Fan Fare

Who could replace Steven Tyler in Aerosmith?

Aerosmith without Steven Tyler is like cocaine without a straw, or alcohol without a hangover.

But as fans come to grips with the very real possibility that the rubber-faced singer may abandon his scarf-draped microphone stand at the helm of one of America’s most successful rock bands, the next question is: Who should replace him?

Guitarist Joe Perry said on Monday that the band is “positively” seeking a new singer, apparently having tired of the silent treatment Tyler has meted out to them in recent months. The final straw was an article published last week by Classic Rock magazine, in which Tyler said he was going to focus on “Brand Tyler.” Perry – Tyler’s musical foil for 40 years – was not happy to learn about the singer’s plans online, and upped the ante by saying Aerosmith would continue without him.

One candidate to replace Tyler could be Hagen Grohe, a German singer plucked from obscurity to sing on Perry’s newly released solo album, “Have Guitar, Will Travel.” Perry has taken the solo project on the road, and Grohe does versions of such Aerosmith nuggets as “Walk This Way” and a reggaefied “Dream On,” in a soaring vocal style reminiscent of Axl Rose. When Reuters asked Perry last month about Hagen eventually replacing Tyler, a somewhat outlandish idea at the time, Perry did not exactly rubbish the proposal.

Bands who replace lead singers have a mixed track record. AC/DC went on to bigger and better things with Brian Johnson, although many fans three decades later still long for his late predecessor Bon Scott. Deep Purple moved into the big leagues after Ian Gillan replaced Rod Evans in 1969. Van Halen survived the 1985 replacement of David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar, but the rock band stumbled badly in 1996 when it brought in Gary Cherone.

And then there’s INXS, which struggled to replace late singer Michael Hutchence, despite or because of a reality-TV contest. Sublime’s recent attempt to reunite with a new singer was shot down by a judge at the behest of the family of the ska-punk band’s late frontman. Others like Queen did not even bother trying — at least until 2004, 13 years after the death of Freddie Mercury, when two-thirds of the group’s surviving members joined up with British blues singer Paul Rodgers.

Which brings us back to Aerosmith. Rodgers, the former frontman of Bad Company, is Perry’s favorite singer. People magazine facetiously (we hope) suggested Adam Lambert or Roth as replacements. Maybe Chris Cornell, of Soundgarden and Audioslave fame, would be a good fit? Or Pink, especially since Aerosmith had a hit song of that name? Or a merger with Run-DMC, whose rap version of “Walk this Way” reignited Aerosmith’s career? Or perhaps the answer is staring at Perry in the mirror?

UPDATE: Aerosmith wife no fan of band’s albums

(updates with comment from Joe Perry)

The wife of Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry doesn’t particularly care for the band’s recordings, and has never listened to any of their albums in their entirety. 

“I am not a fan of Aerosmith’s music without the live performance behind it,” Billie Perry (at right with her husband) wrote on her Twitter page on Sunday.

“Honestly I have never listened to 1 CD all the way through. I listen in the studio when they record. I’ve never put an Aero CD on my player. I did order a few songs from iTunes, but have not listened.” 

She considers Aerosmith to be one of the greatest live acts in rock ‘n’ roll, but “… without the live show the songs n lyrics don’t move me.”

Perry’s comments come at a sensitive time for the veteran rock band. Aerosmith was forced to cancel a troubled tour two months ago after singer Steven Tyler fell off the stage, and he has not spoken to his bandmates since.

Joe Perry, who is promoting a new solo album that will keep him on the road through March, recently told Reuters he has not written a song with Tyler in 10 years.

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry takes flight with new solo album

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry gets to spread his wings on his fifth solo CD, “Joe Perry … Have Guitar Will Travel,” which he hopes to release in November. 

Perry, who sings on four of the tracks, also expects to tour early next year under the guise of the Joe Perry Project. The album follows a self-titled, Grammy-nominated effort that came out in 2005 and sold 31,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. His first three solo albums, all credited to the Joe Perry Project, were released in the early 1980s when he briefly quit Aerosmith during its drug-fueled nadir. 

“Have Guitar … Will Travel,” a nod to the similarly titled 1959 Bo Diddley album, was named by a fan, Joe Piscitelli, after Perry asked for submissions via Twitter. Five of the tracks are sung by a relatively unknown German musician called Hagen. He was discovered by Perry’s wife, Billie, on YouTube. The remaining song on the disc is an instrumental. The first single is “Long Way to Go.” Other cuts include a cover of the early Fleetwood Mac tune “Somebody’s Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked In Tonite)” as well as the new song “Oh Lord,” which Perry sings.

“That’s kinda like a Jim Morrison-y prayer set to music,” Perry told Reuters in a recent interview. ”My son sings in the choir at school, and I had him bring in some of his friends and they came in and sang the choruses and things and helped with the vibe. That’s the kinda thing I really don’t hear in an Aerosmith record.” 

Aerosmith has not released an album of new material since 2001′s “Just Push Play.” Efforts to record a follow-up have been interrupted by health problems for virtually every member of the veteran band. Its current North American tour got off to a rough start when seven shows were postponed after singer Steven Tyler was hobbled by a leg injury. The next stop is Sturgis, S.D., on Wednesday.

Same old song and dance: Aerosmith scrubs Florida shows

Want some good news about Aerosmith’s troubled tour? Dream On. The veteran rockers have officially postponed shows scheduled for Saturday in Tampa and Monday in Sunrise/Ft. Lauderdale, after a few days of confusion as to whether they would proceed. Seven shows have now been scrapped as a result of an unspecified leg injury suffered by 61-year-old singer Steven Tyler.

The trek kicked off on June 10 in St. Louis, and the band managed to perform seven shows through June 29 before Tyler (pictured left with guitarist Joe Perry at the American Music Awards last November) was hobbled. Initial sympathy expressed by fans on the official message board at Aeroforceone.com is now turning into frustration as they have to cancel travel and accommodation plans, babysitters and the like.

Perry’s Twitter messages did not help. He told fans on Wednesday that the shows in Florida would not go ahead, but then changed tack the following day saying there had been a misunderstanding.

The good news is that guitarist Brad Whitford, who was sidelined by a head injury just before the tour started, is ready to rejoin his bandmates once Tyler is back in the saddle. All eyes are now on the Atlanta show scheduled for Wednesday.

The band says the seven shows (so far) will be rescheduled but has not confirmed any details. Perry said on a Florida radio station Friday that he hoped to be back in October. Dates are on tap through Sept. 16 in Detroit.

Aerosmith turn to Web for guidance from fans

Back in their youthful heyday, the members of Aerosmith indulged in every sort of hedonistic pursuit backstage after their concerts. These days, they head straight to the tour bus and surf the Web to see what their fans thought about the show, says lead guitarist Joe Perry.      The feedback is important in the early stages of a tour, such as the one that began last Wednesday in St. Louis, as the band struggles to regain match form after a 20-month absence from the stage.      “They don’t hold anything back,” Perry said of the comments on sites such as the official Web site, aeroforceone.com. “It’s a lot of fun to read it. Some of it isn’t so much fun, but it still gives you good feedback … We can take care of the technical stuff and what we expect out of ourselves, but the most important thing is how it affects the fans.”   With just two shows of the tour under its belt, the set list will undergo some major changes, and fan input will be an influence, Perry told Reuters on Sunday, calling from the bus taking him from Milwaukee back to the band’s Boston hometown.

“The bottom line is we’re entertainers. We want to keep the fans happy. We’re not these egotistical artists that dictate, ‘Well you must listen to this one and you must like it whether you applaud or not.’”

The centerpiece of each show on the new tour is the performance of an early album in its entirety, front to back. For at least the next two weeks, that album is the 1975 smash “Toys in the Attic,” which features the hits “Walk This Way” and “Sweet Emotion.” (The album closer “You See Me Crying” is currently absent from the set list because it is “one of the toughest songs probably in our catalog,” Perry said, and vocalist Steven Tyler needs two more shows to get his throat into shape).      Once the band settles into a groove, it will probably dust off its 1976 follow-up “Rocks,” which features the top-40 tunes “Back in the Saddle” and “Last Child.” The band’s first two albums, its 1973 self-titled debut and 1974′s “Get Your Wings” are also candidates for a revival.

But what Perry really wants to do is exhume is the unloved 1979 album “Night in the Ruts,” recorded during the band’s lengthy, drug-fueled nadir. Perry plays on only some of the tracks because he left the band before the album was released.      “I think there are probably two songs on there that we could play pretty much right off the bat,” he said. “The rest of them we’d have to sit down and really take them apart, relearn all the guitar parts. There are some rockin’ songs on there and it would be fun to play them live.”      So far on the tour Perry takes to the microphone for the “Rocks” cut “Combination,” and he envisages adding other solo outings such as “Bright Light Fight” (from 1979′s “Draw the Line”) and “Walk on Down” (from 1993′s “Get a Grip”).      In the meantime, he started mixing a new solo album on Sunday, and hopes to premiere some new music during the summer ahead of an official release in September or October. The nine-track disc was recorded during a frantic 40-day burst of activity after sessions for Aerosmith’s long-delayed album were postponed when Tyler came down with pneumonia.      The album, with the working title of “Freedom,” will be credited to the Joe Perry Project, a combo he formed during his five-year hiatus from Aerosmith.      Perry does some vocals, and also brought in a singer in the bluesy Paul Rodgers mold, whom he declined to identify. One of the tracks Perry sings is called “Oh Lord,” which he likened to a Jim Morrison-style prayer set to music. Some high-school choristers, including his son Roman, are featured on the tune.      “That’s the kind of thing I really don’t hear on an Aerosmith record,” Perry said.

Another Aerosmith rocker on sick list as tour begins

Rocking out with Aerosmith can be hazardous for your health. Four out of five of the veteran group’s members have disclosed major medical problems in the last three years. The most recent addition to the sick list is guitarist Brad Whitford. 

The band’s publicist said on Monday that Whitford, 57, is recovering from “recent surgery,” and will miss an unspecified number of dates on the band’s tour, which begins on Wednesday in St. Louis. She declined to comment on Whitford’s ailment. Bobby Schneck, who has played with Green Day and Weezer, will fill in for him. 

Here’s an update on Whitford’s bandmates:     – Singer Steven Tyler, 61, underwent throat surgery in 2006, forcing the band to cut short a tour. Tyler, who has long battled substance abuse, checked into rehab last May saying he wanted “a safe environment” to recover from a series of painful foot surgeries.     – Guitarist Joe Perry, 58, was forced to undergo emergency knee surgery earlier this year after developing “unforeseen complications” with a replacement knee.     – Bassist Tom Hamilton, 57, underwent a seven-week course of radiation treatment for throat cancer in 2006.

That leaves drummer Joey Kramer, 58, who famously set himself and his Ferrari on fire at a Boston gas station in 1998. Later this month, he will release a memoir detailing his emotional breakdown in 1995 and his battles with depression and anxiety.

Of course, Aerosmith’s members are lucky to be alive after their hard-partying heyday in the 1970s, when they ruled the charts with tunes like “Dream On” and ”Walk This Way.” Since regrouping in the late 1980s with the help of drug counselors, they have largely kept to the straight and narrow. They have slowly been recording their first album of new material since 2001′s “Just Push Play,” but there is no word on a release date.

Aerosmith takes flight in June after being grounded in 2008

Summer’s almost here, and the time is right for Aerosmith’s first North American shows in almost two years.

America’s rock ‘n’ roll bad boys, sidelined last year by singer Steven Tyler’s rehab stint and guitarist Joe Perry’s bad knee, said Monday they would begin a three-month amphitheater tour in St. Louis on June 10.       The trek will take the band to 33 cities, including Washington on June 21, Houston on July 17, Chicago on Aug. 28, Toronto on Sept. 3, and finally Detroit on Sept. 16. Opening act ZZ Top will join the tour on June 16, when Aerosmith play to a hometown crowd in Boston.

The band is taking a break from recording its first album of new material since 2001′s “Just Push Play.” A band spokeswoman said there was no scheduled release date yet.      Aerosmith last toured in 2007, playing 20 countries between April and September. It was forced to scrap a planned festival show in Venezuela this past February because Perry, 58, had to undergo emergency knee surgery caused by unforeseen complications from a total knee replacement in March 2008.      Tyler, 61, went into rehab last May, saying he needed “a safe environment” to recover from a series of foot surgeries that proved to be more painful than expected. He will be the top draw at the upcoming Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, which allows civilian rockers to jam with and learn from their heroes. It runs from April 29 to May 3 in Hollywood.      Both Perry and Tyler — nicknamed “the Toxic Twins” — and their bandmates were infamous for their hard-partying ways during the 1970s. Since a carefully engineered comeback in the late 1980s, they have largely been models of sobriety.