- 4/22/2025
Brent x Joe Perry
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00What's up, everybody? Brent Porsche for 93.3 WMMR here in Philadelphia.
00:04Thrilled to welcome back the legendary guitarist from Aerosmith, the Hollywood Vampires,
00:09and the Joe Perry Project Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
00:11Mr. Joe Perry, hello, sir.
00:14How are you doing?
00:15I'm doing well, thanks. Thanks for taking some time to chat with us today.
00:18You out in L.A.?
00:19No, I'm in Florida right now.
00:21Florida. All right, excellent.
00:23The word came out last week that the Joe Perry Project is coming to Atlantic City,
00:27part of an MMR concert event.
00:28They're going to be at the Hard Rock in Atlantic City there on the boardwalk.
00:31It's going to be Saturday night, July 23rd, playing the very intimate Soundwaves room there.
00:36Now, if my estimates are correct, Joe, there have only been three Joe Perry Project shows
00:41since around 2010 or so.
00:43Does that sound about right?
00:45I guess. I haven't really counted, but yeah.
00:48Okay.
00:48Well, we got three more announced just last week, including the Atlantic City show,
00:52and there are a lot of fans, including myself, that are super excited for this rare opportunity
00:57to see you and the guys back through the area and up on stage.
01:00Tickets are on sale now as we speak.
01:02So, Joe, you have Joe Pett returning on drums, right?
01:05Yeah, we're really excited to be playing with him again.
01:07I can't wait to get him on stage again.
01:10It's going to be great.
01:11Yeah.
01:11And, of course, the rest of the band rounding out with Buck Johnson on keys.
01:15You got Chris Wise, of course, from the Vampires also joining on bass,
01:18and the one and only Gary Cherone on vocals.
01:22The question is, first of all, what a talented lineup.
01:24But when and how did all of this come together?
01:27Well, as soon as they heard that the show was canceled, you know, we talked about it,
01:34and Steven just wasn't ready to go.
01:37I mean, he had surgery over the last six months,
01:39and he just was a little optimistic that he was going to be ready to go.
01:45And, you know, so that's why it was so last minute.
01:49Excellent.
01:49So let's talk about the new single, Quake, which I've heard,
01:52and it's a rocking new single from you guys.
01:55And that is going to be appearing on the Switzerland Manifesto MK2,
01:59if I'm not mistaken, yeah?
02:00Yeah.
02:01That was kind of like that one and fortunate one,
02:06the one that Chris Robinson sings on.
02:08I wrote in London.
02:09One was with my son, Roman, and the other one with my son, Tony.
02:13I had a couple of days off, and I rented a studio to go in and work
02:18and flew those guys out.
02:20I love working with my kids.
02:22And, I mean, they're grown men now, you know,
02:25but I always learn something when I work with them.
02:28So those two songs came out of that,
02:31sent one to Gary and the other one to Chris,
02:34and they came back, How You Hear Them.
02:37And so I'm excited about those songs.
02:39I'll be playing those in the set.
02:41And then, as usual,
02:43I'll probably dig out a couple of really deep Aerosmith cuts,
02:48and then maybe one or two, like, better-known ones.
02:51And then the rest is my stuff, you know?
02:53Yeah, very cool.
02:54What can you tell us about the new record,
02:56Switzerland Manifesto MK2?
02:58Is MK2 just being marked to, of course,
03:00Switzerland Manifesto, the original came out.
03:02Was that, what, 2018 when the album came out?
03:05Yeah.
03:05So what's the MK2?
03:07Is it just, like, part two?
03:08Well, there were some songs that weren't quite ready to go on that album.
03:14We felt like we had, you know, a good set of songs for that release.
03:20And there were, like, I don't know, five, six songs
03:24that just needed some more work,
03:27and the two of those being the ones I wrote since that record came out.
03:34So, and we thought about putting it out on vinyl.
03:38Took a couple of the songs off of Mark 1
03:41and just added the rest of those songs.
03:45We mixed the, finished those up,
03:47and then put the two, those two more songs,
03:50and we rounded it out for,
03:51and it was a lot of fun putting vinyl together,
03:54finally, with artwork and pictures of everybody playing,
03:57and in the studio.
03:57And some of the pictures are from the one gig that I did
04:02to promote the record.
04:05The first one was at the Roxy.
04:07And I had, I mean, there was one point
04:10that we had Slash on the stage,
04:13Johnny Depp, the DeLeo brothers,
04:17me, and, geez, I can't even,
04:21I mean, there was so many, so many guitar players up there,
04:24and we played the whole album.
04:28I mean, everybody that sang on it was there,
04:31Terry Reid.
04:32I mean, thankfully, we videotaped it and recorded it,
04:37so it will come out at some point,
04:39but it was a, it was a pretty amazing show, you know.
04:43I mean, for me, it meant so much to see all those guys there
04:46and come up and play all these songs, you know,
04:50David Johansson and Gary and all,
04:53and so that's the one show I did to promote the record.
04:57And right after that,
04:59we started working on the Hollywood Vampires record.
05:02So I didn't have much time, you know.
05:05Yeah, so do we have a date yet for the new record?
05:07Or I know you're eyeing up before the end of 2022, hopefully.
05:11I think it's probably going to be
05:12in the next couple of months.
05:13We still got all the pieces together,
05:15but the lineup, like getting in line
05:19to get the stuff pressed,
05:22it's, demand is really high for vinyl now.
05:25So it's like you've got to kind of get in line.
05:28We've got the artwork done.
05:30It'll be in the next couple of months.
05:32Excellent. Very cool.
05:33You mentioned some guitarists at your show.
05:35You also mentioned Gary.
05:37Funny enough, the last time I was at the Soundwaves room
05:39where you're going to be playing coming up here
05:41in a couple of weeks on the 23rd,
05:42I saw Generation Axe with Nuno Betancourt.
05:45It was also Steve Vai and Zach Wilde
05:48and all those guys, Yngwie and all the rest, man.
05:50So that was a hell of a show in a hell of a room, man.
05:53You should be excited to be playing Soundwaves
05:54down there at the Hard Rock.
05:55I am.
05:56I've seen a couple of...
05:58I saw Jeff Beck there a bunch of years ago.
06:02I don't know.
06:02And the sound there is great.
06:06I don't think there's a bad seat in the house.
06:08And it sounds good on stage, too, which is really important.
06:12Excellent.
06:13And the same with the gig up in New Hampshire
06:19at the Hampton Beach Casino.
06:21I played there a bunch of times in the 80s.
06:25And I think Aerosmith played there in the early days.
06:29You know, it's been there forever.
06:31It's gone through a bunch of different changes,
06:33but it's still the same place.
06:34It is a great place.
06:37I think it used to be a roller skating rink, too,
06:39at one time, back in the 40s or whatever.
06:41But anyway, it's a great venue.
06:43And so all of these gigs I'm really excited about.
06:47So you mentioned some of the Aerosmith shows.
06:49Of course, the main savings, Bank Arena up there,
06:51the amphitheater in Bangor, Maine.
06:53I've seen a show there before.
06:54Absolutely beautiful tour kickoff.
06:56But then the next night or the next show after that
06:59is you guys' hometown show, Fenway Park, as you mentioned.
07:03And if I'm not mistaken, this is only the second time
07:06in 50 years that you guys have played Fenway Park.
07:09Is that true?
07:10Yeah, that's it.
07:12And it's kind of like we're looking at it
07:14kind of like the kickoff for the 50th year celebration.
07:20It's going to take place over the next year and a half.
07:24We'll be releasing all kinds of different material.
07:30I mean, I was thinking, you know, well,
07:32maybe we should try and write some new material.
07:35But then I was thinking, you know, like every song
07:40that we put out there that made the cut onto a record
07:44or onto whatever, there was always a different,
07:48another cut right behind it.
07:49There was always two or three versions that for one reason
07:53or another didn't get there.
07:57And it's not so much that they were, you know, wrong or different
08:00or maybe Stephen sang different lyrics or there was a different solo
08:05or that kind of thing.
08:07There's a different vibe.
08:07So we're looking at releasing some of those and I've heard some of those
08:15the last three years cataloging all this stuff and finding where it was
08:23because we would have two shows and we'd go, this was a great show.
08:27We'd mark it because we record everything.
08:29And some of those, some of those performances and some of those,
08:33because right next to say Dream On, there's another version of Dream On
08:37that we recorded that was, that we didn't use.
08:42And it's, but it's a different performance and it's in the studio,
08:46you know?
08:46So, and I think that we set the precedent with that release of The Road
08:52Starts Here, which was recorded with two microphones in a rehearsal studio.
08:58And, and if you didn't know better, you would think it was on the first album,
09:06you know, and it was, we recorded it six months before we were signed.
09:10So again, it's kind of like stuff that was released later, but it's,
09:17it's different stuff, you know?
09:19So it's vibe at the time for the tune to make the album.
09:22Yeah.
09:22I mean, as a fan and I was, if somebody said, you know, well,
09:27this is a different version of Honky Tonk Women, you know,
09:31they recorded in the studio, they didn't use it,
09:34but this is a different version.
09:35I would go, yeah, I want to hear that, you know?
09:39So that's kind of how I'm looking at it.
09:41The reason why I ask about Fenway Park is because
09:44I was at the very first show at Fenway Park going back to 2010.
09:50Wow.
09:51So that's why I found it was crazy that you guys up until 2010 had never
09:56played Fenway Park before.
09:58I mean, all the bands in all the years that have played that historic
10:01venue,
10:01how come the historic band from Boston didn't play the historic venue?
10:06And you had Jay Giles on the bill.
10:08And if I'm not mistaken,
10:09you had like a Boston area marching band or something like that,
10:12that opened the show.
10:13Yeah.
10:14Yeah.
10:14Well, you know,
10:15man's been there for a long time.
10:18I mean,
10:18it's not like it's one of those venues that it's had a history of
10:22anything, but the green monster, you know, I mean,
10:25it's absolutely famous baseball arena or baseball field or whatever.
10:32And I don't remember, you know,
10:36thinking of that, you know, place, I mean,
10:39Suffolk Downs or the racetrack or some of those,
10:43some venues that we've played at have since, you know,
10:47gone the way of the wind, but, but Fenway,
10:51I don't think they started having rock shows there till like the last
10:55couple of decades, you know?
10:57So, and so it's all about timing and like when,
10:59when you're going to play where and if you're touring in the winter or in
11:04the summer. So, you know, very often you can, you know,
11:08now that it's a venue that, that people play at,
11:11it's kind of like then it has to like fit into the timing.
11:14Cause you know, they're playing baseball there a lot too, you know,
11:19so finding a slot that's open it's so this is,
11:23this has been on the books for quite a while.
11:24So we've got our foot in the door for this one and we're really looking
11:28forward to it. And then I think extreme is opening the show.
11:32Oh, nice. Very cool. Again, the Boston thing, you know?
11:36Yeah.
11:37A highlight for me from that show was when they put the piano up on the green
11:41monster and you guys did dream on with Steven up on the wall.
11:44And then the rest of the band up on stage here, that was pretty epic.
11:47Yeah. Well, again, it's like, it's an event to play there. I mean,
11:52you know, growing up as a,
11:53as a kid there in Boston and seeing the socks and, you know,
11:58and then going back and, and, you know, like with the Yankees so close and all,
12:03it's been, it's a, it's a really famous venue.
12:06And to actually play, play there, it's a, it's a really an honor, you know?
12:10Yeah, absolutely. So after Fenway, you guys head back to Vegas.
12:13You got the, the, the residency out there at a,
12:17with the deuces are wild at Dolby live at park MGM tickets are on sale now for
12:20the remaining 16 dates of 2022.
12:23And you guys have done a number of them over the past couple of years.
12:26What have you enjoyed most about doing these residencies?
12:28Oh man. Well, the best part is being able to go and to,
12:33to not have to travel from show to show, you know?
12:37I mean, that's also one of the things I love about being on the road.
12:41You get to go in and visit cities and go to,
12:43and see different fans all around the world.
12:47That's one of the,
12:48one of the great things about being in a band and traveling.
12:52I mean, it's,
12:53it's amazing to think of the places we've been because of the rock and roll.
12:58But on the other hand,
13:01from a technical point of view,
13:03to be able to play in the same venue like night after night and really
13:09fine tune the sound that that building was, was built for sound.
13:15I mean,
13:15I don't think there's a better sounding venue out there.
13:18That part of it and be able to like fine tune it is, is great.
13:22So then you can just, all you have to do is focus on, well,
13:25do you want to work this one into the set?
13:26You just go there a little bit early and all the stuff is set up.
13:31You don't have to worry about a sound check, you know,
13:34you've done that. And, and then of course the production,
13:38you can bring, there are things that we could, that we've brought.
13:43Cause you know, we're competing with like Cirque du Soleil.
13:45We're competing with the magic show here and the comedians there and the,
13:50the hardcore events on, on the strip. So, you know,
13:56we wanted to put on a, put on a real show.
13:59We just didn't want to like, kind of like shorten the, the,
14:03the touring set and, you know, and play some shows and, you know,
14:08but so we put a lot of time and thought into how we're going to give it some
14:13pizazz, you know, so it's kind of like you walk in and, um,
14:18the first thing you see is our van, the first van that we,
14:22that we drove around in, you know,
14:23that we found out in the woods and had rebuilt. And, uh,
14:27that was the one that was found on American pickers that they restored and got
14:30back to you guys. Right.
14:31Right. Exactly. And that's where the, the, uh, that tape for, um, uh,
14:37the road starts here that we just released the seven songs that were found on
14:42that. And, um, it was, it was the guy that had the, the,
14:46the land that had the, the, the, the van as it was sinking into the mud,
14:51dug some stuff out and he found this and brought it to us, um,
14:56at a show in, uh, in great woods up in Boston. And it was just this piece of,
15:02uh, it was wrapped in tinfoil and it was, uh, you know,
15:08seven inch tape and, uh, and he looked at it and it was still good enough to
15:13play. So we played it and it was like this, this two tracks. I mean,
15:18you know, when you record a record, you've got like maybe,
15:22maybe 50 microphones on everything, you know,
15:25a couple on each guitar, a couple on the drum, like 10, 20 on the drums.
15:30And to, to actually get that kind of a sound, um,
15:34with two microphones, you know, one near the,
15:38near the vocals and one for the rest of the band,
15:41kind of how they used to record in 1952, you know, um,
15:46to get, get it to sound like that was pretty amazing.
15:50We were kind of shocked, you know, I mean,
15:52it really sounds like the first record. Um,
15:56and we had it done before any of the producers or record company or
16:01anything, uh, you know, got their fingers in there.
16:05Yeah. Well, speaking of that era, January 5th of, uh,
16:082023 marks the 50th anniversary of Aerosmith's, uh,
16:13self-titled debut. You mentioned some of the plans, uh,
16:17moving as we get a little bit closer to 2023, obviously you mentioned, uh,
16:20you know, the vampires have a European tour lined up. Um,
16:23you've mentioned some releases and stuff.
16:25Is there going to be a concert tour or any kind of performances in
16:29conjunction with the, uh, the 50th anniversary of the debut,
16:32let alone the 50th anniversary of, of you guys?
16:35Well, I think that, uh, like I said, I think that the Fenway show again,
16:40you know, that being able to pick a date and go,
16:43that's when we want to play there. It's kind of tough,
16:46but it kind of is a, is a, uh, uh,
16:50coincidentally, it's a really good time to kind of kick it off,
16:54you know? And then, I don't know, we're, we're,
16:57we're not quite sure what we're going to do. Uh, I mean,
17:00I would like to play some of the places we haven't played in 30 years.
17:05I mean, uh, it's really about scheduling and,
17:09and trying to get a, uh, you know, mount the tour and then we'll see what we
17:14can do with it. You know, it's kind of like with, uh, with Fenway, you know,
17:17when we go in there, we'll, uh, you know,
17:20being able to have extreme play with us, you know, boss and boys and, uh,
17:25you know, and, uh, uh, you know, the whole thing, it's like, uh,
17:30that's going to be the kickoff, I think. And then I, I, right now we're working on a
17:36box set that kind of like hits on every decade, um, and, uh, and,
17:42and some videos to go along with it, you know, in the, the, the first,
17:46say 30 years of our career, finding video really hard.
17:51I mean, with everybody having a camera, I mean, you,
17:53the show you're doing, uh, is literally online within, you know,
17:58almost some, some of it's streamed, you know? Um,
18:02so the shows are up there finding video for the last over from,
18:06from the last 20 years is it's not a problem. It's like, you know,
18:10finding the stuff that you like, but you know, you better go back and
18:14it's hard to find you, uh, like, uh, like a video, like, uh,
18:23like an MTV kind of video, you know?
18:26That's awesome. I'm, I'm very much looking forward to it.
18:28I know you guys have a lot in the archives and in the vaults there.
18:31And basically, as you're telling me all of this, you're,
18:33you're making me sweat a little bit because man,
18:35you got a busy ass schedule lined up for the rest of this year.
18:38And 2023 seems like it's going to be busy for you too.
18:41And you mentioned the, uh,
18:42the Hollywood vampires doing the Euro tour,
18:44any chance of seeing you coop and debt back through the Philadelphia area at
18:47some point? We love you down here.
18:49Well, we'll see. I mean, we've got, uh,
18:53we put the tickets six shows on sale.
18:55I think we got 19 lined up in Europe and, uh, um,
19:01and we, we want to play in the States, but, um,
19:05um, it's also when Aerosmith wants to tour and Johnny,
19:09I mean, this was almost going on two years ago. Uh,
19:13that's how far ahead we have to book the Hollywood vampires, um,
19:17because of his movie schedules and stuff. And,
19:20and Alice is always on the road too. And, uh,
19:23so we had to really kind of like, uh,
19:26stake our claim on the calendar about two years ago.
19:30And it's been X'd out, you know, um, and, uh, uh,
19:35I don't know, there's still some, you know, on either end,
19:37probably on the other end, you know, done in Europe,
19:40there might be a chance we could bring, bring it over here.
19:43We all want to play in the States.
19:45And obviously if we only have like five,
19:52the, you know, the big places, you know,
19:56whether it's going to be New York or Boston or, uh, Miami,
20:00whatever, we'll, you know, go,
20:02we can get the, uh,
20:03the biggest bang for our buck and get to as close to our fans as we can.
20:07Cause I mean, um,
20:09I think that that band is probably the best unknown band in the world.
20:12I mean, we're like, uh, when we played, uh, not to,
20:16you know, shoot the horn,
20:18but when we played at the O2 arena last time we were in, uh,
20:23in England, um, uh,
20:27it was voted the top show that year. Um,
20:31and, you know, it's not like we're like
20:36Aerosmith or like, you know, I mean,
20:37not a lot of people know about the band, you know, um, but, uh,
20:42it's funny. It's a,
20:43it's really a trip playing with it cause it's so loose and everybody's like into
20:47it for the fun of it. And, uh, every great players,
20:52you know, again, Chris Weiss on base,
20:54who's playing in Atlantic city and these shows and,
20:58and Buck Johnson who plays with Aerosmith and plays keyboards and,
21:03and, uh, and B three. And, you know, so we've got,
21:07we've got great players and then Gary, I mean,
21:12anyway, so, um, this, uh, uh,
21:15playing in the States with, uh, with the vampires would be huge.
21:20It's just, if we can find the dates, you know, and, uh,
21:23if we don't do it this, this run, even if thing is, you know,
21:27we're so solid that it wouldn't take more than a couple of days rehearsal to
21:32get the, if everybody has the time, we can,
21:35we can show up and do it, you know? So, uh, you know,
21:40we're watching and we're, we, we all want to play in the States.
21:44Believe me, you know, even if it's a TV show, you know, anything,
21:48you know?
21:48Sure. Uh, any possibility of some new tunes in the pipeline with the vampires
21:52at the moment?
21:53Right now, I think that, um, what was everybody going with everything going on?
21:59Uh, I don't really see it right now. There may be like one or two, but, uh,
22:07um, I don't know, like nothing, nothing right now.
22:10What main thing is getting some live shows, you know, and, and, uh, uh,
22:15we would definitely release a couple more songs off it for singles, you know,
22:18but, uh, um, I don't know. We'll have to see, you know, times,
22:23every venue is booked. Everything is so booked ahead, you know, into the,
22:27into, uh, you know, into 2024. It's, it's amazing. You know, I mean,
22:33everybody's been locked up for two and a half years and not only do we want to
22:39get out and play, get let out of our cage, but, um, all the fans are there,
22:43you know, and it's, uh, we want to get out there and play for them.
22:47Yeah, for sure. Uh, so you mentioned Alice always on the road.
22:51He's coming back through the Philadelphia area. He's going to be down in Atlantic
22:53city as well. And Johnny is with Jeff Beck and about to release this,
22:57a new album called 18, which is coming out next week. Have you heard it yet?
23:02I haven't heard the record. I've heard some of the, some of the stuff. Yeah.
23:07And it's, uh, it's really exciting. You know, um, uh,
23:11the last time we were over in Europe and, and, uh,
23:15we hooked up with Jeff and Jimmy. Uh, in fact,
23:20that will do show at the O2 arena.
23:23They both came to that and actually stayed through the whole show. I mean,
23:27that that's something, man,
23:29you can get Jeff Beck interested to sit around and watch somebody else play for
23:34like a whole show. It's pretty amazing. Excellent. Well, Joe,
23:37thank you so much for, you know,
23:40taking some time to speak with us here at MMR today.
23:42We wish you and the rest of the bad boys from Boston,
23:44nothing but the best on this upcoming tour.
23:46And of course we are beyond excited to see you in just a couple of weeks.
23:49It's going to be Saturday night, July 23rd, the Joe Perry project,
23:53you and your band going to be at the hard rock in Atlantic city,
23:56playing sound waves. And those tickets are on sale right now.
23:59And please make sure you come back and say hi to us next time you're in
24:02Philadelphia. You're always welcome. My friend.
24:04Definitely. Well, you know, we go back a long way with MMR, man.
24:07I'll tell you, uh, we, uh, I mean,
24:11I can remember probably one of the first,
24:14first interviews I did was, was at the radio station, you know, uh,
24:19way, way back when, you know, so, uh, good on you, man.
24:24Very cool. Thank you so much, Joe, ladies and gents, Mr. Joe Perry.
24:27Thank you, sir.
24:28Okay. Thanks. We'll see you there.
24:30Sounds good.
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