Injured Aerosmith star Steven Tyler has blasted online reports he was drunk when he fell off a stage in South Dakota and broke his collarbone, joking he was trying to leap into the audience to fill time during a sound problem break in the show.
Tyler's injuries forced the band to cancel the remainder of it's summer tour with ZZ Top, but the frontman is adamant he was clean and sober when the accident happened, despite reports to the contrary.
In his first interview since the stage fall in Sturgis on 6 August, Tyler tells Rolling Stone, "The easiest thing in the world is to say, 'He’s drunk or stoned.' But what are you gonna do?"
A report posted at BostonHerald.com last week cites anonymous band sources as saying that the rocker was drunk when he fell off the stage in Sturgis.
But the Love In An Elevator singer insists the reports are all nonsense: "Truth be known, I jumped off the stage on purpose. (I) figured we hadn’t gotten any new press in so long... (I was) as sober as you can be."
Tyler tells the publication he has seen footage of his stage fall - and it brings back terrible memories.
He adds, "There was a torrential downpour and the guys said, 'Look, it’s still slippery.' I watched myself on YouTube, and it could have been my knee buckling or any ankle. The last thing I remember before I hit the ground was people grabbing for me, but they couldn’t reach me because of the barricade.
"At any other Aerosmith show, I probably would’ve been caught and thrown back onto the stage - naked and without jewellery. I stood up and couldn’t raise my arm and knew I’d broken something."
But he's making a slow and steady recovery: "I’ve got my arm in a sling (and) I’m on all the drugs I’m not supposed to be on. But I’m dealing with the pain pretty good."
And he's upset with himself for forcing his band to scrap "such a great tour", adding, "I had to ruin it all by falling and I’m sorry. I’ve said that to the fans and my band and everybody else. I f**ked up. I get in the zone when I’m onstage. I don’t really have to explain anything. I love what I do. The world knows what I do. And I only hope they forgive me for having to cancel such a f**king awesome tour."
