STEVEN TYLER Says 'American Idol' Will Take His Career 'Over The Moon'

Peter Lauria of The Daily Beast recently conducted an interview with AEROSMITH frontman Steven Tyler. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Daily Beast: Last year you were famously, or infamously, quoted as saying the next thing you do was going to be "for the brand of yourself, brand Tyler." How does being an "Idol" judge factor into that?

Tyler: What I meant by that quote was that there were just some other things I wanted to do, not unlike Joe Perry. I've just been [AEROSMITH's] dancing bear. I haven't really taken advantage of doing all that other stuff and I just thought when I was doing this interview last year that I was going to kick it up a notch. You tell me how if this season of "Idol" is better, and if there are 40 million people watching, what that's going to do for my career? It's going to take it over the moon.

The Daily Beast: Are you worried that being on "Idol" is going to alienate core Aerosmith fans that might think that being on the show isn't very rock 'n' roll?

Tyler: "American Idol" isn't a very rock 'n' roll thing to do. But the band was looking for another singer for a while, so I figured why not, it's my turn now. In reality, "Idol" is going to take AEROSMITH up a few notches. I guarantee it.

The Daily Beast: What did you think when you saw the quotes from Joe Perry saying he didn't want AEROSMITH's name associated with "Idol" and that the show was "one step above "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"? How did that make you feel?

Tyler: Like Joe's a loose cannon. I don't see how this is going to hurt my career at all. It is just one unreal moment after another. I only hope that they put out the deleted scenes because that's going to really take it over the top. Joe can say what he wants to all day long, and I never really answered it because I thought it was phony.

The Daily Beast: Let's talk about AEROSMITH. What's the latest news with the band?

Tyler: The guys are coming to L.A. next week to start writing until the end of February. I'm only doing "Idol" two days a week so we can write until June 1, at which time we start recording the record. And then in November and December we are on tour in South America and Japan, so it's full on right now, baby, full on!

The Daily Beast: The album you have coming out this year is the last under your contract with Sony. What happens after that? Will you sign a new contract or go your separate ways? Last year Joe spoke publicly about the possibility of replacing you.

Tyler: You know, we'll see. I think the band was afraid that I would do "Idol", they didn't know where I would go with it. But I have an allegiance to my band that's first and foremost. "Idol" is second; my band comes first. There's not a thing about AEROSMITH that's dying. But, you know, Joe is doing an album. I've been married to these guys for 40 years. I'm proud to say I'm in one of the few bands that have survived all the crap. And I did take the high road when Joe was going off about all that stuff because it didn't mean anything to me. Joe wasn't going to find another singer, and I wasn't going to let him. There was no relevance to it. It was an ugly, family argument that, unfortunately, they took public and I stayed quiet about.

Read the entire interview from The Daily Beast.