The Star-Ledger – NJ.com
November 5, 2009

Where and when: Tuesday at 9 p.m. at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, New York; Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Starland Ballroom, 570 Jernee Mill Road, Sayreville

How much: $40 in advance, $45 day of show for New York; call (212) 777-6800 or visit Livenation.com. $25 in advance, $30 day of show for Sayreville; call (732) 238-5500 or visit StarlandBallroom.com.

Joe Perry does most of his performing in arenas and amphitheaters. But fans of the Aerosmith guitarist will have an opportunity to see him this week at two considerably smaller venues: the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza in New York, and the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville.

He’ll be with his own band. Having released a solo album, “Have Guitar, Will Travel,” on Oct. 6, he is touring large nightclubs and small theaters.

“They’re the best places to hear rock ’n’ roll, as far as I’m concerned,” says Perry, 59. “It didn’t start in arenas. It started in clubs and theaters, and that’s really where it sounds the best.”

Aerosmith’s planned September concerts at the PNC Bank Arts Center and Madison Square Garden were canceled after frontman Steven Tyler fell from a stage in Sturgis, S.D., Aug. 5, breaking his shoulder and suffering cuts to his head that required 20 stitches. With that tour cut short, Perry was able to move up the release date of “Have Guitar, Will Travel,” and start his own tour earlier than planned.

“Have Guitar, Will Travel” was released under his name, though on the tour, the band is billed as the Joe Perry Project. Perry released three Joe Perry Project albums and toured under that name in the early ’80s.

Bassist David Hull is the only holdover from the original Joe Perry Project. Perry found the other new musicians in a variety of ways. Guitarist-keyboardist Paul Santo is a veteran studio musician whose credits include Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Ozzy Osbourne. Drummer Ben Tileston, who plays on the album but not the tour, is in a group called TAB the Band, with two of Perry’s sons. And Perry found vocalist Hagen Grohe on YouTube, after his wife, Billie, stumbled across a video of him singing.

“She said, ‘You’ve got to hear this guy,’ ” says Perry, “and sure enough, he blew my mind. We made some phone calls, and sent him a plane ticket.”

Grohe, who is 30 and lives in Germany, splits lead-vocal duties with Perry, whose low, gruff voice works well on some, but not all, songs.

“I’ve kind of grown into my voice — I’m a late bloomer,” says Perry, who occasionally sings lead with Aerosmith but sticks mostly to backup parts. “I can handle the low stuff, and Hagen can handle the high stuff.”

On tour, the band will play songs from “Have Guitar, Will Travel,” as well as some old Joe Perry Project material and Aerosmith classics.

“We do a version of ‘Dream On’ in the set,” says Perry, referring to one of Aerosmith’s best-known songs. “It’s kind of whatever we feel like — some of the guys in the band have Aerosmith songs that they really like, and we’ll do them. Some of my favorite riffs that I’ve written are in the middle of Aerosmith songs, and this band being as talented as they are, we can definitely get out there and do ’em justice.”

No one knows when Aerosmith will get back together, Perry says.

“I know the band wants to make another record — we haven’t put a great studio record together in a long time — and go on the road. But we need to take a breather and analyze what we want to do next, and when we want to do it.”