a sound that their fans may want is like the death of an artist to me. MFAD used the same recipie of toys and rocks but sounds different, I think they should do this again just with more original ideas, better lyrics and better tracklisting/executive decisions...not going in the, "I think fans expect this so let's do it to please them" direction which is the most commercial thing a musician can do! If they're gonna pull out another album with an 80s sound and too many sexual references they're gonna be pathetic and predictable. Not sayin' that I want them to duet again with some random chick (although it could be interesting if they pick up the right chick next time around) but I just hope they're gonna make a focused and strong album without giving up on bringing something new to their catalogue otherwhise I really don't see the point in releasing new music. For example, I really think Legendary Child sounds like a massive rocker with a powerful throwback Joe Perry huge guitar solo, an incredinle riff and awsome lyrics and that's the old formula but sound-wise, it has so many details that they didn't had on different albums so it sounded fresh and unique when it came out. I can say the same thing for most of the songs on MFAD although it's far from being perfect. That's the secret to their longevity and their legacy, they've been doing this since day 1 not just from 1986 because we all know that all of their albums have a specific sound and vibe and sound different from each other while they all share that Arosmith's raucnhiness and fierceness (ok all of them but JPP maybe, still a good album imo).
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Post by AeroCooper on Sept 3, 2014 18:30:07 GMT -5
Good article. Tom is on the right track.
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Post by jj on Sept 4, 2014 0:07:42 GMT -5
I think Tom is getting it. Their was just too much in the hopper style wise for MFAD to gel into a cohesive album. He is also right about allowing a producer to help fulfill the vision of the band. What Tom is gently describing is a a lack of consensus among the band members of what the band is about. Any guesses here? : )
Toys and Rocks still sound fresh and energetic to my old ears. I also still like PV and Pump, though PV "sounds" 80s.
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Post by bartman2001 on Sept 5, 2014 14:23:08 GMT -5
They definately need a good producer. The everybody wants to be the boss thing certainly reflects not being able to work with Brendan O'Brien. Although I believe him to be the one to get the most out of them. But you have too be careful of "finding out what Aerosmith fans" want the band to be. That's part of what gave MFAD the all over the place feel. They need to decide what they believe Aerosmith to be and not just put out a record that has songs like each era of the band or they will get rubbish like MFAD. Fans of the Geffen -ballads era don't want to hear a new version of Cryin, IDWTMAT or Angel. Like What Could Have Been Love or We All Fall Down. If there's no nostalgia to the songs like that now one cares no one is producing songs like that any more. And if your going to do some rockers then your going to have to do more than a few without cheesy rhyming chorus forgotten about since the late 80's almost all of which contain some cliche' about love in them. If your going to draw from past eras then you going to have to take the very best of the spirit and qualities of those eras and forget about just trying to please fans from all eras. The result of that was MFAD and it was a failed effort.
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Post by selloutrus on Sept 6, 2014 16:08:26 GMT -5
Tom expands further about the abomination that MFAD was and clarifies the role of Jack Douglas and what held him back.
"The lackluster response to “Music from Another Dimension!” led two band members — guitarist Joe Perry and drummer Joey Kramer — to question in recent interviews whether Aerosmith should make any more albums, but Hamilton is more optimistic.
“I know what we need to do different on the next record, and I feel a lot more confident that there will be another one. I think the smart thing for this band would be to do it within the next year or two.”
If Aerosmith records — either soon or down the road — Hamilton says that the project has to happen under the right circumstances and that the group needs to find a more cohesive musical voice. That’s something that was lacking on “Music from Another Dimension!,” which seemed to divide the music between Perry’s preference for rockers and Tyler’s taste for big pop ballads.
“I think that the band needs to have a unified concept of what Aerosmith is to our fans,” Hamilton said. “Without trying to pander and do market research, we need to get closer to understanding our history and the band that the world wants Aerosmith to be. I think it’s a combination of the stuff we did in the ’70s when we really started learning the studio, like the ‘Toys (in the Attic)’ album and the ‘Rocks’ album, and then some from the later era of the band, when we did the ‘Pump’ album and the ‘Permanent Vacation’ album. I think those albums describe what this band is about musically.”
Hamilton also says band members should put their trust in a strong producer and let him guide the project.
“One of the flaws about our band is we really need a coach,” he said. “For ‘Toys’ and ‘Rocks,’ we had (producer) Jack Douglas. He was a great leader and a coach. Then we had Bruce Fairbairn on those other two albums, ‘Permanent Vacation’ and ‘Pump.’ And he was a very strong leader character, like a coach on a sports team. We need that to do our best record. The thing is, you have to get everybody in the band to allow that to happen. Some people want to be the boss, and they want to say they did everything. And they want to have that attitude of: ‘We don’t need a producer. We know how to make a damn record. We’ll produce it ourselves, by God.’ That’s a big mistake, I think, for 90% percent of bands. We’ve committed that mistake a lot.
“So when I talk about being back in the studio in a year or two, I mean, with a figure like that being involved. And that’s something the band has to struggle with and go through whatever we have to go through to get everybody up and running on that idea.”
Although Douglas returned as producer of “Music from Another Dimension!,” he had to defer to band members at certain points, Hamilton said. “I think the only reason we have a finished album is because of Jack. He was a very unifying influence on us. But I just saw a little too much of people wanting to get in there and wanting to take over those functions. That’s not what I feel is right for this band.”
Tension is nothing new for Aerosmith, which became an arena-level band in the mid 1970s only to fall apart soon after that when Perry (a main songwriter) and guitarist Brad Whitford left the group amid drug problems and internal turmoil. The original lineup reunited in 1984, and in its second go-round, Aerosmith recaptured its early magic with two late-1980s albums: “Permanent Vacation” and “Pump.” The band stayed on a mostly forward path before problems surfaced in the latter part of the previous decade.
A 2009 tour ended prematurely when Tyler was seriously injured after falling off the stage at an Aug. 5, 2009, show in South Dakota. His band mates were miffed at the singer’s carelessness, and Tyler, in turn, was angry when none of them visited him in the hospital and after he learned they considered hiring a new singer while he was recovering. Further tensions arose when Tyler agreed — without the band’s knowledge — to join “American Idol” as a judge and flirted with the idea of joining Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones in a new edition of Led Zeppelin.
Finally, all five band members decided to let bygones be bygones and reconvened to make “Music from Another Dimension!” Life in the group has been better since, and having already done an extensive European tour, Aerosmith now has a run of U.S. dates with Slash (the former Guns ’N Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist) as the opening act. The band has tried to craft a well-rounded set for the summer.
“You have literal hits that were fan favorites. Then you have fan favorites that weren’t necessarily the mainstream hits,” Hamilton said. “And so there’s a sweet spot in there of picking those songs, songs like ‘Kings and Queens,’ a song called ‘Monkey on My Back’ from the ‘Pump’ album. We want to really give those songs their due. And they are, they’re fan favorites. So we’re looking forward to bringing some of these songs (into the set). We really want to make sure that people go home happy.”
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