Tyler has 'quit' Aerosmith, bandmate says
Rock band Aerosmith could be on the verge of a split, with a report by at least one newspaper that guitarist Joe Perry believes frontman Steven Tyler has left the band.
"Steven quit, as far as I can tell," Perry told the Las Vegas Sun on Friday.
"I don't know any more than you do about it. I got off the plane two nights ago. I saw online that Steven said that he was going to leave the band."
Perry also said Tyler wasn't returning calls, but that was typical of the enigmatic singer.
Things got tense after the band's show in Sturgis, S.D., on Aug. 5, when Tyler fell off the stage while dancing during Love in an Elevator and had to be airlifted to hospital. The 61-year-old performer suffered a broken shoulder and had several stitches to his head. The rest of the band's world tour had to be cancelled.
This isn't the first time Aerosmith, formed in 1970, has hit a rough patch. With 40 albums and mega-hits such as Walk This Way, Cryin', Janie's Got a Gun and Dude (Looks Like a Lady) to their name, the band has frequently hit the pause button as Tyler went in and out of rehab.
In October, Aerosmith performed two shows in Hawaii and one at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix car race.
No contact with rest of band
According to Perry, after the Abu Dhabi event, the band's members — including Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer — went their own way. The difference this time is that Tyler has not communicated with any of them since.
"He has had no contact with me or the other band members," Perry said in the Las Vegas Sun report.
The guitarist indicated the band might have to start thinking of a replacement.
"I really don't know what path it's going to take at this point, but we'll probably find somebody else that will sing in those spots where we need a singer."
In fact, Tyler indicated recently he's been plotting a solo career.
"I don't know what I'm doing yet, but it's definitely going to be something Steven Tyler: working on the brand of myself," the singer said in an interview with Classic Rock magazine shortly after the band's Mideast concert.
Perry himself left the band in 1979 for two years and put out several solo projects, but he contends "the circumstances were different" back then.
In an interview after Tyler's stage accident, Perry vented: "[Steven's] got to get his act together. He and I haven't written a song together in 10 years, so there's been some changes in what Aerosmith is."