Buck Johnson on working with Aerosmith, The Beatles' Ringo Starr, Joe Perry Project plus a new U2 tribute.
A club sandwich from room service just arrived at Buck Johnson ’s hotel room at the Four Seasons in Boston. “The club sandwich is always the safe bet,” Johnson tells me over the phone.on backing vocals and keyboards.
Tonight, he’s with Joe Perry Project, the Aerosmith guitar god’s solo band. They’re opening for British Invasion lords The Who, at storied baseball stadium Fenway Park.The rock band Joe Perry Project in 2025. From left, Robert DeLeo, Brad Whitford, Chris Robinson, Joe Perry, Jason Sutter and Buck Johnson. is on vocals, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert DeLeo is on bass and Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford is on guitar. Drummer Jason Sutter isn’t as famous, but he’s a heavy hitter with a heavy resume, including Chris Cornell, Cher, Marilyn Manson, Foreigner and New York Dolls.On their short summer tour, Joe Perry Project’s crushing Aerosmith hits like “Last Child” and deep cuts like “Get The Lead Out.” Joe Perry Project vintage gems like “East Coast, West Coast.” Even the Black Crowes’ “Jealous Again” and “Twice As Hard” and Stone Temple Pilots’ “Vasoline” and “Interstate Love Song.” “Everyone checks their ego at the door,” Johnson says, “and it feels like when you started doing it, playing in bands, the excitement. So I think that’s what makes it. Maybe it comes across on stage that way.”Johnson’s 2025 dance card also includes touring with Beatles drummer Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band. He began playing with Starr after keyboardist/singer Edgar Winter had to bow out because of health reasons. Starr’s tour manager, Donny Wightman, had worked with Aerosmith for many years and recommended Johnson for the gig. Johnson played his first show with Starr, whose band also boasts the likes of Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, with no rehearsal and using Winter’s keyboard rig. “And so at that point,” Johnson says, “you’re just like what have I got to lose? Just enjoy this. Serve the song, and that means sometimes you don’t need me to play here. Come in on the chorus or whatever. First song halfway through, Lukather’s smiling at me and then Ringo’s smiling. Well, this must be working, so I’ll stick with this plan.” This year Johnson’s also played on charity shows with dynamic Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler. A 2023 vocal injury left Tyler unable to do a full tour anymore. But as his performance at, a U2 tribute band he started last fall. The lineup includes Sean Kelly, formerly of alt-rockers Sixpence None the Richer, Mark Niemiec and Nathan Meckel.. He’ll be in frontman mode, vocally “becoming” Bono. Besides celebrating the music, U4ia echoes U2’s philanthropy. The band raises money for nonprofits like Habitat For Humanity and Second Harvest. Johnson summarizes his tribute’s motivation this way: “Have fun, get loud and help charities that help make the world a better place. That’s why we do it.”What’s the most challenging thing about singing Bono stuff with your U2 tribute band? Because he’s not really a vocal gymnast, he’s just damn good.Yeah, he is damn good. He’s a communicator, you know, he’s passionate and he’s a crooner. For those guys , The Beatles were a massive influence, but also the Ramones and The Clash. So you gotta understand that too when you go into it. And what he’s singing, he’s really heartfelt about it. You know, he’s a tenor and I’m a tenor. We do the set chronologically, so we’ll start with “I Will Follow” into “Gloria” and so forth, and the early stuff is the most challenging. So I have to be really warmed up to get through those songs which I love to sing. The good news is as you move further down the set, it gets easier because he’s not as rangy but it’s more interesting. They definitely went more experimental and changed up their sound, which is great. I think that’s what artists should do. And so it’s a lot of fun to do that show just for those reasons. With Aerosmith or with Joe Perry Project or with Ringo Starr, you’re focused on backing vocals and playing keyboards. How nice is it with the U2 tribute to front a band? You know, when I first started singing with my family when I was a little kid, that’s all I did was sing. I was always a singer first, and I always classify myself as I’m a singer who plays keyboards. And so any gig I’ve ever been fortunate enough to be hired to do, whether it was Aerosmith or Joe Perry or Ringo Starr, it was because the vocals and the keyboards were important. Usually in a rock band, lot of times it’s piano or it’s a B3 organ. And the organ is kind of like the glue that complements the guitars. I’ve always been a guitar-driven rock band kind of guy, where it’s Led Zeppelin or Aerosmith of course. Although it’s different, that’s what makes it kind of unique for me. It lets me put on a different hat and scratch that itch of being a frontman, which is something that I’ve always felt comfortable doing. To me, you know, if it’s great music with people I admire and I love, then it doesn’t matter to me whether I’m playing keys or fronting a band.I loved the Black Crowes when they came out. I still love them today, and the fact I get to work with Chris, it’s a blast. And we’re singing a lot together in this show with Joe Perry and it’s like putting on an old shoe. It’s just very, very comfortable. And guess what? , Chris Robinson is very much influenced by punk rock. I don’t know if people get that but listen to his lyrics. I think sometimes we compartmentalize things so much to the 10th degree that it’s like, yeah, it is blues based musically. But it’s more than just that.On these Joe Perry Project shows, Chris sings with a lot of energy and focus, which is a deadly combination. It’s really like Chris Robinson in 1990 or 1991 or 1992. Well, you know, Chris is honoring the songs. He’s doing it his way and he’s not trying to be Steven Tyler and why should he be? And so it is a little different . We only are doing so many shows and as we’ve moved further, we’ve gotten tighter with it. Figured out a few things. Because I was used to singing a lot of these songs with Steven, which I have been lucky. I’ve got to sing with amazing singers. The best, really. And I think because we’re both from the South, we both have some of the same influences. Gospel and blues. But he does take a bit of a punk rock approach to it. And some of the Joe Perry stuff, even though Joe was obviously into blues and the Yardbirds and funk like the Meters, Joe also takes a punk rock approach to when he plays. When we were rehearsing and we played song, we get to the ending and the ending kind of falls apart, Joe would say, perfect, as a joke, that’s a Joe Perry Project ending right there. He doesn’t want it to be perfect. He wants it to be in the moment. I forget where we were in Canada … We played a show, and we walked off the stage, and it was a great show. And Joe was not feeling well, and we thought, well, we should just wrap it up. And he couldn’t help himself. He said, no, we got to go back out there. They already started playing the house music and he said, no, we’re going back out. We did “Train Kept a Rollin’,” and it was so ferocious. Oh, my God, it was so good. In this world of everything being perfected, A.I. is going to do it “better,” so you might as well make it the most human experience you can have. Warts and all. Joe and I always talk about that. It’s like, if you’re gonna make a mistake, do it full speed. Just go for it. Obviously you don’t want to just do it and be terrible, you gotta rehearse and be ready so you don’t have to think about things. And just be in the moment. Robert DeLeo, he and I are good friends. He’s such a great songwriter and musician. An amazing bass player. People don’t realize how much he’s doing over there. He’s so brilliant and everyone is so kind and we’re having nothing but laughs and fun. You know, like, Chris gets to sing some of these Aerosmith songs. Joe gets to play some of these Black Crowes and STP songs. And same with Robert. And to play with all these guys, it couldn’t be better, man.You mentioned Robert DeLeo, and I wanted to ask about the live version of STP classic “Interstate Love Song” Joe Perry Project has been doing. It’s a very early Black Crowes-ish, soul rock take on it. That was Robert’s idea. He knew that in the key that the song was written in, and the record is in the key of E. And that would just been too low for Chris, where his voice shines. And we could have done it like it was done on the record, which is fun for guitar players to play, but I don’t think Chris would have shined as much. And if the singer can’t shine and can’t have a place in the song, then it’s not really going to work. So Robert’s idea, let’s take it up to A, four steps higher, where it’s more in Chris’ range. Robert’s like, I want to slow it down, make it more R&B, like Chris if you’re doing an Otis Redding song. And so that was the vibe we took, and then first time we played it with Chris it was like, oh, my God, this is great. Since you’ve been with Aerosmith for more than a decade, what do you think the chances are of the band doing a final all-day concert with a bunch of guest stars, like Ozzy and Sabbath recently did? Huge bands would be lining up to play on an Aerosmith show like that. I think there is a chance. I mean a lot of people have talked about that. I don’t have any inside information. I know that there’s a lot of the things that they’ve been all working on individually and together, that will have to take a back seat for now. But I do think that’s being talked about. Steven can get up and sing five, six songs. He could probably do one show, but to do a whole tour that’s a whole other thing. The fact he can still sing that way it’s amazing. Most people half his age can’t sing like that. No one wants to go out the way it went out . this is just me speculating, but I could see them doing a show in Boston, do a show in L.A. maybe a show in London and, and call it a day. Or just one, who knows? They deserve that. One last goodbye. When he’s singing, Steven Tyler can bring energy and joy out of the ether and into rock music like few people ever have.You come to realize, oh, any good drummer I played with Ringo was part of their influence or a direct influence. Ringo has this something special, man, that’s the best I can say. You don’t have a good band unless you have a great drummer. And he’s up there smiling, having fun, and it’s just this thing that he’s got, man. You know that when you’re playing with him, it’s just like, you know, you forget for a minute, oh, yeah, he’s a Beatle. But it’s just the way it feels. It’s real, man, and his timing is amazing. He told me once he was doing a session, I forget who it was with, and the producer said, what kind of click do you want? Ringo goes, I am the click. And that’s it. That doesn’t go away with age. How surreal is it to hear yourself sing lead with a Beatle on the drums for “Going Down,” the All Starr Band’s great Freddie King cover that’s getting played on SiriusXM’s Beatles channel? I always tell people the fact that I get to do what I love to do and play music for a living, most people on this planet are not even afforded that luxury of getting to do what they love. And the fact that it’s music and the people I get to play with … There’s a lot of people responsible for allowing me to be here to do that, including my wife and family. So I savor it and just never forget how fortunate I am. But it is so surreal. Like, some mornings I wake up and here I’m at the Four Seasons in Boston and wait a minute … That was a dream, right? No, I am here. I’m about to play at Fenway Park tonight.Iconic country music band reunites with long estranged former member If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
Buck Johnson Aerosmith Joe Perry Black Crowes Stone Temple Pilots U2 Alabama Musicians Birmingham Musicians Music Live Music Huntsville Music Birmingham Music Brother Cane The Beatles Ringo Starr Steve Lukather Bono Chris Robinson Section:/Life
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