Esquire magazine article:
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Keith with be on the Spectrum on Sirius/XM radio Friday night at 8pm. He’ll be interviewed by famed rock writer and critic David Fricke.

SiriusXM to Broadcast In-Depth Interview with Keith Richards

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The in-depth interview will air nationwide on Friday, September 18 at 8:00 pm ET on SiriusXM's The Spectrum, via satellite on channel 28 and through the SiriusXM App on smartphones and other connected devices, as well as online at siriusxm.com. For rebroadcast times, please visit www.siriusxm.com/thespectrum.

After the broadcast, the interview will be available on SiriusXM On Demand for subscribers listening via the SiriusXM App for smartphones and other mobile devices or online at siriusxm.com. Visit www.siriusxm.com/ondemand for more info on SiriusXM On Demand.





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Keith Richards to Appear on "The Tonight Show" (USA TV) on Friday; Says Rolling Stones All Want to Work on a New Album

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(hennemusic) Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell will both be guests on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon this week.

Richards will be on the show this Friday, September 18, which is the same that his first solo album in more than 20 years, "Crosseyed Heart", hits stores. The record sees Richards reteam with drummer Steve Jordan and guitarist Waddy Wachtel alongside Rolling Stones backup singer Bernard Fowler, keyboardist Ivan Neville, singer Sarah Dash and a host of guest appearances.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-20 11:58 by bv.

Looks like he will also be on Italian radio on Friday/September 18:

[www.radiospeaker.it]

N

NPR Music News

'And It Bloody Well Happened': The Improbable Life Of Keith Richards




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When he visited NPR's New York bureau to speak with Morning Edition, Keith Richards wore his reputation on his sleeve as he lit up cigarettes between questions, just inches from our very expensive microphones. And he had war stories to share — like the time he and Bobby Keys, The Rolling Stones' late sax player, were guests of Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion and managed to set a bathroom on fire.

The 71-year-old guitarist has lived a life filled with moments like that one. In a 2010 New Yorker profile, writer David Remnick even marveled that "through it all, the Grim Reaper was denied a backstage pass." Five years later, Richards says the rumors of his immortality are greatly exaggerated.

"Of course I'm not, but I love the idea of it," he tells Morning Edition host David Greene. "I mean, I wouldn't mind being. I don't know if I could handle all of the stress and memories that I'd know at 150 years old. But I've defied other people's version of mortality, I suppose."

Richards has been busy the last decade or so — touring the world, writing a best-selling autobiography and a children's book, and even popping up opposite Johnny Depp in a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.

One thing he hasn't done lately is cut new music with the Stones. So, this year, Richards tried something he's only done twice before: put out a solo album. Crosseyed Heart, on which Richards is backed by his band The X-Pensive Winos, arrives Friday, alongside a new Netflix documentary about his life.

"I was at sort of a loose end, and I realized there is one thing missing out of my life, the most important thing: recording," he says. "I made the first two [solo albums] because the Stones were in one of their hibernations — and basically, I probably made this one because the Stones were in hibernation at the time."

Richards has spent a lot of time over the years waiting on his friend Mick Jagger. Apart from Lennon and McCartney, it's hard to think of another songwriting team whose relationship has been so closely followed — and when Richards released his 2010 memoir, Life, fans learned it hasn't always been the most stable alliance.

"I think the relationship is actually still in flux, or still growing — it isn't fixed. Sometimes he can get up my end, and I have no doubt that I can certainly piss him off sometimes," Richards says. "At the same time, there's a chemistry between us that we both recognize and that we know works. In a way, we're both trying to come to terms with each other. Most guys, you know where you stand with. Mick and I don't quite know how we stand with each other, and we never have."

One place where he and Jagger have always found common ground, however, is in their love for the blues. Richards says that in the band's early years, The Rolling Stones were determined to turn London on to what the masters in Chicago had been doing for years.

"At that time — 18, 19 years old — you know, you're still very young and idealistic," he says. " 'People should know about rhythm and blues and Chicago blues, and we'll do our best to give you our version of that.' And it bloody well happened."

Music fans know where the story goes from there. In a recent interview with NPR, Buddy Guy named the Stones among the artists who, in the 1960s, helped push blues music into the mainstream while still acknowledging its pioneers. Richards and his bandmates have even gotten to jam with their idols — like the night in 1981 when they joined Muddy Waters onstage at Chicago's Checkerboard Lounge.

"I was dressed for business in a white shirt and vest. I said, 'We're going to be on stage with Muddy, man. This is serious,' " Richards says. "I mean, I didn't realize this until later: These guys, they were incredibly grateful for The Rolling Stones, because we revived interest in the blues in America.

"Isn't that amazing?" he adds with a note of quiet amusement. "Some English band turns up, and turns America on to its own great music."

Keith Richards on the Andrew Marr Show (BBC TV Interview) Sept 2015

video: [www.youtube.com]

Keith Richards on the Today Show 09/18/2015

video: [www.today.com]

It's like Chicken Man - He's everywhere, he's everywhere!!!

[video.capital.it]

Film footage of interview done for Radio Capital, Italy. Recorded in Paris, Sept. 4. Aired yesterday.

(Interview is in three parts and starts after the advertisement)

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Keith Richards: The 'Fresh Air' Interview



Video: Interview Link


DAVE DAVIES, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I’m Dave Davies in for Terry Gross. Rolling Stones guitarist, Keith Richards, has a new album called “Crosseyed Heart,” his first solo release in more than 20 years. He’s also the subject of a new documentary called “Under The Influence” which premieres today on Netflix. We’re going to listen to Terry’s interview with Richards recorded when he’d published his autobiography. As you’d expect, there are plenty of details about excess and drugs, but it’s also filled with stories about growing up in post-war England, discovering the blues, songwriting, forming The Rolling Stones, being targeted by police who saw the Stones as a bad influence on youth, becoming mega-stars, playing stadiums, kicking heroin, his sometimes rocky relationship with Mick Jagger, getting older, and so on. Richards co-wrote much of the Stones’ repertoire with Jagger including “Satisfaction,” “Let’s Spend The Night Together,” "Get Off Of My Cloud," “Give Me Shelter," "Sympathy For The Devil" and "Beast Of Burden." Before we listen to that interview, let’s hear a track from Richard’s new album, “Crosseyed Heart.” This is called “Trouble.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “TROUBLE”)

KEITH RICHARDS: (Singing) Just because you find yourself off the streets again, that don’t mean that I can help you or I ain’t your friend. Baby, trouble is your middle name. Your trouble is that that’s your game. Now you’re out of circulation, out of reach and out of touch. Let me keep you in the loop, though I can’t tell you much. Baby, trouble is your middle name. The trouble is that that’s your game.

DAVIES: Terry spoke with Richards in 2010 about his autobiography called “Life.”

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

You have a great story in your book about how you co-wrote, well, how you got "Satisfaction" started. You co-wrote the song with Mick Jagger, but you originated it, and you didn't know you were doing it. Can you...

RICHARDS: I wish all the songs could come this way, you know, where you just dream them, and then the next morning, there they are, presented to you. But "Satisfaction" was that sort of miracle that took place. I had a - I had one of the first little cassette players, you know, Norelco, Philips, same thing, really. But it was a fascinating little machine to me, a cassette player that you could actually just lay ideas down and, you know, wherever you were.

I set the machine up, and I put in a fresh tape. I go to bed as usual with my guitar, and I wake up the next morning, I see that the tape is run to the very end. And I think, well, I didn't do anything, you know? I said, maybe I hit a button while I was asleep, you know? So I put it back to the beginning and pushed play and there, in some sort of ghostly version, is (singing) da, da, da, da, da - I can't get no satisfaction.

And so there was a whole verse of it. I won't bore you with it all. But - and after that, there's, you know, 40 minutes of me snoring.

(LAUGHTER)

RICHARDS: But there's the song in its embryo, and I actually dreamt the damned thing, you know? I mean, I’m still waiting for another dream.

GROSS: OK, so you bring this germ of a song, basically the first verse, to Mick Jagger, and then you flesh it out into a more complete song. What's the process between you and him in making a full song out of what came to you?

RICHARDS: Well, at least in those days, and pretty much throughout the whole thing, is I'll come up with a riff, the idea, and maybe the subject matter, the type. And then I'd go on to write the next one, and Mick will flesh out and finish it off and make it into a real song.

I come up with ideas. Mick turns it into a finished product, you know? And we were working so hard in those days that you couldn't write them fast enough. So any idea - I came, I'd shove it to Mick, and Mick would work on that, and I'd have another idea with a little luck.

GROSS: Now, how did the line I can't get no satisfaction come to you at a time when you should've been having a lot of very satisfying, gratifying moments?

RICHARDS: (Laughter) Darling, I don't know. I dreamt it.

GROSS: No, true, OK.

RICHARDS: I mean, nobody's ever satisfied, right? And it was just a phrase that obviously, you know, was buzzing through the mind. And whether you could express anything or enlarge on that idea of - because otherwise, I can't get any satisfaction is kind of, you know, sort of moaning.

But if you - then you can take it and expand it, which Mick did brilliantly. You know, there it is. I mean, these things are all made out of just little sparks of ideas that come to you, and you're lucky to be around to grab them. And that's kind of basically the process of how we work.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SATISFACTION”)

THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) I can’t get no satisfaction. I can’t get no satisfaction. ‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try. I can't get no, I can't get no.

When I'm driving in my car and that man comes on the radio and he's telling me more and more about some useless information, supposed to fire my imagination, I can't get no, oh no, no, no, hey, hey, hey, that's what I say.

GROSS: That's The Rolling Stones, and my guest is Keith Richards, and he's written his autobiography. It's called "Life." Now, that cassette that you mentioned, that you used to write down the idea for "Satisfaction" in the middle of the night that so surprised you when you played it back in the morning, that cassette or one just like it was also really helpful to you in coming up with a kind of transformative guitar sound.

Would you describe how you would plug your acoustic guitar in motel rooms into a cassette machine?

RICHARDS: I'll try. Yes, no, it’s a good question. You know, I'll try because there I am; I now have my hands on the best amplifiers in the world and the best guitars. But I'm trying to translate another sound in my head that I can't find through conventional means.

I was, at the time, I was finding - I always play a lot of acoustic guitar, and the cassette machine gave - in those days, before they had things on them called governors, which means that you could not overload the machinery, I would just shove the acoustic guitar and use basically, I would use the cassette player as an amplifier, basically, and overload the acoustic guitar so it becomes an electric guitar.

But at the same time, you see, you still have that feel of an acoustic, which is totally different to an electric. So I'm – and I’m still looking for the perfect example of this, but I'm going to keep going now.

GROSS: So what you would get is like an electrified acoustic guitar that was also distorted?

RICHARDS: Yeah, exactly. You've got it, Terry. You've got it. That's it. I was trying to get the quality and the touch that you can get from an acoustic guitar and then overload it and make it sound like an electric guitar.

But at the same time, you have that original acoustic touch because, you know, this gets complicated because guitars are strange animals (laughter). But there's a touch that you can get off an acoustic guitar that you'll never get off an electric.

And so I was trying to figure how to electrify the acoustic feel and still translate it, and so that was the name of the game. That was it.

GROSS: Now, it was surprising enough to me to read how you did this in your motel room, but then reading how you did it also in the recording studio was fascinating, that you wanted that sound so much that you brought in the cassette machine and plugged your acoustic guitar into it.

RICHARDS: Yes, I mean, I took these ideas, and the Stones were in the studio, and we were all looking at it and saying, It doesn't have what you had on the, you know, on the original idea.

And so finally, after many attempts to try and reproduce this sort of idea, you know, with amplifiers and, you know, conventionally, I think it was Charlie Watts, maybe. Let's go back, you know, to how you did it in the first place and work it from there, you know, which is why you've got "Street Fighting Man" and "Jumpin' Jack Flashes." There are no electric guitars at all. It's just overloaded acoustics.

I don't know. I like that denseness of color, of feel that you can get out of that. And it's an experiment I might take up again once they start making cassette machines again.

(LAUGHTER)

GROSS: So do you think "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a good illustration of what you were doing?

RICHARDS: Yeah, yeah, and "Street Fighting Man" is probably another great example of it.

GROSS: Which one would you rather hear?

RICHARDS: I love them both, honey. Don't ask me to cut the babies in half.

GROSS: All right. So we'll go with "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

RICHARDS: Yeah, go there. All right, yeah (laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH”)

THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) I was born in a cross-fire hurricane, and I howled at my ma in the driving rain. But it's all right now. In fact it's a gas. But it's all right. I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash; it's a gas, gas, gas.

I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag. I was schooled with a strap right across my back. But it's all right now. In fact, it's a gas. But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas, gas, gas.

DAVIES: We’ll hear more of Terry’s 2010 interview with Keith Richards after a break. This is FRESH AIR.

DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. Let’s get back to Terry’s interview with Keith Richards recorded in 2010 when he’d published his autobiography.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

GROSS: Since you were so into rhythm and blues when you were in your early teens and in your teens, I found it so interesting that you learned to sing in a school choir and that you were taunted for being in the choir. What did you like about the choir, and what did you learn from being in it?

RICHARDS: It was just a way to get out of chemistry and physics.

(LAUGHTER)

RICHARDS: And I had a soprano that worked. But really, it was just about music, and it was - joining the choir, at least you got to, you know, hang around with guys that liked to sing and liked music. And I had a great choir master who was very severe but same sort of taught you a lot about, you know, how to hold your notes and when to let them go (laughter).

GROSS: Now, I remember when the Stones started to record that in America, we were expected to pick a team, who do you like best, The Stones or The Beatles?

RICHARDS: That competition thing, yeah.

GROSS: Yeah, and you write about, you know, when the Stones started getting going, that you didn't want to copy The Beatles, and you decided to be the anti-Beatles. So what did that mean in terms of your music and your image?

RICHARDS: You know, I think if you're talking image-wise, we probably did make a sort of decision to not be The Fab Four. They were different - basically differences between the bands.

The Beatles were basically a vocal band. You know, they all sang, and one song, John would take the lead, another Paul, another George, and sometimes Ringo, right?

But our band set up totally differently with one front-man, one lead singer, right? And what I loved about it was there's an incredible difference in that way between the Beatles and ourselves. But at the same time, we were there at the same time and, you know, you're dealing with each other, you know?

And it was a very, very fruitful and great relationship between The Stones and The Beatles. It was very, very friendly. The competition thing didn't come into it as far as we were concerned.

GROSS: Now, you say your manager of the time, Andrew Loog Oldham...

RICHARDS: Oldham, yeah.

GROSS: …Played the competition, played the difference between The Stones and The Beatles to the hilt. What did he do to try to emphasize what was different about The Stones?

RICHARDS: I don't know. He had worked with the Beatles in a PR capacity, and he had a falling-out with Brian Epstein, who was The Beatles' manager. And I guess what Andrew thought was that they - The Beatles can't be the only four guys in England, or four or five or whatever, you know, that there's other things out there.

And he'd heard about us, came by, and realized that here was a room to maneuver, that we're not trying to compete with The Beatles. We just want to make records.

And at the same time, he saw how from the image point of view, and how to present The Stones, was to be not The Fab Four, you know. We forget, you know, the neat haircuts and the suits and stuff ‘cause, well, quite honestly, Andrew found out there's no way you're going to get The Stones into suits for very long. You know, we'd sell them (laughter).

GROSS: Your first album was mostly covers of rhythm and blues songs. And you say that your manager of the time, Andrew Oldham, wanted The Stones to write more originals. So he basically locked you in a room and had you start writing.

RICHARDS: True (laughter).

GROSS: And the first song you co-wrote during this episode was "As Tears Go By," which Marianne Faithfull had a big hit of. But you say you couldn't have given it to The Stones. They would have laughed you or thrown you out of the room. Why? Why did he think - I love that Marianne Faithfull recording. Why do you think…

RICHARDS: Well, I do too.

GROSS: Do you think it's a bad song or just the wrong song…

RICHARDS: No, I just think…

GROSS: …at the wrong time for The Stones?

RICHARDS: I'll tell you what - I think that when you're just starting to write songs, but you have a band, you know, it'll take you a while to figure out how to write for that band. And - so first off, we had to write just a song, one song. Hey, we want - Mick and I wanted to get out of that kitchen. We'd have come up with anything, you know (laughter). But we worked, and we came out with "As Tears Go By."

And because Marianne did it, and it did very well, it gave Mick and myself a confidence that, well, at least we can write songs. And then the next step is is can we write songs for The Rolling Stones? Can we actually walk into the room with the guys and say, let's try this on for size? And it took us a while to get there. Meanwhile, we were learning our game and cutting our chops, you know.

DAVIES: Keith Richards speaking with Terry Gross in 2010. Richards has a new solo album called “Crosseyed Heart.” After a break, he’ll talk about what it was like being mobbed by teenage girls and about his relationship with Mick Jagger. I’m Dave Davies and this is FRESH AIR.

DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Dave Davies in for Terry Gross. We’re listening to Terry’s interview with Keith Richards, guitarist of The Rolling Stones who wrote most of the band’s song along with Mick Jagger. Richards has a new album called “Crosseyed Heart,” his first solo release in more than 20 years. He’s also the subject of a new documentary called “Under The Influence” which premiered last night at the Toronto International Film Festival and is available today on Netflix. Terry spoke with Richards in 2010 when his autobiography called “Life” was published.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

GROSS: So The Rolling Stones become global stars, and as you become global stars, you write about how you go to concerts and girls are throwing their underwear and themselves at you. And you say (reading) armies of feral, body-snatching girls began to emerge in big numbers about halfway through a first U.K. tour in the fall of ‘63. The power of teenage females of 13, 14, 15, when they’re in a gang, has never left me. They nearly killed me. If they get their hands on you, though, they don't know what to do with you (laughter) so…

RICHARDS: It's true (laughter).

GROSS: Would you describe one of those experiences for us, what it was like for you early on when that started to happening?

RICHARDS: I suppose the most graphic is trying to leave a theater in, I think it was in the north of England, somewhere up in the north, and they’d brought the cops out to kind of control the crowd, which was consisted of basically just young teenage girls, you know. Everybody rushes through - the whole band, they get through, they get in the car. I'm the last one out of the stage door. And silly me, I was wearing, you know, a kind of chain around my neck, and some chick from the left got hold of one side and some chick from the right got the other side. And to cut a long story short, quite honestly, I woke up in the garbage can and to see The Stones' car without - minus a door, zooming off in the horizon and I'm just left lying there with a, you know, maybe a half a shirt and a shoe. And things like that happened to me every day. It’s crazy.

GROSS: Then there are the songs that you describe as anti-girl songs that The Stones did like “Stupid Girl,” “Under My Thumb,” “Out Of Time,” “Yesterday's Papers.” And this is where I've been so ambivalent about some of the songs - Stones' songs like “Under My Thumb.” “Under My Thumb” is so catchy. I mean, I think it's just like irresistibly irresistible what's going on like melodically and rhythmically in there. And then, you know, I catch myself singing along, and what am I singing? You know, like, about this girl who’s like under his thumb…

RICHARDS: You know, it's got - it's...

GROSS: And so, anyways, were you ever ambivalent…

RICHARDS: Let me try and break in here, Terry.

GROSS: Go ahead, thank you.

RICHARDS: Let me break in here and say…

GROSS: Yeah.

RICHARDS: ...you can take it as, you know, male-female, like, or it's just people. I mean, it could be about a guy. It could’ve been, you know, this is just a guy singing, you know, that probably you’re actually under her thumb and you're just trying to fight back. You know, and these are all sort of relationships and stuff. And I wouldn't take it as any sexism. I can't even go there, you know, ‘cause I don't think about it. I just think, you know, we know what some people are like and then those things happen. And anyway, I didn't write the lyrics.

(LAUGHTER)

GROSS: Cut to the chase.

(LAUGHTER)

GROSS: Off the hook (laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “UNDER MY THUMB”)

THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) Under my thumb, the girl who once had me down. Under my thumb, the girl who once pushed me around. It's down to me, the difference in the clothes she wears, down to me. The change has come. She's under my thumb. And ain't it the truth, babe? Under my thumb is the squirming dog who's just had her day. Under my thumb, a girl who has just changed her ways. It's down to me, yes it is, the way she does just what she's told. Down to me, the change has come. She's under my thumb. Say it's all right. Under my thumb, a Siamese cat of a girl. Under my thumb, she’s the sweetest pet in the world. It’s down to me, the way she talks when she’s spoken to. Down to me, the change has come, she’s under my thumb. Take it easy, babe, yeah.

GROSS: Let's talk just a little bit about Altamont, which was the music festival in which - at the Altamont Raceway in California...

RICHARDS: Yeah.

GROSS: ...which one man was stabbed to death and three others died accidentally. This was a free concert and you describe how you'd asked the Grateful Dead - by you I mean The Rolling Stones - had asked the Grateful Dead to help organize it because they had a lot of experience with free concerts and...

RICHARDS: Exactly.

GROSS: ...the permits that you'd expected to get for Golden Gate Park and another place or two fell through and by that time, Altamont was the only place available.

RICHARDS: That was it.

GROSS: So when you were on stage there, at what point did you know things were really taking a bad turn and that this wasn't like a Woodstock concert, this was - there were some really nasty things happening in the audience?

RICHARDS: There was the potential for nasty things, and nasty things did happen. From my point of view, I was amazed that that was all that happened. The man who got - he was asking for trouble. And you have The Hells Angels there. Basically from my point of view, I'd say I realized this thing was getting dodgy just by looking at The Angels.

GROSS: Who were hired to do the security - I think I might have neglected to mention that.

RICHARDS: Yeah, so, like, you know, the, yeah, the Grateful Dead's guys and they said, oh, no problem. You know, these guys, we work with them and blah, blah. And we say, OK, we just want to know how to do it. We just want to throw a free one, you know? Also, a unique time for America, in 1969, that when - there were no cops around. There were - it was all right, just go off and do what you want to do, you know. They didn’t - there was no, in other words, control except what people could exert themselves. I think you throw a show. You say, hey, I want it to be free; everybody come. Then it's up to everybody else how they conduct themselves. And it was a very, very weird feeling in the middle of nowhere. You know, Altamont is basically, you know, Mars (laughter). And there's nobody else to turn to accept who, The Hells Angels? I'm not going to turn to them; they’re all on acid and Thunderbird wine.

GROSS: Did you decide at that point what would be the best song to play to quiet things down as opposed to amp things up?

RICHARDS: Well, I don’t know whether it was the right song to play, but I think we went into "Sympathy For The Devil."

GROSS: That's what I thought, yeah (laughter).

RICHARDS: But, yeah. But I think we just wanted something with a rhythm, just yeah, it didn’t really - by then, nobody could hear what anybody was singing or saying or anything. It was just like...

(SOUNDBITE OF CLAP)

RICHARDS: ...hey, you know when there’s a fight in a barroom and the band stops and then, you know, some stuff goes down and they're like...

(SOUNDBITE OF CLAPPING)

RICHARDS: ...play some music, whatever it is, we don't give a damn. Just play, you know, just divert attention.

DAVIES: We’ll hear more of Terry’s 2010 interview with Keith Richards after a short break. This is FRESH AIR.

DAVIES: This is Fresh air. Let’s get back to Terry’s interview with Keith Richards recorded in 2010 when he published his autobiography called “Life.”

GROSS: Let me ask you about your relationship with Mick Jagger. You grew up in the same neighborhood, you’ve known him since you were a boy. You were obviously very close for a long period of time, co-wrote so many songs together. But at the same time, you write about how and...

RICHARDS: Hey, there’s problems down the road, yeah.

GROSS: Yeah, about how in the beginning of the ‘80s...

RICHARDS: Let me preempt you (laughter).

GROSS: Yes, go ahead. Go ahead.

RICHARDS: You know, I mean, do you think in a 50-year relationship doing this stuff that there's not going to be some conflict, some disagreements? Of course there's going to be…

GROSS: But you describe him as having become unbearable in the early '80s. What...

RICHARDS: At times, yes. So am I.

GROSS: What made him unbearable in those times?

RICHARDS: Attitude. You know, and - it’s all in the book, and I don't want to expand on it with you, Terry. What I’ve said is in the book. I, you know, I can't say anything more than that.

GROSS: But let me quote something…

RICHARDS: I don’t wish to.

GROSS: Let me quote something that you say in the book and this was - you write how, you know, in the early '80s, this is right after you had kicked heroin, and you said, (reading) Mick seemed to like one side of me being a junkie, the one that kept me from interfering in day-to-day business. And you say that after you kicked, you wanted a more active say in what the band did. But apparently, Mick Jagger didn't really want you to have one? Do I read that right?

RICHARDS: Yeah, you know, he got used to holding the reins and that became - that was a bit of a shock to me at the time, but I lived with it. And anyway, we, you know - actually what happened is that we ended up sharing the reins again. But at the time, yeah, that did shock me or disappointed me I’d say. I mean, shock I'm beyond, you know? But - and I’d leave it at that, quite honestly. It was a bit of a surprise to me at the time and also - but it gave me more of an insight into Mick himself. You know, I said, hey, man, you know, all right, go for it, you know (laughter). I mean, it's only rock ‘n' roll, honey.

GROSS: So just one more question about this, which is when you were performing on stage together during this period of great friction, do you feel it on stage? Did you try to prevent the audience from feeling that friction?

RICHARDS: No, get out of here. This is a bunch of guys that have been together for yonks, you know, I mean, you don't carry stuff like this onto stage. These are things that just happen and you deal with them and you get it over with, you know - forget about it. It's, I mean, this is not some angst or big deal, you know. You know, of course, guys have fights. Brothers have fights all the time. That's what it’s all about. It's, you know, to pick one thing out and say, like, oh, it's a festering wound, what rubbish. No, you know, we're brothers. We get along and we fight sometimes and I don't think I can express it any better than that.

GROSS: So I'm going to play "Beast of Burden." Do you want to say anything about writing it or what you're playing on it?

RICHARDS: No. I loved it. It's another one that came very natural sitting around with Mick and...

(SOUNDBITE OF SNAP)

RICHARDS: And Mick - see, I write songs for Mick to sing. That's what I do. I mean, you don't get "Midnight Ramblers” out of nowhere. You don't get "Gimme Shelters" out of nowhere. I'm writing for this - I say, man, I know this guy can handle this and nobody will ever be able to handle it any other way. What I do is write songs for Mick to sing and if he picks up on it...

(SOUNDBITE OF SNAP)

RICHARDS: ...Baby we got, you know. If he doesn't, I just let it sit on the shelf.

GROSS: What are the qualities in his voice and in his personality that you feel you’re writing for?

RICHARDS: He's an outstanding performer. Hey, you're talking about a mixture of James Brown and Maria Callas here, you know?

(LAUGHTER)

RICHARDS: I got you.

GROSS: That's good.

RICHARDS: Yeah. And to have to work with such an outsized personality, ego, and say, hey, whatever it takes, it’s there and you’ve got to, you know, and you’ve got to go for it, and sometimes it doesn't work and a lot of times it does. And so you just keep on pushing, you know?

GROSS: So let's hear "Beast of Burden" and this is from The Stones' 19…

RICHARDS: Please do. I love that one.

GROSS: Me too - the 1978 album "Some Girls," "Beast of Burden."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BEAST OF BURDEN”)

THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) I'll never be your beast of burden. My back is broad but it's hurting. All I want is for you to make love to me. I'll never be your beast of burden. I've walked for miles my feet are hurting. All I want is for you to make love to me.

Am I hard enough? Am I rough enough? Am I rich enough? I'm not too blind to see.

I'll never be your beast of burden. So let's go home and draw the curtains. Music on the radio. Come on, baby, make sweet love to me.

Am I hard enough? Am I rough enough? Am I rich enough? I'm not too blind to see.

Oh, little sister. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, girl.

GROSS: You’ve survived so many things in your life, including a heroin habit, a car accident, a cerebral hematoma. Of all the things that you survived...

RICHARDS: Is that what I had?

GROSS: That's what you say you had.

RICHARDS: (Laughter) I didn’t - never knew what they called it, honey.

GROSS: So yeah, you fell out of a tree? Is that right?

RICHARDS: Yeah.

GROSS: Yeah.

RICHARDS: I fell out of a damn tree and bashed my head.

GROSS: So of all the things that you've survived, was there any one time where you really felt this is it?

RICHARDS: Well, there's been a few times of flying through the air in a Mercedes upside down and hitting the ground three times where you do kind of sort of get the hint that maybe this is it. But if it ain't it, then you just carry on with life, right? I mean, boo, we all bump into death at one time or another, honey.

GROSS: What do you want from the next stage of your life as you approach your ‘70s?

RICHARDS: Well, I'm looking to be about 120, you know?

GROSS: OK.

RICHARDS: But I don't know what I'm going to do with it (laughter). Quite honestly, I think the band wants to play, the boys want to play together and hopefully, you know, we can get on the ups here and we’re thinking ahead. You know, I mean, I know that obviously because of this - the book and everything and there's a lot of retro going on and stuff. But as far as I'm concerned, and I think as far as Mick's concerned and Charlie and Ronnie, get it over. Get over it, let's get on ahead. You know, we want to make some records and we want to do some good shows and we believe that we have it in us to do that.

GROSS: Now, you say in the book that people are always saying, oh, The Stones are still at it and they’re getting so old, you know, and, but...

RICHARDS: Yeah. But they said that to Duke Ellington and Count Basie. I'm keeping a band together here. You know…

GROSS: No, exactly. That’s what you say...

RICHARDS: …I mean, they say that Louis Armstrong...

GROSS: If it was Basie or Ellington, they wouldn't be talking that way. But, you know, rock ‘n' roll was considered a youth music.

RICHARDS: Exactly. So we're here to grow up rock ‘n' roll...

GROSS: Right. So...

RICHARDS: ...And see how far it can go.

GROSS: And that's my question, as grown-ups approaching your ‘70s, what's different about what you want to do on stage and what you want to sing on stage?

RICHARDS: I don’t know. This is - we're thinking about this. It's a good question, you know, and how do we want to do it? How can The Stones grow up? I mean, you've got to get like kicking 70 to figure, you know, a thing like that out. I don't know. We'll find out.

GROSS: Well, thank you so much for talking with us. It's really been a pleasure. And, you know, all best to you. Thank you very much.

RICHARDS: Hey, Terry, thanks very much. Good try, honey.

GROSS: (Laughter).

DAVIES: Keith Richards, guitarist for The Rolling Stones. He spoke with Terry in 2010 when his autobiography, “Life,” was published. Richards has a new solo album called “Crosseyed Heart.” Coming up, David Edelstein reviews the new action thriller “Sicario” set in the U.S. Mexican drug wars. This is FRESH AIR.

Special Thank you to NeddieFlanders & Norbert [www.iorr.org]

Keith's New Documentary 'Under the Influence' on Netflix

Article Link



10 Things We Learned From 'Keith Richards: Under the Influence'

From 'topless bathing' busts to being hungover at Howlin' Wolf's house, some takeaways from the guitarist's doc

By Dan Epstein September 18, 2015

When it comes to rock and roll fantasies, most of us would surely put "hanging with Keith Richards' near the top of our list. Really, who wouldn't want to spend some quality time with the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist, spinning records, playing Fender Telecasters (preferably named after Dickens' characters) and having the old pirate regale you with tales of over a half-century's worth of musical adventures?

Director Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom, Best of Enemies) got to do just that while making Keith Richards: Under The Influence, which premieres September 18th on Netflix — and which, for eighty extremely enjoyable minutes, allows us to do the same. Originally conceived as a promotional video for Crosseyed Heart, Richards' first solo album in 23 years, Influence has been expanded into a feature-length documentary that paints a charming portrait of the guitarist (who will turn 72 in December) as rock and roll elder statesman. Tom Waits, Buddy Guy, Steve Jordan (who produced and drummed on Crosseyed Heart), X-Pensive Winos guitarist Waddy Wachtel and Richards' long-serving guitar tech Pierre de Beauport all provide snippets of insightful commentary. But it's really the Uncle Keef Show all the way, with Richards punctuating nearly every anecdote and guitar strum with a knowing grin, a phlegmy chuckle and/or the rakish twirl of a gnarled finger.

More of a snapshot of the man in his current, exceedingly positive headspace than a chronological trawl through the ups and downs of Richards' back pages, the documetary assiduously avoids the darker side of the Keith/Stones legend — there's no talk of Altamont, heroin, the death of Brian Jones or Richards' tumultuous relationship with Anita Pallenberg, for example. The "influence” of the title refers to music rather than bourbon or opiates, and Neville does a beautiful job of getting to the heart of how blues, country and reggae sounds deeply impacted Richards and the Stones, as well as the immense joy that the guitarist still clearly derives from making music. Here are 10 things we learned from Keith Richards: Under the Influence.

1. Keith's main early musical influence was his mother.

"My Mum was a beautiful music freak with incredible taste," he says. "She was a wizard of the dial — if there was anything worth listening to [on the radio], she would find it." Doris Richards turned her only son on to such jazz greats as Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Billy Eckstine, as well as "a little dash of Mozart here and there." She also instilled him with a lifelong love of country music. "We didn't hear a lot of it in England, but I was well aware of it,” he recalls. "My mother made sure of that."

2. His grandfather "teased” him into becoming a guitarist.
Keith's granddad Gus kept an acoustic guitar on his wall, which was placed tantalizingly out of the youngster's reach. "When you can reach it, I'll let you play it," Gus told him; then, when Keith was big enough to reach it, Gus insisted that he learn the Spanish standard "Malagueña," because "it's got a lot of moves in it that make it great for the fingers."

3. The roots of the Rolling Stones can be traced back to two specific albums.
In 1960, Keith and childhood chum Mick Jagger reunited when they ran into each other on a train. Mick was carrying two albums with him at the time — The Best of Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry's Rockin' at the Hops, both on Chess Records — and the two college students immediately bonded over their mutual love for the blues. "I thought I was the only guy in the southeast of England that knew anything about this stuff," Keith laughs. Out of that bond grew the Rolling Stones, who took their name from a song on the Muddy LP called "Rollin' Stone"; songs from both albums (including Muddy's "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and Chuck's "Let It Rock") would show up in the band's set lists for decades to come.

4. The Stones once got in trouble with the law for "topless bathing."

Keith recounts how, during one of their early U.S. tours, someone called the cops on the band for swimming at a Georgia Holiday Inn without their shirts on. "Some freaked-out locals thought, because of the hair, there was a load of chicks jumping into the pool naked," he chuckles. Much to the bemusement (and disappointment) of the local constabulary, it just turned out to be a bunch of skinny English dudes.

5. The Stones made it acceptable for Chicago blues guitarists to crank up their amps in the recording studio.
Blues legend Buddy Guy recalls how the Chess Studios engineers refused to record his guitar at a loud volume, claiming that no one would want to hear the distorted sounds that resulted. "But when it got back to Leonard [Chess] that the British are playing it, and it's getting over," he says, "I turned my amp up like these British guys."

Keith Richards
Netflix
6. Keith thinks he's probably a better bass player than a guitar player.
Well, he might actually be joking about that — but there's no question that Keith loves the occasional four-string workout. Not only did he lay down the bass tracks on such classic Stones jams as "Jumping Jack Flash," "Street Fighting Man," "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Happy," but he also handles all the bass duties on Crosseyed Heart. "I love this shit!" he exults, after finishing a bass take for the new record.

7. There are no electric guitars on "Street Fighting Man."

Seriously — Keith's bass is actually the only electric instrument on the entire song. That aggressive guitar sound you hear on the 1968 track is actually Keith slamming an acoustic guitar at close range into the microphone of a portable tape recorder; the volume and proximity of the guitar caused the recorded signal to overload, producing a distorted, ringing sound. In Under the Influence, Keith demonstrates the technique using a 1967 Norelco tape recorder — a sequence that will probably cause the eBay value of 1960s portable tape decks to inflate considerably.

8. Keith once went to a party at one blues legend's house — and somehow woke up at the home of another one.
While paying a visit with Neville to Muddy's decrepit old digs on the south side of Chicago, Keith recalls Willie Dixon taking him to a house party there many years ago. "It was rocking when I got here, I remember that," he says. "It's leaving I don't remember. I crashed out here, but I woke up at Howlin' Wolf's house… the party continued, and I went with it!"


9. Keith was estranged from his father for two decades.

Keith's parents split up after he left home to pursue his rock and roll dreams; Bert Richards, his father, didn't speak to him for 20 years. When Keith finally arranged a meeting with Bert during the 1980s, he was so nervous about the prospect of seeing his dad again that he "took Ronnie Wood with me for protection — that's how scared I was!" Woody's intimidating presence ultimately proved unnecessary, however, as the reunion turned out to be a happy one. "We sorted it all out," Keith says, "and for the next 20 years, he became my best mate."

10. Keith has actually [gasp] talked about retiring.

The Internet may be crammed with jokey memes about Keith's immortality, but the man himself appears to have semi-seriously considered the prospect of calling it a day, at least career-wise. "Keith said something that was kind of shocking, and I asked him never to say that again," recounts Steve Jordan. "He was like, 'You know, maybe I should retire.' At which I completely freaked out!" Keith tries to play it off by growling, "I was talking in my sleep!" — but hey, it's somehow comforting to learn that a seventy-something rock star occasionally thinks about the same things that normal seventy-somethings do.





Thank you gotdablouse for the original post [www.iorr.org]

Keith gave Host Jimmy Fallon, host of the Tonight Show a "Pull My Finger" birthday card that makes fart noises.

got it...Thanx



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-19 23:38 by detroitken.

Keith and Patti at Under the Influence premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 17. 2015

photoS: ISAIAH TRICKEY

Toronto International Film Festival - "Keith Richards: Under The Influence" Press Conference




Musician Keith Richards attends the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival - 'Keith Richards: Under The Influence' Press Conference

GEORGE PIMENTEL photos


Photos link






Director/Producer Morgan Neville (L) and musician Keith Richards attend the 'Keith Richards: Under The Influence' press conference at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival at TIFF Bell Lightbox on September 17, 2015 in Toronto, Canada.

Billboard magazine Article LinkBillboard Article link



Morgan Neville and Keith Richards attend the "Keith Richards: Under The Influence" press conference at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Sept. 17, 2015 in Toronto, Canada.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images


From the beginning of Keith Richards: Under The Influence, Morgan Neville's new documentary on the Rolling Stones guitarist, it's clear Keith Richards still loves the same music that got him started more than 50 years ago. As Richard smiles listening to Little Walter's "Blue and Lonesome" on vinyl, the 71-year-old living legend calls the power of the blues "mind-blowing" and later recalls the Stones' origin story when he ran into Mick Jagger on a train in Kent, England, carrying Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry records under his arm.

But Under The Influence isn't just about the blues; it's about all of Richards' influences -- classical, jazz, country, reggae, even Spanish -- and how it shaped him as a musician and influenced his brand new solo album, Crosseyed Heart, which was released Friday on Republic Records to coincide with the documentary's add on Netflix.

Keith Richards Documentary 'Under the Influence' a 'Scrapbook, Not a Novel,' Director Says

In the film, his friend Tom Waits calls him a "locality data archaeologist" of music, "like a London cabbie who has the knowledge." We also learn that Richards plays piano and considers himself a better bass player than he does a guitar player.

"For me, music is a center of everything," Richards says in the film. "It's something that binds people together through centuries, through millenniums."

Richards and Neville were in Toronto for the world premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival Thursday and thrilled the sold-out house at the Princess of Wales Theatre with an onstage interview afterwards with TIFF's doc programmer Thom Powers. "Wow, this is exciting," said Neville beforehand. "We've never screened this film for anybody yet. I've not seen it with an audience. I've not seen it on it on a large screen so we figured we'd have a few people over, screen it to you tonight and see what you all think."

Neville, a musical archaeologist himself, has made films about Johnny Cash, Stax Records, Hank Williams and Muddy Waters, among others. He won a 2014 Academy Award for Twenty Feet from Stardom and had another doc at this year's TIFF called The Music of Strangers: Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Under The Influence didn't begin as a film at all, just a small piece at Richards' home when Neville brought over a stack of vinyl and a camera crew. The two music geeks bonded.

Keith Richards says the Rolling Stones Will Record in 2016

"I had no idea that just doing that one thing with Morgan that day would lead into this film," Richards said during the question and answer session. "I didn't even know that I was going to make a record at that time; we were just feeling our way through and I think Under The Influence grew organically along with the record.... I was still just feeling my way with my great friend [producer, drummer, co-writer] Steve Jordan and several other great friends."

Richards continued, explaining how the documentary and film influenced each other -- as well as himself, personally, to push ahead with both.

"I was on the cusp of 'Maybe this is an album coming up,' which means I've got a lot more work. I wasn't sure that I was cut out for it. But with Morgan's influence, coming in at that time, the two things suddenly came together in a way. I keep using this word 'organic,' which is sometimes a little off-putting to me because I do a lot of un-organic things," he said to big laughter. "I think it's the right word for what we're talking about."

For all the clichés and assumptions about Richards -- he jokes that the standard "Keith Richards image" is one of him smoking a joint with a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand, cursing the fact that the liquor store is closed -- Neville discovered a man who hasn't bought in or paid attention to the "image" the world has created of him and made nothing off limits in the interviews for Under The Influence.

"We could talk about anything we wanted and that's something that's so unique about Keith in some ways," said Neville. "He has this incredible sense of 'I don't give a @#$%&,' which some people call Zen. I admire that. He lives at a level of being comfortable with himself that I aspire to."

Keith Richards' 'Under the Influence' Trailer Hits the Web

One of Richards' knacks is this easy ability to tell a great story in a nutshell, full of color and detail, and end it with a punch line, such as the nugget in the doc about Chuck Berry slamming his hand in a guitar case when he dared touch the strings ("one of Chuck's greatest hits!") or somehow waking up at Howlin' Wolf's house after a party that started at Muddy Waters' place ("I got carried away; the party continued and I went with it").

Under The Influence is the perfect set up for Richards' third solo album and first since 1992, Crosseyed Heart, which tips its hat to everyone from Robert Johnson to Leadbelly and Hank Williams. For the film, Richards makes pilgrimages to the cities that shaped the Stones' music and his own passion, including Chicago and Nashville. And as he meets his heroes, Richards seems as excited to meet them as Stones fans are to meet him. There's a wonderful clip of him onstage with the late Muddy Waters and a present-day hang with Buddy Guy drinking corn whiskey and playing pool.

"I knew nothing about their lives," Richards said when Powers points out there were no docs or books at that time to learn about the bluesmen. "I just imagined what a bluesman's life was like. I found out they were pretty much like everybody else. These guys were hardworking men. Hey, you know but they were also musicians on the road so there is always that other side to the trip. But what I found out of the guys that I admired and listened to, when I actually met them, they were -- almost every single one -- a real gentleman."

One of the most shocking moments in Under The Influence is at the start of the film when Jordan reveals that Richards told him he was thinking of retirement. The drummer confesses he suggested they get together once a week to jam, knowing that would put such talk behind him. When Powers asks him if he's still thinking of retiring, Richards says, "This was just a ploy. I just wanted to get some action and I thought the only way I'm going to get some is to threaten to retire."

MORGAN NEVILLE was born in Los Angeles. His documentary features include Brian Wilson: A Beach Boy's Tale (99), The Cool School (08), Troubadours (11), Twenty Feet from Stardom (13), which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and Best of Enemies (15), co-directed with Robert Gordon. The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (15) and Keith Richards: Under the Influence (15) are his latest features.






Academy Award–winning director Morgan Neville (Twenty Feet from Stardom) follows Keith Richards on the road as the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist records his first solo record in over two decades.
"I'm not getting old, I'm evolving," says Keith Richards in this intimate documentary, which follows him on the road during the creation of his first solo album in twenty-three years, Crosseyed Heart.

The Rolling Stones guitarist is one of the chief architects of rock 'n' roll, and this film traces the sources of his inspirations — electric blues, country honky-tonk, southern soul, and more. Richards has typically been known as a tough interview, but here, in conversations with director Morgan Neville, he comes across as reflective, funny, and poignant. Neville and his crew sit in on the New York recording sessions for Crosseyed Heart and speak with Richards' musical collaborators, who include Tom Waits and musician/ co-producers Steve Jordan and Waddy Wachtel. They also journey to Chicago — where Richards first encountered Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and the hallowed studios of Chess Records — and to Nashville, where he explores his long love of country music.

With a film career steeped in music history, Neville is a perfect match for the subject, having directed the documentary The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (also playing in this year's Festival) and the Academy Award-winning Twenty Feet from Stardom. In Keith Richards: Under the Influence, he partners with cinematographer Igor Martinovic — who employs a set of vintage lenses rarely used in documentaries — and sets Richards' words to exquisite images.

Longtime fans will remember that Richards has a storied history in Toronto, including the Stones' live recordings at the El Mocambo and the 1977 drug bust which cast his future in doubt. Keith Richards: Under the Influence is evidence of how much he still has to offer.

Following the film's world premiere, Richards will take the stage with director Morgan Neville for a live conversation.



MOVIE TRAILER:

video: [tiff.net]

TORONTO SUN article




Keith Richards during a press conference for the documentary Keith Richards Under the Influence during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Thursday September 17, 2015. (Ernest Doroszuk-Postmedia Network)


Article Link



Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, whose new solo album, Crosseyed Heart, comes out today, disagrees that rap music could be thought of as this generation’s blues.

“Blues to me, also there’s music – not just somebody talking – and it’s as simple as that,“ said Richards, at his TIFF press conference Thursday afternoon before the world premiere of his documentary about the making of Crosseyed Heart, called Keith Richards: Under The Influence, leading up to its availability on Netflix Friday.


“And for me, I need music. I need notes. It just doesn’t grab me. That’s all. I don’t want to knock anything. They’re having a great time of it and loads of people love it and stuff like that. But I prefer not to hear Mary Had a Little Lamb with a bad drum beat.”

Richards, decked out in a snakeskin jacket, coloured headband and sunglasses in front of about 50 reporters and a dozen photographers, previously told the New York Daily News that rap was for “tone- deaf people.“

The subject came up again in Toronto because the 71-year-old musician’s new solo disc – his first in 23 years – was informed by his love of blues (the great Muddy Waters in particular), country and reggae and was co-produced by drummer Steve Jordan.

--

“He’s a great friend of mine,” said Richards, who did admit he likes British singer-songwriters Ed Sheeran and James Bay among the current crop of artists.

“We worked together way back. We’ve worked with Chuck Berry and Aretha Franklin. We have credentials.”

Richards was joined at the press conference by Oscar winning Under The Influence director Morgan Neville (Twenty Feet from Stardom), who first interviewed the legendary guitarist 13 years ago for a Waters documentary.?Later on, he came to shoot some video for one of Crosseyed Heart’s tracks.

“The whole film is like an amble,” said Neville. “I kind of feel like it’s a scrapbook, in a way, I wanted it to feel like a hang.”

Added Keith, making an unintentional but funny mistake: “Morgan knew a lot about music. We had met before, especially 12 Steps From Stardom was quite a good movie.”

Thus the documentary came about quite “organically” said the guitarist who admitted he initially growled at the presence of the cameras.

“I growl at everything man,” said a smiling Richards. “I didn’t intend to make an album; I just wanted to cut a few tracks. You know sometimes you get into something and you realize that this thing is bigger than both of you... Organically I suppose is the word. It’s a very cute word but in a way it did happen like that. It sort of grew all by itself, the record and Under The Influence... It organically grew like in a green house and I’m not going to tell you what grows in there,” he added mischievously.

Richards described Crosseyed Heart as a “hats off to a lot of the great influences of my musical career,” adding with a smile, “There’s a lot of cops involved.”

More seriously he said: “What I loved about making it was there was no deadline...This record we just made it until we felt happy with it.”

Before arriving in Toronto, Richards confirmed that the Rolling Stones would be going back into the studio to record again after their spring South American tour.

“I do feel the Rolling Stones are still, in some way, finding themselves,” he said on Thursday.

“There’s a lot excitement in the band. You think you’ve peaked somewhere but as a band, musically within the band, I think there’s a feeling of ‘There’s more in there yet.’ There’s more to find out about music and about the Rolling Stones and probably about ourselves and so you’re kind of driven to do it.”

He continued later on: “I always think that maybe this thing has all got to do with, ‘Do you meet the right people to play with?’ That is the essence of a band. There’s a million virtuosi out there but unless they can work together and put their energies together – that’s the difficult thing. For me it’s a miracle. I got lucky first go. I got Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger and you can’t go wrong with material like that. But I also realize it is the chemistry amongst people playing together that makes the music probably far more important than anything one can do by one’s self. And so it’s got to do with community too. It’s got to do with friendship. And it’s got to do with living with each other. It’s kind of like weird family life and no babies.”




Jane C Stevenson



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-19 23:54 by exilestones.

Keith Richards had enough of politics with Maggie Trudeau

TORONTO - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards won’t get drawn into Canada’s federal election, which sees Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in a close race to become the country’s next prime minister.

The 71-year-old musician, on the red carpet for his TIFF documentary, Keith Richards: Under The Influence, was asked about the election given Trudeau’s mother, Margaret, was hanging around the Stones camp in Toronto in 1977 when Richards was busted for heroin.

“I really don’t know the recent one, although I do hear you had an interesting mayor here for a while,” Richards said with a laugh, referring to Rob Ford.

“But no, I don’t want to go into Canadian politics. I’ve had enough of that with (Margaret) Trudeau.”

Otherwise, Richards said he had no serious plans to retire despite mentioning it in the documentary before he recorded Crosseyed Heart, his first solo album in 23 years, which will be released Friday, the day Under The Influence is released on Netflix.

“It was a ploy to get other people moving in the band, in the Stones, and also people around me (like), ‘OK, what if I give up?” Richards said. “And they all went, ‘Oh, my God, we can’t have that!’”

Toronto Sun Article Link

TIFF: Rolling Stones to roll on, Keith Richards says
More than a half century after the Rolling Stones began rocking, they’re “still sort of finding themselves.”

Keith's Press Conference Video

Article & Video Clip Link

Keith Richards says talented guitarists need to play with the 'right people.' The Rolling Stones guitarist is at the Toronto International Film Festival in support of the documentary 'Keith Richards: Under the Influence.'

By: Peter Howell Movie Critic, Published on Thu Sep 17 2015
More than a half-century after the Rolling Stones began rocking, they’re “still sort of finding themselves” and determined to roll on, guitarist Keith Richards says.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the band,” he told a TIFF press conference Thursday, prior to the festival’s world premiere of Keith Richards: Under the Influence, a documentary by Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (Twenty Feet From Stardom).

“You’d think you’d peak somewhere, but as a band musically, and within the band, I think there’s a feeling that … there’s more in there yet,” said a smiling Richards, 71, looking every inch the rock legend in a gold snakeskin jacket, dark shades and multicoloured headband.

“There’s more to find out about music and about the Rolling Stones and probably about ourselves. So you’re kind of driven to do it. I mean, who wants to jump off a moving bus?”

Earlier this week, Richards confirmed rumours that the Stones are planning to record their first studio album in a decade, something fans had feared might never happen, later this year or early in 2016, and there’s a tour of South America also in the works.

The band recently completed its 15-date Zip Code tour of North America, with a July stop in Buffalo being the closest it came to Toronto.



BERNARD WEIL / TORONTO STAR

Crosseyed Heart, the first for Richards since 1992, also out Friday.
Richards said both the film and the record happened almost by accident, the former through fruitful musical discussions with Neville (“I know the man knows his music”) and the latter through jamming with Steve Jordan, a long-time friend, multi-instrumental musician and co-producer of the new alb
um.
“It just grew all by itself,” Richards said of Crosseyed Heart.
“It wasn’t expected, it wasn’t owed to anybody, and I think that’s one of the beauties of the record to me.

“It just organically grew in its own little greenhouse — and I won’t tell you what grows in there!”

The film focuses on the many other musical legends who influenced Richards and the other Stones, bluesmen like Muddy Waters, pioneer rockers such as Chuck Berry and even such unexpected inspirations as Mozart.

It touches on the Stones tangentially, seen in brief archival clips, allowing other close friends such as Jordan, blues great Buddy Guy and singer-songwriter Tom Waits to hold forth on the man the fans call “Keef.”

Neville, sitting next to Richards at the TIFF Bell Lightbox press conference, moderated by TIFF’s doc programmer Thom Powers, said he was surprised to learn that “even rock stars have their own rock stars. They’re fans, too.”

Richards, rarely seen without a cigarette, was abiding by the strict no-smoking rules of the festival and of Toronto, a city he has long credited with saving his life. He was busted for heroin possession here in 1977, one of many times the future of the Stones looked uncertain, and he’s said the experience forced him to clean up his act.

He joked about the many times he’s had to deal with cops and lawyers in his career, but overall this blues-obsessed son of blue-collar Britons considers it miraculous that he became a pop star at all.

“For me, it’s a miracle. I got lucky, first go. I got Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger! And you can’t go wrong with material like that …
“It’s kind of like a weird family life with no babies.”

[www.huffingtonpost.ca]

Keith's Middle Finger

Video: video: [www.nbc.com]

Executive Producer Adam Del Deo, Director/Producer Morgan Neville, musician Keith Richards, Executive Producer Lisa Nishimura, producers Justin Wilkes and Jane Rose attend the 'Keith Richards: Under The Influence' premiere during the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 17, 2015 in Toronto, Canada.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-20 00:30 by exilestones.

Taylor Hill photo



Does this guy really need a name card?

Musician Keith Richards (L) and Director/Producer Morgan Neville speak onstage during the 'Keith Richards: Under The Influence' press conference at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival at TIFF Bell Lightbox on September 17, 2015 in Toronto, Canada.

Jemal Countess photo

Keith Richards (L) and Patti Hansen attend the GQ Men Of The Year Awards after party at The Royal Opera House on September 8, 2015 in London, England.
David M. Bennett photo



James Fox, Keith Richards, Patti Hansen, Ronnie Wood and Sally Wood attend the GQ Men Of The Year Awards at The Royal Opera House on September 8, 2015 in London, England.

video: [www.youtube.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-20 01:02 by exilestones.

Keith Richards goes one on one with David Fricke at SIRIUS XM Studio on August 6, 2015 in New York City. In-Depth interview to Air on SiriusXM's The Spectrum Channel.
Kevin Mazur photo

Keith Richards seen out in East Village in New York, New York.
Josiah Kamau photo

Keith Richards and Founder/Chairman and CEO of Republic Records, Monte Lipman attend Keith Richards' 'Crosseyed Heart' new album listening session at Electric Lady Studio on July 21, 2015 in New York City.
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Kevin Mazur

Keith Richards - Crosseyed Heart (official TV Spot)

keith Richards continues to keep busy following the wrap of The Rolling Stones' hugely successful Zip Code Tour last week.

video: [www.youtube.com]

"I ain't a pop star anymore and don't want to be." - Keith Richards

video: [www.youtube.com]

Under the Influence clips