Sea Shepherd crew were honoured to host two of rock’s greatest legends, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Steven Tyler on board Sea Shepherd’s fleet in Williamstown, Melbourne, Australia.
Steven and Joe were treated to an in depth tour of three of Sea Shepherd’s ships, the Sam Simon, Bob Barker and Steve Irwin. The crew swapped various campaign and marine conservation topics over lunch with Steven and Joe, which followed an experience in one of Sea Shepherd’s fast boats. Having Steven and Joe on board was such an uplifting experience for the crew. By selflessly speaking up for marine species, they’re shining a much needed spotlight on the serious state of the oceans.
“Oceans and water is uncharted territory for human beings, they don’t even know the beauty underneath there with a mask and a snorkel, I mean, very few do, it’s certainly getting fished to death. The waters in Lake Sunapee, way up in New England are now depleted, the frogs are going, honey bees are going. I was just fortunate enough to just buy a house in Maui and the reefs out in front of my house, I live on Ahihi Bay, which is a fish sanctuary, and the reefs are going away. It’s a very delicate ecosystem, you know, once a little bit goes awry, it all does, it’s all connected.” (Steven Tyler)
“I always heard about Malibu and all the movie stars that live out there and I found out you’ve got to get a tetanus shot if you go swimming in it.You know, it’s pretty screwed up. The laws are in place, but as we know, most of the governments are run by the big business. There is not enough money in it for different countries to send police out for whales and fish. When it starts to hit them in the pocket book, then maybe they will do something, but right now it’s up to guys like you, who are true vigilantes, you take the bull by the horns and do it and come what may and you put your lives in danger and for something you believe in.” (Joe Perry)
The whole Sea Shepherd crew were invited as VIPs to come and see Aerosmith perform at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. The Melbourne gig was part of their environmentally themed ‘Global Warming tour’. There was a hint that something special was planned for the Sea Shepherd crew. Well, Aerosmith did not disappoint with a performance that brought the house down. The highlight however was the just prior to the song “Living on the Edge” Steven Tyler stated that he and Joe had one of the most amazing experiences during the week by visiting the Sea Shepherd fleet and crew in Melbourne and that he wanted all the crowd to remember the name, “Sea Shepherd!”. Then up on the big screen to the 15,000 plus capacity, came a video put together by Aerosmith, showing Steven and Joe’s visit to the Sea Shepherd fleet. Steven yelled “where is my Sea Shepherds” as he pointed over to our group with the spotlight to follow, as the song kicked off to the roar of the crowd and the Sea Shepherd crew punched the air with excitement.
“To have two world renowned, amazing artists whose spare time is very limited, come and show their support for Sea Shepherd is a very humbling experience, that all of us at Sea Shepherd are very appreciative of and will never forget. Joe labeled our Sea Shepherd team as Freedom Fighters, a title that we proudly accept, fighting for the freedom of the whales in defence of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and all our precious marine life for the benefit of future generations.” (Sea Shepherd Australia Director, Jeff Hansen)
