In a recent chat with UCR, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry talked about the time he wanted to fire singer Steven Tyler from the band back in the late 2000s.
In the interview, he was asked what was with Sammy Hagar’s to be part of the band, the guitarist replied:
“It was really another one of those times, you don’t keep a band together without a lot of bumps. I won’t get into the names because I’ve heard of bands that just would not…
“They didn’t even talk to each other when they would have a band meeting, they’d walk in and each one would have the lawyer with a briefcase, they would get their business done and then walk out.
“They weren’t the guys they were when they first started… There’s a lot of that, every band has its ups and downs. It just was at a point where…
“I’m not sure, everybody has something. When I left the band for four years [in 1979], and I have since put out six or seven solo records, I got another one coming out…
“But anyway, over the years, everybody has to bust out and do what they want. And I remember Steven [Tyler] doing that TV show, I thought that was great.
“I just knew he had to do something like that, and doing this that solo record that he did. So the band wasn’t that tight, there was talk and there were so many people involved – lawyers, different managers…
“I thought Steven wants maybe to take four years off, do what he wants to do. And so the whole looking around for another lead singer thing, just as soon as that happened, that raised its head.
“I’m not sure how it got out there, but Sam I know as a really mellow guy, easy to get along with. And he definitely had the pipes – so I can see why that idea had been floated.
“But we also had a shortlist at that point. Things went the way they did, everybody got out of the system what they wanted to, and then we slowly glued back together.
“You could say that they had split apart more than when I and Brad left. There were other times when we were like, ‘OK, that’s enough, we’ve done enough,’ whether it was Steven or whatever.
“That’s what it takes to keep it together. But as of today, I consider him the brother that I never had.
“We’re probably as close together now as we’ve ever been, and we’re looking forward to getting back on the road together. It’s a long journey, man, and the steps go sideways, it would have been an interesting thing if it came to pass.”