Judge rules against Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer's lawsuit to be allowed to perform at 2020 Grammys
UPDATE: January 22, 6:23 p.m. ET -- The court has denied Joey Kramer's lawsuit and he will not be joining Aerosmith for the Grammys performance. The judge stated that Joey didn't make a convincing enough case to play with his bandmates when they perform for Sunday's show, additionally including a rejection for the MusiCares gala taking place on January 24, according to TMZ.
In his ruling, the judge seemed to agree with Aerosmith's view that Kramer is just too rusty for a live performance at this stage. He said, "Given that Kramer has not played with the band in six months and the dearth of available rehearsal time before the upcoming performances, Kramer has not shown a realistic alternative course of action sufficient to protect the band's business interests."
TMZ's Aerosmith sources said the band denied Kramer from rejoining because his performance was not on par. The sources additionally said the group actively tried for months to get Joey back but he just couldn't get it together in time and left the band with no other choice but to replace him. The bandmates later said it "would be doing a disservice to Joey, to ourselves and to our fans to have him play without adequate time to prepare and rehearse."
Aerosmith revealed they were not happy with Kramer suing them "on the Friday night of the holiday weekend preceding the Grammys with total disregard for what is our limited window to prepare to perform these important events."
Original story
Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer filed a lawsuit on January 21 against the rest of the band, claiming they’ve unreasonably excluded him from rejoining the group ahead of their upcoming Grammys performance and the continuation of their Las Vegas residency.
According to the suit, which was obtained by Rolling Stone, Kramer had a few minor injuries last spring that sidelined him just as the band was set to launch their 'Deuces Are Wild' Las Vegas residency.
The lawsuit is ahead of Aerosmith’s 2020 Grammy Awards performance slotted for this Sunday, January 26, as well as a tribute show in their honor, January 24, as they accept the MusiCares Person of the Year award.
Kramer claims he was ready to rejoin the group by the fall, but upon returning to the group, he did not receive the welcome he expected and was subjected to a new band policy that he did not approve of. The policy required that, in order to regain his role as drummer, he would have to audition to prove he was "able to play at an appropriate level".
Kramer said in a statement, “This is not about money. I am being deprived of the opportunity to be recognized along with my peers, for our collective, lifetime contributions to the music industry". He continues, "Neither the MusiCares’ Person of the Year Award nor the Grammys’ Lifetime Achievement honors can ever be repeated.”
According to Kramer, after he informed the band that he was ready to drum again last fall, they made him record himself solo as he played along to a click track, rather than join the band for a rehearsal; basically a re-audition. Playing at "an appropriate level" was never implemented before as the standard throughout the history of the band when other members suffered injuries that prevented them from being able to perform on stage.
Kramer’s suit notes that there’s no provision in the band’s contract that, in order to re-join the band, it requires a member to “take any action to ‘prove’ or otherwise demonstrate his ability to perform after a period of temporary disability”. In an attempt to “defuse the situation,” the suit says Kramer eventually gave way and let his replacement, drum tech John Douglas, play the rest of the 'Deuces Are Wild' performances for 2019.
Earlier this January, Kramer finally begrudgingly agreed to audition with the click track. While other band members reportedly told him he sounded “great,” Kramer claims that, on January 15, Aerosmith held an unprecedented vote on his future and ultimately decided against him rejoining the band.
The lawsuit claims that this decision wasn’t based on the assumed “made-up ‘play at an appropriate level’ standard, the made-up ‘play as well as the drum tech’ standard or the made-up ‘technically correct standard,’ but a new and even more unreasonable and arbitrary and capricious standard: that Mr. Kramer did not have enough ‘energy’ in the recordings.”
“The fact that I would be asked to audition for my own job, demonstrate that I can play at ‘an appropriate level’ and play better than my temporary fill-in with a moving target of made-up standards is both insulting and upsetting,” Kramer said in his statement. “Other band members and their lawyers will likely attempt to disparage my playing and claim that I am unable to play the drums right now. Nothing could be further from the truth. I did everything they asked — jumped through hoops and made both a recording of playing along solo to a recent live recording of the band — one I had never heard before, and that process was videotaped. But I did it, and I did it well. In Aerosmith’s 50-year history, no other band member has ever been subjected to this scrutiny let alone be asked to audition for his own job!”