Our Corner of the Rock 'n' Roll Life
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Right from the start, Aerosmith was a total Boston band. They first lived together at 1325 Commonwealth Ave. during the early '70s, banging out riffs that terrorized neighbors and set hard-rock standards for years to come. Like many Boston players of those times, they had one foot in British psychedelic blues, the other in the down-and-dirty Chicago sound.
Steve Morse, Boston Globe, |
Aerosmith formed in 1970 around Lake Sunapee,
New Hampshire, where [Steven] Tyler's parents own a summer resort and where lead guitarist [Joe] Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton spent summers. Perry and Hamilton had seen Tyler in the mid-Sixties around New York and New England with the Chain Reaction, a group, like Leslie West's Vagrants, that broached but never realized major success. Hamilton was 14 at the time and remembered Tyler, even then, as "such a fuckin' pro." When the Chain broke up, Tyler played around with several bands, then moved back to New Hampshire where he heard the Jam Band with Perry and Hamilton.1"They had a lot of raunch ... and I figured I could take a
step back and gradually build with them." Coincidentally, drummer [Joey] Kramer
and Tyler had known each other years before, from high school in Yonkers. The
final addition was Brad Whitford, a guitarist whose band, Justin Tyme, had played around Sunapee. Aerosmith sequestered themselves in New Hampshire for a year, writing, rehearsing and performing at colleges and ski lodges. They hit
Boston,2 attracted a
"I attribute whatever level we're at," says Kramer, "to our
constant touring and word of mouth. Not until we'd gotten a gold record did
Columbia get behind us." Columbia, the band says, missed a chance to push
"Dream On" into a national hit.3 But after the single's limited success and the sale of 40,000 copies
Despite Aerosmith's success in their home base, the local
cognoscenti haven't embraced them. "I don't even see the critics come to their
concerts," said WBCN's [Maxanne]
Sartori. "Boston's a very traditional town, very folk, blues and
Len Epand, Rolling Stone, September 25, 1975
Guitarist Ray Tabano was a founding member of Aerosmith. According to Tabano's Web site, he played with the band for its first two years. -- "Welcome to Crazy Raymond.com," http://www.crazyraymond.com/Pages/bio.html, accessed 6/23/2002
Joey Kramer replaced Steven Tyler on drums so Tyler could step up front, and finally guitarist Brad Whitford took over for Tabano.
This may be a strictly explanatory footnote, but there's no way we're going to fail to mention Tom Hamilton in it.
2. "All five lived in a six-room basement apartment, reconciled to a diet of jelly sandwiches and soup while Perry toiled as a janitor in a local synagogue." -- Steve Morse, Boston Globe, 2/16/1978
3. Steve Morse added this: "But Aerosmith's single, 'Dream On,' was the top-requested song on local WVBF for six months, and local promo rep [Sal] Ingeme and cohort Ed Hynes personally went to stations throughout the Midwest to convince program directors to play it." -- Boston Globe, 2/16/1978
4. As we have written on several other pages, this was a time when, in addition to innumerable groups playing current and past Top 20 hits, New England's club circuit was dominated by what were then called "boogie bands" (blues, R&B, and funk outfits, all too often showing so-so inspiration and no innovation).
Folk coffeehouses had taken a considerable hit, following the lowering of the Massachusetts legal drinking age to 18 in March 1973.
5. Nathan Cobb, in the November 18, 1976, issue of the Boston Globe made this observation in connection with the then-recent Rocks LP: "Fourth album from five titillators of pre-pubescents. Too successful to put down anymore."
My own experience with early Aerosmith was of the kids at the Brattleboro, Vermont, rec center's teen room playing scratchy copies of the first three albums with the volume cranked up to full blast. So it took me a while, too, to come to appreciate this band.
The name Len Epand, the author of the feature article from which this material is excerpted, is unfamiliar to me. Please get in touch if you have an e-mail address or even a postal address for him.-- Alan Lewis
First posted 6/23/2002
In the late 60's--Steven Tallarico (Tyler) used to have a speed boat on Sunapee Lake.... They had lake parties in those days--I was too young to be involved at that
When they were playing around rural New England for a year or two--between late '69 to early '71--you could actually go see Aerosmith perform for a mere trifle
At St. Mary's Gymnasium in a little town called Claremont
We were all so proud that this band was our's. Then they got there contract following the Boston appearances. After that they were gone from rural New England for good, as far as performing--not in those parts. But you still can see them by themselves on rare occurances in
-- H. K., e-mail message, January 2, 2003
Manchester (NH) audience, screaming: New Hampsha!
-- Boston Globe, November 19, 2001
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