Way back in 1978, when Aerosmith were touring America, flying high before their taste for excess brought them down, guitarist Joe Perry had enough presence of mind to realise that their support act, a bunch of ruffians from Australia, had something special about them. “AC/DC seemed to boil rock’n’roll down to its essence,” Perry recalls. “With every song, they managed to make it sound fresh.”
All these years later, Perry is in an enviable position. Despite all the drugs they did in the past, when he and singer Steven Tyler were christened ‘The Toxic Twins’, the recently retired incarnation of Aerosmith was missing only drummer Joey Kramer from the classic line-up of ’78.
After decades of sobriety, Perry is in now great shape for a man of 73. “They say rock’n’roll keeps you young,” he muses. “And having done it for as long as I have, it’s hard to envision my grandfather, who passed away when he was younger than I am, doing this. So after a certain point it’s time to throw the calendar away. The whole perception of what you should and should not be able to do goes away.”
Nonetheless, Aerosmith’s career is now winding down. Their Peace Out farewell tour was postponed last year when Steven Tyler blew out his voice after just four shows, then cancelled altogether when he failed to fully recover.
In reference to the Rock Or Bust tour, which saw Brian Johnson struck down by hearing problems, Perry says: “It didn’t suck having Axl out there on the microphone, you know?” But like so many AC/DC fans, he feels that the band needs Brian Johnson.
“Angus is really the frontman,” he says. “He’s the guy. So maybe they could do it without Brian if somebody else could go out there and sing. And I think they’d sell tickets, because people still want to hear those songs. But I don’t know, man. It’s a tough one. Without Brian, I think a lot of people would probably walk away wishing he was there. He’s such a huge part of that band.
“Most people don’t remember seeing AC/DC with Bon Scott, and it’s hard for a band to replace that sort of lead singer. But Brian has been there since 1980, and Back In Black was a huge album with him on it. So for all intents and purposes, Brian is the voice of AC/DC. And for it to be as big and powerful as AC/DC can be, you need Brian Johnson.”
Perry is also surprised that Angus can still perform at such a physically demanding level.
“I can’t believe it!” he says with a laugh. “I’ve seen some recent AC/DC shows, and Angus may not do everything that he used to do, but even if he just stood there and played and was able to rock out and not move at all, people would still come to see him play. There will be a point when he cannot do certain things, but if he can play, people will be there because his heart is in it.
“And his body – you know, the physiology of it. If they were to take X-rays and all that stuff, you’d see that his joints have taken a serious beating. But your body adapts itself to the stuff that you keep doing. Angus is in training, so to speak. So all things being equal, I think he’ll be able to do a lot of what he does now or used to do for a long time. And as long as he does, I think they’ll keep going.
“As long as he can play, and as long as he hasn’t damaged himself too much as far as his hands go, and if arthritis doesn’t eat away at him, they’ll keep going. I mean, who knows? There’s no fucking rule book on this. There’s no instruction book on this rock’n’roll thing. Even if you can hardly walk, as long as you can play guitar, and do your thing, and play those fucking insane riffs, like Whole Lotta Rosie and Let There Be Rock, the body will adapt itself, and you keep going. It’s amazing.”
Ultimately, what Perry says about Angus and AC/DC relates also to Aerosmith and every other classic rock band entering their final phase of a lengthy career.
“We’ve seen so many artists that have sadly passed away from misdeeds and old age,” he says. “So bands like AC/DC, Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones, we’re the last of a dying breed. There won’t be another AC/DC, just like there won’t be another Guns N’ Roses. It’ll be some other kind of music that people want to go see, and maybe there will be some new rock bands to fill the slot. There’s certainly contenders out there.
“But it’ll be a sad day when AC/DC isn’t around any more, when you won’t be able to see Angus play live. There will never be another AC/DC. But the music will always be around.”