Angel’s Punky Meadows recently shared details about being offered to join Aerosmith and revealed a surprising recording secret about the band, in an interview with Guitar World.
The guitarist addressed a question about whether he was asked to join Aerosmith before Angel broke up. He provided insight into his connections with the band and their management.
“David Krebs, who managed them, became a good friend when I was with Bux, and Jack Douglas, who produced Aerosmith, produced that Bux album,” Meadows said. “I also met Steven Tyler, who came to the studio. I’d seen those guys in Boston playing around. Tyler was kind of a fan of mine. He’d always say, ‘You’re hot shit!'”
Meadows then revealed how he discovered a recording secret about Aerosmith’s “Train Kept a Rollin’.”
“When he came to the studio he brought the tapes of Train Kept a Rollin’. When I heard it I said, ‘F*ck, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford have gotten really good!’ The guitars in that song were really incredible,” he continued. “After Tyler left, Jack Douglas said, ‘Don’t say anything, but that’s not Brad and Joe – it’s Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner.’ I said, ‘That explains it!’ because I knew Joe couldn’t play like that.”
The guitarist also shared his personal connection with Aerosmith members and the eventual offer to join the band.
“Brad and I were friends. We lived in the same apartment building in Framingham, Massachusetts. We used to get together in my apartment, smoke joints, and play guitar. So they were friends of mine,” Meadows said. “So Joe and Brad quit Aerosmith, and David Krebs – who wanted to manage Angel when we first started – called me and said, ‘We know you’d be a great fit.’ But Angel were still kind of together at the time, so I said, ‘Let me get back to you.’ I never did. They ended up getting Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay, and that was that.”
Meadows’ revelation about the session musicians highlights the significant role producer Jack Douglas played in shaping Aerosmith’s sound during their most successful period.
Produce Like A Pro reported that Douglas produced many of Aerosmith’s key albums in the 1970s, including Get Your Wings (1974), Toys in the Attic (1975), Rocks (1976), and Draw the Line (1977). The “Train Kept a Rollin'” track that Meadows heard appeared on Get Your Wings, which became Aerosmith’s breakthrough album.
The album’s success was substantial. Reservoir Media noted that Douglas produced the 3x-Platinum Get Your Wings (1974), followed by the 9x-Platinum Toys in the Attic (1975), 4x-Platinum Rocks (1976), and 2x-Platinum Draw the Line (1977). This string of successful albums established Aerosmith as one of America’s premier rock bands.
Douglas’s influence on the band extended beyond just production work. AllMusic documented that admirers of The New York Dolls and their gritty sound and image, Aerosmith enlisted Douglas as producer of their breakthrough record Get Your Wings after being impressed with his work on the Dolls’ material.
The producer’s contributions were so significant that the band considered him an integral part of their creative process during their most commercially successful period. Douglas’s ability to bring in session musicians like Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner when needed demonstrates the professional approach that helped craft Aerosmith’s signature sound during the mid-1970s.
