13.08.2009, 10:39
Zitat:As Aerosmith determines what Steven Tyler's injuries mean for future tour dates, guitarist Joe Perry says the lurching pace of the group's summer excursion has been frustrating.
"It hasn't really felt like a tour," Perry tells Billboard.com. "It's been such a stop-and-go thing. In some ways the band has played the best it ever has, and with ZZ Top on the bill and everything and Billy (Gibbons) coming up (on stage)...it was building up to be the best show and best tour we've done in a long time. In another couple weeks it was going to be a really unique kind of tour for us. Right now I don't know what's going to happen."
Tyler was injured when he fell from a catwalk during a performance Aug. 5 in Sturgis, S.D. He was taken to a local hospital and then returned to Boston, where he was being evaluated on Monday. Meanwhile, Ticketmaster announced the postponement of the group's five-city western Canada swing. An announcement about the fate of the rest of the tour, which is currently booked into September, is expected soon.
Perry, meanwhile, says he's hopeful Tyler's injuries are not so serious they'll force the tour to be canceled entirely.
"Stuff happens," the guitarist notes. "It's just the odds. We had such a good run the last 25 years; I think we canceled two shows until, like, the last four years, and then it all started rolling in at once, what can you do?"
This tour has seemed particularly star-crossed for Aerosmith. Guitarist Brad Whitford had to sit out the first part of the trek with a head injury. Then seven shows were postponed when Tyler suffered a torn muscle in his thigh, and most recently Tom Hamilton had to come off the tour for unspecified medical reasons.
But Perry, who was playing his first tour after undergoing knee replacement surgery, deflects concerns that health issues are doing Aerosmith in.
"I think the band has to look at what it takes to do this gracefully," he explains, "but there's no reason why we can't keep playing until we can't walk. You have to know that you can't do certain things anymore. You can do somersaults on stage or...swing from ropes. But there are other things you can do that are just as entertaining -- like sing, play and put on a good show."
While the tour is in limbo, Perry has stayed busy taking his tour bus to various cities -- including Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland -- to talk about his upcoming solo album, "Have Guitar, Will Travel," which will be released this fall on Jimmy Buffett's Mailboat Records label. Perry has been playing the first single, "We Got a Long Way to Go," and other tracks for radio and press, and while in Chicago he jammed with Jimmy Buffett and with Jane's Addiction during their Lollapalooza-closing set.
Courtesy of www.sleazeroxx.com and www.billboard.com