For a band of sexagenarians who haven’t released a disc of original material in almost a decade, Aerosmith are a mighty fortunate bunch. The Boston quintet are out on the road with their Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock tour and playing to near capacity crowds. Their two-hour set of classic hits have fans on their feet and welcoming this resilient band back with open arms.
Considering the bullet Aerosmith recently dodged when their headline-grabbing rift threatened to do them in for good, the tour — which began in late spring with a South American and European leg and is currently wending its way through the US — is lucky to have gotten off the ground at all and stands as both a testament to Aerosmith’s staying power and to a devoted fan base willing to stick by their band through thick and thin. But don't get all warm and fuzzy with the idea of a reunited Aerosmith just yet because as tends to be the band’s modus operandi, just when it seems the dust has settled, there’s typically another storm brewing on their horizon. And this time it’s shaping up to be a doozy.
As one of the biggest, most consistent and enduring acts in rock, the Bad Boys of Boston came into their own in the mid-seventies with a string of hit albums that began with their 1975 breakthrough record Toys in the Attic and was followed over the years by such multi-platinum selling records as Rocks (1976), Permanent Vacation (1987), Pump (1989), and Get a Grip (1993). The four-time Grammy winners and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have sold well over 150 million records worldwide and have influenced bands from Metallica to Guns N’ Roses to Mötley Crüe with their signature blues-rock sound. Equally as impressive, however, is their history of calamities and infighting. Throughout their lengthy career, Aerosmith have been repeatedly sidelined by injuries, various stints in rehab and subsequent relapses, and communication issues between frontman Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry that have led to frequent feuding between the volatile duo.
Prior to the Cocked, Locked, and Ready to Rock tour, the band had spent the better part of a year in limbo when they were forced to abort their ill-fated tour with ZZ Top last summer. Things began to go wrong for Aerosmith almost from the start when rhythm guitarist Brad Whitford injured his head while exiting his car and had to sit out the first seven dates of the tour to recover from surgery. And then Steven Tyler injured his leg, causing the postponement of the following seven shows. And then bassist Tom Hamilton left to recover from non-invasive surgery. The coup de grâce came last August when Tyler, whose sobriety had again come into question, had to be rushed to the hospital after falling from the stage at a performance in Sturgis, South Dakota. He suffered head and neck injuries and a broken shoulder. In the wake of Tyler's injuries, Aerosmith were forced to cancel the remainder of the tour.
In the months that followed, a war of words ensued between Tyler and his estranged bandmates. An increasingly frustrated Joe Perry lashed out at his longtime partner in crime, saying Tyler needed to get his act together and sober up. Whitford meanwhile told Rolling Stone that “there’s been a serious lack of commitment on [Tyler’s] part for a while. We’ve been trying to make an album for a few years and he’s been the guy that suddenly one day just doesn’t show and the next thing we know he doesn’t want to work, he doesn’t like the producer, whatever.”
Before Tyler entered a treatment facility last Christmas for a painkiller addiction, he answered all the trash talk with the announcement that he intended to take a two-year hiatus from the band to launch a solo career and work on “Brand Tyler”. He reportedly went so far as to hire his own manager and publicist, while his bandmates began making moves to find themselves a new vocalist. Buckcherry’s Josh Todd and Lenny Kravitz were rumored as possible candidates but all bids to replace him were met with a cease and desist order from Tyler’s camp. And on and on it went.
Finally, in February 2010, Aerosmith and their various reps met to settle band members’ grievances just in time for them to mark their 40th anniversary with a new tour. “The one common denominator that we still all have is that we all love to get up on stage and rock out, play music and bring joy to people,” says drummer Joey Kramer. “Everything right now in Aero-land is very copacetic. We will carry on and do what we do best.”
Aerosmith are psyched to be playing a sold-out hometown show at Boston’s Fenway Park on August 14th with fellow Bostonians The J. Geils Band as their opening act. “From what I hear,” says Perry, “the Mighty Mighty Bosstones will be on the bill too. It’s going to be Boston from front to back and it’s going to be one of those gigs that will come around once in a lifetime.” The Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock tour plays the States through September 4th and then heads to Western Canada where Aerosmith will hook up with Joan Jett for a string of shows.
Next on the Tyler/Perry agenda are plans to revisit some recording the band were doing with producer Brendan O’Brien in 2008 before Tyler’s health problems interrupted. Aerosmith are expected to begin work on an album of all new music, their first since 2001s Just Push Play, after the Cocked tour wraps. "I feel like we haven't made the best record we can make yet," says Perry. "We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to our fans. We owe it to the label. We wanna have fun in the studio, basically. And it's time."
So all is good with Aerosmith again, no? Well, not so much. Concerning the new album, the band are divided as to the direction it should take: Tyler prefers more radio-friendly pop hits, while Perry wants to return to old school Aerosmith.
And just last week Joe Perry suffered minor injuries when his motorcycle was rear-ended, although the accident isn’t expected to affect the tour.
Oh, and you may’ve heard Tyler’s name mentioned recently in a rather unlikely context. Seems he’s emerged as a strong contender to fill one of the two seats left vacant on American Idol. Perry blasted his rock ‘n’ roll partner recently when he learned about Tyler’s alleged Idol gig. “I found out on the Internet like the rest of the world,” said the guitarist on a tour stop in Dallas. “I mean, after working with me for 40 years, he couldn’t tell me about this. Why so secretive? We’re told it’s a done deal. If Steve is committed to a TV show, that kind of affects the rest of us. We’d like to plan our lives, ya know?”
It all sounds vaguely familiar somehow.
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In other Aerosmith-related news, Steven Tyler has a biography coming out this fall called Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?. The tell-all is scheduled to hit bookstores on October 19th. Check out the band’s website at www.aerosmith.com for further information and a list of concert dates.
