Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler & Joe Perry – HuffPost 7.9.13

Mike Ragogna: You were a judge on American Idol where you were a mentor and an advisor, so let me ask you this. What advice might you have for new artists?

Steven Tyler: That’s a pretty generic question.

MR: Yeah, it could be anything.

ST: Don’t pick it, it could get infected.

MR: [laughs]

ST: That’s one answer, another could be cultivate your passion with a mixture of desire and love of what you do and let your desires be your guide and keep your eye on managers and lawyers and have a song in your heart. Just know if you believe in it enough, you can get other people to sing it.

JP: Make sure you’re in it for the right reason. If you really love it for the right reason–because you love the art and you just have this compulsion to make the art or make it happen, whether you want to be a painter or a musician or whatever–just make sure you’re in it for the right reason. The wrong reason would be because you want to get in and out of a limousine. Otherwise, you’re going to end up having a pretty empty, hollow life if you are successful, because that stuff goes away really fast. But if you get satisfaction out of playing music and entertaining people and it makes you feel right, then go for it.