Tom Hamilton (musician)
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| Tom Hamilton | |
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| Born | December 31, 1951 (age 55) Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA |
| Alias(es) | Thomas William Hamilton |
| Genre(s) | Hard rock Blues-rock |
| Affiliation(s) | Aerosmith |
| Label(s) | Columbia Geffen |
| Years active | 1972 - Present |
| Official site | Official Aerosmith Website |
Thomas William Hamilton (born December 31, 1951, in Colorado Springs, Colorado) is an American musician, best known as the bassist of the band Aerosmith. He began playing guitar at the age of twelve then switched to bass because the only local band needed a bassist. He co-wrote three of their hit songs, "Sweet Emotion" (perhaps most noted for the bass line), "Janie's Got a Gun and "Jaded." He plays rhythm guitar on another song he co-wrote, "Sick as a Dog" and also co-wrote "Uncle Salty" from Toys in the Attic.
According to the Aerosmith website, his favorite song by the band is "The Farm" (from the 1997 album Nine Lives). He married Terry Cohen in 1975 and they have two children. He was also the last person of the band to come clean about his drug addictions and smoked up to the recording of Permanent Vacation.
In August 2006, he announced that he was diagnosed with throat cancer last spring. He has undergone extensive radiation therapy. He was forced to miss Aerosmith's new Route of All Evil tour. A friend of the band's, David Hull (who has also played with The Joe Perry Project), enjoyed filling in for him. Prior to these recent shows, Hamilton had never missed an Aerosmith show. Tom joined the band for the performance of "Sweet Emotion" at their Boston show in September 2006, and at the private show at the Beacon Theatre in New York, on December 3rd, 2006, where he reclaimed his place with the band for the entire performance. He is the tallest member of the band at 6'1". Hamilton is also the "funny one" of the Aerosmith, always looking for chances to make jokes in interviews and also being one of the bigger talkers at interviews.
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[edit] Family
Hamilton was born to George and Betty Hamilton on New Year's Eve 1951. He has an older brother named Scott, an older sister named Perry, and a younger sister named Cecily. His father was in the Air Force and his mother was a housewife.
Tom first learned to play guitar from his brother, who got his first guitar when Tom was four years old.
[edit] Pre-Aerosmith/Making of Aerosmith
Hamilton first started playing guitar when he was 12 and switched to bass when he was 14 to join a local band. Hamilton was in a band with soon to be Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry. The band was simply called "The Jam Band". The band was broken up but Hamilton and Perry both moved to Boston to start another band and met Steven Tyler and a local club called "The Barn" Tyler's band also broke up and the three joined together. The three became a power trio with Hamilton on bass, Perry on guitar, and Tyler on drums and vocals. Then Ray Tabano joined and eventually Joey Kramer joined in replacing Tyler on drums so he could focus on vocals. Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford and Aerosmith was born.
[edit] Acting
Hamilton was accepted into two acting schools but instead decided to be in a band.
[edit] Aerosmith 1970-present day
Hamilton has been an active member of the band contributing the 3rd most songs (behind Tyler and Perry) and has written some of their most notable hits. Only after being diagnosed with throat cancer has he been less active having to miss shows and going through chemotherapy. On December 20, 2006, Tom reported on Aeroforceone.com that he is now cancer free after a recent PET scan.
[edit] Role in the Band
Hamilton is the bassist and occasional guitarist and backing vocalist in the band. He is considered one of the most influential American bassists due to his steady beat, ability to improvise on stage, and his longevity. He is also the joker of the band.
Tom wrote this in his hotel room just after the gig at the Hard Rock in London:
| “ | Just got back to the hotel after a gig at the Hard Rock in London. There were probably all of a hundred and fifty people there. A nice cozy club gig. Our equipment probably took up more space than the audience.
We’ve been in London for the last couple of days doing press to promote our first European tour in eight years. It starts in May and goes through mid July. I’m pretty psyched about it. I’m a history buff and they have a pretty big supply of it over there in the Old World. You’d be amazed at all the planning and logistics that go into this stuff. I mean technically its a few interviews and a club gig. Sounds simple but it ain’t. It takes a lot of smart people a lot of time to plan it out so it works right. You have to make sure the radio guy from Latvia gets as much time as the newspaperwoman from Germany. The interviews were literally ten minutes each, one after the other for the whole day. It all worked well and everybody seemed reasonably satisfied. I had to keep reminding myself to watch the jet lag thing. You don’t want to say something dumb because you’re wiped out from the time warp. We all met up here Sunday afternoon after flying all night. Wait a minute….. Sunday morning. See - I’m already f-ing up the facts. After going back to sleep for a little while we went over to the club for a sound check/rehearsal. The stage was tight but the room had a nice sound. The fact that the back wall was only about thirty feet away probably helped. Everybody in the band was getting off on it. It was ballsy but tight and focused. It made us all look forward to the gig, which was the next night. We finished the sound check and then headed out to an Indian restaurant for a good pig-out. I promised myself I’d get to sleep early but of course it didn’t happen. Too many distractions. No matter how hard I try 2:00 A.M. comes around way too fast. What the hell, sometimes you play better when you’re exhausted. After all the interviews and press hubbub we went back to the hotel for a break. As usual I ordered something off the room service menu and put on the news channel. In England it’s Sky News and the story of the day was about some pop singer shaving her hair off along with the usual stories about warfare and traffic congestion. We went over to the venue around 9:00 and went straight onstage. What a blast. It was a real treat having the band all close together while we played. Close enough to look at each other and revel in yet another milestone. We haven’t done a club show in a long time so the novelty factor was there by the imperial gallon. The audience was right in our face splattering us with their energy and all we had to do was hand it back. Not to be too corny but I really did flash back to when we used play the Barn up in New Hampshire in the early days. It was a nice moment, not to be forgotten. So anyway it was cool to be in London where so many of our favorite bands came from. We soaked in the history. Speaking of legends. We got to see the vault under the Hard Rock where they keep some of their most priceless memorabilia. They had a guitar that belonged to Jimi Hendrix along with one from Jeff Beck and another from Duane Allman. They had a jacket that belonged to John Lennon and a necklace that belonged to Elvis Presley. My favorite item was one of those little bubble things that you shake and it makes a little snowstorm. It belonged to Kurt and Courtney. The little thing was probably worth a Ferrari for cryin’ out loud. Tomorrow it’s back to Boston. Got to get there before the jet lag sets in for real. TH |
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[edit] Songs Written
- "Uncle Salty" from Toys In The Attic
- "Sweet Emotion" from Toys In The Attic
- "Sick as a Dog" from Rocks
- "Critical Mass" from Draw the Line
- "Kings and Queens" from Draw the Line
- "The Hand that Feeds" from Draw the Line
- "The Movie" from Permanent Vacation
- "Janie's Got a Gun" from Pump
- "Jaded" from Just Push Play
[edit] Trivia
- He has one sister and two brothers.
- His favorite character on The Simpsons is Maggie.
- He favorite car a Ferrari 274 GTB.
- His favorite movie is Bladerunner
- In addition to guitar and bass, he also plays keyboards.
- His favorite sport is Tennis.
- His favorite bands are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, U2 and Oasis.
- His birthday is on New Year's Eve.
- He can vibrate his eyes.
- His favorite book is "The Arms of Krupp".
- His nickname is "Mr. Sweet Emotion".
- He likes to learn languages and can speak Spanish and French.
- His favorite food is anything that is fried.
- He was the last member of the band to come completely clean of drugs, admitting to have smoked pot during recording sessions for Permanent Vacation.
[edit] External links
- Tom Hamilton at the Internet Movie Database
- Tom Hamilton's letter to the fans about his cancer and the tour
