Joe Perry will miss the West Coast debut of Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires as he focuses on rehearsals for Aerosmith’s first performances together in three years.
The Hollywood Vampires documentary has a sold-out 8 p.m. PT screening at the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Lido Theater. The event listing advertises a post-screening Q&A with director Daniel E. Catullo III and members of the band, but Perry announced Thursday afternoon that he will not be among the participants.
“For anyone that may be planning to attend the West Coast premiere of the Hollywood Vampires docufilm Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires at the Newport Film Festival, I’m sorry to say that with Aerosmith performing together for the first time in three years, and rehearsing diligently for our two upcoming shows at the Hollywood Bowl, it’s become clear that I won’t be able to break away to attend personally,” Perry wrote on social media.
His absence is a change from the documentary’s world premiere in Boston on September 18, which Perry attended. The 76-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer co-founded the current incarnation of Hollywood Vampires with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp.
Perry has also been maintaining a busy Hollywood Vampires schedule. He, Cooper, Depp and Tommy Henriksen recently completed a two-month European tour, and the group has a relatively recent live album featuring rock classics.
Aerosmith’s Hollywood Bowl Return
Perry’s festival withdrawal comes as Aerosmith prepares for a two-night Hollywood Bowl engagement promoted by Live Nation. The band announced the October 29 and November 1 performances earlier this month, placing the shows on either side of Halloween.
The concerts will draw from Aerosmith’s five-decade catalog and feature an extensive guest lineup. Slash and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses are among those joining the band, with McKagan having previously toured as a member of Hollywood Vampires.
The living members of Run-DMC, Billy Idol, the Black Crowes, Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell, Heart and Eric Church are also set to participate, along with additional guests.
Beyond those two concerts, it remains uncertain whether Aerosmith intends to mount another tour or begin a new Las Vegas residency. The band previously held a Vegas residency from 2019 through 2022, but no follow-up plans have been confirmed.
The Story Behind Hollywood Vampires
Unleashed Spirits arrives with a band history stretching back well before Perry, Depp and Cooper began performing together in the current lineup.
The original Hollywood Vampires formed during the 1970s as a drinking group whose members included Cooper, the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz, John Lennon, the Who’s Keith Moon and Harry Nilsson.
With Cooper having stopped drinking years ago, and Lennon, Moon and Nilsson no longer living, Cooper assembled a new version of the Vampires with Perry and Depp in 2012. The group made its live debut on the Sunset Strip in 2015 and has toured regularly since then.
Although Cooper handles the lead-vocal spotlight, guitarists Perry and Depp also take over vocals for a couple of Bowie and Johnny Thunders songs during each show.
ShowBiz Take
Perry’s late change matters because he is both a co-founder of the modern Hollywood Vampires and a central link between the documentary’s story and the band’s current activity. His appearance at the Boston world premiere also gave West Coast attendees reason to anticipate that he might join the festival Q&A.
But this is less a retreat from the film than a direct scheduling collision between two major band commitments. Hollywood Vampires have just come off a lengthy European run, while Aerosmith’s Hollywood Bowl dates require Perry to prepare for the group’s first performances together in three years.
The sold-out Newport Beach audience will still get the West Coast premiere and Catullo’s live Q&A, with Hollywood Vampires members also advertised for the discussion. Perry, however, will be at rehearsals rather than in the Lido Theater.
What Happens Next?
Attention now shifts from the documentary screening to the Hollywood Bowl, where Aerosmith’s October 29 and November 1 shows will bring Perry back onstage with the band and its announced guests.
What follows those performances is still an open question. Aerosmith has not confirmed whether the Hollywood Bowl engagement will lead to a tour or another Las Vegas residency.