COVER FEATURE
BRAD WHITFORD HAS BEEN ON THE MOVE — but he’s finding peace in a pocket of downtime. And he’s going to need it, as Aerosmith is about to embark on its Peace Out farewell tour in a matter of weeks. Some would say it’s been a long time coming, while others hoped the road would never end.
But none of that matters to Whitford; he’s got a job to do, and for now, at least, all is well, “It’s kind of early on,” he says. “We’ve still got a ways to go, but if rehearsals are any indication of anything, it’s just slamming. It’s sounding so good. I’m just smiling from ear to ear. I love being out there with the guys.”
Whitford has long been a positive and calming influence within the ranks of Aerosmith’s tornado-like existence. But despite his accomplishments, which include iconic solos and heavy riffs, if you pull up Whitford’s Wikipedia page, you’d find that it leads with: “Bradley Ernest Whitford is an American musician who is best known for serving as the rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Aerosmith.” If you’ve followed along for the last 50 years, the idea that Whitford is just a “rhythm guitarist” should infuriate you. After all, this is the man who penned or co-penned tracks like “Nobody’s Fault,” “Round and Round” and “Last Child.” Not to mention well-known solos on classic cuts like “Kings and Queens” and alternating leads with Joe Perry on “Back in the Saddle” and “Love in an Elevator.”
These days, though, the misnomer doesn’t bother Whitford much; but during Aerosmith’s heyday, his perspective differed. “After Rocks came out, Aerosmith was touring England, and I was sitting in a bar in London reading a review of the album in Melody Maker,” he says. “And when they got to talking about ‘Last Child,’ they started talking about how it sounded like Jeff Beck, which was very flattering. But then I kept reading, and they gave Joe credit for the guitar solo and kept comparing it to Jeff Beck. I read that, and I fucking went nuclear. I was just so pissed off. It’s like, here I am, having my fucking work being compared to Jeff Beck, and they’re crediting Joe Perry. It was bullshit, and I was so upset. But I realized stuff like that wasn’t worth worrying about because the people who actually listen — and know what they’re talking about — can tell the difference.”
Like Perry in the late Seventies, Whitford jettisoned himself from Aerosmith when things got too hot in the early Eighties. And like Perry, despite riding through the darkest valleys of an unrelenting business, Whitford returned to Aerosmith in 1984, holding down the fort since.
If you were to ask Whitford, he’d tell you Aerosmith’s second act was a “miracle,” as is the fact that they’re still here today. There’s no denying that, along with the big hits, huge shows and legendary albums, when it comes to Aerosmith, things have rarely been easy. To that end, without Whitford’s cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-pillow vibe and his tasty licks, the “miracle” that is Aerosmith probably wouldn’t be here today, 50-plus years strong.
Given the bottomless depths of Aerosmith’s valleys and hazardous heights of its peaks, it’s sometimes tricky for Whitford to fathom: “It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years,” he says. “But there are two versions of that. Sometimes, yes, I can believe it. Other times, I just can’t. Because as I recollect the many things that have happened in 50 years, sometimes it seems more like 75.” [] There’s no denying that Steven Tyler is the band’s face; to be sure, Joe Perry is his partner in crime. But there is no Aerosmith without its second lead guitarist, Brad Whitford. When asked how he balances Aerosmith’s inherent]
