LUCIDMEDIA

What the deuce, Aerosmith?

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Wednesday, 11 November 2009 16:30

The same year that man landed on the moon, hippies celebrated groovy tunes in Woodstock and Charles Manson got a few of his chums together for Helter Skelter, Steven Tyler, while on vacation in Sunapee, New Hampshire, met a bunch of guys with a similar interest in music. Yes, the summer of ’69 was also the first summer of Aerosmith’s creation as the dominos fell for Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer as they started a 40 year course that made rock and roll history. That history came to rather sudden halt over the weekend as news leaked that Tyler was leaving the band and that Aerosmith was breaking up.

It has not been an easy year for a band that should have been celebrating their 40th anniversary in fine form. They began recording their 15th studio album late last year, the band’s first since 2004’s Honkin' on Bobo. This was followed up by the announcement of a US touring commencing in June ’09, which theoretically was supposed to compliment the completed album. The as-yet-untitled record was initially believed to be a combination of new material and previously unreleased tracks. Later, when famed producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Billy Talent, Bruce Springsteen) came onboard, the direction was changed to make an album of live recordings, an homage to Aerosmith’s early work from the 70s. Combined with the successful launch of the video game Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it seemed these rockers were on their way back to the top of the proverbial heap.

But like an injury plagued hockey team, one medical related malady after another kept Aerosmith from reaching their potential all year long, starting with a pre-concert show in Venezuela in February that was cancelled two weeks out after Perry suffered another knee injury. But the medical issues didn’t cease once the actual tour got started. Whitford sat out the first seven shows recovering from head surgery. Tyler injured his leg at a show in Uncasville, Connecticut causing the next seven shows after that to be postponed. Tyler later fell off stage at an August show in Sturgis, South Dakota, which required a trip to the hospital for head and neck injuries and a broken shoulder. After postponing five dates in Western Canada, Aerosmith announced that they were throwing in the towel and cancelling the rest of the tour.

Now such an injury would flay even the hardiest of young men, so it was perhaps unsurprising that Tyler retired from the spotlight and the band momentarily in order to heal; at 61-years-old and four decades of the rock and roll lifestyle he probably can’t bounce back like he used to. But rumblings this past weekend seemed to indicate that all things considered, not all was well in Aerosmith land. The rumour mill went into overdrive Friday when Perry told a Las Vegas newspaper that “Steven quit, as far as I can tell.” He then went on to say though that he didn’t known much more about the singer’s current status with the band then the paper did. “I got off the plane two nights ago. I saw online that Steven said that he was going to leave the band. I don’t know for how long, indefinitely, or whatever. Other than that, I don’t know.”

The comment from Tyler that Perry referred to was from the British magazine Classic Rock in which the frontman said, “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 -- Brand Tyler.”

Tyler had been known to be working on a solo project, but the inference that Perry and his bandmates made was that this was going to be Tyler’s focus from here on out. But part of the problem is that Tyler’s been seemingly unreachable to the other members of Aerosmith and has not been returning phone calls. “He’s notorious for that,” said Perry. “That’s one thing I’ve learned to live with. I try to overlook it.” On the other hand, Perry and the others have been unwilling to cause trouble due to pre-existing tensions with Tyler over the events of the summer tour dates. “Frankly, the last few months I’ve been wanting not to rock the boat. I don’t want him cancelling any more gigs,” adds Perry. “We just kind of didn’t want to call him out or anything and get him anymore pissed off, for whatever reason.”

Whatever Tyler’s mysterious reasons why, one thing is absolute according to Perry: Aerosmith is not breaking up. "Aerosmith is definitely NOT breaking up ...... one of the members is doing his own thing and said so in the press," said Perry via his Twitter feed. He expanded later on radio station WKXL in Concod, New Hampshire, saying, "After the tour got cancelled, he just kept drifting off and doing other things. We would hear things from different people. He wasn't talking directly to anybody in the band," Perry explained. "So basically, he just made the announcement that he was taking some time off.''

Perry also mentioned that Aerosmith will indeed persevere and look toward the future by selecting a new frontman to succeed Tyler, the question is though: will the Aerosmith experience ever be the same again without the distinctive presence and vocals of Steven Tyler? Many will argue that the remaining members should pull the plug and let the Aerosmith name retire; others will note that bands like Van Halen have thrived despite trading frontmen repeatedly. But I think we can all agree, that when a band with the longevity of Aerosmith suddenly cracks at the foundation, it’s hard to argue that things will ever be the same again.