Brad Whitford on an Aerosmith Without Steven Tyler: “I Wouldn’t Take Anything off the Board”

Hours before Aerosmith issued a statement that read, in part, that “any rumor out there about us looking for another singer is completely untrue,” BlastEcho spoke with Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford about those very rumors which he himself seemed to stoke earlier in the week.

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Speaking to Metal Rules recently, Whitford said “we have considered [replacing singer Steven Tyler], but whether it will happen I don’t know. I think it would be great.” Whitford then threw out a few candidates to replace Tyler, among them Myles Kennedy, Sammy Hagar and, jokingly, Axl Rose.

Whitford confirmed that he, guitarist Joe Perry, bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer have discussed “[going] out and [putting] together a group of different singers and doing a collection of Aerosmith songs with some other people’s take on it.” He added, too, that this Tyler-less incarnation would not have been called Aerosmith and the consideration “never really got past the discussion point.”

That said, the wording in the press release only eliminates the present tense and leaves open the possibility of further discussion, just as Whitford does. Asked whether Aerosmith would ever reconsider a tour without Tyler, he said simply “I wouldn’t take anything off the board.”

Speaking later about Tyler’s earlier remarks that Aerosmith’s next tour may be their last, Whitford was quick to add his two cents. “We may start a farewell tour as early as next year but it doesn’t mean it would be the last tour,” he says. “I think it might be the closing chapter, but just the beginning of the end. We’re gonna close it out some time in the next 10 to 15 or maybe five years.”

Whitford, along with singer/guitarist Derek St. Holmes, will release their aptly titled reunion album Reunion (as Whitford/St. Holmes, which had a brief run 35 years ago) next month and launch a tour to support it beginning June 3 in Dallas.