By Jon Bream

Here we go again. Joe Perry says Aerosmith is looking for a temporary replacement for Steven Tyler so they can perform some gigs until the singer is able to return to action.

"He has to have leg surgery and foot surgery and it's basically going to take him out of the picture for about a year, year and a half," Perry told Canadian journalist Darryl Sterdan of the QMI Agency. "So, in the meantime, the rest of the band wants to play. And I want to play with the other guys in Aerosmith. So the four of us are just making our plans. We're gonna find somebody to get in there and fill that spot. Just like when Tom [Hamilton] was sick -- we got David Hull to come in and play bass. When Brad [Whitford, guitarist] was sick, we got somebody else to come in and play for him. That's basically how I look at it; we need another singer to fill in."

As for a timetable for auditions, the guitarist indicated sometime after the Joe Perry Project's tour of Canada with Motley Crue, which ends in early February.

And, yes, without Tyler, the band will still tour as Aerosmith -- no matter how many -- or few -- gigs they do.

"I think it would be appropriate to call it Aerosmith. We'll play Aerosmith songs," Perry said. "Maybe we'll do five shows, maybe we'll do 20 shows, I don't know. And hopefully sometime Steven will come back."

To read more of Sterdan's interview with Perry, click here.

Do you think Perry is serious? What do you think of Aerosmith without Steven Tyler?