(Credits: Far Out / Allan Warren)
Sun 19 April 2026 5:00, UK
Even though he was on the cusp of launching himself into an outrageously successful solo career at the time, splitting up the Faces was not a decision that Rod Stewart was able to take lightly.
Of course, the question does arise as to whether Faces were ever truly Stewart’s band to break up, given how most of the rest of the band’s lineup had already been together as Small Faces, with Steve Marriott having been the vocalist of the precursor act alongside future Faces Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan and Ronnie Lane. With Stewart and Ronnie Wood exiting the Jeff Beck Group at the same time to replace the outgoing Marriott, a proverbial phoenix had risen from the ashes.
If Stewart’s recruitment only helped prolong the existence of another band under a new guise, it raises the question of why he was the one who was able to cast the deciding vote on whether the band should continue. His desire for stardom in his own right was one of the main factors for Faces calling it quits in 1975 after just six years together, but the departure of Wood to join The Rolling Stones also had a significant impact on the possibility of any future, and thus, Stewart saw fit to call time on the project.
However, this also raises the quandary of why he seemed to be so bitter about their dissolution if he wanted the project to come to an end for the sake of his own career prospects. In the immediate aftermath of their breakup, Stewart appeared to only be able to speak in a permanently snarky tone about his former colleagues, and even though he maintained that they were all on speaking terms, there was little about his remarks in his 1976 interview with Rolling Stone that suggested he was happy to keep these relationships intact.
“If Mick wanted Woody, all right,” he said of Wood’s departure to join Jagger in the Stones, “I’m gonna have to break up a few bands to get who I want. I just hope the Stones does Woody more good than they did for Mick Taylor.”
His petulance didn’t stop at taking a swipe at Wood either, also claiming that he was still cordial with McLagan while insinuating that he was nothing but a thorn in his side. “I was getting a lot of aggravation from Mac in the end,” he added, “but I’ll be getting aggravation from Mac as long as I’ve got a hole in me ass.”
In looking to whether Stewart had anything remotely positive to say about his former bandmates after Faces were so unceremoniously split up by his rash decisions, drummer Jones appeared to get off far lighter than the rest of his old accomplices, and was even the recipient of some praise from Stewart for his abilities when he was questioned on who he wanted to have in his touring band in future.
“Kenney Jones is the only definite member now,” Stewart remarked, before claiming, “he was the only professional in the Faces”. While there’s an air of this being Stewart’s typical tongue-in-cheek wit, you can’t help but feel as though he also wanted to use this as an opportunity to have one last dig at the rest of the band, before he boasted that he was of a stature that allowed him to recruit whoever he pleased in his lineup.
As for this bold recruitment strategy, he did exactly as promised and assembled an all-star line-up of musicians who he believed were the best candidates for furthering his career. Jones, however, was nowhere to be seen in Stewart’s 1976 band, and despite being the sole “professional” from his last project, Stewart ended up dealing out the biggest kick in the teeth by bringing in Carmine Appice as his replacement. It was fair to say that his fame-chasing exploits had burned every bridge between him and Faces by this point, and would take considerable effort to repair.
