The Rolling Stones have spoken about the experience of recording their forthcoming album Foreign Tongues, and expressed their love, respect and admiration for their late friend and bandmate Charlie Watts, who makes a posthumous appearance on the record.
Although Watts passed, aged 80, away in 2021, his drumming – taped at one of his final studio sessions with the group he joined in 1963 – powers new album track Hit Me In The Head, and his old friends suggest that his spirit hovered over their most recent sessions with producer Andrew Watt at London’s Metropolis studios.
In a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood pay tribute to American producer Watt for his passion and enthusiasm for the project, and acknowledge his pivotal role in encouraging their band to play and record songs together in one room, unshackled from the rigid structures imposed by modern digital recording.
“Everyone has their own idea of the basic structure,” explains guitarist Wood, “but as long as it came back to that, it’s fine. You could do anything you wanted.”
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“If the only thing you’re fighting is the room and the song, you’re okay,” adds fellow guitarist Keith Richards, “as long as you’re not fighting each other. It was fun to make. Everybody was right on it, [including] Steve Jordan and Darryl Jones, the ‘new’ rhythm section. I’m sure Charlie Watts was beaming down on us, so I feel good about that.”
When Zane Lowe tells Ronnie Wood that he finds it “moving” hearing Charlie Watts on the record, the guitarist reveals that the band have still got “a few beats of his in the bag”, recorded in Paris, for potential future use.
Mick Jagger tells Lowe that the drum track for Hit Me In The Head was actually recorded with producer Don Was at Henson Studios in Los Angeles, during pre-production for the band’s 2023 album Hackney Diamonds.
“If I ask you what did you love about the way Charlie plays drums, what would you say?” Lowe asks the singer.
“Whatever style he played always had swing,” Jagger replies. “It wasn’t like a loud powerful drummer, he was a more subtle, he was a jazz drummer really, that played rock very well… Steve’s very loud in the room compared to Charlie.”
“The albums are getting more and more energetic, punchy, and we’re still raising the bar,” says Ronnie Wood. “That’s the evolution of the band. you know, it’s got that new youth and the new kick in it. Maybe Charlie is overlooking us and giving us some more inspiration.”
You can watch the full Apple Music interview below.
