In a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is sharing an update on the band’s plans for their first new studio album of original material since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang.”
“I’m going to sound like Trump – ‘It will happen; don’t worry about it’ – but it’s in the early stages,” explains Richards. “We have some stuff down, which is very interesting.”
Producer Don Was, who confirms the Stones have been working on new music off and on for more than two years, raves about the work they’ve done so far.
“The songwriting that Keith and Mick did last year was really something to behold,” says Was. “The three of us sat in a room, with them facing each other, five feet apart, with guitars, and there’s something magical that happens that’s still as fresh as when they started.”
When The Rolling Stones entered British Grove Studios in West London in December of 2015, the plan was to begin work on new original material, but the group got on a roll playing blues covers in the studio.
“I knew Mick had a couple of songs, and I had a few,” says Richards. “But it was a new studio, so I called Ronnie Wood and I said, ‘Get down this Little Walter track called “Blue and Lonesome” – we’ll have that in our pocket in case the new stuff isn’t working out in the new room.’
“Sure enough, we get there and the new stuff is not working out in the new room – we’re still looking for the sound. So I said, ‘Ron, “Blue and Lonesome.” ’ Suddenly the room comes alive and we have a take. Then Mick turns around and says, ‘Let me try this Howlin’ Wolf one.’ And in five days, we’d cut the whole damn thing.”
The sessions resulted in the 2016 covers collection, “Blue & Lonesome”; the project debuted at No. 1 in both the UK and Australia while snagging a No. 4 entry on the US Billboard 200 and earning the band a Grammy Award in the Best Traditional Blues Album category at the 60th annual Grammy Awards in New York on January 28.
“The blues record I’m really, really proud of,” adds Richards. “It was something that had to be done – it took the Stones full circle. This is a f—ing blues band, and the height of our ambition was to be the best blues band in London. We were just trying to turn London on to the blues, and believe it or not, we turned America back on to the blues. Everything else is basically gravy, because we brought the music back from somewhere else and sent it back home.”
The Rolling Stones will return to live action with concert dates in the UK, Ireland and Europe this summer.
The 11-show series will begin at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland on May 17 and be followed by the group’s first appearances in the UK in five years; stops in Germany, France and the Czech Republic will precede the trek’s finale in Warsaw, Poland on July 8.
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