Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton believes the band should have considered making two separate albums rather than merging styles on comeback release Music From Another Dimension.
He admits they had concerns over working with classic-era producer Jack Douglas, but says the overriding vibe in the band was delight that, for the first time in a decade, every member wanted to make a record.
Hamilton tells Puregrain Audio: “There are times in the past where we thought we’d record stuff, and ‘wouldn’t it be great to work with Jack?’ Everyone would kind of nod, but it seemed, ‘Is this really a great idea? Are we trying to go back to the past or what?’
“I don’t think everybody wanted it really, really bad. There was a day we’d do it because that was our cycle – we’d tour for a couple of years and make a record. That’s not true now.
“There came a moment when there was absolutely no doubt. It’s what got us into the studio. I’ll go out far on the limb and say Jack is the reason there’s an album, really.”
While Hamilton says Aerosmith didn’t consciously decide to make a 70s-sounding record, he accepts there’s a heavy influence from the band’s early era, which is contrasted with a series of 90s-style ballad tracks.
Asked if they ever thought of making Music From Another Dimension into a pair of distinct products, he says: “No, but we probably should have.
“It would have been a great business decision to save half the record for later, but it’s been too long since we put out a record. We chose what was on this album based on how good the songs came. We really wanted to get it all out there and not wait not hold back.”
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler recently caused controversy by describing former tour mates Kiss as a “comic book” act and saying their work sometimes “offended” him, prompting responses from Paul Stanley and Peter Criss. Hamilton has a different view of his colleague’s words.
“If you talk to Gene Simmons, he might even agree with it – he was a huge comic book fan, like most of us were in our early days. Some of us made a separation between that and what we did musically, but he wanted to live that out with his band.
“It’s pretty cool. I don’t necessarily listen to Kiss that often, but I love that songs of theirs, ‘I want to rock and roll all nite and party every day.’ It’s just really accurate in describing what teenage males want.”
Music From Another Dimension is released on November 6. Aerosmith will play a show in the streets of their home town Boston the day before.
source: classicrockmagazine.com