Steven Tyler compares writing memoir to music

Steven Tyler says penning a memoir is more "cathartic" than writing an album.

The 'Aerosmith' frontman will release his autobiography 'Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?' in May and admitted looking back over his early career and colourful personal life was an emotional experience.

In a video posted on website Blabbermouth, he said: "God, a memoir. A memoir like this is beyond cathartic. It's one step better than having an album with your songs on it from the '70s and it being 2010.

"Doing a book, you bring up things that you didn't remember happened, and as soon as you do, it opens up that place in your mind that you spew out onto the pages. It's like watching your own yearbook, your own personal yearbook, and I hope that's what this is."

However despite his emotional experience of writing the book, Steven revealed listening to his early hits still thrills him.

He explained: "When you put on the headphones and you listen to the beginning of [Aerosmith song] 'Sweet Emotion', you have all of this incredible room sound that you were in then and can totally relate to. It's so strong that you can almost smell it when you're in the headphones listening to the beginning of 'Sweet Emotion', for someone like me who wrote it, sang it, was in the studio and knows what went on. Just listening to it brings me totally back.