Steve Hunter recently chatted with Guitar World and discussed how he ‘secretly’ played in 1974 track ‘Train Kept a Rollin’ to cover for Joe Perry.
The session guitarist first recalled how the Aerosmith producers randomly came across him in the studio and asked him to record the song’s first solo. Then, when the host mentioned how his contributions had to be in secret, Steve continued:
“They [record executives] definitely didn’t want people to know. But the thing is, when you cut an album, it’s set in stone. It’s not like a live gig where you can have a bad night and make up for it with a good one. It was important that these albums be as good as possible, and that’s basically why I was called into the studio to play on ‘Train Kept a Rollin.'”
Hunter also revealed why he had to step in Perry’s place:
“The way it was explained to me was, ‘Joe had hit a block,’ and they needed to get the take done and start mixing the next day.”
The rocker then answered whether he was asked to ‘imitate’ and play similarly to Perry’s style:
“They told me what they were looking for; I gave the solo a couple of passes, they were happy, and that was it. And then I went back and sat down in the lobby again. Now that I think of it, they did say, ‘Look, it’s best if we don’t mention to anyone that you played on this.'”
However, at one point, the secret was out:
“I don’t think it was ever mentioned until Joe left the band years later. It was kind of a bummer that no one could know, but by that point, I was used to the double-edged sword of session work.”
Later into the chat, the guitarist also explained how Joe had no idea that Hunter had recorded a solo for him, confirming that this move was made without the Aerosmith rocker’s knowledge.
‘Train Kept A-Rollin’ was a cover from Tiny Bradshaw’s 1951 hit, as Aeromisth added the bluesy track into their discography and transformed it into a hard rocking sound for their second album, ‘Get Your Wings.’
