In a tale of rock 'n' roll redemption spanning decades, Aerosmith's Joe Perry recently revealed how he inadvertently came into possession of Jeff Beck's stolen Colorsound Tone Bender Fuzz pedal in the early 1970s - and how he eventually made amends with a special gift.
The story begins around 1972, when Aerosmith had just signed with Columbia Records. After attending a Jeff Beck concert, Perry was shocked when his road manager produced a Colorsound fuzz pedal stolen from Beck's gear collection. "He said there were four or five of them in this box. I thought I'd give it to you," Perry recounts of the manager's explanation.
Perry, deeply uncomfortable with the theft, immediately objected: "We don't do that. We don't steal stuff." Before he could return the pedal to its rightful owner, fate intervened - the stolen pedal was itself stolen from Perry.
The incident weighed on Perry's conscience for years until an opportunity for redemption presented itself. After becoming friends with Beck, Perry noticed him using a Klon Centaur overdrive pedal - a legendary piece of equipment manufactured near Perry's hometown of Boston.
At Beck's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where they performed "Train Kept A-Rollin'" together, Perry presented Beck with one of his original Klon Centaur pedals, sharing the story of the long-ago theft.
The gifted Klon may soon appear at auction, as part of Christie's upcoming "Jeff Beck: The Guitar Collection" in London. Perry notes the pedal should be identifiable by an Aerosmith inventory sticker on its base, complete with serial number - a small piece of rock history coming full circle.
"There's a little bit of mojo in that particular one," Perry reflects on the Klon that helped right a decades-old wrong.