James McCarty - How I was “hit hard” by my night with Joey Kramer, drummer for Aerosmith

James McCarty
How I was “hit hard” by my night with Joey Kramer, drummer for Aerosmith

I had the privilege of meeting the drummer of the world-renowned rock group Aerosmith, Joey

Kramer! The Campus Activities Board (C.A.B.) scheduled Joey to come talk to our campus on his real-life experience dealing with depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Joey has written a book to recap his personal experiences, “Hit Hard; Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top.”

I signed up to have dinner with Joey. It seemed so surreal to be sitting in the same room with a rock legend, let alone to be able to have an in-depth conversation with him. Once my haze of excitement calmed down and I was able to think rationally again, I had an extensive list of in-depth questions, which I used to understand his perspective.     

Some of the topics I asked Joey about included: what he used to cope with his depression and how it affected his peers; if he could try to put his feelings into words, how would he describe them; and if he were not in the music industry today, what profession would he have chosen.

It amazed me how down-to-earth Joey was. I was expecting a huge rock star with the ego to match. He said that the reason he wrote his

book and travels around the country giving talks on his experiences when he isn’t performing is because he wants other people to know that they are not alone.

He said, “I want others to know that depression can happen to anyone at any time in their life. I was sober from drugs and alcohol for eight years before my depression struck me. I want others to know that they aren’t alone.” 

Joey showed me the importance of giving back to others. This is a man who many would think has everything you could ever ask for in the world, and he wants to give back and share as many of his personal experiences with the world as possible.

Joey gave his lecture to a packed house. The auditorium was filled with current students, faculty members, community members, and even some of the local mental health workers that worked with Joey while he was going through substance abuse counseling at the Caron Foundation, right up the road in Wernersville, PA. 

The evening was truly an enlightening experience that I will never forget. Joey spoke for 25 minutes longer than he was scheduled, just to answer the audience’s questions, and following that he stayed to sign autographs for another hour-and-a-half. This really spoke volumes for how much the fans mean to Joey. By the end of the evening, he even knew me by my first name and thanked me for helping to control the crowd during autograph signings. 

Joey Kramer has become one of my newest idols, not because of his musical genius or rock star fame, but because he values others and wants to do everything that he can to give back to his fans.