Not-so-sweet emotion.
Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer is suing his bandmates, claiming that vocalist Steven Tyler, lead guitarist Joe Perry, rhythm guitarist Tom Hamilton and bassist Brad Whitford have excluded him from rejoining the group after he went on temporary disability leave in 2019.
The ban extends to the Boston group’s performance at this Sunday’s Grammys — where they’re set to perform a medley of hits after receiving the 2020 MusiCares Person of the Year award — as well as the pre-Grammys performance at the MusiCares gala, the final straw that urged Kramer to take action.
Kramer, 69, claims that after just a few months off last year — during which time he was made to pay for his own replacement — he was informed that he’d have to audition to rejoin the group, to ensure he’d be able to “play at an appropriate level.”
According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by Rolling Stone, Kramer says there nothing in the band’s contract requiring them to “take any action to ‘prove’ or otherwise demonstrate his ability to perform after a period of temporary disability.”
Kramer details his “re-audition,” in which he says he was forced to play to a “click-track” — a customized metronome program that keeps time changes consistent throughout songs — by himself, without the rest of the band present.
The “Crazy”-iest thing? Kramer, a founding member, was told that his playing was devoid of the requisite “energy” after his January re-audition.
Kramer alleges he was told his performance wasn’t “technically correct” and failed to “demonstrate he is able to perform as well as John Douglas,” his replacement and drum tech. This, despite the fact that the suit claims one unnamed band member told Kramer he sounded “great.”
“The fact that I would be asked to audition for my own job, demonstrate that I can play at ‘an appropriate level’ and play better than my temporary fill-in with a moving target of made-up standards is both insulting and upsetting,” he told the music magazine. “Other band members and their lawyers will likely attempt to disparage my playing and claim that I am unable to play the drums right now. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Kramer’s statement continued, “In Aerosmith’s 50-year history, no other band member has ever been subjected to this scrutiny let alone be asked to audition for his own job!”
Reached for comment, Aerosmith provided the following statement to Page Six:
Joey Kramer is our brother; his wellbeing is of paramount importance to us. However he has not been emotionally and physically able to perform with the band, by his own admission, for the last 6 months. We have missed him and have encouraged him to rejoin us to play many times but apparently he has not felt ready to do so. Joey has now waited until the last moment to accept our invitation, when we unfortunately have no time for necessary rehearsals during Grammys week. We would be doing a disservice to him, to ourselves and to our fans to have him play without adequate time to prepare and rehearse.
Compounding this, he chose to file a lawsuit on the Friday night of the holiday weekend preceding the Grammys with total disregard for what is our limited window to prepare to perform these important events. Given his decisions he is unfortunately unable to perform but of course we have invited him to be with us for both the Grammys and our MusiCares honor. We are bonded together by much more than our time on stage.
Stay tuned to find out if Kramer will be getting back in the (drum) saddle again.