Biography
Formed in the early 1980s as a fleeting side endeavor, The Joe Perry Project revolved around Aerosmith’s founding guitarist and managed the questionable distinction of cycling through a new vocalist on each of its three albums. Disillusioned by the excessive, substance-fueled inertia that Aerosmith had descended into—despite the group remaining among America’s leading rock acts—Perry departed and assembled a Boston-area trio consisting of vocalist Ralph Mormon, bassist David Hull, and drummer Ronnie Stewart. Their initial outing, the straightforward Let the Music Do the Talking, landed promisingly, yet the same excesses that had undermined Aerosmith soon resurfaced within Perry’s new lineup. On the 1981 follow-up I’ve Got the Rock ’n’ Rolls Again, Mormon gave way to Charlie Farren, whose arrival yielded results noticeably inferior to the debut. The Project’s least coherent statement arrived with 1984’s Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker, by which point the entire roster except Perry had been swapped for vocalist Cowboy Mach Bell, bassist Danny Hargrove, and drummer Joe Pet. Recognizing the venture’s downward trajectory, Perry reconciled with his Aerosmith colleagues and returned to the fold full-time later that year. A 20-track overview titled The Music Still Does the Talking: The Best Of surfaced in 1999 and included a seldom-heard instrumental take of Aerosmith’s “Bone to Bone,” previously issued only as a B-side. Mormon later made a brief appearance as Savoy Brown’s frontman on the 1981 albums Greatest Hits Live in Concert and Rock ’N’ Roll Warriors, while Farren launched the band Farrenheit and delivered his own debut album, Deja Blue, the Color of Love, in 1999.
Albums
