During a conversation with Ultimate Guitar's Steven Rosen, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry talked about the Hollywood Vampires, the supergroup project he's involved with alongside Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

UG: Did you have an idea of what kind of sound or direction you wanted to take this second album (Rise)?

Perry: "It was very lyric-driven. That kind of helped us steer the way between what this riff was gonna sound like or what this song was gonna sound like dynamically for the audience. That was combined with giving everybody the chance to get off their chests so to speak what they had inside them and getting it on the tape. That’s what made the record so much fun to do."

UG: Alice Cooper is a completely different kind of singer than Steven Tyler, right?

Perry: "We knew because of the way Alice sings and the way he puts songs across and the way what a lot of the lyrics said, we knew it was gonna be a tougher, harder record than an Aerosmith record. So I was able to cut loose on some of the stuff I normally wouldn’t do on an Aerosmith record."

Read the complete interview here.

Hollywood Vampires released their new album, Rise, on June 21 via earMUSIC. Order your copy here.

Rise, the band’s second album, is some of the purest, unapologetic and most enjoyable rock and roll of the year, made by masters of the craft and true fans of the form.

Unlike their 2015 debut record, the new album Rise consists mainly of original material, written by the band. There are however, in the spirit of the Vampires’ original mission, three covers of songs originally written and recorded by some fellow rockers who died far too young: an intimate and intense version of David Bowie’s “Heroes”, again beautifully performed on record by Johnny Depp; the late Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died,” and Johnny Thunder’s “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory,” sung by Joe Perry.

Tracklisting:

“I Want My Now”
“Good People Are Hard To Find”
“Who’s Laughing Now”
“How The Glass Fell”
“The Boogieman Surprise”
“Welcome To Bushwackers” (feat. Jeff Beck and John Waters)
“The Wrong Bandage”
“You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory”
“Git From Round Me”
“Heroes”
“A Pitiful Beauty”
“New Threat”
“Mr. Spider”
“We Gotta Rise”
“People Who Died”
“Congratulations”

Album preview:

“Heroes” video:

“The Boogieman Surprise” live video:

“Who’s Laughing Now”:

Unboxing video: