The relationship between Aerosmith bandmates Joe Perry and Steven Tyler has been full of ups and downs and roundabouts, sometimes all in the same afternoon. But there was a point, long ago, when they were just two strangers getting to know each other. Perhaps they should have taken it as a sign that their friendship began with one watching the other making a mess he’d have to clear up, as Perry explained to Classic Rock’s Dave Everley. “The first time I met him, I didn’t really meet him so to speak,” said Perry. “I was working in a hamburger joint in the lake area in New Hampshire, and I did everything from cooking the French fries to sweeping the floor and taking out the trash. Steven’s family had a place up there and every summer he’d come up with one of his bands. I remember them rolling in and basically behaving like what they thought rock stars should do, which was throw food at each other. So when they left, I had to clean up after them.”
Despite that, the two became on nodding terms with each other and the next summer, Perry’s band with future Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton were playing at a club called The Barn with Tyler in the crowd. “That’s when I got formally introduced to Steven,” Perry recounted. “He’d heard that the Jeff Beck Group were looking for a new singer. A friend of ours asked if we’d be his back-up band while he did a demo.”
