Like what you see? Help keep it going! This site runs on the support of readers like you. Your donation helps cover costs and keeps fresh Rolling Stones content coming your way every day. Thank you!
keith richards says
Keith Richards says he “can’t wait to record new music”, gets praises by Johnny Marr, Mike Campbell and Jimmy Page
Keith says he “can’t wait to record new music”. In a recent interview with magazine Classic Rock, he said “Man, I’ve never even come close to thinking of wrapping up the Rolling Stones’ story. We plan to keep working. Making music is still quite exciting for me. It’s funny how time flies. But I’m enjoying the process of releasing a new record and seeing what happens.” Concerning Mick Jagger recently hinting that he may leave his colossal fortune to charity (“The children don’t need $500 million to live well. Come on”, he said), Keith instead pointed out that insisted the group have no plans to sell the rights to their back catalogue because “he doesn’t think his offspring need the vast amount of money it would bring”
Johnny Marr, Mike Campbell and Jimmy Page about Keith Richards
In the meantime, guitarist Johnny Marr (of Smith’s fame) praised Keith while talking to Uncut magazine by saying that “he was a total hero to me as a kid,” he begins. “I loved his guitar-playing, but it was more his ideology, really. I just saw him as someone with ultimate integrity. He was a massive influence on me for his philosophy more than anything”. “When I was in The Smiths, I felt like I was in my own Rolling Stones”, he continued. We had a very interesting, idiosyncratic frontman and I was able to take care of just the music, taking the Keith Richards philosophy of being behind the scenes, but also being the engine of the band. He seemed to me to be on a total mission, not to self-destruct, but to find something in music that he loved. Almost a crusade”… “Gimme Shelter [1969] has the best guitar solo that’s ever been on record. I think there’s only about six notes in total, but it’s played with pure feeling and is totally appropriate. Keith invented a complete guitar style and genre all his own, which is no mean feat. He didn’t just invent a sound, but a whole new guitar style, possibly the coolest style since Robert Johnson or Hubert Sumlin. It strips out any unnecessary intellectualising or technical nonsense and just gets to the heart of it.”
Marr went on also referring to Richards’ drug use through the years), which he later gave up as the band progressed. “I think it’s very easy to get carried away with the whole junkie martyr nonsense that used to surround him. I’ve met Keith a few times now and, when you get to the core of it and find out what he’s really like, he’s someone who just won’t be told how to live his own life,” says the former Smith’s ghuitar player. “In that way, he’s a true hero in the same way that Muhammad Ali was, standing up for his principles and not being beaten down by uninformed authority. So l don’t think Keith was standing up for drug-taking, he was standing up for his own life,” he concluded.
In the same issue of Uncut, Keith also got a lot of praising by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, has shared what it was like rehearsing alongside the Stones when they were recording their album Emotional Rescue back in the day. “The Heartbreakers were in New York and Tom and I got to rehearse with the Stones at SIR Studios. I’d admired Keith from afar my whole life. It was interesting, because when the other guys took a break, Keith just kept on practising,” Campbell said. “I think he was trying to loosen up the rust. It was enlightening to see them in a raw setting like that. While we were rehearsing, Mick came over to me and Tom: ‘Y’know, they don’t like it when I play the guitar. But I only do it to get the tempos right, because they always play everything too fast and I can’t get the words in. “Sure enough, he picks up the guitar and they start a song,” he continued.
“Keith immediately walks up, puts his hand up in front of Mick’s face and goes: ‘Oh no, you can’t lead your platoon that way! Lead vocals, lead vocals!’”. “So Mick puts the guitar down, they start the song way too fast and he just looks at us with his hands up, as if to say, ‘See what I mean?’ But they were having fun, they were like kids in a toy shop.”
While Jimmy Page remembered that “Our paths first crossed when the first American Folk Blues tour came through Manchester [October 21, 1962]. To the true and faithful, it was a clarion call for all blues collectors and enthusiasts. There was an Epsom contingent that travelled up there, and that’s where I first met Keith and Mick. There they were and there I was, and I’m sure he remembered meeting me from that. Later, there was a gathering of people at this record collector’s house, which was a treat because he put on the Howlin’ Wolfalbum with the rocking chair on the cover [Howlin’ Wolf, 1962], which had stuff like ‘Down In The Bottom’, ‘Going Down Slow’, ‘You’ll Be Mine’. None of us had even heard that album yet. Can you imagine?
“Then I’d meet Keith along the way during the ‘60s. I went to hear the Stones when they did a night at the Flamingo club and I’d see them at various venues around London. They were truly faithful devotees of the Chess catalogue and they could play it all really well. Later I’d bump into them atImmediate Records, when I did a few bits and pieces, though they were more like demos. The first time I was actually playing with Keith was when we were on the same Chris Farlowe sessions that Mick was producing. ‘Yesterday’s Papers’ [1967] was a really good one. I’m playing acoustic on that. We were sitting next to each other and I got on really well with Keith because there was a great mutual respect. You could see that he was really disciplined in the studio, because you know what those sort of sessions were like – it’d be a three-hour session or whatever, where they get as much done as possible. And he was on the nail all the way through”
“Then we jump to 1974″, he added, “when Ronnie had the Wick [in Richmond] and the studio underneath. He said, ‘Do you want to come round? I think Keith wants to do something.’ So that was the time when I really had a chance to play with him, because that was the backing track to ‘Scarlet’, with Keith playing rhythm and me doing a counterpoint riff. I remember thinking, ‘This is great,’ because I just wanted to sort of lay it on top of what he did and not get in the way. The following day, I put a couple of solo overdubs on it at Island. The thing I remember the most is that Keith was solid and driving and he didn’t make mistakes. He kept going all the way through. And I realised just what a powerful force he is behind those Rolling Stones records. There was no doubt about it. Of course, I could take it all apart and highlight everybody’s vital contribution, but Keith was really driving it”
“You can hear from listening to ‘Scarlet’ that I’m really on the crest of a wave with Led Zeppelin, with all the playing, so it would’ve been nice to maybe have done more together with Keith around that time, before we moved on to other pastures. It was two guitar musos creating something, which is how it is when you get together with someone like that. It was similar to me and Jeff Beck, where we’d just sort of lock in, because there’s an automatic sort of mutual respect for each other that’s built up over the years.
“The next time I got a chance to play with him was in New York, when I was invited to the studio during Dirty Work [1986]. We had a couple of days to have a bit of a play and a jam, then I did the soloing over ‘One Hit (To The Body)’. Keith sent me a magnum of champagne afterwards, which was very sporting.
“There was another time too, jamming at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [1992], when Keith inducted Leo Fender. He gave a great speech about Leo Fender. He’d already taken off his dickie bib and had his shirt open and was up there in his tux. He looked great. And he said that the thing about Leo Fender was he built these wonderful guitars, but then he also built the amps to go with it. And I thought, ‘That’s right on the nail!’
“The thing about Keith is his timing is really good and he has the imagination to be able to construct these wonderful riffs, which are the driving force behind the Stones’ records, pretty much. Not only that, but he could then turn his attention towards the acoustic playing on the 12-string, where he does ‘Angie’ and things like that. So he’s extremely versatile. And super creative. If you’ve got somebody who can keep coming up with really good riffs decade after decade, that’s pretty serious. And to be respected.
“He’s given us decades of wonderful, creative music with an attitude and character which could only be Keith Richards. Let’s hope he lives for another 80 years. Who knows, I might be able to jam with him again in another 50!”
Like what you see? Help keep it going! This site runs on the support of readers like you. Your donation helps cover costs and keeps fresh Rolling Stones content coming your way every day. Thank you!
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here:
Cookie Policy
Subscribe to the Stones Data newsletter and get all daily posts delivered to you for free. Everybody got to go! *Support the site and help me keep sharing great content. Thanks in advance!
