Nine Lives: Tips for Staying Young, the Aerosmith Way
On Tuesday at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, Yahoo Live will live stream Aerosmith's concert from the DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan. Tune in HERE to watch!
Anyone who's witnessed Aerosmith in concert recently has probably been blown away by the energy, stamina, and ferocity of this band now incredibly into its fifth decade. "Once we're onstage, we're still like 18-year-old kids," says Aerosmith guitarist/founding member Joe Perry, who in fact is a startling 63 years young. "We always try to play better than the last show because… really, it sounds a little dismal, but I try and play like every show is the last one, because you never know. You really don't. So we put everything we have into every show."
Clearly, despite the fact that Perry and 66-year-old Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler were once nicknamed the "Toxic Twins" due to their living-on-the-edge, hard-partying antics, in many ways rock 'n' roll really has kept them young. "I think that's self-evident at this point. It was kind of a cliché to say that about 25 or 30 years ago, but it's gotten to feel like that's the case," Perry tells Yahoo Music. "I look around at some of the friends that I grew up with, and I feel like I'm living in a different world from them."
So how do the members of Aerosmith manage to rock as hard as musicians half or even a third their age? Walk this way and check out Perry's tips for dudes and ladies of all ages.
Embrace your inner flower child. "Back in the '60s, I was in no way a hardcore hippie, but part of that scene was eating good food. That's when I first heard of organic food, when I first heard of preservatives and things like that. I don't eat food with preservatives in it, and I've been that way since the early '70s. Considering the amount of partying we did in those days, I kind of figured that, 'Well, I know this can't be good for me, so I should do something good for me, like eating right!' So that's always been part of it. Eating right is a really important thing. I mean, the stuff they put on TV, these huge amounts of food that are just designed to taste good, they just can't be good for you!"
Play several two-hour stadium concerts a week with a massive rock band. "It's a very physical thing, playing live. It keeps you in shape, there's no doubt about that — I mean, the kind of music we play, it gets your heart rate going! I'm sure that's a part of it."
Reconnect to the music of your youth. "A lot of people that I know that still 'think younger' — I guess that's the easiest way to put it — they still listen to the music that turned them on back in the '60s and the '70s. It kind of brings you back there… it must be some kind of psychological thing. I bet that has something to do with it as well."
But embrace new music, too. "I'm always listening to what my sons [Adrian and Tony Perry, of the rock band Dead Boots, and DJ Roman Perry] are listening to. I go to the shows that they go to. We were in Paris this last tour and one of my sons — my youngest, my 22-year-old — came to hang with me for a while on the road. And we went and saw a DJ called Danger, a straight-up DJ in electronic music, and he was really good. It was really, really cool. So I learn a lot all the time from my kids as far as music goes, and I think when you start adding all that stuff up, it does keep you younger."
Basically, be Joe Perry. "Honestly, I think a lot of it is being just lucky to have good genes."
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