Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry reflected on the “encouraging” and highly emotional experience of watching Steven Tyler sing his heart out during the making of One More Time, the band’s recent collaborative EP with Yungblud.

The five-song collection, released last November, marked Aerosmith’s first release of new material since 2012’s Music From Another Dimension! It was also their most substantial move since the cancellation of their Peace Out farewell tour and retirement from the road in 2024 due to an insurmountable vocal injury Tyler sustained during the first few dates of the trek.

“Getting to work with Steven in the studio was awesome,” Perry tells UCR now. “It’s only been the last, like, half a year he’s really been able to sing without hurting his throat. So that was really encouraging. It was really an intense two or three months.”

 

Joe Perry on Steven Tyler: ‘We Hadn’t Heard Him Sing Like That in F—ing Years’

Although Tyler has made brief, sporadic live appearances since retiring from touring (including Ozzy Osbourne’s Back to the Beginning concert last July and a subsequent tribute to the Prince of Darkness during the MTV Video Music Awards in September), the making of One More Time was the most Perry had seen his bandmate sing in years.

“Steven sang like six hours straight, three days in a row,” he recalls. “Billie [Perry, his wife] and I were sitting on the couch at Johnny [Depp’s studio], and she had tears in her eyes because we hadn’t heard him sing like that in f—ing years, literally since the Peace Out tour got pulled down.

“I don’t even know if he could have even started vocal exercises for at least a year after he got hurt,” Perry continues. “That was a real blow, and then finding out he may not be able to sing at all … so anyway, seeing him do that in the studio was f—ing amazing.”

Perry acknowledges that Aerosmith’s full-scale touring days are behind them, but he hasn’t given up hope completely on some sort of return to the stage. “I know we’ll never be able to tour again, like a regular tour, but who knows?” he says. “There’s a lot that goes into it, but we’ll see.”

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Joe Perry Discusses Aerosmith’s Remixed and Remastered Debut Album

In the meantime, Perry and his bandmates have busied themselves with a Legendary Edition reissue of their 1973 debut album, featuring remixed and remastered tracks plus a wealth of bonus material. With the new version’s release last month, the sound in the band members’ heads has finally been captured on record.

“The first record just didn’t sound like how we wanted it to sound,” Perry says. “And I’m not talking about adding overdubs or anything like that. Just tonally. I mean, we never were happy with the way the drums sounded. They sounded kind of flat and flabby, and that’s not how they really sounded in the room. But we didn’t know how to say, ‘Well, let’s do it this way.’ Because we didn’t know enough about it.”

READ MORE: Aerosmith Album-Opening Songs Ranked Worst to Best

Now, that’s changed. “When we were starting to hear the remixes and listening to it like an album, it was like, holy shit, this is amazing,” Perry enthuses. “The drums sounded like the drums should have sounded. The guitars sounded good. Steven’s vocals, to hear his vocal chords, I mean, it’s pretty amazing. I didn’t think it was gonna be as impactful as it is to me.”

Which classic album will Aerosmith revisit next? “I can’t wait to do Toys in the Attic. I think that’s the next one we’re gonna remix,” Perry says. “It was closer, definitely, to what we wanted it to sound like — especially with the songs, but actually, sonically, I think it was closer. But there are things about it that certainly we’ll correct when we get in there.”

Aerosmith Albums Ranked

Any worst-to-best ranking of Aerosmith must deal with two distinct eras: their sleazy ’70s work and the slicker, more successful ’80s comeback. But which one was better?

Gallery Credit: Ultimate Classic Rock Staff

15. Just Push Play (2001)

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15. ‘Just Push Play’ (2001)

Joe Perry has said the unfocused Just Push Play was an example of how not to make an album. The garish rap-metal title track and schmaltzy, phoned-in ballads like “Fly Away From Here” and “Luv Lies” prove him right. Album opener “Beyond Beautiful” rocks formidably, and the Top 10 hit “Jaded” is an excellent slice of breezy power-pop, but these stray highlights can’t salvage an otherwise disjointed, try-hard mess.

14. Honkin on Bobo (2004)

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14. ‘Honkin’ on Bobo’ (2004)

The prospect of Aerosmith returning to their blues-rock roots after the misguided Just Push Play certainly sounded appealing, if totally retrograde. But Honkin’ on Bobo often sounds too clinical and big-budget to rock with abandon. Still, spirited covers of “Shame, Shame, Shame” and “Stop Messin’ Around” are sweaty, booze-soaked blasts from the past that hark back to the group’s bar-band days.

13. Music From Another Dimension (2012)

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13. ‘Music From Another Dimension’ (2012)

Aerosmith’s first album of original material since 2001’s Just Push Play didn’t answer the question of where the group was headed. They’re still all over the map, still trying to be too many things to too many people – all while internal tensions pull at every corner. Joe Perry and Brad Whitford save them with a bag full of stockpiled riffs, and “Out Go the Lights” and “Street Jesus” rock harder than anything else they released in the 21st century.

12. Rock in a Hard Place (1982)

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12. ‘Rock in a Hard Place’ (1982)

It couldn’t have been worse for Aerosmith, right? Joe Perry was gone, and Brad Whitford soon followed him out the door. That cover of a Julie London hit (“Cry Me a River”) didn’t inspire much confidence either. Funny thing, though: They experiment in ways they might not have before — see the psychedelic odyssey “Joanie’s Butterfly” — and “Lightning Strikes” was as tough as anything Aerosmith had ever done.

11. Nine Lives (1997)

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11. ‘Nine Lives’ (1997)

Following a trio of multiplatinum mega-hits, Aerosmith got rawer and considerably weirder on the laborious Nine Lives. The ballads are more eccentric — from the pub singalong “Full Circle” to the blustery scat-singing of “Ain’t That a Bitch” — while the title track and hyperspeed “Crash” show Aerosmith at their hard-rocking best. “Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)” and “Pink” lack the transcendent catchiness of previous hit singles, but there’s still a lot to enjoy on this latter-day curio.

10. Draw the Line (1977)

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10. ‘Draw the Line’ (1977)

Expectations were high for Aerosmith following the back-to-back masterpieces Toys in the Attic and Rocks. Unfortunately, Tyler and Perry were even higher. Consequently, Draw the Line‘s highlights — the slide guitar-heavy title track, the medieval prog epic “Kings and Queens” — rank among Aerosmith’s best work. But its low points — “The Hand That Feeds,” a perfunctory cover of the Kinks’ “Milk Cow Blues” — are dismal, drug-addled slogs that foreshadow their imminent implosion.

9. Get a Grip (1993)

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9. ‘Get a Grip’ (1993)

Aerosmith followed the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” on their third consecutive multiplatinum smash, to slightly diminishing results. Ubiquitous mega-ballads “Crazy,” “Cryin’” and “Amazing” are as catchy as they are cheesy, and “Eat the Rich” and “Fever” satisfy the irreverent raunch-rock quota. But at 14 songs and 62 minutes, Get a Grip runs way too long, getting bogged down by tuneless filler like “Flesh” and “Gotta Love It.”

8. Done With Mirrors (1985)

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8. ‘Done With Mirrors’ (1985)

Don’t let anybody tell you that Aerosmith’s comeback started anywhere else but here. In a better world, this gloriously shambling collection of underrated gems would have brought them back to the top without synthesizers or outside writers. “Let the Music Do the Talking” is a thundering statement of purpose, and “The Hop” delivers the sorely missed bar-band boogie of Aerosmith’s youth.

7. Permanent Vacation (1987)

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7. ‘Permanent Vacation’ (1987)

Aerosmith’s comeback started with Done With Mirrors, but they didn’t get going commercially until this album, which zoomed to five-times platinum sales behind a trio of Top 20 songs. Older fans may have chafed at producer Bruce Fairbairn’s studio tricks, to say nothing of the arrival of outside songwriters, but there’s no denying the hooks of “Rag Doll” and “Dude (Looks Like a Lady).” Aerosmith had never been bigger — so far, anyway.

6. Night in the Ruts (1979)

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6. ‘Night in the Ruts’ (1979)

Everything fell apart for Aerosmith in the middle of this project, as Joe Perry and longtime producer Jack Douglas both exited. Yet they somehow returned to their bedrock raunch after the mildly experimental Draw the Line, even as they hinted at a new polish that would propel them to unimaginable heights in the ’80s. “No Surprize” and “Bone to Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy)” are proper barnstormers, and a cover of the the Shangri-Las’ “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” indulges Tyler’s affinity for ’60s pop.

5. Aerosmith (1973)

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5. ‘Aerosmith’ (1973)

The definition of a grower, this self-titled debut – and its best song, the proto-power ballad “Dream On” – went nowhere at first. That was no fault of Aerosmith’s, actually. They arrived here fully formed as an American hybrid of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and your favorite bawdy bar band. Everybody finally learned that when “Dream On” went Top 10 in 1976.

4. Pump (1989)

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4. ‘Pump’ (1989)

Now cleaned up and fully focused, Aerosmith combined everything that worked in their drug-addled first era with a modern hitmaking sheen. To say it worked is a wild understatement. “Love in an Elevator” blends monolithic riffs with sky-high hooks, while “What It Takes” and “Janie’s Got a Gun” show the breadth of their songwriting. Toys in the Attic has sold more copies, but it took decades to accomplish what Pump did almost immediately.

3. Get Your Wings (1974)

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3. ‘Get Your Wings’ (1974)

Jack Douglas provides the final piece of Aerosmith’s glory-years puzzle. This is the platform from which everything followed. Steven Tyler is finally emboldened enough to proclaim himself “Lord of the Thighs,” even as Aerosmith blows a hole in “The Train Kept a Rollin’.” But there’s also the new sense of controlled brilliance of “Seasons of Wither.” The stage is set.

2. Rocks (1976)

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2. ‘Rocks’ (1976)

As popular as it was influential, Rocks spawned two Top 40 hits even as it constructed a foundation for next-generation bands like Metallica and Guns N’ Roses. More raw and direct than the earlier Toys in the Attic, this album finishes second by a whisker – if only because, for all of its strengths, Rocks tends to sound like an echo of its predecessor rather than something entirely new.

1. Toys in the Attic (1975)

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1. ‘Toys in the Attic’ (1975)

Steven Tyler found his essential rock-star deviance, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford tangled brilliantly, the rhythm section played with a streetwise menace and Jack Douglas captured them just as they were. “Walk This Way” and “Sweet Emotion” established their legend, while a scorching cover of “Big Ten-Inch Record” helped complete their story. Aerosmith never had a bigger hit, or deserved it more.