Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has added Iggy Pop, David Johansen and Zak Starkey to the lineup of players that will be featured on his next solo album.
Originally planned as an instrumental record, Perry has expanded the scope of the project currently in progress in a California studio due to his proximity to a number of singers in, or passing through, the area.
"One night, Iggy Pop stopped by the studio after he'd done a show here and listened to a couple of tunes," Perry tells Rolling Stone. "Within a couple hours, he had finished [recording] everything and that was really the turning point for the record. It was really, really good to go that way. And then Terry Reid sang on at least four songs, and David Johansen came in.
"I hadn't had a chance to work with him since the Seventies, since we were spending a lot of time together. We've been friends for such a long time, but we've never really had a chance to get in the studio and get in a solid situation. We got three or four tunes."
The changing landscape of available talent is propelling the solo effort forward for Perry, who maintains the focus is always music first.
"Zak Starkey's playing drums on this particular track," he explains. “He'll probably play on a bunch more, I hope. So in some ways it doesn't have a focus. But again it's about making music and wherever it feels like going, I've got a couple of songs that are definitely instrumental-oriented and funky in that kind of groove and I would say there's a little bit of everything in there. Certainly, there are things on there that are a little bit different than, say, what would go on an Aerosmith record."
Perry recently premiered a new single, “I’ll Do Happiness”, featuring veteran UK vocalist Terry Reid.
The Aerosmith guitarist’s latest solo project is the follow-up to his 2014 EP, “Joe Perry’s Merry Christmas”, which saw him joined by pal Johnny Depp on rhythm guitar and helped with the formation of The Hollywood Vampires, led by Alice Cooper.
Perry will reteam with Depp and Cooper for a summer tour of Europe and North America that will kick off in Verona, New York on May 24.
See also:
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AUDIO: Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry premieres new single I’ll Do Happiness
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