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Steven Tyler is back in the saddle when it comes to his sobriety. But his status with Aerosmith is a whole 'nother thing.
While making the publicity rounds to plug his new memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, the rocker and American Idol judge opened up about the high times fronting America's rock and roll band, the descent into drug abuse and the feud he's having with his bandmates who aren't exactly thrilled with his new gig.
Sweet emotion, it's not. Read on...
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Tyler described accepting the Idol job as a means of gaining some independence.
"Did I take this job to show the band?" he says. "F--k, yeah. Not to show them, but that I can't be held hostage anymore. I will be my own hostage. The band can't throw me out."
Tyler also admitted for the first time that the reason Aerosmith aborted recording sessions a couple of years ago to hone new material was because he and guitarist, Joe Perry, relapsed for the first time in years. That's sparked tension within the band that has yet to be resolved to this day.
"It was just like 30 years before," said the "Livin' On the Edge" singer. "I whipped out mine, he whipped out his and we got high together again."
In fall 2008, Tyler revealed he also rejected an offer by Led Zeppelin vets Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones and John Bonham's drummer son, Jason, to join them in a new project.
"Well, I know that I'm mad at those [Aerosmith] guys, but I'm not that mad,'" Tyler said. "So I called Jimmy up after I left, two weeks later, and said, 'You're in a classic band, and so is mine, and I just can't do that to my guys.'"
On his struggle with addiction, Tyler separately told Matt Lauer in a Today sit-down about the toll drugs took on him, his relationship with his kids and the band over the years.
"There's three things that happen to you when you're addicted to drugs after they take hold, is death, jail and insanity. And I can't preach that enough. The only reason I wind up in rehab is because I used to the point of falling down. My kids tell me, 'Daddy, I don't know who you are anymore.' Wives leave, bands break up, and it's really a one-way street. I still liked the ride, but it's a one-way street."
On Aerosmith's reputation for hard-partying back in their '70s heyday, which led to their first breakup in '79:
"We were all using at the time. We'd come off stage, do a nice blast of blow and that's where it kinda happened. And it was, like, 'Enough. The show was good. And now we're fightin' back here. We fight on stage."
On his rocky three decade partnership with his fellow Toxic Twin, Tyler noted it's the best of times, it's the worst of times:
"Well, you see, [Joe] plays guitar—and he plays it in such a way where I'm addicted to it. There is no one like him. He's my own Keith. He's my own Clapton. He is that. He is Aerosmith...you know, we've been to places where it's, you know, "F--k you, you're fired, and I'm leaving."
When asked by Lauer about the Aerosmith's current in-fighting, the vocalist revealed he's been trying to patch things up:
"It's about internal issues that since I left the last management, it's four now against one. So. . .there's little things. Remember, being in a band this big, it's a very heavy marriage."
He later sent a letter to the others suggesting they put all the business stuff aside and focus on making music again.
"And that's what I just said. Leave the managers, the lawyers behind. . .Let's just stop foolin' around, get back together and do this album.'"
While Aerosmith's album sales have surged in the wake of his new starring role on Idol, the group's future remains up in the air with no word when they'll cut a new album. As a result, the rocker has taken to writing on his own.
Tyler's book is set for release May 3 and will be followed one week later by his first solo single, "It Feels So Good," hitting radio stations May 10.