Aerosmith bassist still feels 'Sweet Emotion'

Tom Hamilton and company play Ridgefield July 28

Tom Hamilton, bassist for Aerosmith and co-writer of some of the famed group’s hits, reminisces for a

moment.

“I seem to remember it being a long summer day,” he says. “I rolled a teeny thin joint to smoke on my porch. I used to bring the bass out there and play, and that little thing popped out.”

The “little thing” was a repetitive bass line, and “the more I played it, the more I liked it,” Hamilton says, adding, “I also had some ideas for the guitar part.”

At that time, Aerosmith was finishing up recording its 1975 album “Toys in the Attic.” As the recording sessions wound down, someone asked if anyone had anything left to record for the record, which would contain hits like “Walk this Way.” Hamilton piped up and showed everybody what he’d been playing since that summer day, and singer Steven Tyler began penning lyrics.

The rest, as they say, is history, with the song “Sweet Emotion” becoming Aerosmith’s first Top 40 hit in 1975, igniting a series of top 40 charting singles and albums that made Aerosmith the biggest selling U.S. rock band ever. To date, Aerosmith has sold 150 million records worldwide — and “Sweet Emotion” is routinely cited by fans and critics alike as Aerosmith’s signature song — all because someone asked a simple question.

“It was never meant to be on the album,” Hamilton says with a laugh.

Hamilton, Tyler and the band are still going strong, and they’ll be rolling through our area soon.

Aerosmith and opening band, progressive hard rockers Living Colour, share a bill at Amphitheater Northwest, 17200 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield, Wash., at 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 28. Tickets range from $43.35 to $147.35 and can be purchased at tickemaster.com.

Hamilton seems to be in good spirits, noting he’s beaten throat cancer twice over the past several years and he’s back out on the road with the band he helped start when he and guitarist Joe Perry — originally in a group together called the Jam Band — met up with Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. Tabano later was replaced by guitarist Brad Whitford.

Tyler, in particular, made an impression the first time Hamilton saw him with another group called Chain Reaction in 1969. Then known by his birth name, Steven Tallarico, the future Aerosmith frontman was actually behind a drum kit with Chain Reaction.

“He seemed to be having a great time up there and had a lot of energy,” Hamilton says. But, later, he told Perry and Hamilton he’d had enough of his current outfit.

“’I sing all the leads and play the drums, and I hate it,’” he recalls Tyler telling him. Tyler would go on to recruit Kramer and take on the frontman rule he craved, and Tyler, arguably, has become the most famous Aerosmith member.

As for Aerosmith in 2015, the storied band will play a mix of oldies and more current stuff at their Amphitheater Northwest show, he says.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good representation of the whole thing,” Hamilton says. “There are a lot of songs in the show, but we do play the songs that make an emotional connection between the audience and the music.”