Aerosmith hang out with Obama onboard Air Force One

Perry and Tyler meed President Obama
Perry and Tyler meed President Obama

Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry have had a chance meeting with US President Barack Obama.

The band were returning home from their run of South American dates when they were held up on the tarmac in Florida by presidential aircraft Air Force One.

And Perry says once Obama heard the band were in the vicinity, he asked them on to the plane for an informal chat.

Perry tells Vanyaland: “We were stacked up over Lakeland, Florida, while his plane landed. We were trying to get in before him but we missed.

“Then, while we’re sitting on the runway, we’re looking at Air Force One and we got out, took some pictures and the next thing you know, we’re on the plane being given a tour.

“Then Obama heard we were there on the plane and he said, ‘If you wait until I get there, we’ll do a little meet and greet.’ So we ended up talking with him for a couple minutes, getting some pictures.”

Tyler then posted a picture of the trio onboard Air Force One with the caption: “No better way to finish a beautiful South American tour – from the Aero Force to Air Force One. The best welcome ever.”

But Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer has moved to distance himself from the meeting.

In a response to a comment on Twitter, Kramer replied: “Exactly! This is why I had a problem with the pic. I don’t want to be included in political banter.”

He added: “Everyone has their right to their opinion it’s called democracy and I support that. I’m not saying who I support. I don’t support anyone speaking for me.”

Last year, Tyler instructed his lawyers to serve a cease-and-desist order on presidential hopeful Donald Trump to prevent him using Aerosmith’s Dream On at his election campaign events. Trump later agreed to stop using the song.

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Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.