Calgary Herald

STREET FIGHTING MAN

Keith Richards won’t let sobriety interfere with his brutal honesty

- NEIL McCORMICK

Keith Richards hasn’t had a drink since Christmas. “I’m not saying I’m definitely off all of this stuff. In six months’ time, I might be on it again. But at the moment, for a couple of months, I haven’t touched it.”

When I ask how he’s finding abstinence, he chuckles ruefully. “It’s novel.”

The 74-year-old Rolling Stone still smokes incessantl­y and speaks as if his vocal cords are coated in layers of fur, but he insists that cigarettes and coffee are the only real vices he has left. “Drugs are not interestin­g these days. They are very institutio­nalized and bland. And, anyway, I’ve done ’em all.”

His laughter is rich, throaty and infectious, constantly bubbling up to shade his remarks with mischief. Richards has always been the Stones’ most entertaini­ng conversati­onalist, brutally honest and quick-witted. On the recent spate of retirement­s of many of his musical contempora­ries, he chortles: “More room for us!” On Sir Elton John’s announceme­nt of a three-year farewell tour, he chuckles, “After three years on the road with Elton, you would want to retire, too. I’ll take his word for it.” Richards had a long feud with Elton (who once described him as “an a--hole” who looks like “a monkey with arthritis”). However, he is in a forgiving mood. “He’s a lovable old dear. He’s softening with age.” But on the question of whether he’ll miss Elton when he’s gone, he is unmoved. “Not at all.”

Asked what it would take to bring the Rolling Stones’ long run to an end, Richards is unequivoca­l: “Somebody keeling over.”

There is a summer tour and a new Stones album in the works, to follow their fantastic 2016 covers album, Blue & Lonesome.

“Mick’s great, we’re getting on very well,” says Richards. “He’ll be here in half an hour and we’ll be sitting face to face, making music, like always.” Jagger and Richards haven’t always got along and there was a particular­ly unpleasant schism following the publicatio­n of Richards’ acclaimed autobiogra­phy Life in 2010, with its disparagin­g remarks about Jagger.

“Mick and I live off the fire between us,” says Richards, who is effusively warm about all of his band mates. “We were made for each other. It’s like putting on an old glove, man, you know.”

Richards’ personal favourite Stones period (“God, that’s hard, being asked to choose. That’s really like cutting the babies in half !”) is 1968-72. “Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile ... we really hit the spot.”

That, of course, was also a period when Richards was becoming increasing­ly addicted to hard drugs, gaining a reputation as the most elegantly wasted human being on earth. The Stones in the ’70s ruled the roost during rock’s most notorious period of conspicuou­s debauchery. In the wake of the #MeToo movement shining a harsh light on the treatment of women in the entertainm­ent industry, I wonder if Richards has any qualms about past behaviour. “You’d have to ask the ladies,” says Richards. “I’ve had no complaints.”

Richards has always been a bit of a one-woman man. He was with model and actress Anita Pallenberg for more than 10 years (they have a son and daughter), and has been married to former model Patti Hansen for 34 years (they have two daughters). Pallenberg, one of the great loves of his life, died last year.

“Miss her dearly,” he says, momentaril­y sombre, before suddenly laughing again. “Long may she not rest in peace, because she hates peace!”

Richards doesn’t particular­ly keep up with music, but admires Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran, of whom he says: “Nice voice, nice songs.”

Quincy Jones recently disparaged the musiciansh­ip of the Beatles, the Stones’ great ’60s rivals, but Richards is not persuaded. “It was their songwritin­g which was the real apex of what they did, rather than their musiciansh­ip, which was definitely adequate,” he laughs.

“Their vocal harmonies were very strong. Some very interestin­g stuff went on there. So without pooh-poohing our Quincy, leave Beatles alone, you know.”

Does he keep up with politics and current affairs? “Well, it’s very difficult not to these days. They ’ve got a president that’s pretty funny. And I don’t mean ha ha.” Trump used a Rolling Stones song, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, on his campaign trail even after the Stones asked him to desist. “That’s about the level of the guy’s manners,” notes Richards, disparagin­gly.

Richards praises Jagger’s strenuous approach to septuagena­rian fitness, quipping about his own, “Well, I don’t like routines. If I find I’ve got one, I deliberate­ly fall out of it.”

He expects to play until he drops and doesn’t worry about when that day might come. “I never think about it. Never. I know loads of other people worry about it, and I let them concern themselves with it. Me, I’ll wait for it to happen.”

 ?? JOEL RYAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Rolling Stones bandmates Mick Jagger, left, and Keith Richards have known each since they were young children and despite some strained moments, their friendship and their partnershi­p remains strong and shows no sign of abating.
JOEL RYAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Rolling Stones bandmates Mick Jagger, left, and Keith Richards have known each since they were young children and despite some strained moments, their friendship and their partnershi­p remains strong and shows no sign of abating.

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