Tyler, who is on tour with Aerosmith in Europe and starts a US tour with the band on July 23 in Oakland, Calif., talked recently about his battle for sobriety, putting the discord behind him, and being a “dancing fool’’ at 62.
Q. What has it been like to play with the band after the tumultuous last year?
A. It’s been a great tour. You know it’s a little hard for me. Being in Aerosmith is like living on the tail of a comet. I’ve had a lot of injuries over the last couple of years. I had ACL reconstruction on my knee, operations on my feet, my mom passed away. A lot of things made it easy for me to abuse some things. . . . Even though some of the people in the band were going public with some of the stuff which turned very ugly, I managed to pull it all back together again and say, Look, let’s just get out there and be the band that we know we are and not argue about this crap anymore.
Q. How easy was that after the ugliness?
A. I realize that certain people that decide to go in the press with dirty laundry, I just have to look the other way and realize I need to keep my side of the street clean, and they do what they do. It’s really unfortunate that certain people were Twittering and going to the press. It got really ugly, but you know, again, I just went back to them and I said, More than anything, I really want to play with this band. I really love this band and I love who I’ve become because of the band. Everyone’s got their problems and their demons, but when we get onstage and play as five, that really all goes away, and that’s really all I look at now.
Q. There has been tension in Aerosmith throughout the years. Are you still able to be friends as well as bandmates?
A. I’m doing a book called “Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?’’ and I will be speaking about what it’s like to be married to four other guys, and what I’ve had to put up with. . . . There will never be another band like Aerosmith, and I just don’t want to do anything to hurt that. I love the band so much.
