Classic Rock
Joe Perry recalls story about a stolen Jeff Beck guitar pedal
The Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry recalled in an interview with Guitar World the story of when the road manager of the band in the early days stole a guitar pedal from Jeff Beck and wanted Perry to use it. That happened when Beck played in Boston when Aerosmith was starting to get famous and they were able to get backstage passes for the show.
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Joe Perry recalls story about a stolen Jeff Beck guitar pedal
“When we were just starting to make it in Aerosmith, our manager had been one of the big promoters in Boston and so we were able to get tickets and backstage passes to a Jeff Beck show,” Perry said. “We had a road manager who was a great guy, but he just looked at the world a little different.
“Backstage, I didn’t talk to Jeff then but he was using an orange Colorsound [fuzz pedal]. We’re driving home and our road manager pulls this orange Colorsound out of his jacket. He said, ‘Well, he had six of them so I just picked it up for you!’
Joe Perry continued:
“I got really pissed off,” Perry went on. “I said, ‘No, we don’t do that! That is not us.’ But we were still pretty hand to mouth, and back then getting equipment going back and forth across the pond was a big deal. What was I gonna do – ship it to him?
“I had it for about three weeks and then it got stolen from me. So I was actually kind of happy to see it go. I always felt bad about it,” Joe Perry said.
Perry and Jeff Beck became friends later on
The Aerosmith guitarist and the late guitarist Jeff Beck became good friends later on. Joe Perry was a huge fan of Beck since he was a member of the Yardbirds. In 2009, when the British guitarist was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he was lucky enough to be on stage performing the classic song “Train Kept A Rollin” on stage with Metallica, Ronnie Wood, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
The song was not originally written by The Yarbirds, but the most famous version was made by the group. Aerosmith covered that track on their 1974 album “Get Your Wings”.
