When Steven Tyler accepted the job on American Idol, he was far from being a fan of the show. In fact, he reckons he never even watched Idol. "I just wanted to sit next to J.Lo and Randy," he told LA Weekly recently. However, it was a decision that threatened to destroy the relationships that he had in his band, Aerosmith - one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. "When I took Idol, it kind of shook the apple cart. Instead of being happy for me, there was a lot of jealousy, but it worked out," he explained.
Luckily for Tyler and the rest of the Aerosmith crew, the band still found time to record their latest album, in between shooting the reality show and they're feeling pretty proud of themselves, as guitarist Joe Perry explained: "This one has a lot of band-generated material on it. This is the first record we've done in a long time where the band got together and actually hammered out the arrangements and the whole vibe of each song." It wasn't all plain sailing though. "The band kind of fell apart for a little bit," explained Tyler, "and it was one of those things where we said, 'Let's get together no matter what it takes.' The band flew to L.A., where I'm here with all the hoity-toities and doing Idol."
Tyler's decision to join Idol may have upset the band for a short while but as they have proven with this new album, it will take more than a little jealousy to break the Aerosmith guys. Joe Perry doesn't seem to see a time when Aerosmith won't exist: "The band never really goes away. We're in this club that we all signed onto a long, long time ago. It's been such a way of life that the idea of it not being there doesn't occur."