Aerosmith's Joey Kramer Fill-In Was 'Not Prepared' for First Show

It’s one factor to work alongside a musician all through his nightly schedule, but it surely’s fairly one other to be pressed into motion when that musician is unavailable. That’s one thing that Aerosmith’s present Joey Kramer fill-in drummer John Douglas discovered when he was referred to as upon to sit down behind the package again in 2019. Douglas admirably stepped up in a second of want, however admits he wasn’t completely ready for what was to come back.

The drummer, who’s at the moment behind the package as Kramer has bowed out of Aerosmith’s “Peace Out” farewell tour, informed the Jeremy White Show podcast that whereas he had some inkling of what wanted to occur on that 2019 night time, he was not ready as he would have favored to have been.

At the time, Kramer had suffered an harm leaving him unable to carry out, whereas the band was within the midst of their Las Vegas “Deuces Are Wild” residency. “I never enter into a job like that thinking that that’s going to happen,” defined the drummer. “So I don’t purposely learn the show or anything. Now, the nature of the gig is you’re sitting back observing. And I am a drummer first, so it’s just kind of by osmosis that I learned the show without really intending on learning the show.”

Douglas remembers the tight timing of his sudden promotion, noting that he did not have an official soundcheck and solely was given just a few hours to take heed to the songs and get acquainted with the fabric.

As he defined it, “It’s a totally different animal, playing along to a record or tapping your steering wheel to a song on the radio that we’ve heard a million times. It’s a different thing when you’re in the driver’s seat driving a band – any band, but a band like Aerosmith for sure. So, I was not prepared at all and yet somehow I made it through and lived to tell about it.”

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Douglas mentioned that fortunately issues went properly, with the band having amusing about it afterward with Joe Perry joking about who was crazier for making an attempt to place him in that place with such little prep time.

In the time since, Kramer has been pressured out of motion on a number of events, with Douglas stepping in to assist out. And earlier this 12 months, when Aerosmith introduced their “Peace Out” farewell tour, he was requested to take over drums once more as Kramer wouldn’t be taking part within the run. That mentioned, Douglas makes no bones about his function with the group.

“Joey Kramer is still the drummer for Aerosmith. Was and always has been,” says Douglas.

As for what he is doing onstage, he provides, “Those parts that Joey wrote and played are iconic. There are places where I will inject a little bit of me, but not at critical ones like ‘Love in an Elevator’ or so many songs where to me it’s like, well that’s the fill. That’s the fill that should be there. That’s the one that’s there. As a fan, if I’m sitting in the audience, that’s the one I want to hear.”

Aerosmith’s “Peace Out” tour picks up once more subsequent month, with a brand new tour leg beginning Oct. 11 in Tampa, Florida. Dates will proceed into mid-December, with the band additionally reserving some year-end touring to start out a brand new tour leg that carries over via the tip of February. See all of the scheduled dates, cities and venues listed right here.