Keith Richards on the new Stones tour: ‘What else would I be doing?’
Keith Richards is on the phone talking about one of his favorite subjects. “The rhythm section... I love rhythm sections, it all starts there,” says the Rolling Stones guitarist as if describing the Book of Genesis. At his most eloquent, as in the passages from his 2010 memoir, Life, when he reminisced about the days when he’d press his ear to a phonograph speaker to better hear the interplay of the Jimmy Reed or Muddy Waters band, the back-line figured mightily in his understanding of how music moved the soul.
Now he was thinking about his Stones compatriot, drummer Charlie Watts, possibly for a number of reasons. There’s no doubt that the ebband-flow between Watts and Richards gives the best Stones music its eternal elasticity, and puts some jump in the band’s hits-dominated stadium tours. But in an interview earlier this year with the Guardian, Watts cast some doubt on his desire to keep the road show rolling.
“It wouldn’t bother me if the Rolling Stones said that’s it... enough,” the 74-year-old drummer said.
The comment was made several months before the Stones announced a 2019 tour of America. Richards wanted to make it clear that one of the biggest reasons the Stones aren’t calling it a career just yet is because of their drummer’s ability to keep swinging.
During the Stones’ European tour earlier this year, “Charlie Watts’ playing was so incredible, the band couldn’t go wrong,” Richards says. “He is inspiring to everybody, and I want more of it. A great rhythm section – Charlie and (bassist) Darryl Jones – opens up everything” for Richards and his guitar-playing sidekick, Ronnie Wood.
In a cut-to-the-chase interview this week, Richards opened up about a few things that have been on his mind recently, including the ongoing work on the first Stones album of original material since 2005. Here’s an edited portion of that conversation:
There’s always the speculation around every Stones tour that it could be the last one. When you finished the European tour this year, did you always anticipate that you’d be playing more shows in 2019?
You’re always optimistic. The band was in such good shape, and it felt like we were still peaking so that we all kind of looked around after the last show in Warsaw and were like, “That’s it?” That’s when the idea germinated to do this one. Besides, what else would I be doing?
You’ve suggested in recent interviews that you feel like you have more stamina at age 74 than you did a decade before. Why is that?
I don’t attribute it to anything. You hope for the best (laughs). When you play in a band that’s playing well, the energy starts to increase in between tours, and you’re itching to get back out there. I did give up the booze this year, like I’ve given up a lot of other things. The experiment is over (laughs). I’m enjoying it, though. After I quit, I didn’t find things much different, which is why I stopped.
Last winter, you said the Stones would have a new studio album out by the end of the year. How’s that going?
Mick (Jagger) and I got together the last few months with (producer) Don Was in the studio, and we’ve been knocking up some ideas. We want to do some more sessions, but not sure when. We might do something in February and March. It’s progressing. All I can say, there are a couple of nice things happening, with the promise of a lot more, and we’re having fun doing it. We get together, and it’s always, “Got anything new?” “Did anything else occur?” And a couple of songs always pop up.
Is it still clicking quickly for you and Jagger when you get together to write songs?
You jump into this familiar spot, even if we’ve been away for months. It’s comfortable kicking around ideas. We’ve been doing this for a while, so it’s not difficult to start up again. Mick is a great rhythm guitar player. I always enjoyed playing guitar with him because we’re both rhythm guys really. We’re writing with two guitars, and I might throw piano or bass on here and there.
Was it a surprise to you that the band was able to knock out the blues album (the 2016 release of blues covers, “Blue & Lonesome”) so quickly?
In a way it was a surprise, all of it. When we got back together, we just had the feeling the Stones had to make this album, bring it full circle from where we came, which was to do an entire album of the kind we would’ve recorded when we first played the clubs in London. We would’ve played these same songs back then. We never made an album of us doing that, and it occurred spontaneously – “now’s the time.” We did it in five days. And then it was, “I wonder if they’ll like it.” It was a great feeling to get the response we did. It may have affected what we’re doing now. Maybe hitting back on the roots for that record affects what you’re going to do later. I’m not saying we’re going to do a Volume 2 blues record, but the way you record or hear things is affected by that. It gave us great energy going forward.
Have the Stones stopped making new recordings a priority because of how digital has changed the market?
The world changes, and what’s the point of complaining about it? You just do your body of work. Stream it, whatever. I do find it encouraging that the vinyl side of things has increased immensely. That’s still the apex of stuff, analog recording is the best sound you’re going to get. Digital does wonderful things, visually and in every other area. But in sound, it ain’t quite the thing, too sanitized. You lose substantial parts of the music. That’s why we always record analog, but unfortunately it comes out digitally (online). We’re stuck with it, so there’s no point in whining about it.
It’s often said that being in a band is like being married to a bunch of people at the same time. What’s the state of the Stones marriage after 50 years?
(Laughs). We’re still deciding who’s Mr. and Mrs.
You’ve been pretty unfiltered when you speak or write about Mick and sometimes it creates headlines. Any regrets about that?
It’s better to be honest with each other. The fact is, we’ve been together 50 years, and 99% of the time we’re cool with each other. The 1% that we ain’t, everybody hears about it. It’s a drop in the bucket. Big f***ing deal.
You put out a solo album (“Crosseyed Heart”) in 2015. Would those songs have made it on a Stones album if there had been plans for the band to record at that point?
It was more about working with (drummer) Steve Jordan. We’ve worked together since recording “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” with Aretha (Franklin) in ‘86. Steve and I enjoyed working together on the Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll (Chuck Berry concert) movie, and we started thinking about putting a band together, and made a couple of albums (Talk is Cheap in 1988 and Main Offender in 1992). We had some free time, and we recorded “Crosseyed” off and on over two years, without any intention at first of making a record. We pulled in some great players and eventually got it done. It was done apart from anything the Stones might’ve done during that time.
Any plans for the Stones to play some deeper cuts on this tour beyond the hits?
First we have to get the machinery well-oiled again, and the shape of the show will come in rehearsals. You always want to try something new. We’re up for it, but it takes time to get the songs in shape to play live. Solomon Burke’s “Cry to Me” (which the Stones covered on their 1965 album Out of Our Heads) is something we started to play around with in rehearsals this year, and that was coming along. A few years back, Mick came up with “She’s a Rainbow,” and I wouldn’t have thought of that (laughs).