AEROSMITH Guitarist BRAD WHITFORD On Upcoming Album, Touring Plans

David "Gus" Griesinger of BackstageAxxess.com conducted an interview with AEROSMITH guitarist Brad Whitford. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

BackstageAxxess.com: Steven [Tyler] is back in the fold and the band is ready to embark on a massive European tour this summer. How did the fences get mended between Steven and the rest of the band?

Brad: We just sat down and had a little meeting, really. Steven expressed his desire to go on tour with AEROSMITH. We were like, "Great!" He came to us last year and had all of these grand plans that he was going to do this and that. I think there was a change in plans, obviously. Maybe what he was going to do didn't pan out or whatever. I don't know. We sat down and decided the best thing for everybody really is for this band is to be out performing and doing what we do.

BackstageAxxess.com: How close was the band to going on tour without Steven? Also, did you guys actually hold auditions or was it just asking around to see who was interested?

Brad: We were just asking around with some people who we thought might be interested. some people thought that they'd be interested. Not a whole lot of people really wanted to do it. I don't know if it ever would have worked. It wouldn't have been AEROSMITH. We knew that. Rather than all of us just disbanding and going off and doing our own thing we were like...well, we have a pretty good band here, but none of us are great singers. Let's go out and get a singer and do something different. Everyone was so friggin shocked about it. It was like...well, what do you want us to do? We want to play. We're musicians, you know (laughs)? That's all that it really amounted to. Maybe it wasn't just going to work, ya know?

BackstageAxxess.com: What is the present attitude of the band going forward?

Brad: Everybody's psyched! We just stared rehearsal at the beginning of this week. We are in the studio every day going over some of our tunes making sure we remember arrangements and stuff (laughs) and doing a lot of jamming and writing. We had a great time yesterday!

BackstageAxxess.com: Any prospects of a new AEROSMITH CD?

Brad: Well, we certainly would like to finish it. We started it about three times now over the past five or six years and just can't seem to finish it. Or something happens and it gets disrupted and we stop and we don't return to it. So we are going to, after this touring is over, we are going to try to do it at that point. I guess we will have to see where everyone is at and if everyone is still into it.

BackstageAxxess.com: Are there tracks already done? How close are you to the finished product or is it still a while away yet?

Brad: We have a lot of music done, or pretty much done. I don't know if we will keep it. Or if it will be on the new record. Myself, I would like the band to start fresh again. Just write all new stuff and at some later point, just put out the stuff that we have. I think it's better to start with new ideas, you know? Like it's a new day sort of thing.

BackstageAxxess.com: What can the fans expect from you and AEROSMITH going forward in 2010?

Brad: Well, hopefully it's more of the same. We always tried to deliver a high-impact, high-energy show and just playing the stuff that comes naturally to us. I believe we can maintain that level of excitement for our fans. The last time we were doing this, before our tour ended last year, I thought the band was playing better than ever! That was what made it so difficult when Steven fell down and got hurt. We all had to end there. I'm talking from the inside, but when I'm there, I kind of wish I was in the audience sometimes. It's really good and really well done. There is a lot of passion on that stage for what we do. That's what we are bringing to the game and hope that everyone likes it!

Read the entire interview at BackstageAxxess.com.