STEVEN TYLER On JOE PERRY's Toronto Hip-Check: 'I Don't Know What He Was Thinking'

September 3, 2010

Brad Wheeler of Canada's The Globe And Mail recently conducted separate phone interviews with AEROSMITH vocalist Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. A couple of excerpts follow below.

The Globe And Mail: A Rolling Stone magazine story described AEROSMITH as "back from the brink." True?

Tyler: Absolutely not. Last year I had fallen off the stage in Sturgis, South Dakota. The band was angry that I fell off, as opposed to being concerned about me falling. [Tyler broke his shoulder; the tour was cancelled. — Ed.] I was angry at them for not contacting me, and they were angry at me for the cancellation of the tour. And, to be fair, I understood their anger. After that, Joe started talking about replacing me with another singer. But, you know, it was the inner workings of a married bunch: In 40 years, no divorces, just a lot of anger at times.

Perry: I didn't think the band was at the brink. It was a bump in the road, more like it. As far as I was concerned, the band wasn't breaking up. I didn't know though when the band was going to get back together and actually play. We actually got back together sooner than I thought.

The Globe And Mail: What really happened that night in Toronto, when the floppy-hatted frontman was toppled off the catwalk by the hip-checking guitarist?

Tyler: I had bumped into Joe. I kind of strafe him — that's what we do night after night. We've done it for 40 years. In return, he gave me a hit that I feel was a bit out of place. Facing forward, I was able to jump off and grab peoples' shoulders, and it was fine. I got right back up. I don't know what he was thinking. He's Joe Perry.

Perry: If you watch the film, he backed into me hard. And I was also standing on the edge. All I did was brush against him. Basically he had a choice: He could have kept his balance and not gone into the audience, or he could have dropped in, which he did. None of it was planned — it's a contact sport. The week before, he hit me over the head with a mic stand. But did you read anything about that?

Read the entire interview from The Globe And Mail.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).