Joseph Anthony Pereira (born September 10, 1950), better known by his stage name Joe Perry, is the lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the American rock band Aerosmith. He was ranked 84th in Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Aerosmith, and in 2013, Perry and his songwriting partner Steven Tyler were recipients of the ASCAP Founders Award and were also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In October 2014, Simon & Schuster released Rocks:

During Perry's early years he formed a band with Tom Hamilton called The Jam Band. Steven Tyler, Brad Whitford and Joey Kramer eventually joined them and the band became Aerosmith. While initially dismissed as The Rolling Stones knock-offs, the band came into its own during the mid-1970s with a string of hit records. Chief among these successes were Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976), thanks largely to the prevalence of free-form, album-oriented FM radio. The group also managed hit singles on the radio with songs like "Dream On", "Same Old Song and Dance", "Sweet Emotion", "Walk This Way", "Back in the Saddle", and "Last Child".  During this time, Perry and Tyler became known as the "Toxic Twins" for their notorious hard-partying and drug use. Aerosmith's crowd earned the nickname "The Blue Army", so called by the band after the seemingly endless number of teenagers in the audience wearing blue denim jackets and blue jeans. The audience was abundantly male with long hair.  Following Rocks, the group began to stumble. Drug use escalated and the creative process became hampered by strained relationships within the band. This was highlighted during the recording process for their next album, which was recorded at an abandoned convent in upstate New York. During their time there, Tyler and Perry would spend much of the time in their rooms getting high, away from the rest of the band, and would often record their parts separately. The band, hampered by heavy drug use and distracted by hobbies such as driving fast cars on the nearby parkways and shooting high-powered firearms in the building's attic, struggled to come up with material. Draw the Line, released in 1977, became a hit nonetheless, going double Platinum. However, it was not as successful as their prior efforts, with the singles "Draw the Line" and "Kings and Queens" both charting in the Hot 100, but failing to crack the Top 40. On the album, Perry sang lead vocals on the track "Bright Light Fright". The band toured throughout 1977 and 1978 in support of the album, but increasing violence at concerts (such as bottles, cherry bombs, M-80s, and firecrackers being thrown on-stage, including several notorious incidents at The Spectrum in Philadelphia) as well as the band's heavy drug use began to mar the performances. In 1978, Aerosmith released the live collection Live! Bootleg, released the stand-alone single "Chip Away the Stone", and starred as "The Future Villain Band" in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For the film, the band released a cover of The Beatles' "Come Together", which would become the band's last Top 40 hit for nearly a decade.

Using a quote from the above article, answer the following question: When did they get their first major gig?
While initially dismissed as The Rolling Stones knock-offs, the band came into its own during the mid-1970s with a string of hit records.