STEVEN TYLER Talks 'American Idol', Next AEROSMITH Album

In anticipation of "American Idol"'s 10th season, which begins on January 19, the new judges' panel — AEROSMITH's Steven Tyler, Randy Jackson and Jennifer Lopez — along with host Ryan Seacrest, was interviewed on last night's (Monday, January 10) edition of NBC-TV's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". Video footage of some of their appearance can be viewed below.

When asked by USA Today what he brings to the show, Tyler replied, "I certainly know music enough. I can't say I know every genre, but 40 years has been good to me. We veni-vidi-vicied — we came, we saw, we conquered — everywhere we went, and it was great and we learned a lot from it."

Regarding what AEROSMITH is up to, Tyler said, "[We're] taking a break. Not that doing an album's taking a break. ... I've called most of them and said, 'Let's get together in L.A.' So, January, February, March, April, May, we're going to be working on the new record, hopefully recording in June, July and August, and then going on tour September, October, November, December, and then doing Idol again."

In a new interview with RollingStone.com, Tyler said that guitarist Joe Perry is the one holding up the recording of a new AEROSMITH album. The singer said that after spending several months preparing for his first season as a judge on "American Idol", he's ready to get to work on the band's first all-new set since 2001. Tyler explained, "I'm trying to rally the guys together. We're having trouble getting Joe. I don't know where he is, but just come down to L.A. at the end of January sometime. I've had enough downtime."

Tyler added, "[Joe's] got LSD — Lead Strummer Disorder. We've been brothers forever. He's just going through his thing. I think the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of unrecorded Joe Perry licks floating around in the ether somewhere."

Tyler told The Pulse Of Radio last June that he felt sure about making a new record. "It's something that we all wanna do and we all are gonna do, and that's that," he said. "You know, once you've written your first song, it's very addicting. You've got to keep writing, and God knows Joe's kept writing and I've been writing and we're gonna put it back together again. It's just what it is, you know."

It was just over a year ago that the future of AEROSMITH itself was in doubt, followed a canceled summer 2009 tour, a stint in rehab for Tyler and a public feud between him and the rest of the band that included threats about hiring a new singer.

The group mended its fences in early 2010 and took off on successful South American and North American treks. Then Tyler's stint on "American Idol" was made public, putting AEROSMITH on hold once again.

Perry has had nothing good to say about "American Idol", calling it "one step above Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When we put this band together, this is not something that [Steven Tyler] would do."