If you’ve been to an Aerosmith show in the last two decades, you’ve seen Trace Foster and Greg Howard’s work, you just didn’t know it. Trace was Joe Perry’s right hand from 2009 until Aerosmith’s final bow, and Greg was Brad Whitford’s guitar tech from 2002, a partnership that stretched over two decades across multiple stints. Between them, they’ve kept the Bad Boys from Boston sounding like themselves night after night, tour after tour, record after record.
These days, both men are on the road with AC/DC. Trace handles Angus Young’s guitars, Greg takes care of Stevie Young’s rig. Backburner contributor Elisabet ‘Lis’ Ali from RockstarTrip recently caught up with them during AC/DC’s stop in Argentina and came back with a pair of interviews full of insight into the craft of guitar teching, the personalities behind the gear, and some exciting news about Close Enemies, the band featuring Aerosmith’s Tom Hamilton on bass.
Trace Foster: Joe Perry’s Tech, Angus Young’s Tech, and Now a Bandleader
Aerosmith fans know Trace Foster whether they realize it or not. He joined Joe Perry’s team in February 2009, coming off a stint with Keith Urban and, before that, an 18-year run with Melissa Etheridge. He was Joe’s tech through the Global Warming tour, the Blue Army tour, the Deuces Are Wild Vegas residency, and into the Peace Out farewell. He was also Tom Hamilton’s bass tech at various points, and he engineered sessions at Joe’s studio, The Boneyard. When Angus Young came calling for the AC/DC Power Up cycle, Joe reportedly told Trace he understood. You don’t say no to Angus Young.
In the interview, Trace covered a lot of ground. He talked about falling into the tech world accidentally after the grunge wave wiped out the Hollywood rock scene he’d been playing in during the ’80s. He described what separates a good tech from a great one, and it’s not encyclopaedic knowledge of gear.
“I’m not the smartest guitar tech. I’m not even anywhere close,” Trace said. “But what I do is I have the ability to make it sound the exact same every day and I know how to make sure that we get through the show every single day.”
He stressed that the job is as much about personality and trust as technical skill. At the level he and Greg operate, the artists rarely sound check. They walk out, take the guitar, and trust it’s going to work. That trust, Trace explained, comes from never taking your eyes off your player. Not for a second.
He also reflected on the remarkable run he’s had. “I’m actually very blessed because I did the last Aerosmith record, the last AC/DC record, and the last Stones record,” he said, having worked with Ronnie Wood on the Hackney Diamonds sessions in New York and LA. “If you would have told the 15-year-old Trace that I would be saying that, I would be like, nope.”
On sharing knowledge with younger techs, Trace was emphatic: “I’m a firm believer in knowledge not shared is knowledge lost.”
Close Enemies: Tom Hamilton’s New Band, and What’s Coming Next
This is the part Backburner readers have been waiting for. Trace’s band Close Enemies has been building steam, and the lineup reads like a who’s who: Peter Stout (Sheryl Crow) on guitar, Tony Brock (The Babys, Rod Stewart) on drums, vocalist Jason Hampton, co-writer Gary Steer, and on bass, Tom Hamilton.
Tom wasn’t part of the original plan. Trace started the project as a writing partnership with Steer, but as the songs took shape, he decided to build a serious band around them. He was working with Tom on Aerosmith at the time and played him the material. Tom called the next morning.
“He was like, ‘I want to be in your band. I love this stuff,'” Trace recalled. So what’s ahead? Trace laid out the roadmap during the interview: the band is using a break in April to do new recording and shoot video, with plans to get back on the road in October and tour through the rest of the year and into next year. Dates will be announced at closeenemiestheband.com
And for South American fans, Trace had a specific message: Argentina and Brazil are among the band’s biggest markets. A trip south was originally planned for this past summer but had to be postponed. “Definitely next year for sure, we’ll be here,” he said. We’ll be watching that closely!
Greg Howard: Brad Whitford’s Guy, Now Stevie Young’s
Greg Howard’s connection to Aerosmith runs deep. He first started working with Brad Whitford in 2002, and the two bonded immediately over gear and tone. Greg was brought in to work on Honkin’ on Bobo in the studio, and he remained Brad’s tech through multiple tours and residencies across two stints: 2002 to 2007, and then again from 2013 through to the end. Along the way he also worked with Green Day, Linkin Park, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, and the Jimmy Page and Black Crowes collaboration.
In the interview, Greg described how he got into the profession through the Raleigh, North Carolina music scene, where friends kept getting signed and going on tour, pulling him along. He credited a friend who ended up working with Pearl Jam as the person who first got him into the crew world.
He talked about what the job actually involves at this level: total responsibility for one player’s guitars, amps, and setup, so that all the artist has to do is walk out and play. “They don’t have to worry about anything,” Greg said. “I take care of all the gear, all the amps, all the guitars, set them up, change strings, and then do guitar changes during the show, do tuning changes during the show.”
On AC/DC, Greg is looking after Stevie Young’s rig, which includes Malcolm Young’s legendary number two Gretsch, his touring backup for years and now Stevie’s primary instrument. Greg’s approach to a guitar like that is pure preservation: change the strings, maintain it, and leave everything else alone. No pickup swaps, no modifications. The sound is iconic and the job is to keep it that way.
Greg also spoke warmly about Jimmy Page, who he encountered during the Black Crowes collaboration tour. Despite being one of the biggest names in rock history, Page made a point of including the crew and making sure everyone was taken care of.
And then there’s the Brad Whitford friendship. Over two decades of working together turned into a genuine personal bond. When Greg’s in Nashville working for another artist, he stays at Brad’s house. They’re also business partners. 3 Monkeys, the company they co-founded with amp builder Ossie Ahsen in the mid-2000s, originally made tube guitar amplifiers, including amps that Brad used onstage with Aerosmith nightly. About ten years ago they pivoted to solderless guitar cables for pedalboards, though Greg hinted that limited edition amps might be making a comeback, with Ossie working on new prototypes.
What comes through in both interviews is how deeply intertwined these two men’s careers are with Aerosmith’s story. They weren’t just techs who happened to work for the band. They were trusted members of the inner circle, studio contributors, and, in Greg’s case, a business partner with one of the guitarists. Now they’re both keeping AC/DC’s guitars in tune on the other side of the world, and Trace is channelling everything he learned alongside Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton into Close Enemies. For the Aerosmith family, the music doesn’t stop. It just finds new stages.
Thanks again to Lis of Rockstartrip for conducting these interviews and sharing them with The Backburner.
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