Legendary AEROSMITH bassist Tom Hamilton spoke with John Parks from Legendary Rock Interviews recently about a number of topics including the band's upcoming Rock For The Rising Sun Blu-Ray/DVD. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

LRI: The performances on the Rock For The Rising Sun release are showing you guys on top of your game yet again but what surprised me most was watching how animated and excitable the Japanese crowds are. It seems like they are a little less subdued than back in the mid '70s.

Tom: "Yeah, at the shows the crowds were a little more kinetic and intense, a little more like western shows than they used to be. When we first started touring there we were really surprised by the crowds and the people there, given the excitement leading up to the shows. We would finish a song back in those days and there would be like a crescendo of applause and then it would just cut off immediately. It was kinda strange to us. We would sort of ask 'Well, why are they like that? why do they do that?' and what we found out is that they don’t wanna miss anything. They’re afraid that if they’re just out there yelling and screaming between songs that they might miss something that Steven says or miss something we do onstage. That was an interesting concept to us and we thought it was pretty unique but now there’s much more yelling, hollering and interaction going on than in those days. It’s still different but maybe a little less different."

LRI: The shows these days, including the Blu-Ray/DVD, are featuring a pretty eclectic set list. You’re including songs like 'Hangman Jury' 'Movin' Out' and 'Lick and A Promise', songs that fans love as deep album cuts rather than the obvious radio hits which you could easily fashion an entire set around. Is it fun for you to see the reaction to some of those lesser-played songs?

Tom: "Yeah, it is….especially when you pick something out of the norm and they like it. You can always worry if you play something outside of the “greatest hits” that it might not go over well but it’s always sweet when it does. The fans, especially in Japan, seem to really appreciate a lot of the deep cuts, it feels like we could pretty much play anything and they would appreciate it. Anything that we like, they’re pretty much going to like. Other places, the fans might have more appreciation for the hits or the ballads or the straight up rockers. Really, our setlist has sort of boiled down to a certain template now that we can take everywhere. We’ve got these songs, where there’s certain things happening or where there are certain moments with Steven can really make an impact and we’ve gotta keep them in the show. At the same time, we’re able to fine tune things and make changes with other songs and try to figure out what the fans might wanna hear there."

LRI: When your latest album Music From Another Dimension came out I spoke with your drummer Joey Kramer and he basically told me, all bullshit aside, that the band was getting along better than it had in years and you were getting into a groove again. Is that still the case as you see it?

Tom: "Yes, we’ve had this sort of ebb and flow of great times and then disastrous times throughout our career. It seemed like the band always had to crash and meltdown every few years but right now we’re in a really great groove. I think everybody just feels really good about how we’re playing as individuals, how the shows are going as a group and what we’re able to bring to people as a team when we play. I’m one of those people who is able to enjoy that for what it is and not worry about it going away, even though it might. Right now though, we’ve got a good thing going, everybody’s getting on good, feeling good. We’re playing good and trying stuff and it feels great right now, it’s really cool."

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