Joe Perry shared in a new interview that Aerosmith is expected to tour this fall. However, it’ll likely be without drummer Joey Kramer.
Perry said the tour is going to start in September and will go into 2024, but he didn’t specify how deep into next year it’ll go. When asked if Kramer would be joining Aerosmith on this upcoming tour, Perry wasn’t very optimistic.
“Drumming is probably one of the most athletic parts of playing in a band, so it’s really hard,” said Perry. “It’s been mostly because physically, [Joey has] just been beating himself up over the last 50 years. So, I don’t know. I mean, he’s still officially a member of the band, but I don’t think he’s gonna be sitting behind the drums, at least for this next run. Other than that, I really can’t say.”
Relations between Kramer and Aerosmith have been complicated for the past few years. In January 2020, Kramer filed a lawsuit against the band accusing them of not letting him back into the band after he recovered from injuries in the spring of 2019. Around the time of the lawsuit, Aerosmith were being honored as MusiCares’ Person of the Year and were receiving Grammy Lifetime Achievement honors.
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Kramer alleged that once he recovered from his injuries, he was forced to audition “to prove he was able to play at an appropriate level” before rejoining Aerosmith on stage. The audition consisted of a number of recorded solo rehearsals with a click track, not with the band. The band then would listen back to the recordings to determine whether he would be allowed back in the band. Kramer says no other band member had to go through an audition process like this in the band’s history. This was despite each member stepping away at some point during their five decades together.
Despite the very messy back-and-forth, Kramer would rejoin the band in February 2020. However, in March 2022, Kramer announced he would be sitting out Aerosmith’s Las Vegas residency at Park MGM’s Dolby Live. At the time, a statement cited his reason for sitting out the residency ” … so he can focus his full attention on his family during these uncertain times.” Sadly, in June 2022, his wife, Linda, died. A cause of death was never publicly disclosed.
