Has Steven Tyler finally quit Aerosmith? Guitarist Joe Perry told the Las Vegas Sun that it's true.

“Steven quit as far as I can tell,” Perry told the Sun. “I don’t know anymore than you do about it. I got off the plane two nights ago. I saw online that Steven said that he was going to leave the band. I don’t know for how long, indefinitely or whatever. Other than that, I don’t know.”

Aerosmith has been on hiatus since Tyler fell off a stage and badly hurt himself over the summer. But in September, Perry told Times pop music critic Sean Daly that the band was still together. "It's just time for the band to stand back and let the dust settle," Perry said then. "Aerosmith is not broken up. We're going to take a good healthy sabbatical."

So something has obviously changed. Over the last week, reports on the Web have popped up about Tyler wanting to refocus on music career on himself -- something he has dubbed "Brand Tyler."

Still, Perry is thinking of continuing Aerosmith -- with or without its signature lead singer. (His Joe Perry Project, by the way, is playing St. Petersburg's State Theatre on Dec. 5.0

“Obviously he hasn’t been giving 100 percent to this thing for a long time,” Perry told the Sun. “He’s obviously had this planned for a long time. ... As far as replacing Steve, it’s not just about that, it’s also four guys that play extremely well together, and I’m not going to see that go to waste.”

[AP photo]