Billboard.com has a new Q&A; with AEROSMITH singer Steven Tyler that talks about his stint on American Idol and the future of the band. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

Billboard.com: KID ROCK recently questioned why you were doing American Idol. What do you say to that?

Tyler: "Kid Rock was there when we went to the White House [on Dec. 5 to perform during the PAUL MCCARTNEY tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors]. I looked at him and said, 'You know what, man, I'm not going to argue with you. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.' [Laughs] Look, we're all an outcome of what we've been, and he's certainly lived a rough life. He's got a single coming out and he's like a pregnant animal. When you have an album, you want to protect it. You want to do whatever you can to make it happen. I just know that deep down inside, his comments don't mean shit. It just doesn't mean anything in the great scheme of things. It's television. I've never done this and it's going to be fun, and if he thinks for a minute that it's going to take my career down... I want what he's smoking."

Billboard.com: How does the scrutiny of being on "American Idol" compare with the scrutiny of being in Aerosmith?

Tyler: "Well, the show isn't on yet. Once it is, I'll be under that microscope. But I'm so used to being under the microscope, whether it's falling off a stage-I'm not sure if the public really wants to know that I had surgery on both feet-or that, yes, I'm a drug addict and alcoholic from the '70s with a problem... You have the band finding another lead singer, and all that goes with that. But the scrutiny-bring it on! I live for it. I went from being told in rehab by my therapist, 'Your best thinking got you here,' to being in the White House and being told by the president, 'What are you doing here?' [Laughs] It was fabulous. I'm so busy doing so many million things, so many irons in the fire that people don't know what to think. I don't need to be validated by someone's opinions or show. This will last for three years if I stay with it, or four months if I just do this year. But I'm in Aerosmith forever."

Billboard.com: What do you want to see in a prospective "Idol" contestant?

Tyler: "That certain something which can't be defined. When I hit on a song (sings intro to Aerosmith's 'Jaded'), I go, 'Oh, shit! Where did that come from?' Or (sings 'Sweet Emotion') and I go, 'Oh, my God, there it is!' And whatever it is that magic comes from, it's the unknown. You can't put your finger on it. You can't say, 'Well, sing in church and you'll be a great singer.' It's an unspoken thing."

Read the entire interview here.