Joe Perry recalls how Aerosmith journey gave him a ‘weapon of rebellion’

Joe Perry, one of the founding members and the guitarist of the iconic band, Aerosmith, just reflected on his five decades long touring career.

Up until August, after properly learning what tunes work on the guitar and which don’t, he was busy preparing for an upcoming tour, an endeavour that was supposed to be Aerosmith’s rebooted Peace Out tour.

This particular tour came to an unexpected halt after a performance at the UBS Arena in Elmont, Long Island, on September 9, 2023, due to lead vocalist, Steven Tyler, fracturing his larynx.

However, Aerosmith’s tour plans came to an abrupt end on August 2, after the band members released a joint statement informing their fans that there would be no continuation of the Peace Out tour.

Recalling how much he has grown as a musician throughout the time Perry has toured with the band, he told Guitar World, “If you spend all your time learning technique, scales, and all that, you’re not really going to write something new and interesting.”

“You have to teach yourself to break away,” the Dream On hitmaker advised.

He continued, “Technique is a way to get somewhere, and in and of itself, it’s fine. F***ing go for it if you want, but if you want to play the kind of rock ’n’ roll that I like, there’s more to it. There’s infinite numbers of chords that can help you, but it’s really what you want to do with the guitar.”

“The guitar was a weapon of rebellion,” Joe Perry further mentioned, explaining his bond with the instrument, adding, “People were afraid of that music. They called it ‘the Devil’s music.’ They called it all kinds of things. It was too s**y, but it was just three chords and a nasty feel. If you walked down the street with a guitar case, it was a guarantee that somebody would go, ‘Wow, you play guitar?’ It was a chick magnet.”