Aerosmith's Joe Perry Talks New Album Delay, Tour With ZZ Top

There's been good and bad news for Aerosmith fans this past week. After announcing that the release of their new album, their first since 2004's blues covers record Honkin' For Bobo, was delayed until later this year, the Boston band revealed they'd be joined by fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famers ZZ Top on tour this summer. Rolling Stone caught up with guitarist Joe Perry prior to last weekend's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony — where Perry was on hand to watch friends Jeff Beck and Run-DMC enter the Hall — to talk the album's postponement and Aerosmith's summer road trip.

Perry says the band has been working on a proper follow-up to Just Push Play for the past two or three years. Aerosmith hoped to complete the album before their tour, but various health ailments, like Perry's knee replacement surgery and Steven Tyler's pneumonia, stalled recording. "The time we had allotted to make this record, we couldn't do it. But it's a work in progress and we're gonna shoot for it when we finish with this tour," Perry said, adding that Brendan O'Brien will serve as producer after previously working with the band as mixer on 1993's Get A Grip.

Perry was also excited about the prospect of touring with ZZ Top, one of the few groups from Aerosmith's era that have remained intact: "That's just amazing to be able to play with them because it's going to be a kickass show." Perry also promises to reinvigorate the set lists this time around. For much more from Perry, including news on his solo album and more details about Aerosmith's upcoming tour, check out the next issue of Rolling Stone, on stands next week.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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