Steven Tyler Will Take A Cut In Pay To Play With AC/DC

Being out on the road forty six out of the fifty two weeks a year has always come across as the ultimate dream job. Playing festivals! Looking out over a crowd of thirty five to fifty thousand. Loud music. Fresh guitar strings. Roadies with flashlights guiding members onto a darkened stage. Is there anything sweeter than being the maker of what moves people to jumping, shouting and letting go of life's every day pressures? Never once have I thought about: What if you don't like the band you're touring with? Do Rocker's sit on their buses dreaming about one day sharing the stage with ___________? The Toxic Twins of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry will achieve a long-awaited ambition when they co-headline with Van Halen in Australia this summer. Sounds like an incredible night of Rock until Steven says, "I'll take a pay cut to hit the road with AC/DC." Perry explains: “There’s been talk about us co-headlining for years. But they’re one of those bands that do a cycle then split, so it’s been really hard.” The Aerosmith duo are to be honored with the Founder’s Award for songwriting at this week’s ASCAP Expo in Los Angeles. It’s been a long time coming for a team who recall the pain of being constantly compared to the Rolling Stones when they started out in Boston. Tyler reflects: “We come from an era when Sweet Emotion and Back In The Saddle were considered dark. We weren’t accepted – we were just a B-side album band. We were never a singles band. “Then the 80s came along with Dude (Looks Like A Lady). I listen to that now and I think, ‘What?’ It’s fun to hear, kind of like Wooly Bully, but were we trying too hard to be a singles band? “It doesn’t matter. We’ve been strung out and sober. We’ve sold in and we’ve sold out. Some days we didn’t even sell at all. What matters is we’re still together as a band.”