Guitarist Brad Whitford told Billboard, “Steven doesn’t want to do it, It’s unfortunate. We kind of feel a little bit abandoned by him. I guess he seems to think his solo career is going to go great guns, and he doesn’t seem to realize that — in my opinion — his fans around the globe want to see him in the context of Aerosmith and don’t really care for whatever he thinks he’s gonna do.”
The band has cancelled its 2016 North America tour plans, but still have left open some dates later in the year for South America.
Whitford and fellow guitar player Joe Perry are both working on other projects, but were willing to put those on hold for the sake of the band and its loyal following. Perry has teamed with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp in the Hollywood Vampires. Whitford and Derek St. Holmes also have a new album on the way, but both of these projects are considered side work.
Tyler had some success on the country music charts earlier in the year with “Love is Your Name” reaching the top-20 on the music charts. In September he played some classic songs from the band in a more country sound and now has a new album set to release in 2016, though no date has been officially released.
Tyler isn’t the first lead singer to try and change genre, former ‘Hootie and the Blowfish’ front man Darius Rucker turned country back in 2008 and hit the charts with three number one singles off his first album, Learn to Live, but it’s yet to be seen if the Aerosmith lead singer can capitalize on his success earlier this year. He’s made it clear that he will put all his energy into the new project.
