HuffingtonPost.com
January 24, 2012
So I walk into the studio, and suddenly I’m in the presence of a rock god. Joe Perry is sitting on a big black leather sofa, casually strumming a sweet Guild, which he promptly sets aside so we can talk business.
The current business is the legendary Aerosmith guitarist’s blazing new cover of “Man of Peace” — one of Bob Dylan’s babies, as are all 76 tracks (!) on the new four-disc set, Chimes of Freedom, which simultaneously celebrates both 50 years of Bob Dylan and 50 years of the human-rights organization, Amnesty International. The rangy and rollicking collection (which arrives in stores and online today) features an astounding musical cast, spanning Dylan’s many styles via interpretations from youngsters Miley Cyrus and Ke$ha to Amnesty veterans Pete Townshend (who broke ground in 1979 by being the first rock musician to play an Amnesty benefit show, The Secret Policeman’s Ball) and Bob’s former flame, the eternally awesome Joan Baez (who devoted her whole year in 1972 to playing gigs and starting up Amnesty groups up and down America’s West Coast).
It’s a very, very big album. For a very, very good cause.
I ask Mr. Perry exactly how one goes about the seemingly daunting task of covering a Dylan song, and the rock god responds with disarming gentleness and verve:
“I did it in the comfort of my home studio. Jack Douglas, who produced some of the earliest recordings that I’ve ever done, was there. And once you make the decision to try it, you’ve just got to go for it. Dylan’s style of songwriting comes from such a long history of the traditional folk-blues — the songs are basically simple in their construction, so there’s so much room for interpretation in there, by the performer, that the only thing you’re really up against is Bob’s performance of the song. Because the way he performs his music, it’s so iconic that his versions become the song. So you kind of have to throw that out of your mind, and just see where it goes.”
This notion organically evolves into Mr. Perry’s natural affinity for the blues: “There’s something about that primal rhythm that I just gravitated toward — and the blues that I liked was the real, electric, Chicago blues, and it kind of went hand-in-hand with the guitar. And any kind of music that deviated from that — I was a real rock snob, you know what I mean?” (God. Snob. We mince with words.) “So that’s always been the bedrock for me. I mean, obviously my musical tastes have expanded, but if I had to boil it down, it’s still about Howlin’ Wolf, and John Lee Hooker, Muddy, and Slim Harpo, and Jimmy Reed — then the white guys just started interpreting it.”
We discuss the amazing entity that is Aerosmith — then and now (Mr. Perry, who has also long cultivated The Joe Perry Project, recorded “Man of Peace” amidst sessions for the new 2012 Aerosmith album) — and then return to Dylan. How does an artist narrow down that huge catalogue to one song?
“I figured that everybody would go for the first electric record — with all those great songs that are on there — and I wanted to do something a little more…in my Dylan catalogue, the Infidels record is one of my favorites, and on that record, “Man of Peace” is the one that comes to mind first. I know that this one’s a little more esoteric, so it was like, ‘This is the one I wanna do.’ I didn’t even ask about ‘Rolling Stone’ or ‘Highway 61′ — which would have been great for me with my slide playing, and that’s right up my alley — and then there was ‘Broke Down Engine,’ but that’s really not a Bob Dylan song.”
Next we broach the topic of philanthropy. Amnesty International has toiled for five decades on behalf of political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, for human rights, and for rights of expression. Does Mr. Perry approach his work differently if it’s for freedom on top of fun?
“Every time I get in front of an audience, I do the best I can. I really don’t look at it like, you know, ‘this is gonna be this crowd, or that crowd.’ If anything, I think about the demographics only because of what songs will entertain more than others.” He gives the concept sincere consideration. “Obviously, if I get asked to play at a show that has something to do with Amnesty International, I’ll probably play this song, ‘Man of Peace,’ but other than that,” Mr. Perry laughs good-naturedly, “we’ll see.”
Here some modesty is detected, for in 2007 Mr. Perry, his groovy wife Billie and Steven Tyler brought together Aerosmith and the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, for Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur — an also-very-big compilation album of John Lennon covers (rights donated by Yoko Ono) — on which they joyously covered “Give Peace a Chance.”
“We’ve all read some pretty horrible things about history and about man’s inhumanity to man,” he reveals, “and these guys lived through some of the worst stuff I’d ever heard of.” A documentary led to Joe and Billie helping to fund a U.S. tour for the SLRA, followed by a jam with himself and Steven in Nashville, and then the recording. The rock god — who is also a very nice man — concludes: “It all worked out. The synergy was incredible, and a lot of people benefitted from that. You know, every once in a while we’ll get a call — I mean, we get a lot of calls — but every once in a while something will happen, and we can adjust it to our schedule, and we’ll do it. I love doing things like that. It’s important. It’s important to give back.”
Complete article: (here).
