Aerosmith's Joe Perry will be in Chicago next Monday, October 13, to promote his new autobiography, “Rocks: My Life In And Out Of Aerosmith.” If you're in line early, you might get a signed copy. He'll be at the Standard Club, 320 S Plymouth Ct. downtown from 11:30 to 2:00 p.m and at Guitar Center in Arlington Heights from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
With a forward by Johnny Depp, the book is described by Slash as “an insightful and harrowing roller coaster ride.” Given all the drama surrounding Aerosmith throughout its 44-year run, "harrowing" is probably an acurate description.
Along with Perry’s own words describing all the fame and excesses that came with living the rock star life, the book includes more than 100 photographs depicting the guitarist on and off of the stage.
He was quoted in Blabbermouth stating, "It's going to be my story, but it's also entwined with Aerosmith and relationships there and the how and the why of that kind of stuff. People have been asking me about it for the last probably five or 10 years. I'll definitely take a different path than the other guys, the way they put their books together. I read probably 40 biographies and autobiographies, musical ones. I can see how some worked and some didn't. I hope this one works. I'm pretty excited."
In Rolling Stone, Perry compared his book to Steven Tyler's.
"It's definitely Steven's truth, no doubt about it. He's allowed to perceive things how he perceives things. He can write his book any way he wants. But I didn't agree with a lot of the things he said. I know he worked hard on it, but it's got a totally different tenor and energy than my book. Mine tends to be a little more traditional. It's an autobiography in the real classic sense. I just hope Steven accepts the things I say about how I felt and how I saw things happen. I don't put words in other people's mouths or talk about conversations that I wasn't there for."
-Spencer