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July 15, 2009
Aerosmith Tour To Resume Tonight Despite New Medical Issues
The show must go on! It appears that Aerosmith has decided to take those words to heart and resume their tour tonight in Atlanta. The group has had to postpone several dates due to an injury to frontman Steven Tyler that he sustained during a show in Connecticut and resulted in a torn leg muscle.
With Tyler apparently in good enough shape to take the stage again, another member of the veteran rock group will be sitting out for a while. Bassist Tom Hamilton is said to be recovering from “non-invasive surgery.” It is not clear how long Hamilton will be out of action, but during his absence, Aerosmith friend David Hull will hold down his spot until Hamilton is fit to return. Hull is also a member of The Joe Perry Project.
In a strange revolving door-like scenario, guitarist Brad Whitford will return to the fold tonight in Atlanta while Hamilton bows out. Whitford has had to sit out of the current tour due to a potentially serious head injury he suffered while exiting from his car. Fortunately, Whitford recognized the seriousness of his injury and sought medical attention and underwent surgery to alleviate the problem.
Steven Tyler’s daughter Mia reported yesterday that her father was in a cast as a result of his leg injury. I guess the fans in Atlanta will find out of Tyler is well enough to put on a show that measures up to his usual energetic routine or whether he will have to scale things back a bit to avoid re-injuring himself.
The number of illnesses and injuries that have plagued Aerosmith in recent years may be unmatched by any other group to date, and may have some fans wondering if this will be the last opportunity to see the group live.
Three members sidelined due to medical issues at the very start of a tour is quite extraordinary and might have some of them thinking about saying so long to life on the road. Perhaps that’s jumping to conclusions at this point, but unless their luck takes a turn for the better where medical issues are concerned, it may be tough for them to think about more touring in the future.
June 11, 2009
In Sickness And In Health, Aerosmith Rocks On
Four decades, give or take a year or so, is a long time rockin’. With that in mind, I suppose that the health problems the various members of Aerosmith have been dealing with lately should not be unexpected. These guys, after all, are all in their late 50’s or early 60’s, and the rock and roll lifestyle does tend to take its toll through the years.
Recently, bass player Tom Hamilton talked the Sun Chronicle about his battle with throat cancer and how he has come to the conclusion that the experience has actually improved him as a musician and resulted in a sort of wake up call for the 57-year-old rocker.
Having to sit out a 2007 tour due to his illness Hamilton reflected on that time. “What I had to go through was the band going out on tour without me. And so I had a taste of that, the negative feelings of that,” he said. “So it was a
terrible thought, but I had to learn that there were some things that could be worse than not having the band.”
Since then, Hamilton’s band mates have had to deal with medical problems of their own. While working on their new album, the group was forced to put a halt to the work when frontman Steven Tyler got sick with pneumonia and guitarist Joe Perry had to undergo knee surgery.
Tyler has also endured both throat and foot surgery in recent years.
With their summer “Guitar Hero” tour just getting underway with ZZ Top, the veteran group has been dealt yet another blow which takes guitarist Brad Whitford out of the lineup while he recovers from surgery. The exact nature of Whitford’s surgery has not been revealed, but he is expected to recover in time to join the tour before it concludes. In the meanwhile, Bobby Schneck will be standing in for Whitford.
As contrary as it may first appear, Hamilton does look back on his experience with cancer in a positive light. “But you know, sometimes you have to think like some day is coming. I think going through that cancer experience, it kind of grabbed me by the head and made me look at a lot of stuff and just sort of in general, you think of things you always wanted to do some day,” he said.
“Well some day is here. So I got a lot of that, which I think is a positive thing because it really focused me. And I’ve come a long way musically since that happened. It was almost a gift of the whole process that I’m probably a better player, writer, recorder now than I would have been if I hadn’t gone through that.”
For now, work on the new album is going to have to wait until the tour is over. Hamilton does reveal that fans can look forward to an album with a sound that is more like the raw, hard-rocking Honkin on Bobo as opposed to the more highly-engineered approach that was applied during the production of an album like Just Push Play.
The current tour comes to an end during September, and the group is expected to convene in the studio to finish up work on the new album. As long as they remain in good health, that is.
To read the entire interview with Tom Hamilton, visit the Sun Chronicle.
