Keith Richards: ‘We’re a damn good band and a miracle of chemistry’How much did you enjoy playing in Cuba to 1.2 million people?That was unique, man, even in my book. God knows, it was an amazing outpouring of what the Cuban people have stored up inside themselves.
There was a great sense of release and freedom and everybody had an incredible time. The band played their asses off. It was fantastic.
It looked like the crowd knew every word of your songs . . .Somehow, yeah, because I know we were banned there for several years. I was quite proud that we’d been banned in the early Sixties along with Elvis and The Beatles . . . good company you know?
Why did you feel compelled to say you wanted to stay forever?What struck me immediately on the drive from the airport into Havana is suddenly you realise that nobody had a phone to their ear or was emailing or texting with their eyes fixed on a little box.
It reminded me of the old days before phone-mania set in.
Does it rank up there as one of your top gigs ever?I’ve gotta put it up there with the Hyde Parks . . . absolutely, especially given the unique location. I mean what a way to finish off a great tour.
So why is this the right time to hold an exhibition, not as if the Stones are retiring or anything?I think people were planning ahead because this thing is going round the world for four years, which pains me a little because there are a couple of jackets I let in there that I ain’t going to see for a long while.
The idea came up a few years ago. We were in Belgium and these guys came by and showed us how the exhibition might work. It’s not my area of expertise but it was intriguing and we kind of said, “OK, go ahead.” Within a few months, they were coming up with some great ideas.
I’m dying to see the reproduction of our first flat together in Edith Grove because the only thing that gave real character to it was the pong.
What are your memories of being in that place with the four other guys (Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman)?The memories are so ragged. I mean that’s where we sat around and basically concentrated every night on how to play together. We were endlessly listening to records and occasionally we went out and did a gig.
And nobody did any washing up I guess . . .We took in another guy to chip in for the rent and he actually became known as Nanker Phelge, which was one of the pseudonyms Mick and I used for certain songs.
He was a character and he did the washing up. When we got back from a gig, he would greet us from the top of the stairs with his shitty underpants on top of his head. It was kids’ stuff, you know?
Did you form into cliques within the band?We were the clique. There was only room for one clique.
I just wondered if there were rivalries in the house . . .Only over the student, the teacher female from Sheffield who had the ground floor.
There was always a little bit of tension between Mick and Brian about who had actually done who. It was just like a frat house, beautifully mad.
Has this exhibition rekindled the memories of those early days?You don’t dwell on all that but yes, in a way. It’s like we’re in the middle of World War One and we’re looking at crap from the American Civil War and just trying to get a perspective.
Wow, yeah it is a long time since Edith Grove. So fascinating for younger people, we hope.
It sounds as if the exhibition is quite sensory with lots of different aspects to it . . .I’ve been watching its progress every now and then and I’m watching my things disappearing. There was a plan to do like four or five numbers on the lawn (at the gallery) but then the Chelsea Residents’ Association poo-pooed that . . . how generous of them. It would only have been four or five songs.
You seem to have shared a lot of clothes with the women in your life . . .Yeah, probably half of my stuff actually belonged to Anita (Pallenberg). It was sheer luck that the women we were with were exactly the same size as us so it wasn’t a matter of fitting. You go out for a day and somebody takes a photograph and the next day you’ve got to give the clothes back to your lady.
Did Anita ever mind?No, because I mean we just swapped clothes as a matter of course. In those days, Anita would be wearing my pants and I’d be wearing her shirt or whatever.
Do you swop clothes with current wife Patti Hansen?Oh yeah, quite honestly I’m wearing a pair of her pants right now!
And would she pick up something of yours like a scarf or a jacket?It’s communism around here with scarves and always has been. My daughters come back home for the weekend and say to me, “That’s mine Dad.” But you see at least I know if I’m missing something, it’s always in safe hands.
Didn’t you and Mick buy your clothes at Granny Takes A Trip on the King’s Road?Yeah, from Marty Breslau . . . yeah they had some great stuff.
In fact my daughter still wears some of the stuff that I had from there but she refused to give it up for the exhibition. She won’t give it back to me!
Did you ever wear any of Mick’s clothes?Oh I think, we both wore each other’s stuff at times . . . shirts and jackets used to be flung around the dressing room and one would say, “Oooh, that’s too hot for me.” So the other would go, “OK, I’ll take that one.” It was pretty much a free-for-all once we’d got rid of the idea that a band had to use a
uniform.
Were you the first band to drop suits and ties?Yes, I believe so. It was a major statement, though it’s one of those statements that doesn’t shout at you straight away but after it you notice that the uniform went slowly out of fashion.
By the Seventies when punk was happening, did you feel conscious of looking outdated?Well punks put themselves back into uniforms. It was a bit of a retro thing. I think the only trouble with punk music is that there’s no music. It was all posing and trying to be outrageous. I don’t have my Sex Pistols greatest hits with me, you know what I mean?
But you do have all those wonderful blues artists like Howlin’ Wolf . . .Exactly! I just thought punk was showbiz, nothing else.
And the Stones have survived punk by many, many years I guess . . .
Well, luckily we’ve been able to provide enough glitz and at the same time it’s a damn good band. There’s a miracle of chemistry and I don’t wanna know where it came from!
The first proper meeting of you and Mick at Dartford station is marked with a blue plaque. If it hadn’t been for that moment, would any of this have happened?I guess maybe not. I did used to bump into Mick here and there in town, not on a regular basis. We would just pass each other and go, “How you doing?” But it was that meeting and him having those wonderful Chess (label) records in his hand and me drooling, “Where did you get them?” that started something. It’s just one of those magical moments in time that put the both of us together and here we are, bless his old heart.
Do you remember writing it?I looked at it and it was as if my pen was still hovering above the page. I hadn’t thought about it but it was one of those flashbacks where you’ve gone straight back 50-odd years. I do remember writing an extra pound sign when we began making a few quid. There was never much left after guitar strings and fixing the pickup and s**t like that.
You write about playing to 40 people . . .At that point, 40 was a miracle! That was a crowd. We started small and there was no big hope. Nobody was dreaming of fame. We just wanted some respect.
You also mention your first run in with the cops, “the bastards” . . .You see four or five guys looking like we did at that time, late at night in Hampstead, and actually I don’t blame the cops. You know, “’allo, ’allo, ’allo, what’s goin’ on ’ere?” sort of stuff.
What about the amazing tape machine that recorded Satisfaction in the middle of the night?Miracles happen and that’s another one. Meeting Mick and writing Satisfaction in your sleep. I took a long time over whether to tell that story or to say, “I slaved over it, that was the hardest thing to write in my life.”
But I’ve got to own up, you know. It came to me between the snoring. I’m a transmitter, I don’t create anything but songs that are floating through the room . . . your room and my room right now . . . and you’ve got to sit down and capture one.
You came up with the chorus line on that tape, didn’t you?Yes, “I can’t get no satisfaction”, probably because I was alone that night!
And the exhibition organisers raided your incredible guitar collection, didn’t they?The really special, particular ones are the ones I use when I work. These guys (love how he humanises his guitars) in the exhibition have been important on certain records but I usually draw a line between the stage guitars and the recording guitars.
Recording guitars you can pick and choose for a particular song, you know, “I think we should go for a Gibson here.”
On stage, you have to have reliability and those are obviously not in the exhibition . . . because I need them!
You know I’ve been through several different phases with guitars. But I’ve got it nailed down to 15 at the moment.
What about the one you started painting the bottom of with multi-colours?Oh, the psychedelic black Gibson. Yeah, that’s what acid does to you. I picked up the nearest available canvas.
What did you think of your work when that trip was over?It became a monument. I thought, “Look what you’ve done, you @#$%&!”
Can you recall another specific guitar story?Yeah, I mean the one I played Gimme Shelter with, which is the Australian one. I remember it well because just as we were fading out, the neck fell off and then it was like, “That’s it, I’ve done my job!”
Are there any other things you’ve had to give up for the exhibition?I could probably tell you more about them once I’ve seen it. I’ll be there saying, “Christ, I’ve let that go.” I’m looking forward to it as much as anybody because there’s a lot of stuff there I don’t know about
I want to know why the Stones have such enduring appeal?
I can surmise, I mean a) we’ve always managed to cross generations. The ages of the audiences in South America and Cuba was amazing. I mean what can I say? We’ve survived without any collateral damage.
You’ve never believed in growing up, have you?No, that’s a concept younger people have about older people.
You don’t have to get out your pipe and slippers, do you?No. It depends how life treats you and how you’re feeling because. I mean, so far, physically the Stones are incredibly blessed, strong constitutions that defy gravity.
Mick’s energy, where does he get it from?It’s incredible. I mean I’ve watched that guy every night, man and he’s moving better than ever.
What about Charlie, still going strong at 74?Charlie Watts is amazing. The hardest job in a band is drumming, the sheer power and subtlety of the man.
I go up on stage just to be able to play with Charlie Watts.
And he’s so cool . . .He’s the epitome of it. He’s very easy to deal with. He won’t take any bites and he’s never said anything except “yes” or “no” unless he wants to talk about music. He’s absolutely the coolest guy I know. My aim is to get as cool as Charlie.
And Ronnie’s an interesting guy . . .An admirable guy. First off, there’s his non-stop sense of humour. He’s brought himself through a whole lot of stuff over the last few years and come out untouched. I told Ronnie, “I don’t know why you ever bothered to get high, your normal is just the same as you were when you were.” I love the man dearly.
How’s the new Stones album doing?Yeah, that’s in the can, although it might be a surprise to people and I can’t say any more than that right now.
We did sessions in London in December which suddenly gave us a whole load of stuff. In fact, the Stones have never cut so many tracks in such a short time. Now that’s not necessarily a guarantee of a good record but there is something in the works and I’d just like to leave it up there in mystery land.
People are genuinely pleased you’re still going. Will there be future tours?Yeah, yeah, yeah! We’re planning some gigs later on this year. I take each tour as it comes and at the moment I’m still shaking Cuba off me.
When you look back at your life with that band, is there anything that you would change?Not that I’d be capable of changing anything. It’s an amazing journey and I can’t think of anything that would have happened differently or that we could have affected. I mean nobody wishes Brian was dead but there’s nothing else.
Also, I must say the resilience of this band, all the crap that’s happened to us so many times, doesn’t stop the fact that we will keep going. Just as long as we’re here, it’s not even a point of honour. It’s just a case of what else are you going to do?
Great that the Stones are so solid (so to speak) . . .We’re probably more solid than ever. I’m looking forward.
Will you do another solo album?Oh anything is up for grabs. Numero uno is the Stones but if they decide to hibernate again, I might well do another one.
Thank you for your time Keith. I’m really looking forward to your reaction to the exhibition.OK, we’ll get together on that.
[
www.thesun.co.uk]
ROCKMAN