AEROSMITH Guitarist Says The Band Didn't Really Want To Boot STEVEN TYLER

According to The Pulse Of Radio, AEROSMITH guitarist Brad Whitford shed some light on the band's dark period in 2010 when it looked like Steven Tyler would be replaced. The band, frustrated at Tyler's decision to become a judge on Fox's "American Idol", were seriously considering carrying on without the charismatic frontman, before deciding not split the legendary lineup. Whitford told Rock Cellar magazine: "We just felt like we couldn't just let the band fall apart. It never went any further than kind of talking about it. We spoke to maybe one or two singers about the idea but that was about as far as it went. I don't think anybody in the band was terribly keen about getting in a new lead singer. I think we were all just thinking about survival at that point. We weren't ready to give up on the band."

Whitford was pleased with last year's "Music From Another Dimension!" set, which marked AEROSMITH's first collection of all-new material in 11 years. The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard album chart, selling 63,000 copies in its first week of release. He explained that staying together was ultimately the smartest decision for AEROSMITH. "It was just pretty obvious we needed to stick together," he said. "We felt we had plenty left in us and there was no sense in doing anything else. We've had different experiences with people off doing some of their own music here and there and that was fun but it doesn't come close to the AEROSMITH experience."

Brad Whitford told The Pulse Of Radio he's comfortable with the numbers that AEROSMITH are hitting with its recent releases, especially since they're no longer reaching the same demographic they were even a decade ago. "A majority of young people that buy records — which is the people that buy records, really — are so heavily influenced by so many other genres of music and stuff," he said. "And I think we're moving out of that a little bit — probably not as bad as the STONES had it, because they were never huge album sellers anyway. You start to move into a time where there's just no way you're going to catch certain younger kids just because of how old you are. You can't do it."

AEROSMITH performs tonight (August 8) in Tokyo, Japan.

The band's next U.S. date will be on August 30 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Harley Davidson Anniversary at Henry Maier Festival Park.

Out now is AEROSMITH's latest concert film, "Rock For The Rising Sun". The concert doc was filmed during the band's 2011 Japanese dates, which closely followed a massive earthquake, a monstrous tsunami, and the subsequent meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The film's director, Casey Patrick Tebo, was able to zero in on AEROSMITH's now 35-year relationship with its fans in Japan and chronicled how the band — who was advised not to play the dates — helped their fans heal from the triple tragedy.