Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry says Steven Tyler has quit the band.
"Steven quit as far as I can tell," Perry tells the 'Las Vegas Sun'. "I don't know anymore than you do about it. I got off the plane two nights ago. I saw online that Steven said that he was going to leave the band. I don't know for how long, indefinitely or whatever. Other than that, I don't know."
Perry complains it's gotten so bad that Tyler doesn't even return his phone calls.
"He's notorious for that. That’s one thing I've learned to live with. I try to overlook it," he says. "I like to pick my battles."
"Frankly, the last few months I've been wanting not to rock the boat. I don't want him canceling any more gigs. We really wanted to do these last four. We just kind of didn't want to call him out or anything and get him anymore pissed off, for whatever reason. So we just let things lie."
That was until Perry says he heard that Tyler hinted that he was more interested in pursuing solo projects, after a recent performance at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
"So we did the gigs and, like I said, I got off the plane and saw this. That's how I know about it. He has had no contact with me or the other band members."
"Right now I'm adjusting to how we're going to go on," explains Perry. "Aerosmith is such a powerful band, I mean it's like a steam locomotive. You just can't disregard 40 years of four guys who play together as well as they do. We're just trying to – at least I am – trying to figure out what direction the band should take."
"As far as replacing Steve, it's not just about that, it's also four guys that play extremely well together, and I'm not going to see that go to waste. I really don’t know what path it's going to take at this point, but we'll probably find somebody else that will sing in those spots where we need a singer and then we'll be able to move the Aerosmith up a notch, move the vibe up a notch."
"Obviously he hasn't been giving 100 percent to this thing for a long time," says Perry. "He's obviously had this planned for a long time. To disregard his brothers to the point where we have to find out – it's like, 'See you later, Bud.' I still care for him as a person, or at least the person I used to know. But things change."
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry says Steven Tyler has quit the band.
