Steven Tyler Says He’s Not Leaving Aerosmith

“New York, I want you to know I’m not leaving Aerosmith,” Tyler said, as seen in a YouTube video posted on RollingStone.com. “Joe Perry, you are a man of many colors. But I, motherf***er, am the rainbow!”

Tyler then joined The Joe Perry Project in a rendition of the Aerosmith hit “Walk This Way.”

Perry told People magazine he wasn’t expecting to share the stage with his bandmate.”I was totally surprised. I had no idea he was going to show up. All I know is we walked off stage and were sitting taking our break [before] the encore and there was a bunch of commotion and I looked up and Steven was there.”

The singer asked Perry what songs were left on the show’s setlist and then asked to sit in on “Walk This Way.”

After taking over on vocals, Tyler walked his way right out of the venue. Perry said Tyler left without saying anything else.

“He appeared so fast and was gone so fast,” Perry said. “ He stood up there and sang and that was it.”

Although Tyler said he’s not leaving the band, Perry says things aren’t totally hunky-dory between the bandmates.

“Nothing has really changed between two days ago and today,” Perry said.

He told Rolling Stone that Tyler “wants to take two years off from the band. The rest of the band wants to keep on working. We have so many different options to fill up that time. Anything is possible at this point. Basically, any communication that we’ve had over the last couple of months has been through managers, so that’s been pretty strange.”

People asked Perry if Tyler would be temporarily replaced while the singer pursues a solo career.

“I can’t say right now. We’re just getting used to the idea that he’s not going to be available for two years,” Perry said. “Anything’s possible.”

Last week Tyler told Classic Rock Magazine he plans to focus on solo projects.

“I don’t know what I’m doing yet, but it’s definitely going to be something Steven Tyler: working on the brand of myself – Brand Tyler.”

On Monday Perry assured fans on Twitter that “Aerosmith is definitely NOT breaking up. One of the members is doing his own thing and said so in the press. That’s all I know.” He added, “In the meantime aerosmith is positivly looking for a new singer to work with. You just can’t take 40 years of expiriance and throwitinthebin!”

Perry recently told the Boston Herald that the last time he tried to contact Tyler, the singer hung up on him.

“I called him up when we were in Hawaii (last month) to ask him if he wanted to do three South American dates. He said no, then the next thing I know, there’s no one on the other end of the line. He had hung up.”

Perry said Tyler keeps to himself on tour by traveling on his own and checking into a separate hotel. Tyler’s dressing room was even located far away from the band during Aerosmith’s recent gigs in Abu Dhabi and Hawaii.

Tyler also keeps things separate when it comes to business. A few months back the singer parted ways with Aerosmith’s management team, H.K. Management, and signed on with Union Entertainment Group.

Aerosmith last played together Nov. 1 at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Perry is currently on tour in support of his new solo album, Have Guitar Will Travel, which was released last month. The guitarist has North American dates on the books through mid-December.

Click here for the People article.

Click here and here for the Rolling Stone articles.

Click here for the Boston Herald article.

Click here for Joe Perry’s Twitter account.