BEVERLY HILLS--As I pull my battered, bumperless '66 Chevy up to the valet at the elegant Four Seasons Hotel, attendants don't exactly fight for my business. When a young valet eventually opens my door, he asks, "Wedding?" "No," I reply, brandishing my tape recorder proudly, "interview."

"Oh, they're great guys," he says warmly, somehow knowing who I'm going to see. "You'll have a good time." He drives away.

Obviously Aerosmith are popular guests in this refined, star-studded hotel. Once it might not have been so. But now, sober, thoughtful, polite--yet still raunchy and rockin' harder than ever--Aerosmith is back on top, on their own terms.

I take the elevator up to the fourth-floor pool. Where else but L.A. do you find pools on the fourth floor? The pool area is expansive, and as I scan the beautiful people in search of my prey, a hotel employee comes to my aid, "I've got an interview with Aerosmith," I explain. He walks down rows of lounge chairs toward to longest haired men by the pool. I glance over, and Joe Perry waves, "come on." Guitar God Perry is fully dressed, while lead lips Steven Tyler is clad only in second-skin, knee length black tights. And sunglasses. The twosome--and the entire Aerosmith band and entourage--have spent the previous night in an elevator, filming the video for "Love in an Elevator," Pump's first single, getting in at 5 a.m. It's now 6 p.m., and although they look no worse for the wear, Tyler takes off his sunglasses and crosses his eyes to show just how he feels.

I stretch out on a lounge chair with Perry and Tyler to my left, soaking up the late afternoon rays, while all around them people oblivious to the stats in their midst make deals, ride exercycles and, occasionally swim. As we begin to talk, a shadow falls over us. It's drummer Joey Kramer, bassist Tom Hamilton and guitarist Brad Whitford. The gang's all here. SOmewhat bleary-eyed from their video shoot, but here. They arrange themselves on lounge chairs around me, and I'm surrounded--and slightly intimidated by one of rock's coolest and most influential bands.

RIP: Let's start talking about the album. Is it true you always like your most recent record best?

AEROSMITH:[Silence.]

RIP: Anyone?

STEVEN TYLER: [Slowly] Yeah. That's true.

RIP: Even Done With Mirrors, which seems to be everyone's least favorite?

ST: Wellll, I don't know about that one!

JOE PERRY: The first two songs, at least.

ST: We left the single off the album, so that shows you where our heads were at

.

JP: We were still trying to figure out what we were trying to be in a band for at that point. I don't know if we were ready to make qualitative judgments about the music and about how good the album was. It was like doing our first album again or something like that. Looking back, it's really hard to say how we felt about it, you know. The record didn't even feel done...though there were some good points on it.

RIP: What did you consciously do different on Pump?

ST: After Mirrors we had a big housecleaning party and said, "Hey, we've gotta change some things." We set some guidelines, some times for the album---when to rehearse, when the whole band should meet. And we pretty much did that on the last album. When you do that, it's little bits and pieces--piecemeal. You do it for three or four months, you get a whole lot more done.

RIP: Is structure important to this band?

TOM HAMILTON: Yeah, yeah, it helps a lot!

RIP: Who is the most disciplined in life and music?

TH:Discipline or compulsion?

A:[Laughter]

JP: It used to be Steven was the most compulsive and the least on time, but now everybody is there within half an hour of the rehearsal time. it's an amazing thing.

TH: Nobody wants to keep anybody else waiting. We all have the same goal, and it's like....

JP: ... With all the shit that we've been through together in the last 20 years, we've come full circle, and our common denominator has once again become the same thing, as far as playing. That's why we started the band to begin with. We all just loved to play, and we wanted to be in a band together and play music and have a good time. Now we're able to put all the bullshit aside. That's the most important thing.

RIP: Did the band have to make any commercial concessions on this record? For instance, I heard that the band wasn't thrilled with the tune "Angel" on Permanent Vacation.

JP: PV was a great record, but I think it was a little more commercial than we would have liked it to have been. But I think that it was important at the time, for what it was, because it really marked a coming back for us, and I think it had a lot to do with affording us the freedom that we exercise with this record. This record, I think, is a way more real, true, flailing Aerosmith album in its original context. I think it's a lot more fun. It's real positive and up.

ST: For me, commercialism is listening to other people's opinions about a song. Where before we wouldn't listen to anybody at all, the last album we listened to some people, took their advice, just tried a whole lot of different things. So it's not bad, commercialism--it's just knowing when to say, "Whoa."

JP: I mean, we could have really obviously taken the last album as the blueprint for this album. That was one of the mindsets we were in when we started this record, not to do a carbon of the last one--not to do a "Rag Doll" and an "Angel," and once you got those, then you're all set. We didn't want to do that. We didn't want to do a power ballad.

TH:I'm starting to really hate that term.

JP: Like all those things--"pop-metal" and all that crap. It was just an attitude we wanted to take. It wasn't pressure from the label to go one way or the other They granted us a free rein.

RIP: There are a lot of little, weird quirks, little instrumental things, on this record that I liked. Why didn't you expand on them?

JP: If you expand them, then they turn into something else; then they're not what you liked. Same as making a song too long. If you make it too long, or the guitar break is too long, it's like, "Yeah, it's good, but I don't want to hear it again."

TH: It's ironic you said that, because there's one thing on there with a dulcimer. When I first heard that. I could hear the song that could come in from that. It just reeks of a gigantic beat coming in.

JP: Your ear goes to that. You start humming that and expect that. When you hear the album about four times, you wait for it ... it's like the sherbet between courses--you don't want to have too much.

RIP: Was the lyric for "Elevator" inspired by fantasy or reality?

A: [Laughter.]

ST: It started from Joe playing a lick; it wasn't anything I'd written down, saying, "I need to sing about this someday." It just happens that if I'm in the right mood, I can brag about stuff!

RIP: When she hears this song, she'll know it's her?

ST: Both of them will!

RIP: How'd the elevator shoot go last night?

ST: The town shut us down because the crew was running late or something. They shut the shoot down. As opposed to shooting the shit, they shot the shoot down.

RIP: Do you miss the pre-video days?

TH: Well, we were doing videos back when they were called commercials. We did stuff for "Chiquita," "Bitches Brew," "Lightning Strikes."

JP: Even "Let the Music Do the Talking." We thought that we would retain control--it would be our ideas, and this guy was going to come in and just man the camera, but we were going to do it because we knew how to do videos! But when it came out, we realized it was bigger than both of us. It's like doing an album; you have to give some control over.

RIP: Let's talk more about songwriting and collaborating.

ST: I'd love to spend an evening with Elton John, just to see what we'd come up with. Lyrically, Desmond is in a different place. My lyrics come from what the music says to me. It comes from a rhythmic place. I'll spend all day going [singing], "Give it to me hon-ey." I'll wait until something rolls off my tongue just right. I'm into puns and word games and clever little things. It's a long process, but once I get on the first rung of the ladder, I can pull off branches and fit 'em in and work my way up.

RIP: Do ideas strike that you'II write down and save?

ST: I have a song title called "Ill-Gotten Booty," which I thought was really funny, so I wrote that down.

RIP: What about the rest of the band presenting ideas, lyrical or otherwise?

TH: They all end up in the bin. I have two pages filled with ideas.

RIP: If you present an idea, and it gets shot down, what happens?

ST: We go to a meeting!

A: [Laughter.]

JP: It gives Steven a starting point; it gives him something to squash and do better than!

A: [More laughter.]

ST: What was that song ... I think it was "F.I.N.E." A few days later Tom comes lollygagging into the room with brilliant lyrics--really great! I went, "Oh, no." So I quickly went home and tried to outdo him. It was really good therapy. Really good stuff, Tom. I still have the paper.

TH: It was just something I tried. I didn't have any real illusions about...I know Steven is going to sing what he believes, and that usually comes from inside him, but I just felt like doing it.

ST: Everything anyone's ever done, including going to the moon, started with the first step, A bottle rocket...if I aim it over there, I can burn my sister's room down!

RIP: "FI.N.E."-what does that stand for again?

ST: F?!ked Up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional.

RIP: Is this your past or present?

ST: It's my constant state of emotions!

A: [Laughter]

ST: Watch people. There's just so many cliches in our society now-- airless, meaningless blahs...[in a fake voice] "Hey." "How are ya doing?" "What's happening?"

JP Ask anyone around the pool here how they're doing, and it's always "Fine."

ST: Someone stepped on my sunglasses, what the fuck! But they'll still say "I'm fine." I got a big chuckle inside, so I though, Wouldn't it be great to turn the rest of the world onto the fact that fine really means...

RIP: Isn't that how you usually answer people? I mean, I probably said that to you when we met.

ST: Yeah, but I realize when I'm saying it!

RIP: Do you find when you first meet people that they're either intimidated by, or fake toward, you?

JP: I find that everyone has a preconceived image of what it is they would like you to be. I used to be intimidated by that and retreat from people. But I find now that if you...just like Steven said, there always has to be a first step. Bottom line is, if you sit around on your ass, nothing happens. If I can put my hand out, make that person comfortable, most people get off on it so much, it makes me get off on hearing what they say, like, "I can't believe I'm sitting here talking to you! You're just like a regular guy." And that's all I am. People are coming back to reality and relating more on a level that they like the fact that we're just like everyone else.

ST: It's fine. [Laughter.]

RIP: In the '70s, was the attitude different toward you?

JP: We treated ourselves more like stars; so, naturally, everybody else's perception of us was that way too. It's not like the Beatles. There's a ton of rock bands out there. If you're Paul McCartney or Michael Jackson, it might be a different story. You just don't go to the mall on Saturdays.

JK: I think that the big reason a lot of people--especially different age groups--relate to us is because the bottom line is that we had the balls to act on our dreams, and people get off on that.

RIP: What about your old friends, people you knew in your early 20s?

JP: Tom's the only the friend I have from when I was 20!

RIP: I mean, you guys are still stuck in the youth culture because of your profession.

TH: I'm constantly surprised by people who'll come up to me who look like bankers. I feel I have this automatic thing to explain that I'm in this rock band called Aerosmith...and they go, "Yeah, I have all your albums."

JP: Yeah, it's weird. As you say, we're caught up in the pop culture, but the t hing is, we've transcended that. . . well, no, more like we're getting comfortable with being this chronological age while still dishing out this music. But there's a kid in a lot of people, and I don't think we'll ever be pop stars like Bon Jovi, you know what I mean. Every year there's another Bon Jovi...then a few of them stay up there. As long as we keep putting out good quality music, it's ageless.

TH: We've got enough grit and gutter in the history of this band to remember where we come from, and it's a big advantage to us. We won't fit into that cereal-box mode, where we look like all the others on the shelf.

JP: Like Tom said. when he gets recognized by a banker, I think a lot of those people are a lot more comfortable with us, because they grew up with us. We were there when they were growing up, and we're still here.

RIP: Tell me about the song "Monkey on My Back." Is it cathartic to get stuff out for you?

ST: It feels good. I personally have never been a "heady" writer, though sometimes things that come off the top of my head, I listen to it and think, God, where did I come up with that? But I don't sit down and write thoughtful lyrics out. "Janie's Got a Gun" is about child abuse. "Monkey" was ....

JP: ...Drawn from experience. I've never seen him sit down and write a song, thinking, We've got to get this message out there, and we'll all feel better when it is.

ST: This whole drug thing is eating a hole in my head. On one hand, I want to be able to do as much as I can for someone who was in my shoes three or four or five years ago. On the other hand, I'm sick and tired of talking about it, because all the journalists are using it as a palette to paint this picture of what I'm really not, although I am. [Talks like someone with a split personality.] No, you're not. Yes, I am!

A: [Laughter.]

ST: So it's a weird place to be. It's pretty obvious that we're still cruising here.

RIP: Is it easy to write about stuff you haven't experienced firsthand?

ST: "Janie's Got a Gun"...you think about something, but don't act on it. It's my message to all the guys in the world that want to screw their daughters. It's okay to think about it, but please don't act it out!

RIP: Does everybody have kids?

TH:Everybody except me. I've always figured I'd wait until I don't tour anymore.

ST: You'll never have children.

RIP: Steven, you have an older daughter. Do you worry about her seeing you talking about sex or acting sexual onstage?

ST: Nah. That's me. Should she find out when she's 21 that I was really this, this and this? I'm not ashamed of my sexuality or any of that stuff. My wife gets bummed out about certain parts, things that I act on, so I just have to be real careful about that. My sexuality keeps me going. I know that.

RIP: And you never lost that, even in your darkest days?

ST: Most of the '70s I was in the closet, snorting cocaine instead of f?cking.

RIP: I guess you need to catch up.

A: [Laughter.]

ST: So many nights. . . missed opportunities. You act out on them, but you wind up in the closet, filling your nose.

JK: Kids ..you were asking...I see the effect that my kids have on me---all our kids have on us. I look at my son, and I really, really see myself. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I don't. But what you get from them is such a true picture, because they pick up everything. They don't miss a trick. Some of my bad habits, when I see him reflecting them, it's like a mirror, but so much stronger, because there it is for real. And it's like, "Oh, shit, is that what I'm like?" That really does a thing to you, because I want him to be the best he can...for his life to be the best. You really start looking after yourself. Being a parent is really fun, but it's really a bitch. It's the one thing in my life I'm glad I never missed out on. And I see the effect it has on everybody.

RIP: In Costa Mesa I saw a kid onstage.

JK:That was Brad's son, Zachary. Brad's son will sit by his amps, and my son will sit behind my drums. I tried to get in touch with Brad that night to tell him that Zach was in front of his amp, in case it might be hurting him. We couldn't even get Zach's attention, he was so serious about it, looking out at 20,000 people. I turn around, and Jesse will be behind my drums. I can't even get his attention, and he's two feet away from me! At home he sits down and plays my drums--I never showed him how!

RIP: What if you were just starting out in a band now? What would you do differently?

JK: If I knew what I know now, I don't know if I'd ever be in a band.

TH: I would.

JK: I think a lot of what really helped was the fact that we were as young as we were.

ST: If you knew back then what you know now, we wouldn't make it big. All the cynical stuff would run by us.

JK: That's what I'm getting to.

TH: We wouldn't expose ourselves to such horrendous risks.

RIP: But they didn't seem like risks at the time?

AEROSMITH: Nooo....

JK: We were naive, and that's what helped the most. We didn't have anything to lose. There was nothing in our way.

JP: There's a million great players out there, and looking at it now, the competition... I'm sure it was just as hot then, but it's really stiff out there. There's so much more involved now. That's the part that really scares me. Your chances of making it as a banker ...your chances are greater doing something else [than music].

RIP: Since everyone's sober, what has replaced drugs and alcohol in your lives?

TH: Progress. Spirituality.

ST: When you get sober, you see things different.

BW: Life.

ST: You see things different. I guess a weal version is, "Is the glass half empty or half full?" Spirituality is that; so on a positive note, you can take off on a good place as opposed to dragging around in a shit place. That alone takes you to level 13, when you roll around in the basement.

TH: If you want to make progress, chances are youre going to have to do something that's gonna hurt. And if you're getting stoned all the time, you're gonna go to that so you don't have to do that hurt part, so you're not going to get anywhere.

RIP: How much of a role did fate play in your comeback?

JP: The odds of one person staying straight as long as any one of us have been is, like, if you look at the figures, ridiculous, especially for heroin addicts. But look at the five of us doing it.

JK: It's pretty weird.

ST: It's unbelievable.

JP: It's like the same thing as when we first started the band. A gig would come just as the guy was knocking on the door for the rent. The same kind of shit was happening at the time.

ST: It's really scary. You think you're blessed. For the longest time I thought, "Oh this is just a setup. I'm gonna go down on a plane. Things are going to be going good, then zingo!" To look back in retrospect, it's the scariest, most incredible thing to know that you're blessed. It's not just us. God didn't single us out. Everybody's got it. They just know how to get out of their own way--make that spirituality and stuff flow--'cause all it is is flowing through us. We're just a bunch of channels.

RIP: How do you learn how to get out of your own way?

TH: That corny one day at a time thing. One way you get out of your one way is by not thinking about what could go wrong next week. They you're not ready to jump on the great thing that's gonna happen an hour from now. It'll go right by you.

ST: Now, we're almost like--not quadruplets--what's five? Quintuplets. We think alike, though we don't always act alike, but deep down inside...

TH: A lot of times communication doesn't even have to be made. I can tell you what Joe's going to say, Joe can tell you what Steven's going to say, Brad can tell you...

RIP: So why do you all do interviews?

JP: You're one of the fortunate ones!

ST: Nah, we just want to see if we're right!