2023
Get up, get out into something new
2023
Get up, get out into something new
| Mick Jagger, Ron Wood & Mick
Jagger (January 11-12, 2023): Thank you Jeff Mick: With the death of Jeff Beck we have lost a wonderful man and one of the greatest guitar players in the world. We will all miss him so much. Ron: Now Jeff has gone, I feel like one of my band of brothers has left this world, and I’m going to dearly miss him... I want to thank him for all our early days together in Jeff Beck Group, conquering America. Musically, we were breaking all the rules, it was fantastic, groundbreaking rock ’n’ roll! Listen to the incredible track ‘Plynth’ in his honour. Jeff, I will always love you. God bless. Keith: I am very sad to hear about Jeff’s passing. He was a brilliant guitar player. On the occasions we got to play together, we had a ball. Let’s do this more often, we said! Jeff was a great guy and will be missed by all. |
| Keith Richards (January 11, 2023):
Ring in the new Hi guys, here we are again. And I wish you all a belated happy new year. And there's some new music on its way, and hopefully we'll get to see you. Anyway, let's keep our fingers crossed. |
February
10, 2023: The Rolling Stones' archival live blu-ray/CD GRRR Live!
| Mick Jagger (May 24, 2023): Thank
you Tina Mick: I’m so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner. She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer. She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her. |
September 6, 2023: The lead single, Angry, is
released off the Rolling Stones' upcoming| Ron Wood & Mick Jagger
(September 6, 2023): Recording Hackney Diamonds Ron: We did (the album) pretty quick actually. There were lots of ideas floating about. We gathered all together just before Christmas last year and made a go of it, didn't we? We cut them all very quickly. Mick: We were maybe a bit too kind of like lazy and then suddenly we said Let's put a deadline. Let's make a record and put a deadline. So Keith and I and Ronnie had this chat and we said OK, we'll make this record (by) Christmas and we're going to finish it by Valentine's Day. So we went in the studio in December (sic) and we cut 23 tracks, very quickly. And finished them in January and mixed them in February. Something like that... That's about right. We started out... Keith and I and Steve (Jordan) and Matt (Clifford) went to Jamaica, just to - we said We're going to mess about in the studio. And we went there and we started kicking ideas around. And then we went to New York and Ronnie joined us. And then after that we got a producer called Andy Watt, who kicked us up the ass. And then we went to Los Angeles and cut the tracks like I told you. So there's 12 tracks on the album and 10 are - well actually that's not true (laughs) 'cause he's not on one - but most are with Steve but 2 are tracks recorded in 2019 with Charlie. |
| Keith Richards & Mick Jagger
(September 6, 2023): Making an album when Mick
wants to! Keith: When the singer wants to make a record, you record him! (laughs) 'Cause you never know... Mick: He might go! Keith: ... the next time you're going to get it! So when Mick said to me... Mick: (laughs) Keith: ... I want to make record! Bom! I put all the (laughs) bullets underneath and said Bom! Let's go! Mick: That's good to know, isn't it? You know, I know what I've got to do! Keith: (To Mick) I've never told you that before. Mick: (To Keith) You shouldn't have told me NOW! It's good to know - that's all I've got to do. |
| Mick Jagger (September 6, 2023):
The man of a thousand demos I'm a compulsive songwriter. I mean I like to write. It's one of my favorite things. It's one of those creative forms where all you need is nothing. You just need your voice and a notebook... You just get a guitar, and then you have nothing and suddenly you have a song. And then you have it on your iPhone and then you are. And that is fun - it doesn't exist before and now it does. And that's a compulsive thing for me and I really enjoy doing it. So a lot of this album is a product of that. |
| Mick Jagger & Ron Wood
(August-September 2023): The many moods of Hackney Mick: There are some of the songs on the album that are more kind of more serious than others. Some are funny, some are a joke, some are tongue-in-cheek, and some are a little bit more serious. But it's quite an eclectic mix and that's what I like about it. Ron: There’s a different kind of feel on Driving Me Too Hard; it’s almost country. And Dreamy Skies is very sweet. It has a Sweet Virginia-type feel. You’ve got the dance track Mess It Up, which has also got Charlie on drums. There’s so many different genres on it that I love. |
| Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
(August-September 2023): Aiming high and starting
the album over in 2022 Keith: We have so much stuff in the can... Nobody could figure out how to make an album out of it. Mick: I don't want to be big headed but we wouldn't have put this album out if we hadn't really liked it. We didn't want to make just any record and put it out... Before we went in we all said We're going to make a record that we REALLY love ourselves. Other people may like it, other people may not. But we must say that we are quite pleased with it. We'd been recording (before last year), we did lots of sessions but I didn't think the stuff we did was OUTSTANDINGLY WONDERFUL. It was good but was it great?... I told Keith, I think some of the tracks are good, but most of them are not as good as they should be... And I said If we're going to do a record, it has to be great. And everyone says Yes, you're right, it has to be - of course what's great for one person is not what's great (laughs) to another. But I said It's got to be outstanding before we put it out. And I think we're all kind of happy, we're all kind of excited about it. |
| Mick Jagger (September 16, 2023):
Missing Charlie Charlie would have liked Ben Stokes’s innings (in the match yesterday); I wish Charlie could have seen that 182. I miss his laconic humour. His taste in music. His elegance. His don’t-care attitude – he didn’t get intense. Keith and I get a bit intense. But Charlie wouldn’t, and it rubs off a bit – I’m not as intense as I used to be. I think about him when I’m playing, and what he would have played; whether he’d have liked this song, because I’d always bounce things off him. I’d be playing him the silly pop songs of the moment, and he’d love all that. But I hate to say this: as you get older, a lot of your friends die... (I)it doesn’t get easier at all. There’s a lot of people around your age, they’re dying all the time. I don’t have any friends older than me, only one. Apart from the band, all my friends are much younger. |
| Mick Jagger (September 2023): Not
just a rock band No (we’ve never only been a rock and roll band). One of the most interesting things about being in the Rolling Stones is - we talked earlier about The Chieftains, playing Irish music; you know, the Rolling Stones can play that music, if we want we can play it, and we do. I mean on this (album) we play different styles, and we go across these fashions and styles. And (in the 60s) Keith and I went through a period listening to the Incredible String Band, we got very influenced by this kind of music. And they were kind of like a niche kind of folk band but they were very interesting. So Keith and I were very into folk music, border ballads… And that’s all part of our – you know, folk music, country music, American country music, blues. All this stuff. And for me, you know, I like dance music. I like dancing so I like dance music… I can only listen to techno for like an hour, that’s my max, in a club, but I like all kinds of music. I listen to lots of African music, old and new. So as far as I’m concerned, and the Rolling Stones, we can play anything. (W)e’re very capable of covering genres outside what you would normally think. I’m not trying to say we’re overlooked; I don’t think we are. But I’m glad we do songs like Depending on You as well as Bite My Head Off. It’s a very wide space between those two. That’s what I like about this band: we’re not just willing to give it a go, we’re actually quite good at covering these different genres. |
| Keith Richards (September 2023):
Beatles and Stones Paul happened to be in town. And we couldn’t keep him away, bless his heart. And hey, if you can get one of the Beatles on your track, you know, you do it. Paul’s a very amiable cat to play with; we’ve been great friends forever. I don’t think John Lennon would have had much problem fitting into the Stones, or George, if you can imagine that sort of thing happening. We were the same generation, and we all loved the same music. When we first heard the Beatles, we were relieved that there was some other band in England on the same track that we were on. And within a few months, that track was the main track. |
| Keith Richards (September 2023):
The overflowing can There’s a bunch of incredible stuff in the can. There’s always (unreleased recordings) left over. Whether we make anything of them or not, who knows? I’m just happy to have this record out. I kept waiting for the wheels to fall off. But here it is. |
| Keith Richards (August-September
2023): Touring in 2024 Without anybody croaking or breaking a leg in the next year, I wouldn’t be surprised at all (if we toured)... We plan to keep working. I know we're going to work next year. |
| Mick Jagger (August 2023):
Yielding the vision role I mean, it is kind of my role, you know? I think people expect me to do that. I don’t think anyone’s saying, Oh, I should be doing the “clarity” role. I don’t see Ronnie saying to me, Mick, I think you should retire from the clarity role and the vision role and I’ll do it. No one else wants to do it! I just got dumped with it. And I made a lot of mistakes, when I was very young. But you learn. |
| Keith Richards (August-September
2023): The fun of making music Making music is still quite exciting for me. I hadn't realized how long it was since our last album, I think eight years ago or something. It's funny how time flies, man, but I'm enjoying the process of releasing a new record and seeing what happens. |
| Mick Jagger (September 2023):
Ronnie's support I look to Ronnie for a lot of support, actually. He is very gregarious, very enthusiastic, and I like tossing ideas around with Ronnie because he is communicative. Keith is more… I wouldn’t exactly say quiet… I don’t really live in America any more, so I don’t see Keith as much. |
| Keith Richards (October 2023):
Playing with arthritis Funnily enough, I've no doubt (arthritis has affected my playing), but I don't have any pain, it's a sort of benign version. I think if I've slowed down a little bit it's probably due more to age. And also, I found that interesting, when I'm like, I can't quite do that any more, the guitar will show me there's another way of doing it. Some finger will go one space different and a whole new door opens. And so you're always learning. You never finish school, man. |
| Keith Richards & Ron Wood
(September-October 2023): Reasons for continuing
to roll Keith: I think we, basically, we love each other and we love our music. And when you're doing it, you don't really think about it. But I think with Charlie going, I've realized more and more how special that is. I mean, there's something about the Stones and there's something about us all that sort of says, No, we stick together! (laughs) And then you can't just drop it, you know? You've got to follow it right down to the end, down the tunnel. In a way it's the Rolling Stones that continue pulling Mick and me and Ronnie back together. There's something about that that I really admire about the whole bunch. It was a rough trip here and there. Ron: (Mick)'s singing the best he's ever sang, I think, now. That's another reason we've got to keep going. When you've got it, flaunt it, you know? |
| Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
(September 2023): Taking Hackney Diamonds on the
road Mick: Well I’d love to play them live but people don’t really take to new songs. They want to hear Paint It Black again, they don’t want to hear what you’ve just done. But so hopefully they’ll want to hear one or two. Keith: By the time we get it onstage it will be great man. As Mick said, Let’s finish a record. But I said Yeah but then what? Then, we take it on the road! (laughs) |
October 20, 2023: The Rolling Stones' 26th
U.S. and 24th UK studio album - and first of| Mick Jagger (September-October
2023): We were stupid - realizing the mistake How stupid of us not to have realised (we needed a deadline) eight years ago… Yeah I do wish we’d done it sooner. And we’ve been messing around too long and not concentrating. And not being clear enough about our goals and letting it drift. And, you know, I’m not really going to blame everyone for that but I mean it was my own fault as much as anyone else’s. But I did realize that we couldn't let it drift anymore and we had to do it properly and do it in a quick way with someone that's gonna really concentrate on it. And that’s what we did. Yeah (I'm) kind of (kicking myself t)hat I wasn't cracking the whip... We’d got into this groove of going on big tours. But there’s no point crying about it now. |
| Mick Jagger (September 2023): The
Glimmer Twins and pop music Like, originally, Keith was the pop person, really. I mean, I used to just write the lyrics to his pop tunes. And he wrote ALL these pop tunes, because he listened to the Beatles ALL the time, drove me CRAZY listening to the Beatles when we shared a flat together. Keith sort of left that behind in a way, but he wrote Ruby Tuesday, Let's Spend the Night Together - these were all Keith's songs. But yeah, people will say, Keith was the one that liked the blues. I mean, there is a difference. I really like pop music now, listen to it all the time. Keith doesn't. I still like the blues. But I like dance music and Keith doesn't really like it. |
| Mick Jagger, Keith Richards &
Andrew Watt (August-October 2023): Not the last
Rolling Stones album Mick: I don’t think it’s the last Rolling Stones album. We’ve got almost three-quarters through the next one...I have to finish them. But we got three-quarters of it done... There’s a few tracks that we didn’t release that perhaps were a little bit more (sounds and styles) that you’ve never heard the Stones do before. It always CAN be (the last Rolling Stones album). But listen, you don't really think like that. We could both walk across the road and have a drink and fall under a bus. But that's not how I think. We've got so much material in the can, this can't be the last Rolling Stones record. Keith: People have been saying that for 40 years (laughs). That is one of the weird things like, What the hell are you doing here at this age? And the only answer is This is what I do... I think this record is halfway a tribute to Charlie Watts and the Stones’ history, and (half) an attempt at the future and how much there is left... (Will we get the next album done) sometime before the next century? Yeah, I do hope so (laughs). And I suppose given the normal pattern of things, we'll probably be on the road next year. And after that, we'll see. Andrew Watt: It’s like Batman. They put the tongue up in the air, and I will fucking be there. It would be amazing. Mick: (There are) some other tracks we’ve done with Charlie that’ll probably come out. So he’s kind of still there – and I hope he likes the rest of the record. |
| Mick Jagger (September 2023):
Learning it's possible to make an album easily How long can you really do it? It’s like asking: how long can someone go on playing (cricket) for England? Not long, is usually the answer. I do think about it. But I write all the time. You’ve just got to keep writing, and now everyone (in the band) can see they can record quite easily. It was only three (sic) weeks in the studio. It’s not difficult. Too much angst went into recording before. If it’s no good, it’s no good; if that track doesn’t work, another one will. Do it! |
| Keith Richards & Mick Jagger
(September-October 2023): A new (post-Charlie)
Stones era Keith: With Charlie leaving us, I think we needed to make a new mark with Steve. To reset the band was important. I think maybe because of Charlie's demise that we felt that if the Stones were going to continue, then we better make a mark of what the Stones are now. Mick: Of course it's hard. I mean, it's all my life. Ever since I was 19 or whatever, it's always been Charlie. Of course it's emotional. But you have to get past that in life, you know? I love Charlie but I still want to carry on making music. |
| Mick Jagger & Ron Wood
(October 2023): Making another album soon Mick: It isn't the last album. We recorded more than half of the next album. Because we recorded 23, 25 tracks in these sessions. And I'll write several songs and we'll record a second album soon. Ron: (Paul McCartney) actually played on 2 tracks. One which we've got up our sleeve for more things to come, more music to come. 'Cause we cut about 23 songs. And we picked the best 12 or the first 12. I don't think it will be that long. We're all kicking inspiration and positive vibes around you know. (The songs we record) either got the essence when we first hit the song or they haven't. And some of the songs were a little hesitant, and sort of "Yeah we need to look at that again". And yeah that's the way you make good music is to mold it, like a clay model or something. You carve it out of the stone like Michelangelo. It's wonderful to compare art and construction of music too. |
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