November 19, 2009 12:30

Aerosmith admit Steven Tyler may have 'drug abuse going on'

Band say they have had little contact with singer for months

Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford has said he believes singer Steven Tyler is still struggling with a drug problem.

The band's singer has been estranged from the rest of the group despite a recent onstage appearance with guitarist Joe Perry since August, when he fell from a stage in South Dakota and forced the group to cancel the rest of its summer tour.

Now Whitford has admitted he thinks their singer is likely to be battling drug addiction.

"This guy has a tremendous history of drug abuse, and you have to be suspicious that this is something that is probably going on with him," he told rockradio.com. "I think that's got to be a part of this irrational behavior. People in recovery and stuff, if you're really doing it, it takes a lot of work.

"Historically or statistically, the majority of people in that situation don't make it. I have a feeling we might be looking at, you know, someone who's just really struggling very badly with this."

The band also revealed that despite his recent onstage appearance, which saw the singer declare he was not quitting the band, none of them have had any contact with him in months.

Drummer Joey Kramer also admitted the group are unsure how to carry on, but they all want to continue with Tyler.

"You know, getting someone else is one of the questions," he explained "We all know that there's really no way to replace Steven, but we want to continue touring together.

"We even have a 40-year anniversary coming up and it's a milestone. We want to be able to celebrate it together and there's millions of fans out there that are dedicated to us."

His comments come alongside Joe Perry's recent comments that the band will carry on without Tyler if they have to.