Aerosmith has responded to estranged drummer Joey Kramer's lawsuit over his apparent ouster from the band as it prepares to perform Sunday at The Grammys and is set to be honored as the 2020 MusiCares Person of the Year.
In a statement the band said, "Joey Kramer is our brother; his well-being 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.”
The statement adds, "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."
Kramer has also issued his own statement about the suit, saying, "Being prohibited from playing with a band that I have given 50 years of my life to supporting, is beyond devastating. This is not about money. I am being deprived of the opportunity to be recognized along with my peers, for our collective lifetime contributions to the music industry."
He adds that he's feeling pretty hurt. "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. 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. I did everything they asked -- jumped through hoops and made both a recording of playing along solo to a recent live recording of the band -- one I had never heard before, and that process was videotaped."
Kramer's legal team made a request on Monday to get a judge to allow him to rehearse with the band.
Source: People and Premiere