It wouldn’t be a new Aerosmith album without a media event, and the band obliged yesterday (March 28) by turning out to talk about its upcoming tour — and first album of original material in over a decade — on a stage erected outside a Los Angeles mall.

Strolling out to applause from several hundred fans after being introduced by Jimmy Kimmel, band members answered questions about the new LP, which vocalist Steven Tyler described by saying “Doing a record in four months is unheard of in Aerosmith territory.”

The key ingredient, according to drummer Joey Kramer, is producer Jack Douglas, who Kramer referred to as “part of the Aerosmith DNA” and claimed, “On the first day of writing at rehearsal, that all came right back.”

“This record is different from the recent past, say the last 20 years, where everybody is getting in the studio and throwing down their songs,” guitarist Joe Perry explained to Billboard. “Some of the songs are completed and some are just riffs. This record is a lot more band-written stuff than there has been in the recent past.”

Although Tyler predicted that the album will be out a month after Aerosmith’s Global Warming tour kicks off in Minneapolis on June 16, Tyler said “We probably have two songs to write to finish. Or certainly there are slots to fill.”

As for the tour, Perry says the band intends to mix up the set list a little, mixing in some old chestnuts with a few new songs and their greatest hits. “We want to bring out songs we just haven’t played for years,” he said, naming the ‘Get Your Wings’ track ‘Woman of the World‘ as an example. “We’ll be playing some of those — songs that were staples in the sets back in the old days that will be new songs to a lot of people if they don’t know the albums.”

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