From the forthcoming Keith Richards On Keith Richards: Interviews and Encounters, out September 1st, a 1986 Details magazine interview with Chris Spedding.



American Songwriter - August 27th, 2013

This 1986 interview with Keith Richards upon the release of the Stones’ Dirty Work album is surprisingly lacking in references to what Richards termed “World War III”: the furious disputes between Richards and Jagger about the latter’s solo career that were known to have marked Dirty Work’s gestation and would come close to splitting the band permanently. This turns out not to be a demerit as interviewer Chris Spedding finds another entertaining level of communication, speaking English-guitarist-to-English-guitarist with the man radiating the sort of rock iconography that infused Spedding’s 1975 UK hit single “Motor Bikin’.”

It has to be said that Richards’s new mantra—present for neither the first nor last time in this anthology—about using the Stones’ unique longevity for the benefit of rock music (“. . . see if we can make it grow up with us…”) has contrasted painfully with the reality of the progressive deterioration of the band’s art.

Read the interview > [www.americansongwriter.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-09-02 02:01 by bye bye johnny.

great, thanks a lot.
nice read.

Jeroen

Thanks for posting that. I missed out on a lot of that era.

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bye bye johnny
out September 1st

How can somebody sell 8 used books if it's not released yet?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-27 22:23 by Cristiano Radtke.

Fascinating interview. The book should be quite good.

yeah, a fine interview. Actually about the last ones where Keith still sounds rather frank and modest, and not yet seeing all through the glasses of "world according to Keef Richards myth hahaha". Especially his rather emphatic take on Brian Jones, and the beginnings of the Stones, including his own role, has a rather different tone - more honest and accurate I guess - than he has declared during the last decades, especially in LIFE. I might talk about this more later.

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-27 23:03 by Doxa.

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Doxa
yeah, a fine interview. Actually about the last ones where Keith still sounds rather frank and modest, and not yet seeing all through the glasses of "world according to Keef Richards myth hahaha". Especially his rather emphatic take on Brian Jones, and the beginnings of the Stones, including his own role, has a rather different tone - more honest and accurate I guess - than he has declared during the last decades, especially in LIFE. I might talk about this more later.

- Doxa

I know what you mean. I think the fact that he was talking to Chris Spedding might have been relevant here.

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bye bye johnny
It has to be said that Richards’s new mantra—present for neither the first nor last time in this anthology—about using the Stones’ unique longevity for the benefit of rock music (“. . . see if we can make it grow up with us…”) has contrasted painfully with the reality of the progressive deterioration of the band’s art.

I remember those interviews that Keith was doing with the "Enough of this Peter Pan stuff" and "...see if we can grow this thing [rock n roll] up" sayings.

How ironic that Keith would be expressing these sentiments while doing interviews to promote an album full of songs as angry and petty as quarreling schoolboys.

It seems other of his contemporaries before him did a better job of this already, notably, John Lennon's Double Fantasy, rock's first middle-aged/family/fatherhood album, and Pete Townshend with his early 80s albums Empty Glass and All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, with the song Slit Skirts from the latter with the lyrics, "I was just 34 years old/and I was still wandering in a haze/I was wondering why everyone I met/seemed like they were lost in a maze...."

Keith is better off taking Pete Townshend's advice: "Don't grow old gracefully. It wouldn't suit you."

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Cristiano Radtke

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bye bye johnny
out September 1st

How can somebody sell 8 used books if it's not released yet?

Only a guess, but maybe they're reviewers' copies.

Back in the 90's I found a Chris Spedding CD Cafe Days in a bargain bin at Walmart. I had no idea who he was but it was a Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs issue so I bought it. In the liner notes it said that in 75 he was one of the guitarists considered to replace Mick Taylor and that he turned the Stones down! Probably played the CD once.

Thanks for sharing!

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DGA35
Back in the 90's I found a Chris Spedding CD Cafe Days in a bargain bin at Walmart. I had no idea who he was but it was a Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs issue so I bought it. In the liner notes it said that in 75 he was one of the guitarists considered to replace Mick Taylor and that he turned the Stones down! Probably played the CD once.

He probably found The Stones at that time to be not inventive enough. In the early 70s his band Sharks was touring with Roxy Music, then he recorded and toured with John Cale, and he was also playing in the novelty band The Wombles for a number of years including '75. The next year he was producing the first demos by The Sex Pistols, so it's hard to say what he would have thought about debuting as a Stone that year on Black And Blue, an album that misses even with a considerable number of Stones fans.

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DGA35
Back in the 90's I found a Chris Spedding CD Cafe Days in a bargain bin at Walmart. In the liner notes it said that in 75 he was one of the guitarists considered to replace Mick Taylor and that he turned the Stones down!

Chris Spedding's take on that, from a 2011 interview with John Clarkson of Pennyblackmusic:

PB: There is a story that you were invited to join the Rolling Stones after Mick Taylor left the band. Is there any truth in that?

CS: There is an element of truth in that. When Mick Taylor left the Stones in early 1975, a lot of the musical papers - the ‘New Musical Express’ and the ‘Melody Maker’- as soon as they had realised that he had left put together all these lists of potential guitar players like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Rory Gallagher. I was just one of those. It reminded me of when the Pope dies. There are all these cardinals are going to be the next Pope. One of them ends up being picked and then you find out who it is. It was something like that. Who is going to be the next Pope (Laughs)?

I did get a call from Mick Jagger but it was about six months after Mick Taylor had left, and I wasn’t very flattered by that. If I was six months down the pile, I was probably near the bottom of the list. By the time I got the call, I had got other stuff happening. I had recorded ‘Motorbikin’. I was on the road with John Cale. I was scheduled to do a tour with Roy Harper. I wasn’t just going to throw it away on the chance that they would ask me to join them. A week after I got the call came the news that Ronnie Wood had joined them which seemed to be perfectly fitting.

[www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk]

" It’s almost as if the guitar had evolved to the stage where it needed a Keith Richards to come along and reach in and give us a glimpse of part of its true essence, its proto-soul."

Great line.

I hope they print the entire 1971 RS KR Interview in this

Robert Greenfield's 1971 Rolling Stone interview is one of 18 included in Keith Richards on Keith Richards: Interviews and Encounters.

Check out Amazon's "Look Inside" preview for the full list.

Review: 'Keith Richards on Keith Richards: Interviews and Encounters'



Posted by Mike Segretto

The cover shot says everything you need to know about the Keith Richards attitude. The bird he’s flipping says, “@#$%& off.” The smile says, “Don’t take it so seriously, baby.” This is the Keith we encounter time and again in Keith Richards on Keith Richards: Interviews and Encounters, largely because Sean Egan chose so many pieces from the eighties onward when Keith was in full I-know-I’m-a-living-legend mode. The editor, who also put together the excellent recent anthology The Mammoth Book of The Rolling Stones, had his reasons for skewing so post-golden years. In the sixties, Keith was actually third in line behind Mick Jagger and Brian Jones in the Stones hierarchy, so there were fewer interviews with him. Because Rock journalism had not matured yet, the interviews of that period tended to be lightweight anyway.

So The Rolling Stones’ most creatively fertile decade is represented by a mere nine pages. That includes a ghostwritten piece from 1964 dropping the first hints of Keith’s anti-establishment stance, an interesting piece from the same year about his early experiences with songwriting, and an amusing Better Homes and Gardens-style puff about Redlands from 1966 that does as good a job as highlighting his Gothic decadence/wasted clown image as any of the proper interviews (stolen truncheon hanging from the ceiling, burnt sausage in the frying pan, Dennis Wheatley book on the crapper floor, bedroom missing half its floor to provide a view into the kitchen).

After Brian’s death, Keith’s artistic influence over the Stones’ music became better known, and the rebel persona he earned with his infamous 1967 drug arrest solidified his infamy. From the seventies we get one massive, uncut, 80 page interview with Rolling Stone and a zonked one conducted in 1976 first published online twenty years later. If you’ve read The Mammoth Book, you’ve already read these.

That leaves the period when the Stones greatest relevance was in the past as the most thoroughly represented. This is also when Keith Richards had his act down completely: sneering disdain swaddled in down-to-earth amiability. He has certain stock responses he likes to repeat: Spanish Tony’s book Up and Down with The Rolling Stones constantly lapses into “fairy tales,” Brian Jones was ruined by his pop star complex, law enforcement is a bigger problem than drugs, guitarists should spend more time playing acoustic, Mick Jagger’s solo career is dog shit. That there is truth and insight in much of what he says makes the repetition less irritating, but it remains frustrating that the selection isn’t better balanced. It’s definitely a problem when Dirty Work, the Stones’ one irredeemable stinker, gets more ink than almost any other LP. That Keith spends a lot of time defending that dreck, even saying that his band shuns technology at a time their music was caked in synths and processors, suggests he isn’t always the most self-aware guy in the world.

Yet there are still things to learn in Keith Richards on Keith Richards: his take on The Who, his cagey handling of Chuck Berry while making the Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll documentary, his surprising affinity for guitarists Johnny Marr and Glenn Tilbrook when he generally seems skeptical of every musician born after Chuck. Egan’s choice of pieces that veer from the expected format are interesting too: the aforementioned Redlands article, an excerpt from Gil Markle’s online memoir about recording Keith performing oldies and standards in 1981, an unpublished Ira Robbins interview from 1988, a Dutch one from 1989 printed in English for the first time, a 2010 interview devoted to Exile on Main St., and perhaps most intriguing of all, an ice-and-fire parallel interview with Mick and Keith from 2002 in which many of the guitarist’s criticisms of his singer become subtly apparent. And for those who have not read The Mammoth Book, that 1971 Rolling Stone interview is required reading.

[psychobabble200.blogspot.com]

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bye bye johnny
Robert Greenfield's 1971 Rolling Stone interview is one of 18 included in Keith Richards on Keith Richards: Interviews and Encounters.

Check out Amazon's "Look Inside" preview for the full list.

Sounds like an interesting read, judging by the contents. I'm happy the 71' Greenfield interview is included. A rare instance where I might buy the print version.

Sean Egan does a wonderful job; probably a leading Stones journalist and editor at the moment, and I really like his way of writing. His LET IT BLEED book was excellent, and now I'm reading his THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF THE ROLLING STONES, which is a great anthology of classic articles and interviews plus Egan's original stuff. Let the Keith book be the next one.

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-29 18:13 by Doxa.

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Cafaro
I hope they print the entire 1971 RS KR Interview in this

yes! that interview is a major piece of Stones journalism.

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duke richardson

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Cafaro
I hope they print the entire 1971 RS KR Interview in this

yes! that interview is a major piece of Stones journalism.

The main basis for many a book afterwards and one which has had quite a knock on effect as he (and Anita) weren't being totally factual/truthfull in that interview.

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His Majesty

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duke richardson

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Cafaro
I hope they print the entire 1971 RS KR Interview in this

yes! that interview is a major piece of Stones journalism.

The main basis for many a book afterwards and one which has had quite a knock on effect as he (and Anita) weren't being totally factual/truthfull in that interview.

what weren't they truthful about?

I remember something about the Mafia..tomatoes..

Jus little exaggerations here and there etc. Keith living at Courtfield for two years? Try a few months.

That one interview has been taken to be the definitve telling and a main source, for example, of their formation which clashes with parts of other tellings of that story.

It is one interview out of many, albeit a very good and long one, but it's been used as a source by so many authors that what is in it has been viewed as fact even though there are some clashes with other interviews etc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-29 22:59 by His Majesty.

great..

you've just called Keith Richards a liar.

that's just fine.

Book Review: ‘Keith Richards on Keith Richards (Interviews and Encounters)’ edited by Sean Egan

By Greg Barbrick | Sunday, September 1, 2013

Keith Richards literally wrote the book on being a rock star with his autobiography Life (2010). It is probably the best one I have ever read. He pulls no punches and much of it is absolutely hilarious.

In reading the interviews collected in Keith Richards on Keith Richards though, it occurs to me that he had been working on Life for a very long time. The book contains 18 interviews, spanning the years 1964-2011. While it is no substitute for his lengthy autobiography, I consider this book to be a fascinating, and for fans, essential addendum to Life.

The centerpiece is the landmark Rolling Stone cover story/interview by Robert Greenfield from 1971. It is hands down the best interview Richards ever gave, and marked the first time he had ever really talked at length in a public forum. It had always been Mick Jagger speaking for the Rolling Stones previously, but in this interview we finally got the chance to meet “Keef.” And he does not disappoint.

For anyone who enjoyed Life, but somehow missed the Greenfield interview, it is a must. I was a little too young to be reading Rolling Stone in 1971, and did not came across the interview until I read The Rolling Stone Interviews (1981) collection. What I did not know until now was that the original had been edited somewhat for the reprint. The version included here is completely intact.

The three pieces that come before the RS interview are interesting snapshots of the early days. The first is from the English magazine Melody Maker, in 1964. In “I’d Like to Forget About Juke Box Jury” Says Keith Richard,” he is in what would become a familiar position, defending himself for speaking his mind. On the JBJ television show, a band would be played new records by other artists, and asked to rate them. The Stones being the Stones, they dissed everybody, including Elvis. In this article, “Richard” stands by his guns.

The next two chapters are “Keith Talks About Songwriting,” and “Sue Mautner Takes You ’Round Keith’s House,” from 1964 and 1966 respectively. Both are from The Rolling Stones Book, which was their answer to The Beatles Monthly, and for members of their fan club. No earth-shattering revelations here, but the house in question just happens to be Redlands. Keith’s pad would become infamous the following year when the cops found drugs, Marianne Faithful clad in a fur rug, and a mysterious Mars candybar on the premises.

Having read (most of) the Greenfield interview previously, the most intriguing piece in the book for me is the one right after it, “And Sitteth at the Right Hand…” by John Ingham. I had never seen this 1976 Sounds interview before, but even if I had, I am sure the published version would have been a bore. As editor Sean Egan notes in the introduction, Ingham was very sympathetic to the nascent punk scene brewing in London at the time. In fact, he had just come from an interview with the Sex Pistols. The scene in the Richards/ Ron Wood suite is utter decadence, and he tried to convey this in his article.

Ingham did a great job of it too, although Sounds readers never got the opportunity to read it. His editors took out all of the references to drugs, leaving nothing but Richards defending the band’s latest opus Black and Blue to the assorted members of the press. That is a shame, because in its original form, this article is fantastic. Ingham describes the mountain(s) of cocaine Richards snorts throughout the proceedings, never offering any to the assorted journalists. The funniest moment comes when Keith wipes his nose with his finger and scrapes it off on his trouser leg. “A foot from my eyes, stuck to the corduroy, is a thick line if cocaine mixed with a little snot,” writes Ingham, “And for a mad punk minute I think of leaning forward and with a quick ’Excuse me Keith,’ snorting it.” Best line in the book as far as I am concerned.

The remaining 13 interviews are from 1980-2011, and include pieces by such famous names as Kris Needs, Chris Spedding, and Ira Robbins, among others. Trouser Press founder Robbins actually has two, from 1988 and 1992. The 1988 interview is titled “The Great Lost Keith Richards Interview” and has an interesting backstory. The interview was commissioned for Creem, but the magazine folded before it could be published. It appears here for the first time.

As the years tick by, we see Richards growing more and more into his role as rock’s elder statesman. I found Egan’s introductions to be very thoughtful throughout the book, especially in these later articles. When one compares The Glimmer Twins; Jagger and Richards, it is hard not to love Keith. He seems open and human, where Mick always seems almost ridiculously aloof.

As Egan points out though, when you read these interviews back to back, Richards has what amounts to a mantra that he has been using over and over again for years. When asked about the relevance of a rock group who are as old as the Stones, he says that maybe rock will “grow up” with them. Beyond that, there is the tendency on the part of the writers themselves to treat him with a deference befitting royalty. The only thing that really seems to change in the later interviews is the title of the album being promoted.

I mentioned Chris Spedding as a “famous” name earlier, and should probably explain that. Spedding was part of the British pub-rock movement, which came just before punk. The first few Stones records were part of the pub bands’ DNA. Spedding hit the English charts with a 1975 single titled “Motor Bikin,” so his interview with Keith was as musician to musician. The 1992 Guitar Player interview by Jas Obrecht is also concerned almost exclusively with music, and the various guitar techniques Richards has used over the years. It too provides some relief from the repetition of the questions and answers in these later interviews.

For fans of Keith Richards, this really is an excellent collection of interviews, and belongs on the bookshelf, right next to Life.

[blogcritics.org]

Here's the 1964 Rollong Stones Monthly feature in it's original setting.

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Doxa
and now I'm reading his THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF THE ROLLING STONES, which is a great anthology of classic articles and interviews plus Egan's original stuff.
- Doxa

I just bought this after flipping through it in a bookstore and seeing it included interviews I'd never read. I'm looking forward to digging into it.

"Keith it’s not just a guy playing the guitar;
the guitar sometimes appears to be playing him—drawing,
as he does... with just the right sensibilities"

playing guitar is all he wanted in his life and still he does...
seems to be an interesting reader