Hamilton: Age has mellowed us

Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton says the band find it easier to brush off arguments as they get older.

In 2009, guitarist Joe Perry said the band were considering continuing with a new singer after a spat with frontman Steve Tyler. Tyler said he wanted to go solo after he fell from the stage during a gig that year, leading to the cancellation of the rest of the tour.

But they have since put all that behind them and Hamilton believes age – and the realisation that they are reaching the end of their career – has mellowed the members of Aerosmith.

He tells Digital Journal: “I think we all know that we’re nearer the end than the beginning of this whole thing and nobody wants to miss anything – I certainly don’t. I don’t want to miss all the amazing stuff there is out in the world for us right now just because of an argument or because somebody is too burned out and they lash out or something. Everything is forgivable when you consider what’s out there for us if we can keep it together.

“The realisation of what we have and how worthy it is of our protection is something that’s come with experience. These things would have broken the band apart for long periods of time in the past, but people come back together and forgive and get into that mode where they’re ready to move on a little bit faster than they used to.”

Hamilton had his own personal struggle to deal with too, having been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2006.

On his health, he says: “I feel great. I had a couple of situations last year that I’m past. Sometimes the after effects of cancer treatment sort of come back to bite you later on down the road. That happened last year, but I’m feeling great now.”

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Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.