Cancer treatment sidelines Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton

Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton is recovering from a seven-week course of radiation treatment for throat cancer, and won't join his bandmates during the opening dates of the group's upcoming "Route of All Evil" tour with Motley Crue.

According to the band's publicist, Hamilton plans to join the tour in mid-October. David Hull, a longtime friend of the band who played in The Joe Perry Project, will fill in until Hamilton returns.

Aerosmith is scheduled to launch its outing with Motley Crue on Sept. 5.

The upcoming tour marks Aerosmith's return to the stage after earlier this year canceling the last nine dates of a late-winter jaunt so that frontman Steven Tyler could undergo surgery to fix a vocal ailment.

The band has been working on its follow-up to its 2004 all-blues album, "Honkin' on Bobo." The group's most recent rock set is 2001's "Just Push Play."

Motley Crue reunited in early 2005 to mount what turned out to be one of the most successful arena tours of the year. The run supported "Red, White & Crue," a best-of set that also featured several new cuts. The group is in the early stages of recording a new studio collection with producer Bob Rock, who helmed the band's massively successful 1989 disc, "Dr. Feelgood."