Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry have had a tumultuous relationship throughout their more than 50-year career together, but Perry insists rumors they don’t get along are untrue.
“This is no bulls***, man, he’s probably my best friend through all of it,” Perry tells Classic Rock. “We just know we’re different people. Even through the 70s, we were the ones that would go off on a scuba diving trip together.”
Perry admits there was some friction when Tyler decided to judge American Idol in 2008, noting he thought, “Holy s***, we’re gonna have to plan the band’s career around that,” but that thought quickly changed. Perry shares, “But god bless him, not everybody gets the chance to do that, so it was, ‘Go for it, man.’”
Around that time, their bickering boiled over in public, and at one point Perry announced the band was “looking for a new singer.” Looking back, Perry seems to regret things happened that way.
“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Perry says. “They say all press is good press, I’m not sure I agree with that. Maybe it felt like we had to something to our fans. F***, I couldn’t tell you. We were so spread apart, I don’t know. Maybe we were trying to set the record straight and be a little bit more honest and let people know what was going on. I don’t know.”
Aerosmith is set to kick off what they say is their final tour September 2 in Philadelphia. A complete list of dates can be found at aerosmith.com.
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