Keith Richards has said Mick Jagger “won’t bloody stop” making new music, crediting the singer’s “momentum” for the speed at which The Rolling Stones‘ new album came together.
The rock legends are gearing up to release their 25th studio effort, ‘Foreign Tongues’, on July 10 via Polydor/Universal Music. It’s set to feature guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Robert Smith, Steve Winwood, and the band’s late drummer Charlie Watts – you can pre-order your copy here.
With the new album on the horizon, Richards sat down with the Guardian and said Jagger showed no signs of slowing down. “Mick’s been very prolific lately, which is one reason this album has come out so quick, because he won’t bloody stop,” he said.
“And the momentum from ‘Hackney Diamonds‘ was such that this is basically carrying on in the same breath. I was just letting it roll – we had enough stuff if we wanted to keep pushing, and so Mick and I gave each other the usual wry look and said: ‘Yeah, let’s keep pushing.'”
Elsewhere in the interview, Richards praised their producer Andrew Watt, describing him as “a breath of fresh air and a kick up the ass.”
“He knows his stuff musically and technically, and he doesn’t put up with any bullshit – he just gets on with it,” he said. “So I found him very easy to work with. He’s a bit impetuous at times, but then so what?”
Asked whether Watt had ever had to challenge him directly, he replied: “No. But he may have given somebody a talking‑to.”
The full tracklist for the upcoming record was revealed last month, with the song titles appearing on streaming devices, but in actual foreign tongues, and will include the previously released singles ‘Rough And Twisted’ and ‘In The Stars’, as well as a cover of the Amy Winehouse classic ‘You Know I’m No Good’.
In the lead-up to its release, the band will launch Speaking In Tongues, a new podcast featuring interviews with Jagger, Richards and Ronnie Wood, narrated by Norah Jones.
The podcast will feature behind-the-scenes insight into the making of ‘Foreign Tongues’ over six episodes, with the band sharing studio techniques, creative influences and their songwriting process.
As well as studio outtakes and never-before-heard new songs, the podcast will also feature contributions from Watt and The Cure‘s Robert Smith and Steve Winwood – who both appear on the new album – and the record’s cover artist, Nathaniel Mary Quinn.
Last month, NME went to the album’s launch event in New York City, where the band discussed the diversity of sound on their new album and a country track called ‘Ringing Hollow’. “Keith and I, when we were really young, we both liked country music a lot,” Jagger shared. “We would play it, we’d always liked Hank Williams. You can’t really imitate those people, but we absorbed that style. ‘Ringing Hollow’, which is a love song to America, I didn’t want to express it in a rock way. I thought it was better that we did it in a country way.”
Jagger also spoke about the inspiration for the album, saying: “The thing about this record that I find interesting. And you say, ‘You’ve got nothing to prove,’ but The Stones is a rock band, but The Stones also has the ability to do ballads and country music and dance music, they run in the gamut of all these styles.
“We’re not stuck in one particular style; over the years, we’ve loved all kinds of music. So, we express that in the way we record and what songs we write.”
Richards added: “It’s quite possible that there’s more in there. And that’s what we’re looking for.”
Jagger also recently opened up about the possibility of a new Rolling Stones tour being announced, and said that he hopes to do some “shows next year”.
Ahead of the release, the Stones have also teamed up with Marvel to launch a special vinyl collector series for the record – with new limited edition artwork featuring Spider-Man, The Hulk, Captain America and more – and also revealed how they ended up working with The Cure’s Robert Smith.
As for Mick Jagger, the frontman surprised fans in Oxford recently by playing an impromptu gig with students at a local pub.