The Back-Burner: Aerosmith Outtakes & Demos

For fifty years, Joey Kramer was the drummer who named Aerosmith: the only original member who never quit, at the back of the stage from 1970 to 2020. Between the spring of 2019 and the summer of 2026, his story bent through a shoulder injury, an ankle injury, a click-track audition, a 4–1 vote, a lawsuit, a rehearsal-studio door locked from the inside, a brief reconciliation, a pandemic, a triple-bypass heart surgery, the sudden death of his wife, the closure of his coffee company, chronic back problems and a back operation. By the time Aerosmith retired from touring in August 2024, Joey had not played a full show with the band in nearly five years, and the farewell tour came and went without him.

Then the story turned. In late 2024, in a magazine interview published the day before he closed his coffee company, Joey disclosed the heart surgery, a new woman in his life, and a two-hour phone call with Steven Tyler in which he said he loved him and cried. In July 2026, healing from back surgery, he finished the thought on camera: he had come through with flying colors, felt better than he had in a decade, was getting back behind the drums, and considered the story of Aerosmith incomplete in the way it ended, or tried to end. What follows is what happened, in the order it happened.

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Background, in brief

Joey Kramer was Aerosmith’s drummer for over fifty years and one-fifth corporate owner of the closely held companies that legally constitute the band: Vindaloo Music International, Inc., Rag Doll Merchandising, Inc., Queen of Denial, Inc., Aero Dynamic Music Publishing, Inc., and Swag Song Music, Inc. His relationship with Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton and Brad Whitford was governed by a September 7, 1990 Employment Agreement with amendments dated April 16, 2004, November 30, 2007, and August 4, 2011. The Agreement allowed the corporations to replace a temporarily incapacitated member at that member’s expense, but said nothing about how that member came back. Paragraph 16 of the 2011 amendment conceded the contracts had not been drafted as well as they should have been.

For five decades, every absence in Aerosmith had been resolved the same way. Tyler’s stints in rehab, Perry’s exit from 1979 to 1984, Whitford’s Rock in a Hard Place departure, Joey’s own 1995 collapse into the clinical depression he called the “Big Blue Funk” after his father’s death — the member announced he was ready, and walked back in. In 1995, the band hired Tom Petty’s drummer Steve Ferrone to record Nine Lives without Joey; when Joey was ready, he re-cut every track Ferrone had played, and the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in March 1997. No audition, no vote. In 2019, the precedent stopped applying.

2019

April

Aerosmith opens the Deuces Are Wild residency at the Park Theater at Park MGM in Las Vegas: video walls, choreographed light cues, a career-spanning setlist, strong reviews, stronger ticket sales. The production runs partly on click tracks, which the band has rehearsed with but never gotten comfortable with; clicks work poorly for early-1970s Aerosmith material, where the tempo is meant to move as the band plays. Most of the show runs without a click, with a handful of strict tempo cues to keep the band synced to the video walls, the most demanding being the instrumental break in “Kings and Queens.”

On April 23, Joey misses his first show of the residency. The official explanation is a shoulder injury from a minor accident. His drum tech John Douglas, a long-time Aerosmith fixture and personal friend, fills in. Douglas later recounted on camera that Steven Tyler phoned him personally asking him to play the next night, which surprised him: he had worked in the crew for years without ever having an extended conversation with Tyler. He said he wasn’t even sure he was being asked; he thinks he was being told.

May – early July

Joey returns to the residency. The shoulder has healed enough to play, but an ankle injury is building. Bootlegs and in-ear monitor recordings circulating in fan-trader circles catch Joey dragging the tempo on multiple songs and missing production cues; the last two or three shows before mid-July are, by community consensus, particularly rough. Tom Hamilton later confirmed, in his Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp masterclass of June 2020, that Joey did not play in 2019 because of an ankle problem, and that the rehearsal time needed to bring him back was an additional constraint.

Publicly, the framing stays at shoulder, then ankle, then “minor injuries.” Off the record, band members at the time hinted that Joey might be using again. Joey’s own 2026 disclosures about arthritis and inflammation through his back, thumb and right ankle, all attributed by his doctors to decades of playing, point to the simpler explanation: the body was giving out, starting with the ankle that drives the bass pedal.

July 19

Aerosmith plays Washington, DC. Per the verified court complaint, this is the last show Joey attempts; he cannot move the foot used to drive the bass-drum pedal. He does not play with the band again after this date. Variety‘s coverage of the court file states the band’s position: from July 2019 forward, in their view, Kramer is unable to properly operate the pedal.

September

Per the court ruling, Joey cancels scheduled private recording sessions with the band, telling them he is “not mentally ready.” Between September and December he attends no band practices. His wife Linda is recorded in the court papers telling the band he is not emotionally ready to do so.

October 20

Joey leaves a voicemail for Aerosmith’s personal manager, Larry Rudolph, saying he would like to wait a little longer before recording with tapes, and that he is not ready to do it yet.

October 26

Rudolph emails Joey: the band is excited about his return but needs evidence he has the stamina, physical ability and timing to play a one-week Vegas cycle. Defendants’ counsel Attorney Jeffrey Smith separately tells Joey’s lawyers the other four members will not allow him to return until he demonstrates he can play “at an appropriate level.” The court ruling notes this standard does not appear in the Agreement and had never before been invoked in the band’s history.

November 14 – December 4

The Las Vegas residency runs without Joey. Douglas plays, at Joey’s expense, per the Agreement.

November – December

Per the court ruling, Joey enters a rehabilitation facility and leaves against the recommendation of his addiction counsellor, a detail later disclosed in the defendants’ affidavits and the public court file. The defendants demand that Joey perform solo rehearsals against a click track and submit the recordings for the other members’ review. Joey protests that solo click-track rehearsals are not an effective measure of his ability to play with a band and asks for full-band rehearsals. Attorney Smith communicates the other members’ refusal.

2020

January 8, 10, and 12

Joey records himself playing against click tracks on three dates and submits the recordings to the other four members.

January 13

The defendants’ attorney emails Joey’s lawyers proposing a January 15 conference call to vote on four questions: whether the recordings show Joey will perform at least as well as Douglas at MusiCares and the Grammys; whether there is time to rehearse him before those events; whether the recordings show he will perform as well as Douglas during the February leg of the Vegas residency; and whether there is time to rehearse him in for that leg.

A rumour from this period holds that the choice put to Douglas ahead of the awards was binary: play, or watch the band bring in someone Joey had never worked with.

January 15

The conference call happens. Attorney Smith tells the band Joey is required to demonstrate his playing is technically correct and that he can perform as well as Douglas, and that the decision is governed by the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The vote is 4–1: Perry, Tyler, Hamilton and Whitford against Joey’s return; Joey the only vote for.

Per Jon Blistein’s reporting in Rolling Stone six days later, the stated reason was not the “play at an appropriate level” standard, the “play as well as the drum tech” standard, or the “technically correct” standard, but a new criterion: that the recordings did not have enough energy.

Two expert opinions are later filed. Music and entertainment experts Harlan Lansky and Ian Barrett, for Joey, call his performance exceptional, suggesting no limitations on his drumming ability. Grammy-winning producer Chris Lord-Alge, for the defendants, calls it significantly deficient compared to Douglas on the same set list.

January 17 (Friday)

Joey files his complaint in Plymouth County Superior Court, on the Friday night of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, nine days before the Grammys. Count I: breach of contract and of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Count II: unfair and deceptive conduct under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93A. The relief sought is an emergency injunction letting him play MusiCares on January 24 and the Grammys on January 26.

January 18

The band sends Joey the full rehearsal schedule for Grammys week.

January 19

Joey flies to Los Angeles to participate in rehearsals.

January 20

Two security guards stop Joey at the rehearsal-studio door. In TMZ footage released two days later, they explain they have been hired by the other four members to ensure he does not enter. He tells them they are just doing their job, thanks them, and walks away.

January 21

Rolling Stone publishes Blistein’s report with both sides’ full statements, putting the “energy” standard on the public record. Joey’s statement calls the demand that he audition for his own job under a moving target of made-up standards “insulting and upsetting,” and notes that no other Aerosmith member in fifty years has been subjected to this scrutiny. The band’s joint statement to People calls Joey their brother, says he has not been emotionally and physically able to perform for six months by his own admission, that they repeatedly invited him back, and that he waited until the last moment, leaving no time to rehearse. Joey separately tells TMZ that being prohibited from playing with a band he has given fifty years to is beyond devastating, that the suit is not about money, and that neither the MusiCares honour nor the Grammys recognition can ever be repeated.

January 22

Justice Mark C. Gildea issues his ten-page memorandum of decision and order. The injunction is DENIED. On breach of contract: the Agreement is silent on a member’s return from temporary disability, and course of conduct can only interpret ambiguous language, not fill silence. On the implied covenant: the affidavits show a good-faith dispute about the imminent performances, and the defendants’ offer to let Joey return for the spring residency after rehearsal is not bad faith. On Chapter 93A: intra-venture disputes fall outside its scope. On a freeze-out theory: Joey did not name the individual shareholders as defendants, and the majority acted within Pointer v. Castellani‘s “rights of selfish ownership.”

The same day, Variety publishes its coverage, highlighting the July 2019 bass-pedal detail and the rehab departure against medical advice. TMZ posts the rehearsal-door footage, which travels to CNN, NME, Billboard, Fox News, Consequence, Ultimate Classic Rock and Blabbermouth before the day is out.

Joey issues a closing statement: he is extremely disappointed but will respect the ruling, notes the corporate documents reference no process for a member returning from injury or illness, and says he can hold his head high knowing he fought for his right to celebrate the success he dedicated his life to building.

January 23

Joey tells reporters in West Hollywood, per Fox News and TMZ, that he will attend MusiCares the next night, that he is there to spread the love, and that he has never left the band.

January 24

MusiCares Person of the Year gala at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The tribute lineup runs through the band’s catalogue: Cheap Trick on “Rats in the Cellar”, the Jonas Brothers on “Crazy”, LeAnn Rimes on “Livin’ on the Edge”, Kesha on “Janie’s Got a Gun”, John Legend on “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”, Jessie J on “Home Tonight”, Melissa Etheridge with Nuno Bettencourt on “Walk This Way”, Sammy Hagar with Orianthi on “Back in the Saddle”, the Foo Fighters on “Let the Music Do the Talking” and “Toys in the Attic”, plus Yola with Gary Clark Jr., Luis Fonsi with Emily King, Ashley McBryde and Gavin DeGraw.

Joey attends, walking the red carpet with the band for five-member group photographs, their first joint press appearance since the suit was filed. Tyler calls Joey up to the podium and, with his hand on Joey’s shoulder, delivers the acceptance speech:

Remember, people only really get interesting when they start to rattle the bars on their cages. And the best way to make your dreams come true is to … [pause; Tyler turns his head toward Joey] wake up.

The last two words, after a pause and with Tyler’s head turned toward Joey, are widely read by fans as a message aimed directly at him. Tyler hands Joey the microphone, and Joey speaks for less than twenty seconds:

A shout out for love and gratitude, to MusiCares, to all our fans, to my partners, to my forever-supportive wife Linda, and to you guys out there in the music industry.

Neither man addresses the lawsuit, the audition or the vote. Joey leaves the stage as the other four pick up their instruments; the Aerosmith set is “Big 10 Inch Record”, “Dream On” with H.E.R., “Sweet Emotion”, and “Train Kept A-Rollin'” with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp, with Douglas on drums. It is the last time, to date, that Joey speaks in public on the same stage as the rest of the band.

January 26

The 62nd Grammy Awards at Staples Center, hours after the death of Kobe Bryant. Joey is not present; the Boston Globe confirms he did not attend. After an introduction from Common, Aerosmith plays a two-song set with Douglas on drums: a shortened “Livin’ on the Edge”, with Lizzo singing the chorus from the audience, then “Walk This Way”. Mid-song, the band stops playing; Tyler asks “what’s happening?”, Perry answers “let’s try something different”, and Rev. Run and DMC burst through a fake brick wall to join the band, DMC holding up a No. 24 Lakers jersey for Bryant. Mistakes from Tyler and Run-DMC are audible in the broadcast. Brad Whitford later acknowledged the band had time to rehearse the medley, but that Tyler spent much of it arguing with the sound engineer about his in-ear monitor mix.

February

Joey rejoins Aerosmith for the closing dates of the Deuces Are Wild residency at the Park Theater. By every contemporaneous account he plays well and sounds like himself. As of this writing, these are the last full Aerosmith shows Joey Kramer has played.

March 11

The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic. The residency goes on hold, the European tour scheduled for June 13, 2020 is postponed, and the 50th-anniversary tour is pushed to 2021, then 2022.

August

Joey gives a long interview to Darren Paltrowitz on the Paltrocast, his warmest public appearance since before the lawsuit. He discusses his 2009 memoir Hit Hard, Tower of Power and soul drumming, and his life in Texas. He tells the origin story of Rockin’ & Roastin’ Coffee: walking down a street in Italy, frustrated at being unable to get a great cup of coffee, Linda gave him “that certain look that your partner gives you” and asked why he didn’t do something about it. He describes his daily life as cars, coffee, the band, and his wife, and says he has no interest in a solo album; what interests him is people, helping people, being a positive influence.

August 31

The first Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp masterclass, a two-hour Zoom with roughly twenty-five fans. Joey covers the loading-dock recording of Pump at Little Mountain Studio, his switch from DW to Pearl drums on Dennis Chambers’s recommendation, the “fallacy” of him being a Berklee graduate (he left after they insisted a matched-grip player learn traditional grip), and songwriting credits on “Kings and Queens” with Jack Douglas, “Closer” with Marty Frederiksen, and an unreleased song called “Tramp” written with his friend Peppy Castro during the Pump sessions. He thanks fans for their support during the January drama, says he plays from the heart and not the head, and talks warmly about Linda, the dogs, and life in Texas.

2021

February 25

The second masterclass, delayed by the Texas winter storm that knocked out Joey’s power. Shorter and a little more serious than the first. He lists influences from Dino Danelli to Clive Bunker, Mitch Mitchell, John Bonham, Buddy Rich, Clyde Stubblefield and Dave Garibaldi; revisits “Tramp”; and confirms work on a continuation of his book in some form. Asked about losing interest in the drums, he says he never has: things have got in his way, but he is a bull, and no one stops him. Asked how to help friends with depression, he says his heart goes out to them because he knows what that suffers like, and that all you can do is be there, be compassionate, and be a friend. He mentions playing covers with an Aerosmith tribute band and the Rockin’ & Roastin’ relaunch he is trying to put together. It is his last public fan-facing online event for more than five years.

November 26 (Record Store Day Black Friday)

Aerosmith releases 1971: The Road Starts Hear, a seven-track LP from a 1971 rehearsal tape recorded on Joe Perry’s Wollensak reel-to-reel and rediscovered in the band’s Vindaloo Vaults. Joey is credited and contributes liner-note recollections of the early Boston years.

2022

Late March

Ahead of the Deuces Are Wild return at Dolby Live at Park MGM, Aerosmith announces Joey will not participate. The statement, picked up by Blabbermouth, Rolling Stone and USA Today, says he has decided to sit out the 2022 concerts to focus his full attention on his family during these uncertain times, describes it as a temporary leave of absence, and says the band looks forward to his future performances. Douglas takes the kit.

April 8

1971: The Road Starts Hear receives a CD and digital re-release for the 50th anniversary, again with Joey credited.

May

Steven Tyler enters rehabilitation after a relapse on pain medication following foot surgery. Several Vegas dates are cancelled.

June 21

Joey’s 72nd birthday. Linda Kramer, from her @MrsKramedog Twitter account, publicly tweets him a message calling him the love of her life and the most amazing man with the biggest heart she knows, signing off with hearts and a tender goodnight to her sweet boy.

June 22

The next day, Linda Kramer dies. She is 55. Less than twenty-four hours separate her public birthday message from her death. The cause is never made public. For the fan community, the context is Joey’s documented history with depression and grief: the “Big Blue Funk” of 1995, and a recovery built for thirteen years around community, sobriety and Linda. The people who knew her remember her as sweet, kind, and beautiful-hearted.

July 1

The Boston Globe obituary runs. Linda Gail Kramer was born in Decatur, Georgia, on February 27, 1967, and had worked as a contract administrator for Hewlett-Packard. The family describes a mischievous sense of humor, a love of fine food, and a passion for fast cars. The couple lived in Magnolia, Texas, with their dogs Lucy and Cosmo. Entertainment Tonight, WMGK, Hollywood Life, Page Six, People, Blabbermouth and the Boston Herald run the obituary. The official Aerosmith social channels do not.

The triple bypass

Sometime in this period, on a date never publicly pinned down, Joey undergoes triple-bypass heart surgery. The operation is not announced at the time. The first public confirmation comes in the Rock Candy Mag interview of late November 2024, where Joey discloses that he “got really sick” and had heart surgery; the specifics arrive in his July 2026 interview: a triple bypass, done “like, four years ago,” placing it in or around 2022, the same year Linda died.

September

The Vegas residency partially resumes after Tyler completes rehab. Joey does not return; Douglas continues in the chair. Around this time, a rumour circulates in fan group chats that members of the Aerosmith touring crew have told fans they do not expect to see or hear from Joey publicly again. The rumour is never confirmed in any primary press source.

2023

April 14

Joe Perry tells Byrd of 97.1 FM The Drive, in an interview picked up by WMGK and Blabbermouth, that drumming is an athletic event, that Joey’s joints have been giving out, and that Joey is still officially a member of the band but is not expected behind the drums for the upcoming run.

May

Aerosmith announces the Peace Out farewell tour: 40 dates with the Black Crowes opening. Joey is not on the posters, in the marketing video, or in the tour book. The statement calls him a beloved founding member who has decided to sit out the touring dates to focus on his family and health. The promotional copy describes Aerosmith as “four legends of rock.” Douglas, in his fourth year of a temporary vacancy, will play the tour.

September 9

Three shows into the tour, at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, Tyler damages his voice mid-performance and is later diagnosed with a fractured larynx. The remaining dates are postponed.

2024

August 2

Aerosmith announces that Tyler’s vocal injury cannot fully recover and the band is retiring from touring permanently. Every remaining Peace Out date is cancelled. The farewell tour ends after three shows, none of which Joey played.

Late November: the Rock Candy interview

Rock Candy Mag issue 47, cover-dated December 2024 – January 2025 and on sale in the last days of November, carries a Joey Kramer interview titled “King of the Schmutz,” his first substantive press appearance in over two years. Asked why Aerosmith was so volatile, Joey answers that the band functioned the way a dysfunctional family functions, at least until the drugs and alcohol took over. Then he reveals something nobody saw coming:

The most important thing for me is that after all we went through together I still have a lot of love for those guys. The last time I spoke with Steven I told him how much I loved him. We talked for a couple of hours and I’m not afraid to say I cried when we looked back on what we went through together.

On his health, he confirms for the first time that alongside losing his wife he got really sick and had heart surgery, plus other issues too personal to detail:

Slowly but surely though, I’m getting back to where I used to be. There were other issues, and people don’t know about them because they’re very personal to me. But I feel I’m out of the woods now. I’ve still got a lot of work ahead, but I’ve now met a wonderful woman, and my desire and passion are stronger than ever. I’m pretty much back.

Asked whether more music is coming, he says he has irons in a couple of fires and would rather not say too much while still dealing with Linda’s passing, closing with the line that will be quoted for the next two years:

I’ve got a lot of juice left. I’ll be around for a long, long time.

November 29

The day after the Rock Candy issue lands, Joey announces the closure of Rockin’ & Roastin’ Coffee. The statement, picked up by Billboard, Blabbermouth, Metal Sucks and Drummerworld, cites years of trying to recover from COVID-19’s impact on the business, significant cost increases, and the tragic, painful loss of his wife Linda. Orders received through November 30 will be fulfilled.

Founded in 2012 as an online business after years of frustration finding decent coffee on the road, the company sourced shade-grown beans from Sumatra, Guatemala and Ethiopia, landed its first hotel partnership with Maine’s Bethel Hill Resort in October 2013, and opened two cafés in Maine and Massachusetts in 2015 with former Boston Red Sox vice chairman Les Otten. Joey was the hands-on CEO throughout, cupping the coffee himself. The cafés had closed years earlier; this is the final winding-down of the brand Linda had told him to start.

2025

February 4

Steven Tyler returns to performance for the first time since his vocal injury, at his Jam for Janie Grammy Viewing Party: a six-song set directed by Matt Sorum, joined by Tom Hamilton, Nuno Bettencourt, Mick Fleetwood and others. Joey is not there.

April 16

Goldmine Magazine publishes a feature with Joey in its “10 Albums That Changed My Life” series. The magazine notes that age and illness kept him off the road during Aerosmith’s last years; Joey says we haven’t seen the last of him and that he is feeling better and stronger than he has in years. His ten-album list includes Harry Nilsson’s Aerial Ballet, the record from which “Aero” was extracted in 1968, and he talks about his childhood friend Patty Borden, who helped him land on the band’s name.

April 30

Tyler appears at a Janie’s Fund corporate event in San Francisco with Joe Perry alongside him; attendees report a marked vocal improvement over February. Joey is not there.

May 29

The promotional video for 3DP and Joey’s post-coffee venture “Rockin’ Brands” is published, announcing a partnership making him the official coffee of 3DP and connecting him to the veterans’ charity Fall Outdoors. Joey talks about his lifelong love of cars, his first 1966 Pontiac GTO, and the 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 station wagon that once hauled Aerosmith’s gear, including the night Tyler, Perry, Hamilton and Whitford dropped him off and accidentally pulled the tailgate clean off. He meets a veteran named Jay, and returns repeatedly to one phrase: he is there to help.

Fans watching note that Joey looks visibly thinner than in the 2020 masterclass footage and that his head is shaved. What is now documented is that at this point Joey was roughly three years past open-heart surgery, deep into chronic back problems that would require an operation within the year, and carrying arthritis through his back, thumb and ankle.

August

Joe Perry tours the United States, with Brad Whitford joining him onstage for portions of the run. Joey is not there.

November 21

Aerosmith releases One More Time, a collaborative five-track EP with British rocker Yungblud on Capitol Records: four new songs co-written by Tyler, Perry, Yungblud and producer Matt Schwartz, plus a 2025 remix of “Back in the Saddle.” It is the band’s first new music since 2012’s Music From Another Dimension!. Matt Sorum, formerly of Guns N’ Roses, plays drums on the EP. Joey does not appear on the record.

2026

Around March

Joey undergoes back surgery, disclosed four months later, addressing chronic back problems that had built over three or four years. His doctors tell him that what he did for 55 years of his life cannot be undone in a couple of months. He spends the spring healing.

March 20

Aerosmith releases the Legendary Edition of their 1973 self-titled debut: a full 2024 remix overseen by Tyler and Perry, plus unreleased live recordings and studio outtakes. Joey is credited and contributes a personal liner-note essay. Fans quickly notice that the thank-you list at the end of his section does not include any of his four bandmates. Joey would say that summer that a lot of what he played on the early records had been buried, because drums were then mixed as a secondary instrument, and that the remaster finally sounds like it is supposed to sound; the debut is one of three early albums remastered so far in an ongoing catalogue program he is actively engaged with.

July 2: “This is probably the best Joey of my life”

Joey appears on Live From My Drum Room with John DeChristopher, episode 273, a two-hour career-spanning conversation with a host he has known for almost forty years. Off the air, he tells DeChristopher it is one of the most in-depth interviews he has done in a long time, and floats a follow-up show of pure audience Q&A.

Most of the two hours is the craft and the history: seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan next to his dad and connecting first to the camaraderie of four brothers playing together; the eleven-piece soul band Chubby and the Turnpikes, where the singers sat him down at the Sugar Shack and the Apollo and told him to watch the drummer; Bernard Purdie asking for an Aerosmith t-shirt to wear onstage on a Jeff Beck tour, telling him “I like you, man… because you play like a black man”; leaving Berklee after a few months over the traditional-grip requirement and moving in with Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton at 1325 Commonwealth Avenue; practicing the “One Way Street” foot shuffle with Tom for hours. He pays tribute to the recently deceased producer Jack Douglas, whose practical jokes made the classic records fun, and praises Steven Tyler at length as a former drummer who taught him a lot in the early days: “I’ve loved the guy for years, so credit where it’s due.” He calls John Douglas, the drum tech who has occupied his throne since 2019, an amazing tuner and artist and, in his exact words, “the ultimate.” He revisits Renegade, the band he formed in 1981 with Tom Hamilton, Jimmy Crespo, Bob Mayo and Marge Raymond, tracking at the Power Station before Aerosmith’s reformation shelved it; Marge Raymond was watching the stream live.

On his health, he confirms the triple bypass of roughly four years earlier, describes the arthritis and inflammation through his back, thumb and right ankle that his doctors attribute to fifty-five years of playing, and discloses the back surgery of about four months prior, just now healing:

Yeah, I’m feeling really good — better now than I’ve felt in five or eight or ten years. The last four years for me were a challenge, to say the least, but I’m happy to say I’ve come through them with flying colors. I discovered the bull that really lives inside — that’s what powered me through. And I’m good, man. This is probably the best Joey of my life.

He credits the people who pulled him through: his mentor and close friend Keith Garde, his friend Frank Simler, and his son Jesse. He confirms the new lady in his life, first mentioned in Rock Candy, and says he is as happy as can be. He says he is getting back into playing the drums as the back heals, and thanks the fans at length: “I’m proud of what we’ve done, and I wouldn’t trade it or regret it for a minute. And we just go on from here.”

Asked whether the band might play again:

I never know what’s going to happen with my band. So the best I can tell you is: maybe, or we’ll see. I don’t know of anything right now. Nothing’s been mentioned or talked about. But you just never know. When you’ve got five knuckleheads that all think the same way that we do, anything can happen. How did we all get put together to begin with, you know? It’s sort of incomplete, the way that it ended — or tried to end.

Where things stand at this writing

Aerosmith remains retired from touring and has not played a full show since September 9, 2023. The four other members are scattered across solo projects, side bands and one-off charity appearances. Joey has not played a full Aerosmith show since February 2020, but as of July 2026 he is healing from back surgery, feeling better than he has in a decade, in a new relationship, actively involved in the catalogue remaster program, planning a fan Q&A, and getting back behind a drum kit. The formal state of his relationship with the other four members is unconfirmed, but he leaves the door open and sounds genuinely positive about the future. The conversation continues on the aeroforce2 fan forum.

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Will he come back?

For the first time since 2020, the question has an answer from Joey himself: maybe, or we’ll see.

The case for yes is in his own words and actions: feeling the best of his life, getting back into playing, the two-hour call with Tyler, the ongoing remaster collaboration, and his framing of the band’s ending as incomplete, “the way that it ended — or tried to end.” The case for caution is physical: a triple bypass, arthritis through the back, thumb and the ankle that drives the bass pedal, a back surgery only months into healing, and Tyler’s fractured larynx, the injury that retired the band. By Joey’s account, nothing is planned. There is only an open door.

If Aerosmith does return for one final performance, the question of whether Joey is on the drum throne is the single most-watched detail in the Aerosmith fan world. It would not need to be a tour, a reunion, or a full set. One song, maybe two, live, with the four men who voted him out in 2020 standing onstage with him. The vaults are open, the remasters are rolling out, and the door, in Joey’s own words, is standing at maybe.

We’ll see.

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Sources

Court filings

1. Joseph M. Kramer v. Vindaloo Music, Inc. & others, Plymouth County Superior Court, Massachusetts, Docket No. 2083CV00052. Memorandum of Decision and Order on Plaintiff’s Request for Injunctive Relief, January 22, 2020. Hon. Mark C. Gildea. Archived at Courthouse News Service.

Contemporaneous press, January 2020

2. Jon Blistein, “Aerosmith Drummer Sues Band for Excluding Him Ahead of Grammys,” Rolling Stone, January 21, 2020. Sole source for the “energy” standard.
3. Michele Amabile Angermiller, “Aerosmith Drummer Joey Kramer Will Not Be Allowed to Play at MusiCares, Court Rules,” Variety, January 22, 2020.
4. Lisa Respers France, “Drummer Joey Kramer loses battle to play with Aerosmith at Grammys,” CNN, January 23, 2020.
5. Rhian Daly, “Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer turned away from the band’s Grammys rehearsals by security,” NME, January 23, 2020.
6. “Aerosmith Drummer Files Lawsuit Against Band,” The Music (Australia), January 22, 2020.
7. TMZ rehearsal-door footage and related coverage, January 22, 2020.
8. “Joey Kramer Blocked From Aerosmith Rehearsal,” Billboard, January 23, 2020.
9. “Video: Joey Kramer Blocked From Entering Aerosmith Rehearsal By Security Guards,” Blabbermouth.net, January 23, 2020.
10. “Watch Joey Kramer Being Refused Entry to Aerosmith Rehearsal,” Ultimate Classic Rock, January 23, 2020.
11. “Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer barred from Grammys rehearsal,” Fox News, January 23, 2020.
12. “Video shows security blocking Joey Kramer from entering Aerosmith rehearsal,” Consequence, January 23, 2020.

MusiCares Gala and Grammy Awards coverage, January 24–26, 2020

13. “Aerosmith MusiCares Gala Recap: Setlist, Photos & Video,” WMGK 102.9, January 25, 2020.
14. “Aerosmith MusiCares Gala Recap,” WCSX Detroit, January 25, 2020. Source for the four-song Aerosmith set.
15. “Joey Kramer Joins Aerosmith Onstage at MusiCares Award Ceremony, Doesn’t Play,” Live for Live Music, January 25, 2020. Source for Tyler’s speech and the detail that Tyler and Kramer were the only members who spoke.
16. “Joey Kramer joins Aerosmith onstage at MusiCares Gala — but doesn’t play with them,” Global News, January 27, 2020. Source for Joey’s verbatim acceptance speech.
17. Brian Kats, “Joey Kramer, Aerosmith accept Grammys’ MusiCares award,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, January 26, 2020.
18. Gil Kaufman, “Aerosmith & Run-DMC Perform at 2020 Grammy Awards,” Billboard, January 26, 2020.
19. “Aerosmith, Run D.M.C. Reunite For ‘Walk This Way’ At The Grammys,” Live for Live Music, January 27, 2020. Source for the mid-song stop.
20. “Aerosmith performs at the Grammys without drummer Joey Kramer,” The Boston Globe, January 27, 2020. Confirms Joey did not attend.

Band statements

21. Joint statement of Tyler, Perry, Hamilton and Whitford to People, January 22, 2020.
22. Joey Kramer statement to TMZ, CNN and The Music, January 22, 2020.
23. Joey Kramer statement on the “energy” standard, Rolling Stone, January 21, 2020.
24. Brad Whitford remarks on the Grammys rehearsal time and Tyler’s in-ear monitor dispute, given in a later interview.

Joey Kramer long-form interviews

25. Joey Kramer interview with Darren Paltrowitz on the Paltrocast, August 2020. Source for the Italy coffee origin story.
26. “Joey Kramer: King of the Schmutz,” Rock Candy Mag issue 47, cover-dated December 2024 – January 2025, on sale late November 2024. Primary source for the two-hour Tyler phone call, the first public confirmation of the heart surgery, the “wonderful woman,” “I’m pretty much back,” and “I’ve got a lot of juice left. I’ll be around for a long, long time.” Discussed on the aeroforce2 forum.
27. Joey Kramer on Live From My Drum Room with John DeChristopher, Episode 273, published July 2, 2026. Primary source for the triple bypass, the arthritis in back, thumb and right ankle, the back surgery, “the best Joey of my life,” “maybe, or we’ll see,” “incomplete, the way that it ended — or tried to end,” the “John Douglas is the ultimate” tribute, the Renegade history, and the ongoing remaster program.

Masterclasses, 2020–2021

28. Joey Kramer Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp Masterclass, August 31, 2020.
29. Joey Kramer Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp Masterclass, February 25, 2021.
30. Tom Hamilton Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp Masterclass, June 2020. Source for the ankle confirmation, as recapped on The Back-Burner.
31. The Back-Burner deep-dive on the unreleased “Tramp” track, archived here.

John Douglas

32. John Douglas on-camera interview describing how he came into the Aerosmith drum chair: Tyler’s personal phone call, his surprise at being contacted directly, not moving anything on Joey’s kit out of respect, and learning the show with no rehearsal or soundcheck.

Joe Perry on Joey’s absence, 2023

33. “Joe Perry Explains Why Joey Kramer Won’t Take Part In Aerosmith’s Farewell Tour,” Blabbermouth.net, May 2023.
34. “Joe Perry Says Aerosmith Will Tour This Fall, But Likely Without Joey Kramer,” WMGK, April 14, 2023.

Linda Kramer obituary coverage

35. “Linda Kramer, wife of Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, dies at 55,” The Boston Globe, July 1, 2022.
36. “Linda Kramer, Wife of Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer, Dead at 55,” Entertainment Tonight, July 2, 2022.
37. “Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer’s Wife Linda Dies at 55,” WMGK, July 2, 2022.
38. “Aerosmith Drummer Joey Kramer’s Wife Linda Dies At 55,” Hollywood Life, July 2, 2022.
39. Linda Kramer (@MrsKramedog) tweet, June 21, 2022.

Rockin’ & Roastin’ closure, November 2024

40. “Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer Announces Closure of Rockin’ & Roastin’ Coffee Line,” Billboard, November 29, 2024.
41. “Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer To Close His ‘Rockin’ & Roastin” Coffee Line,” Blabbermouth.net, November 30, 2024. Also source for the company history: 2012 founding, Bethel Hill Resort partnership, shade-grown sourcing, and the 2015 cafés with Les Otten.
42. “Joey Kramer Bids Farewell to Rockin’ & Roastin’ Coffee,” Drummerworld, November 29, 2024.
43. “Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer Forced to Shut Down His Coffee Line,” MetalSucks, December 1, 2024.

2025–2026 coverage

44. “10 Albums That Changed My Life: Joey Kramer of Aerosmith,” Goldmine Magazine, April 16, 2025.
45. “Joey Kramer — The Ride Begins with Rockin’ Brands and 3DP” promotional video, published May 29, 2025.
46. “Aerosmith + Yungblud’s Collaborative EP One More Time Out Today,” Aerosmith.com, November 21, 2025.
47. The Back-Burner on Renegade, Joey’s 1981 band with Tom Hamilton, Jimmy Crespo, Bob Mayo and Marge Raymond.

Archival releases

48. 1971: The Road Starts Hear original LP release for Record Store Day Black Friday, November 26, 2021, with Joey Kramer’s liner-note contributions.
49. 1971: The Road Starts Hear CD and digital re-release, April 8, 2022.
50. Aerosmith (Legendary Edition) boxset, March 20, 2026, including Joey’s personal liner-note essay.

Books

51. Joey Kramer with Keith Garde, Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top (HarperOne, 2009).
52. Joe Perry with David Ritz, Rocks: My Life in and Out of Aerosmith (Simon & Schuster, 2014).
53. Steven Tyler with David Dalton, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2011).

Fan-community resources

54. “Aerosmith Kept The Name, They Just Got Rid Of The Man Behind It,” fan-produced long-form documentary, 2025.
55. Aeroforce2 fan forum, Aerosmith board.

General reference

56. “Joey Kramer,” Wikipedia, accessed 2026.