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"What I didn't know back then was that not only would Steven and I - and three other guys - change the face of rock 'n' roll, but Steven himself would become my mentor as well as my hero and (one of) my demons. He would serve as a kind of surrogate father figure for me in a dysfunctional dynamic that continued the pattern of confusion I felt between love and abuse as a child. It would be a central part of our relationship - and it would torment me for years." - Joey Kramer
Joey Kramer stopped by WBCN in Boston to talk about his new book, "Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top."
Joey stopped by WGBH to talk about his new book, "Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top." Missed it? Check it out on WGBH.org.
Aerosmith drummer on new book and tour.
FoxNews.com
By MARIO TARRADELL Music Critic
DallasNews.com
It doesn't get more stereotypical than a rock musician in rehab for an expensive, nearly career-destroying drug and alcohol addiction. Ho-hum. So when's the obligatory Behind the Music documentary?
But for Joey Kramer, founding drummer of iconic hard-rockers Aerosmith, ditching his dependency to cocaine, alcohol and Quaaludes, among other substances, was easy in comparison to his struggles with the depression that led to a nervous breakdown.
"What a lot of people don't realize and don't understand is that getting clean and sober is not the answer to life's questions," says Kramer, 59, by phone from the band's tour stop in Atlanta. "It's a big part of it because it opens you up to living life on life's terms. Getting clean and sober allowed me to deal with the demons that made me want to do drugs and drink. But I was clean and sober for nine years before the nervous breakdown happened."
It was 1995, as Kramer writes in his new book, Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top, when he could barely get out of bed, much less try to function as the drummer for a band that was in the midst of a huge comeback. Aerosmith's latest two studio albums, 1989's Pump and 1993's Get a Grip, had each sold 7 million copies. The band was touring to packed venues.
Kramer, the Bronx kid who conjured up the group's name, put his career on hold again to conquer his emotionally paralyzing issues.
In the book, which Kramer signs for fans today at Legacy Books in Plano, he details his dysfunctional, volatile relationship with his late father, Mickey Kramer, and how that set the precedent for a lifetime of love and abuse.
"It's a timely subject matter, the confusion that people have between love and abuse," he says. "That's what runs through the book, and I hope people can identify and relate to that and that they know it's OK. That's what stopping drinking and drugging allowed me to do and be twice as strong after that. That's what life is about. Only the strong survive."
Survival is a key theme threading together the 235 pages in Hit Hard. It's also a telltale foundation of Aerosmith. All five original band members went through rehab, some more than once to ensure that sobriety stuck. While the group was at its drug-addled worst, from about 1977 to 1982, Kramer marvels at how often they cheated death.
Is he shocked that Aerosmith emerged intact?
"I'm not surprised by it," he says. "All five of us are the same. All five of us are survivors. We've had each one of us suffering from different things at different times that could have been responsible for not playing anymore. One at a time everybody dealt with their illnesses, and we managed to keep it together. We are all survivors, and we all love playing rock 'n' roll music on a stage."
Kramer and his Aerosmith mates – Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford and David Hull filling in for bassist Tom Hamilton, who is recovering from surgery – take the Superpages.com Center stage Sunday night. The band is reportedly playing 1975's Toys in the Attic in its entirety, plus a smattering of the group's other hits.
Kramer, ever the coy rock-'n'-roller, won't reveal anything about the show.
"One thing that is really great and always has been great about being in this band," he says, "is that you never know what is going to happen next."Plan your life
Joey Kramer signs copies of Hit Hard today at 4 p.m. at Legacy Books, 7300 Dallas Parkway, Plano. Free admission. 972-398-9888.
Aerosmith and ZZ Top perform 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Superpages.com Center, 1818 First Ave. $49.50-$200. Ticketmaster.
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