NEWSSteven Tyler: Addiction is Like a "500 Pound Gorilla On My Back"
June 28 2010, Published 3:55 p.m. ET
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has opened up about his most recent battle with prescription drugs that almost destroyed the legendary rock group.
"The band has never been better, I'm singing better," Steven told the Associated Press via Huffington Post. "It's been beautiful and I realized when I was taking care of my problems that the band is all I really care about."
Steven, who's now on tour with Aerosmith in Europe, starting a US tour on July 23, says, "it's been a great tour. You know it's a little hard for me. Being in Aerosmith is like living on the tail of a comet. I've had a lot of injuries over the last couple of the years.
"I had ACL reconstruction on my knee ... operations on my feet, my mom passed away. A lot of things came to play that made it easy for me to abuse some things. ...
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"Even though some of the people in the band were going public with some of the stuff which turned very ugly, I managed to pull it all back together again and say, 'Look, let's just get out there and be the band that we know we are and not argue about this crap anymore.'
Liv Tyler's hard-living dad has moved on from the very public fallout between himself and Joe Perry.
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"I realize that certain people that decide to go in the press with dirty laundry, I just have to look the other way and realize I need to keep my side of the street clean, and they do what they do.
"It's really unfortunate that certain people were Twittering and going to the press. It got really ugly, but you know, again, I just went back to them and I said ... 'More than anything, I really want to play with this band. I really love this band and I love who I've become because of the band.'
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"Everyone's got their problems and their demons, but when we get onstage and play as five, that really all goes away, and that's really all I look at now."
How has Steven plan to beat his addiction to pain medications? "I realize that the best part of me is who I am sober so that's all there is to it. ... I don't know whether I will use tomorrow, but today I'm happy.
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"There's a 500 LB gorilla on my back, waiting in the parking lot for me that wants to take me down, and I won't for any reason go out there and deal with that. I have to get a knee replacement, I have to have another operation on my feet, and I'll let a nurse take care of my stuff.
"I just can't be around that stuff anymore. I need to be a power of example for my bandmates, don't I? (laughs)... I'm still in Aerosmith so the circus is still in town. So when it comes to dealing with the band, I take it a day at a time with these guys."
