Will Feuding Aerosmith Weather Latest Storm?

In terms of durability, Aerosmith has been to ‘70s rock what the Rolling Stones have been to music from the ‘60s: endearing, enduring and seemingly indestructible.

Like the Stones, the group even has a swollen-lipped singer.

And things seemed to be rolling along nicely for Aerosmith this year, with its first album under a new contract with Columbia Records expected next month and an extensive world tour to follow.

But in rapid succession over the last few weeks, the group fired Tim Collins, its manager for more than a decade, and then pushed the album release back to as late as next year because of internal squabbling among the band members.

In fact, the quintet nearly splintered this summer as conflicts within the group reached a boiling point. In a letter to Steven Tyler, his four bandmates threatened to quit the group if the singer didn’t seek help to address his “negativity.”

A report this week in Newsweek even speculates that Tyler, who beat a heroin addiction nearly 10 years ago, may have relapsed this year, and that his bandmates had even spent several weeks in rehab with him to help him combat the problem.

So, is the curtain about to fall on this rock institution?

Not at all, says Wendy Laister, who last week replaced Collins as Aerosmith’s manager.

She says the worst is over.

The band is “totally united,” she says, and preparing to enter a New York studio after Labor Day to complete the album.

The record, still untitled, is expected to be released in late November, at the earliest, but might be pushed back to January.

And what about Tyler?

The singer is “absolutely not” back on drugs, Laister insists.

Bob Timmins, a drug counselor who helped the Boston-based band get sober in the mid-’80s and continues to work closely with the group, backs her up.

“As far as I’m concerned,” Timmins says, “the entire band is clean and sober.”

What about the letter and the rehab report?

In their letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, Tyler’s bandmates--Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer--wrote that the singer’s behavior was “stifling the creativity of the band. . . . It makes it hard to be in the band with you when you poison the atmosphere with your negativity.”

In closing, they warned Tyler: “Unless you make a big change in your life and get the help that you need, we don’t want to continue being in the band with you.”

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Laister acknowledged that the group spent two weeks in June at a residential treatment center in Port Hueneme, but insists that its stay was not related to drug use or addiction problems. Rather, the band members simply wanted to wrestle with the issues raised in the letter.

Or rather the issue, which Timmins jokingly refers to as “the lead-singer syndrome--wanting to control everything. Basically, being a pain in the ass.”

Such internal conflicts, Laister says, are not uncommon in groups that have stayed together as long as Aerosmith, which released its debut album in 1973.

“In the beginning, when they would have disagreements, everybody was so busy getting high they didn’t even remember the next day if there was an issue between them,” she says. “But since they’ve been sober, it’s like standing in a boxing ring. There’s no corner to retreat to--it’s full on, it’s everybody totally conscious of everything they’re doing.

“Since they got sober, the way they deal with these types of issues is as a band. They don’t go behind each others’ backs. They confront things, which is a way of dealing with things that has come out of their [12-step] program work.”

In late July, following the stay at the treatment center, the band fired longtime manager Collins. At the time, Collins said the band members told him they didn’t share his “vision” and no longer wanted to be urged to support his social causes. A source close to the situation claims that, additionally, the members were upset at Collins’ refusal to join them at the treatment center. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Collins--who did not return phone calls for this story--said the band also was annoyed by his entreaties to record more songs for the new album.

Speaking in a separate interview several weeks ago, producer Glen Ballard said of the new album: “It’s spirited. I think it probably goes a little deeper harmonically and lyrically than what they’ve done before. It’s still entertaining, but I think it’s making a statement. . . .

“They continue to grow as musicians. . . . Some of the lyrics Steven came up with are maybe a little more reflective.”