{"id":822005,"date":"2026-08-22T10:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T10:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822005\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T10:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T10:46:16","slug":"ronnie-wood-interview-the-rolling-stones-and-foreign-tongues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822005\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronnie Wood interview: The Rolling Stones and Foreign Tongues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ronnie Wood might have spent more than half a century with the Rolling Stones<\/a>, and they were around for years before he joined, but Foreign Tongues<\/a>, their latest album, is far from a nostalgic victory lap. Spurred on by producer Andrew Watt, the band recaptured the studio discipline of their golden era. The result finds Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards tackling today\u2019s political turmoil and the \u201csickness in the land\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\"Lightning\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s your fifty-first year with the Stones. Is it still exciting?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Oh, yeah! There\u2019s such a drive, you know? We have people in the studio like Steve Winwood<\/a>, he was there for a bit, and it\u2019s so nice to have his creative input. Bringing a bit of Ray Charles into the room. But I mean, we had the drive going because it\u2019s so exciting to get back together.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From Louder<\/p>\n

The band seem to be on a creative high, following up 2023\u2019s Hackney Diamonds so quickly.<\/p>\n

Yeah. It\u2019s down to Andrew Watt, that kind of enthusiasm. He\u2019s a young guy with a passion, he\u2019s a fan, he can back up what he says because he can play. So we listened to him. And a bit like in the [producer] Jimmy Miller days when the Stones were creating an album every couple of years, we were back on that kind of schedule, which is great. People don\u2019t have to wait ten, twelve years between albums now.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Do the Stones need a great motivator, then?<\/p>\n

Yeah, because we need someone to boss us around to say: \u201cCome on, you\u2019ve got to come in at eight o\u2019clock, and I want your parts done,\u201d you know? \u201cAnd then over the next week I want all your guitar parts done, Keith.\u201d And Keith would go: \u201cWhat do you mean? I\u2019ll do them when I want to.\u201d He said: \u201cNo you won\u2019t. You\u2019ll do them when I tell you. And you\u2019re going to start now.\u201d And he goes: \u201cOh, okay then.\u201d It takes an unusual man to be able to converse with Keith on something like bossing him around. It\u2019s good.<\/p>\n

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The album starts with Rough And Twisted, a track that was first put out as by The Cockroaches.<\/p>\n

What made you do that? To cause a little stir, a little interest, and people have seen The Cockroaches before – opening up in clubs and stuff. On Rough And Twisted I get to play my Stay With Me guitar [makes guitar sound], you know? The open tuning. I love the slide.<\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones – Rough And Twisted (Official Visualiser) – YouTube
\n\"The<\/p>\n

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Mr. Charm talks about high tech billionaires, while Side Effects touches on prescription drugs. In The Stars mentions \u2018a sickness in the land\u2019. Is that commenting on 2026 \u2013 on the state of the world today?<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

Yes, in our own little way. In a rock\u2019n\u2019roll way. We have to try and keep the smile on people\u2019s faces as well as being blatantly honest with them, you know, about that sickness in the land. There\u2019s a lot of bad things going on.<\/p>\n

So, you feel that, too – that the world has gone to hell in a handbasket? <\/p>\n

Yeah. Apart from the crazy people we have running things, there\u2019s the climate and the crazy weather we\u2019re having. The hot is getting hotter, the cold is getting colder, and ne\u2019er the twain shall meet, you know? [chuckles]<\/p>\n

What prompted the Stones to cover Amy Winehouse\u2019s You Know I\u00b4m No Good?<\/p>\n

Just respect, really, and it\u2019s something slightly left-field. Amy was a lovely person and it\u2019s nice to pay tribute to her. She was her own worst enemy. She didn\u2019t know when to stop. And unfortunately we lost a fabulous, great talent. We lost a Billie Holiday again.<\/p>\n

And why Chuck Berry\u2019s Beautiful Delilah?<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s going back to when Mick and Keith first met, again, back to their early influences, and a bit of country blues there taking that song that Chuck Berry<\/a> covered later.<\/p>\n

Is it becoming a habit to end Stones albums with the masters? You did that on Hackney Diamonds, too, covering the Muddy Waters classic Rolling Stone.<\/p>\n

Yeah, never forgetting where their influence came from – from the blues, you know? The urban blues of the Muddy Waters<\/a> kind of era.<\/p>\n

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\"The\n<\/p>\n

Backseat drivers: Keith, Mick and Ronnie (Image credit: Mark Seliger)<\/p>\n

This is the second time in a row that Paul McCartney joined the band in the studio. Why are collaborations like that so easy now \u2013 and why did they never happen before?<\/p>\n

No, it never did, but he always set it as one of his ambitions, and after he played on Hackney Diamonds he said: \u201cI played with the Rolling Stones.\u201d He was so proud of himself, you know? And from the same sessions we kept the Covered In You song and used that again.<\/p>\n

How many of these songs are leftovers from 2023?<\/p>\n

Oh, only a couple. I mean, you could say Hit Me In The Head is Charlie, but from an old drum track. We had quite a few of them, actually, so that we can keep Charlie\u2019s memory going.<\/p>\n

Is there more to come? Is it going to become a regular thing to use some of Charlie\u2019s drum tracks on every album now?<\/p>\n

I leave it to Mick. He\u2019s got this kind of little archive of Charlie. I\u2019m not quite sure what\u2019s in it, but I\u2019m sure there\u2019s some more Charlie drum tracks. We did some in Paris that I know he could tap into.<\/p>\n

How did The Cure\u2019s Robert Smith come to do backing vocals?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know. I guess that came at the overdub times, when the album was finished, and they happened to be near the studio. We were in the studio and Mick said: \u201cWell, since you\u2019re here, you might as well do something\u201d [laughs]. So I only knew about Steve Winwood because we worked in the studio with him. And Bruno Mars. Bruno Mars is an old friend of mine, and Mick didn\u2019t even tell me that he came in! And Chad [Smith]. I mean, Chad\u2019s an old friend of mine, I didn\u2019t know he\u2019d done anything\u2026.<\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones – In The Stars (Official Video) – YouTube
\n\"The<\/p>\n

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So you\u2019re often unaware of things like that right up until everything is done?<\/p>\n

Yeah. You know, sometimes I just leave it to Mick. If he\u2019s got a friend in the studio, like: \u201cCome and do some clapping or play some maracas on here\u201d [chuckles].<\/p>\n

Will the Stones tour this album?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope. I mean, not this year, but maybe next year. We\u2019d love to. It\u2019s an obvious thing that we would love to, because the Stones\u2026 Me and Mick, we never stop wanting to play. That\u2019s why I\u2019m going to take my solo band out to do a few gigs, to keep the chops together in my fingers. It\u2019s got to be done. You\u2019ve got to keep it warm, keep the music warm. And keep inventing stuff and paying tribute to past eras. It\u2019s great. And if the Stones can tour next year, let\u2019s do it. That\u2019s our attitude.<\/p>\n

Is that even possible with Keith\u2019s arthritis?<\/p>\n

Anything\u2019s possible. We just, you know, toss a coin and see how it lands. That\u2019s the way we\u2019ve always played it.<\/p>\n

You just mentioned going out with your own band. What can people expect with that?<\/p>\n

All the stuff I\u2019ve done solo and stuff that I\u2019ve done with other people, and I pay tribute to songs I\u2019ve written with the Stones, like Hey Negrita and, you know, like Dance and songs that. It\u2019ll be a mixture of Faces, solo stuff, Stones stuff\u2026 It\u2019s going to be a mixed pot. It\u2019s going to be great fun. I also have Imelda May and Chanelle Haynes, who sings with us. And I have Andy Newmark, my drummer from Sly And The Family Stone, my original drummer. He\u2019s lovely, yeah.<\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones – Jealous Lover – YouTube
\n\"The<\/p>\n

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Is it true you\u2019re working on a Faces album, too?<\/p>\n

Yeah. I saw Rod the other day. Maybe towards the end of the year we\u2019re going to go back in the studio and try and finish these tracks that we\u2019ve already started for the new Faces album.<\/p>\n

When I go out with my friends \u2013 and we are in our late fifties \u2013 you wouldn\u2019t believe how much we talk about age, retirement and stuff like that. And here the Stones are at whatever age, still recording, still touring\u2026<\/p>\n

Oh my god! No, you can\u2019t talk about those things! Don\u2019t care about numbers. It\u2019s only a number. You know, time doesn\u2019t really exist. It\u2019s only us humans that have put a label on time. Einstein said time doesn\u2019t\u2026 you know, time is what you make it. And that\u2019s true, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

After all you\u2019ve been through, it seems like a miracle that you\u2019re still sitting here, still playing with the band and enjoying everything to the fullest.<\/p>\n

Yeah. Well, I rode cancer twice, kicked it out, and here I am. I got the all-clear just a few months ago.<\/p>\n

Any regrets?<\/p>\n

No regrets. You\u2019ve got to go through it to get to it.<\/p>\n

Foreign Tongues is out now via Polydor.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones: Foreign Tongues – Today’s Best Prices<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ronnie Wood might have spent more than half a century with the Rolling Stones, and they were around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-822005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}