Aerosmith News

The Boston Phoenix

The hard-living lifestyles of Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry are well chronicled: the booze, the drugs, the long, flowing caftans. But the band is a quintet, meaning three voices of Boston's most famous rock group have had their mics turned off for too long. In a freewheeling memoir, drummer Joey Kramer finally steps out from behind his famous frontman's shadow and painfully recollects the mountains of drugs they consumed, the slow road to recovery from addiction, and a battle with depression, as well. What follows is a Kramer interview conducted by TheSandbox morning show of 101.7 WFNX (also owned by the Phoenix Media/Communications Group), plus an excerpt from Kramer's book, Hit Hard.

TheSandbox's Charlie: At what point did you decide that it was time to write a book?
Well, it all started about, oh, four and a half years ago, when I was telling people stories about being on the road and stories of my journey through life. And they said, 'Wow, man, you should write a book, you should write a book.' And, you know, being who I am, I didn't really think there'd be any interest in me writing a book — or that anybody would be interested in reading it.

TheSandbox's Special Ed: You talk about hitting rock bottom while you're at the top. Obviously, there's abuse in there. How many times did it take for you to go, "I need to change up things. I need to clean up my act"?
Well, about 20 years worth of drug and alcohol abuse. But what happened really was, when we were putting the band back together . . . well, not that the band had ever completely split up, 'cause Tom and I and Steven held it together. But when Joe and Brad came back into the band and we got Tim Collins as a manager, Tim told us, "Listen, I can help you guys out, but you have to clean up the drugs and the alcohol out of your life." That was pretty much the start of it. And coincidentally, at that point in my life, I was pretty much ready to do that. But I didn't know how . . . I needed the help and I didn't know how to ask for it. [Tim] was there, and fundamentally put us on the road to recovery.

The Sandbox's Fletcher: The book is full of fantastic stories, but did you have hesitations? Did it take some time to consider writing the book?
Not really, because I have this feeling in my heart that there's so many people that are able to relate to the story, and are able to identify with it, that that didn't really cross my mind. Really, my goal with the book is to help people. And, yeah, there are stories in it about the band and my journeys through life, but the thread that runs through the book is the confusion that people have between love and abuse. That is such a time-sensitive subject that so many people, I think and I hope, will relate to.

Charlie: Love and abuse seems like a running theme with rock bands that have been around for a while, because you love those guys, but at the same time you're probably sick of them. You're tired of looking at them after being on the road for a long time . . . did you have to go to those guys with some of these stories and be, like, "look, this would be cathartic for me to write about this. Do you mind if I put it in there?"
No. I'm putting my balls and my life on the line because I believe that it will help people.

Charlie: What about their balls, though? Are you concerned about stepping on Steven's feet?
Well, there's nothing in there that will, uh — I mean, I didn't make anyone out to be a monster. You know, we've all done the same stuff, and I wouldn't do that. I'm not that kind of a person. I wouldn't do that to any of my partners, anyway, because they're all my brothers and I love them all dearly. I'm not a vindictive person — that's just not part of my make-up.

Fletcher: One of my friends that worked in the record industry for a really long time said that in the '70s and '80s there would be these glamorous post-show parties, and there was always a ton of blow on a table somewhere. You knew you were at a really great party when it was in the shape of something. . . she talked about this party in Miami — they walked in and there on the glass table was Michael Jackson's face in coke! Did you ever attend such a party, and what was the sculpture of the drugs?
[Laughs] Ahh, well . . . many, many years ago, Bill Ludwig from Ludwig drums, whom I endorsed at the time, used to have a drummers' convention once a year, and that took place at the party. It was the Ludwig logo . . . and I remember snorting the dot off the "I."

Charlie: I don't know if it's one of those urban-legend things or what, but did you set yourself on fire while gassing up your Ferrari?
Oh, no, that's a true story. I didn't set myself on fire — I'm not quite that hot.

Fletcher: Can you explain how something like that goes down?
Well, I pulled into the gas station . . .

Special Ed: What type of Ferrari?
It was a 355 Spider. It was back in 1998. I pulled into the gas station, the kid came out, it was a full-service station, it wasn't self-serve. He put the pump in the car and walked away to service another car. The hose fell out of the car, thus pumping the gas onto the ground. And this is in the middle of July — it was July 15, 1998, so it's real hot. It's a July afternoon, it's about six o'clock, I'm on my way to dinner, the hose falls out of the car and it's pumping a puddle of gas under the car. Now, the car's so low to the ground that it's projecting this heat. That's all you really need for it to ignite — you don't need a spark or anything. So the puddle of gasoline ignited, and it surrounded the car in flames. The flames were as high as the overhang in the gas station, and when I looked up from getting my credit card out of my wallet, there were like 15-feet, 18-feet-high flames.

The only thing I could do was to think fast on my feet, by getting on my feet, getting out of the car. I open the door, I undo the seatbelt, the top is down. I put my forearm over my forehead and got out of the car. I got burned all up and down my forearm, from the top of my thigh to my ankle. I was wearing shorts and a tank top, and it was just like a scene from a horror movie — it was just incredible. Thank God, I had all third-degree burns and I didn't get scarred.

Fletcher: Did the attendant come out shortly thereafter and go, "Ahh, Mr. Kramer! I'm sorry!"
No, he ran to the back field behind the gas station thinking that the whole thing was going to blow up. It was really a big horror. It was on the wire all around the world.

Special Ed: "I just killed Aerosmith!"
I'm lucky I got away with my life. I mean, if you saw the pictures of the car . . . it was really brutal.

Fletcher: This was at the height of Armageddon, and you guys had the biggest song in the world during this time.
Yeah, we had to cancel a month's worth of gigs, and no one was real happy about that. But I had to recoup, I had no choice.

Charlie: How awesome would it have been if you had driven out of there, and people saw you driving down the road in a Ferrari in flames. People would be, like, "That Joey Kramer is awesome! He set his Ferrari on fire and is driving it around!"
[Laughs]

Fletcher: Can you tell us a little bit about what's happening with Aerosmith right now?
Well, yeah, we just started a tour. We're about three-going-on-four gigs in — I think everything's working pretty well so far. It takes a little bit to get back on our feet, because we've been off for close to two years, which is the first time we've ever done that in our 38- to 39-year span. We never took a year's worth of time off, but we were plagued with a lot of different things and, you know, we're coming back, man. The older you get, the harder it is, but we're determined, because we love to do what we do. I love more than anything else to sit onstage behind those four guys and play my drums and bring joy to people. That's what I can do, and that's what I love.

The Sandbox comprises Charlie, Fletcher, and Special Ed, as well as newsman extraordinaire Henry Santoro, and can be heard 6 to10 am weekdays on 101.7 WFNX.