Brad Whitford - who, along with Joe Perry, handles guitar duties in AEROSMITH - told LiveDaily yesterday (October 20) that the group is on track to launch a spring 2009 tour.

During a candid conversation backstage at a Waterbury, CT, stop on the Experience Hendrix Tour, Whitford said he was hopeful, but not counting on, Aerosmith to be ready to present concertgoers with new material when the band hits the road next spring.

In the meantime, the accomplished guitarist--who said he bought his first Fender Stratocaster the day after seeing the late Jimi Hendrix perform live--will be playing with the cross country Experience Hendrix ensemble through the tour's Oct. 26 performance at the Chicago Theater in Chicago.

Sporting a gray goatee, and a sharp black pinstripe shirt with matching fedora, Whitford chatted about his early guitar influences, as well as his even earlier affinity for muscle cars and drag racing, before discussing the eventual return to his "regular" job backing Perry and bandmates Steven Tyler, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer.

"We've been offered to go out and do a tour next year starting in March, I guess," Whitford said. "Providing the sky doesn't fall, that's what we'll be doing."

Whitford said Aerosmith has the "guts of a new album," and a lot of new material not recorded yet.

"I don't know if we're actually gonna get that together before we go out," he said. "Typical Aerosmith: everybody's off in their own little world and I'm not sure we're going to get it done before we go out, which is unfortunate, because it would be nice to have some new music to play. But I don't see it happening, so it will be a run through of the old favorites at this point, anyway," he added.

Read more here.

Aerosmith - 'Sick As A Dog' live: