Aerosmith's Joe Perry Admits He's 'Happy' for Steven Tyler's 'Idol' Accolades

Sylvia Linares, FilmMagic

With all the recent buzz around 'American Idol' judge Steven Tyler, Aerosmith's name and image has come creeping back into the modern-rock spotlight. The show has also given the band's guitarist Joe Perry a well-deserved break from the fast-paced rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

In an interview with the recently relaunched magazine Creem, Perry spoke of the show, his 60th birthday, which he spent onstage with the rest of Aerosmith, and how the rocker's views have changed on mortality.

"The break from the band has been really good," Perry said, deflating the drama that has surrounded the band over the past few years, thanks in part to 'Idol.' "The only thing is I wish Steven would've told us earlier, but I'm happy for him."

Perry was also candid when discussing his feelings on getting older. "When you're 30 you expect somebody to die in a motorcycle accident or OD, a freak heart attack or something like that," he said "But when you get to be 60 the old friends on the deceased list start to get longer, so you do have a little bit of retrospect when this type of birthday rolls around. It's 60 and you go, 'Well, my dad died when he was 50 and all those things.' I don't feel 60, I'm certainly not the 60 that my grandfather was."

On top of that, the renowned axeman reminisced about Aerosmith's first invitation to the Grammy Awards, when they were beaten by Hall and Oates for Best New Band. "There wasn't even a rock 'n' roll category in the Grammys, it was just so different. We were invited to the Grammys as the Best New Group and we lost to Hall and Oates and it was like, 'We're a rock band, we're a hard rock band and how can you compare us and Hall and Oates?' So we were pissed off. We didn't earn our bad boy nom de guerre for no reason, we got up and left as I remember."

Check out the full interview with Perry over at Creem.

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