MaryEllen Fillo from Courant.com spoke with AEROSMITH drummer Joey Kramer recently about a number of topics including his new book, Hit Hard: A Story Of Hitting Rock Bottom At The Top. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Courant.com: Did anyone, teachers, clergy, friends, other family members, realize how you were being abused as a child?

Kramer: "I never told anyone because while the abuse was in progress, I wasn't really conscious that it was abuse. I just thought that was the way it was between my father and me. I think back then there were a lot of kids like me who were getting physically abused by parents who thought it was the way to discipline them. There was a confusion between abuse and love, and later I forgave my father because I think it was all he knew. He was trying to do the best he could."

Courant.com: Passages throughout the book are boldfaced. Why?

Kramer: "They were the statements I was making that were particularly important to me. I wanted people to get my point."

Courant.com: What made you decide to write the book?

Kramer: "I decided about five years ago to write and it took me four years to write it. The reason I did was that I realized I could incorporate a rock 'n' roll memoir, which is something I had wanted to do, with my own story. I didn't think I was interesting enough on my own but realized people don't have to be a rock 'n' roll star to crash and burn. Now that I have been sober a while, I wanted to let people know there is a way to do it and not give up hope."

Courant.com: What's your take on Steven Tyler quitting, or not quitting, Aerosmith.

Kramer: "I'm not really making any statements about it because everything is getting misconstrued and comments are being taken out of context."

Read the entire interview here.