Aerosmith News

BY Jim Farber
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, June 24th 2009, 4:00 AM 



Paul Cataldo Jr. of Staten Island will open for Aerosmith - Guitar Hero-style.

Millions play Guitar Hero in the privacy of their basements and living rooms.

But imagine fingering that plastic fretboard, and pulling on that silvery whammy bar, on a true rock ’n’ roll stage, in front of thousands of yelping fans.

Twenty-eight-year-old Paul Cataldo Jr., of Staten Island, will get to do exactly that Friday night, when he serves as opening act for Aerosmith’s Jones Beach show.

He’ll be performing his own Guitar Hero take on the band’s classic 1975 song “Sweet Emotion” before 17,000 fellow fans.

Cataldo won the local segment of a national contest that has Aerosmith choosing the best Guitar Hero treatment of its songs, uploaded on YouTube. (You can see his entry below, as well as on the band’s Web sites Aerosmith.com and AeroForceOne.com, and on GuitarHero.com.)

Here Cataldo talks about his strategy behind his video, why he thinks he won, and what Aerosmith and Guitar Hero mean to him.

Why did you choose “Sweet Emotion”?

“Actually, ‘Walk This Way’ is my favorite Aerosmith song. From a historical point of view, it’s the song that relaunched them in the ’80s. But I didn’t want to try anything too difficult, and I wanted a song I could do justice to. It’s the one that I did the best.”

Instead of just playing the game in your video, you put on a show. How did you come up with your shtick?

“I watched other winning videos from earlier cities on the tour, and they were slamming the game, but they weren’t superentertaining. So I put on an old top hat like Steve Tyler wore and got out a vintage Aerosmith T-shirt from the ’70s.”

You also sing in the song — and you do it well. Were you ever in a band?

“No. I wanted to do it for a while, but after college, I went right for the money. I majored in finance [at St. John’s], so I wanted to go with that. But I love to get up and sing. The first song I ever performed was ‘Sweet Emotion’ at Arlene’s Grocery on the lower East Side about five years ago.

They used to have a thing where instead of a normal karaoke with just a screen and a tape, you work with a real band. You’re the front person. I’ll always remember that.”

You also do the trick of blowing into a tube to recreate Joe Perry’s guitar/synthesizer effect. And you play the Guitar Hero instrument behind your head at the end of the clip, like Perry does with the real one. Were you able to play the game well even with the instrument behind your head?

“Yes. If I screwed it up, you’d hear these little ‘ummm’ sounds. If you play back my video, you’ll hear there aren’t many of them.”

How long have been playing Guitar Hero?

“Since it came out. It used to be that they would just have one or two Aerosmith songs on a game. But then they came out with the full Aerosmith game, and I bought it right away. I couldn’t put that game down.”

How long have you been an Aerosmith fan?

“Since I was 12 or 13. Back in junior high a friend performed “Crying” in a talent show, and it just caught me. I told my parents they had to buy me every album Aero-smith ever put out. I didn’t know there were so many of them. It was like a drug to me. I’ve gone to 25 or 26 shows of theirs — any one within a two-hour driving distance. My father, who’s a big classic rock ’n’ roll fan, took me to my first Aerosmith show in ’92 or ’93. That was the best one because it was a chance to have a real buddy experience with him.

“My father actually was at the show at Max’s Kansas City where they first got signed [in 1971]. That’s an amazing coincidence.”

You’ll also get to meet the band backstage. What will you say to them?

“I’ll have to dwindle down what I say. I want to tell them what their music has meant to me. They went through bad times in the ’80s, and they came out of it. They teach you, if you don’t succeed, try, try again. They help you get through your day.”

Do you think you’ll get an encore?

“They haven’t said anything about multiple tunes. But they’re going to have to drag me off that stage."

To read the original article, click HERE.