Aerosmith guitarist recovering from head injury

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry told Reuters that he expects bandmate and guitarist Brad Whitford to rejoin the group on its just-launched summer tour in early July. It was announced earlier this month that Whitford would sit out at least part of the tour while recovering from surgery. Perry revealed that Whitford had an operation to relieve internal bleeding caused when he hit his head getting out of his Ferrari just a few days before the trek began. Perry explained, "It built up pressure and gave him this whoopin' headache. He's not prone to getting migraines, so knew something was wrong. He went right in, they did what they had to do, and now he's getting better."

The 57-year-old Whitford is slated to return to the road on July 7th, when the band plays Raleigh, North Carolina. His replacement has been Bobby Schneck, who has also logged time with Green Day and Weezer.

Whitford is the latest Aerosmith member to be plagued with medical problems in the past few years. Bassist Tom Hamilton beat throat cancer a few years back, while Perry had a knee replaced and singer Steven Tyler had foot surgery and a bout with pneumonia in the past 12 months.

In other news, Perry also hinted that the group may change up its current set list, which features the classic 1975 album Toys In The Attic almost in its entirety, and start playing its 1976 masterpiece Rocks later in the tour.

Perry did not say whether the band would switch between albums as the tour progresses, and even speculated on reviving its underrated 1979 effort, Night In The Ruts, at some point as well.

Aerosmith plays a hometown show in Boston on Tuesday night (June 16th), where they'll be joined by fellow rock veterans ZZ Top for the rest of the tour.
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