JOE PERRY On His Relationship With STEVEN TYLER: 'Right Now, It's About As Good As It Can Get'

In a new interview with WCVB Channel 5 Boston, AEROSMITH guitarist Joe Perry touched upon his relationship with the band's lead singer, Steven Tyler. He said: "Well, we've had our ups and downs. And like everything, there's a balance; there's the good and the bad. So it was as bad as it could get, and it's also been as good as it can get. And I have to say right now, it's about as good as it can get. I think we've paid our dues on the other end. So we're due some good times."

Back in 2014, Perry spoke to Vanyaland about the difficulty of keeping AEROSMITH together in the last couple of decades, especially after the group's mid-1980s reunion.

"There are families out there who don't talk to each other for 10 years," Perry said. "There are brothers out there that don't talk to each other because they're no use to each other or for whatever reason. I mean, if we operated like that there would be no band and we wouldn't be able to make the music we make and perform the way we perform. That, to me, is the goal. We achieved it once and let the thing fall apart and rebuilt it again on what I thought was firmer ground, but people don't change much over the years. I guess that's part of the lesson."

Perry went on to say that the chemistry between him and Tyler is ultimately more important than any of the issues that might arise as a result of their different personalities.

"When we're onstage the vision of the music that we're playing and the excitement of the audience is the glue that keeps us together, and kept us together, and got us back together," he said. "That's bigger than anything."

Earlier this week, AEROSMITH's official web site launched a countdown clock that is scheduled to hit zero on Monday, May 1 at 7:00 a.m. PST. While there are no hints whatsoever on what fans can expect when the countdown ends, it is widely believed that it will coincide with an announcement of the first details of the group's upcoming tour.

Last week, Perry told The Boston Globe that AEROSMITH will kick off a 40-plus-date U.S. tour in September that will stretch into 2024. Meanwhile, ad banners have begun to appear at venues like the TD Garden in Boston and the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, displaying the AEROSMITH logo and the text "Peace Out", suggesting the upcoming trek will mark the band's farewell run of shows.

Earlier this month, Perry told Joe Rock of Long Island, New York's 102.3 WBAB radio station that it's unlikely AEROSMITH's upcoming tour will feature the return of drummer Joey Kramer, who announced in March 2022 that he would sit out the band's concerts last year so he could "focus his full attention on his family during these uncertain times." Perry said: "That's probably one of the hardest things. I've gotta say drumming is probably one of the most athletic parts of playing in a band. So it's really hard. It's been mostly because he just physically [has been] just beating himself up over the last 50 years. So I don't know. I mean, he's still officially a member of the band, but I don't think he's gonna be sitting behind the drums, at least for this next run. Other than that, I really can't say."

Elsewhere in the 102.3 WBAB chat, Joe talked about the likelihood of new music from AEROSMITH. The legendary Boston rockers haven't released a new studio album since 2012's "Music From Another Dimension!" That effort was released when AEROSMITH's label, Columbia Records, was reportedly going through a leadership change, and it ended up becoming a commercial disappointment.

"At this point, I can't say," Joe said about the prospect of a new AEROSMITH song or album. "I really don't know. But I know that we have a pile of material that hasn't been released. So I think we're focusing on that right now. But the main thing is just getting this tour up and running."

For the past year, AEROSMITH's longtime drum tech John Douglas has been filling in on drums for Kramer, whose wife, Linda Gail Kramer, died last June at the age of 55. No cause of death has been revealed.

AEROSMITH played its first concert in more than two and a half years on September 4, 2022 in Bangor, Maine.

Prior to the show at Maine Savings Amphitheater, the band's last live performance took place in February 2020 in Las Vegas as part of AEROSMITH's "Deuces Are Wild" residency.

In May 2022, AEROSMITH announced that singer Steven Tyler had entered a treatment program following a relapse, prompting the band to put their Las Vegas residency on a temporary hold.

Tyler had been struggling with drug and alcohol addiction since the mid-1980s. Over the course of the last four decades, he had relapsed several times, including in the early 2000s and 2009.

Joey has had his own health difficulties in recent years. Kramer suffered a health scare back in 2014, which was initially reported to be "heart-related complications".