AEROSMITH guitarist
Joe Perry's fifth solo album,
"Have Guitar, Will Travel", will be released in Japan on December 23. The Japanese edition of the album will include two bonus tracks —
"Dream On" (
AEROSMITH) and
"Revolution" (
THE BEATLES).
Video footage of
Perry talking about
"We've Got a Long Way To Go", the first single from
"Have Guitar, Will Travel", can be viewed below.
"Have Guitar, Will Travel" was released in the U.S. on October 6 via
Roman Records. The hard-driving, ten-song, in your face, collection features
Perry's trademark rock and blues ferocity. Recorded this past spring at the
BoneYard,
Perry's state-of-the-art home studio, where
AEROSMITH's
"Honkin' On Bobo" and
"Just Push Play" were recorded,
"Have Guitar, Will Travel" is entirely written and produced by
Perry.
Still as scorching hot on guitar as he is preternaturally cool in his persona,
"Have Guitar, Will Travel" is a departure for
Perry in that the CD was conceived as a band recording. From start to finish it took only forty-seven days to complete. "Making this record in such a short period of time gave us a chance to capture an energy and flow that was very different from the last record," said
Perry. "The way the players came together at a time when I had the music and lyrics in my head ready to go was pure synchronicity. The last record rocked, but this one rocks and then some. I'm really proud of it."
"We've Got A Long Way To Go", the CDs first single, showcases the voice of a young German singer known as
Hagen, found completely by chance on
YouTube by
Joe's wife
Billie. "I first called him from Cleveland when I went to perform at the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame jam with
Jeff Beck,
Jimmy Page,
Ron Wood,
Flea and
METALLICA," said
Perry. "It took several minutes to convince him that it wasn't a prank call, but a true invitation to audition to sing on the CD."
Hagen mans the microphone for five tracks, while
Perry sings lead on four. The remaining tenth song is an instrumental entitled
"Wooden Ships".
In addition,
Perry attracted an esteemed roster of some of the best players that the music world has to offer; bassist
David Hull, who played with
THE BUDDY MILES BAND at 19 and was in
THE JOE PERRY PROJECT in the '80s, drummer
Ben Tileston, a Boston University percussion graduate, who plays drums with two of
Perry's sons in
TAB THE BAND,
Paul Santo, who's played Hammond organ/pipe organ with the likes of
Ringo Starr,
Eric Clapton and
Ozzy Osbourne, drummers
Scott Meeder and
Marty Richards and
Willie "Loco" Alexander, Boston's "Godfather of Punk," who was part of the Bostown sound of the band
THE BAGATELLE.
A six-week
Twitter search was conducted to find the CDs title. The winner, out of nearly 2000 entries, was
Joe Piscitelli, who used a play on the old
CBS television program
"Have Gun – Will Travel".
The release of
"Have Guitar, Will Travel" follows self-produced solo releases including
"Let The Music Do The Talking" (1980),
"Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker" (1983),
"I've Got The Rock 'N' Rolls Again" (1981) and 2005's
"Joe Perry", which received universal critical praise and earned
Perry his first solo
Grammy nomination for "Best Instrumental Song" (
"Mercy").
