The members of Aerosmith recently were in the studio with the West African band the Refugee All Stars. According to a post on the aeroforceone.com website, the All Stars and Aerosmith recorded a version of John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band's "Give Peace A Chance," while Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry joined the All Stars on a cover of the U2 track "Seconds." Both should be out next year, on separate tribute albums.
Perry told us that listening to the Refugee All Stars has an amazing effect on people: "I think it's the music, the joyousness of the music. I don't even know if they were conscious of, of how strongly that affects the people that are listening to the music, and, you know, the, the message of hope and the, just the uplifting effect of what music does. So to, to be able to help was even just a blessing."
The Refugee All Stars are a group of musicians from Sierra Leone who met in refugee camps in the neighboring country of Guinea after they had fled their homes because of a civil war that lasted over 10 years. Perry and his wife Billie saw the Refugee All Stars documentary last winter, and they were so moved by it that they sponsored an All Stars gig in Woodstock, Vermont, back in June. Perry also got up on stage with them recently in Nashville and Uncasville, Connecticut. For more information, go to refugeeallstars.org.
Aerosmith and Motley Crue finish out their Route Of All Evil tour at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, tonight (Wednesday, December 13th), then Aerosmith has two more dates on their schedule -- Friday (December 15th) in Reno, Nevada, and Sunday (December 17th) in Sacramento, California.
