Aerosmith's touring schedule is light for the rest of 2018, with only a headlining slot at this year's New Orleans Jazz Fest on their calendar for now. But as guitarist Joe Perry said in a new interview, it's all part of a plan to come back strong next year, when they mark their 50th anniversary.

"I think, the way things are going, we are going to try and and take it easy," he told the Atlantic City Weekly. "We may do a couple more one-offs — maybe some festivals over the next six or eight months. In 2019, we will be closing in on our 50th anniversary, so we are planning some dates and a tour to celebrate that. Right now we are pretty much laying low and finishing up some solo things before we start that."

Perry's new solo album, Sweetzerland Manifesto, is foremost in his mind right now, as he supports it in the next few days with shows in Boston, Hampton Beach, Va., and Atlantic City. His band for those dates will include Aerosmith bandmate Brad Whitford, with Extreme's Gary Cherone handling vocals. Perry pointed out that it's freeing to go off on his own without having to think about commercial considerations.

"The whole idea was a self evolving thing," he noted. "It was a great opportunity to use some different musicians in a different environment. ... We weren’t making the record for any record companies or worrying about how it would do on the radio. We were thinking more about how it would sound to play live. And that was pretty much it."

But he remains ambivalent to the idea of Aerosmith promoting their tour with a new album. Since 2012's Music From Another Dimension!, Perry has repeatedly questioned whether or not it makes sense in the current climate to go back into the studio. Two months ago, he said the band was up for the idea, but "we've got so many songs that we haven't played in so long, and other songs that we've never played, so there are a lot of things to come into consideration when you talk about a new record. Sometimes I think about, ‘What's the point?’"