Ahead of the release of The Rolling Stones‘ upcoming album Hackney Diamonds, Mick Jagger has explained how the loss of Charlie Watts effected the band during the making of the record.
Watts, who died in 2021, has been replaced in the band by revered drummer Steve Jordan, who had previously worked extensively with Keith Richards. Although Watts contributed to ‘Mess It Up’ and ‘Live By the Sword’ on Hackney Diamonds, Jordan plays on the rest of the album.
During a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1’s New Music Daily, Jagger said: “We don’t have Charlie, so that’s a huge difference in doing these sessions that we talked about. Though I play with Steve a lot. I play with Steve on the road. And I also play with Steve in the studio. I mean, I’ve done demos with Steve. I mean, I know he’s very enthusiastic, so that’s always good. I mean, I think I have a really good understanding with him.
Jagger continued: “I’m interested in grooves is my thing. I’m not just only interested in melody, lyrics, but I’m interested in grooves. What groove should this song be in? What do I think for this band that fits this groove for this song? And because the Rolling Stones have a certain kind of bass, you can’t do any groove. You want it to be the perfect groove for this band. So Steve and I would work on the grooves. And as I would work, used to work with Charlie on the grooves, so it’s like experimenting.”
The frontman’s comments come shortly after Keith Richards told Rolling Stone: “Anything I do is a tribute to Charlie Watts. It’s impossible for me to lay anything down without automatically thinking that Mr. Watts is laying the backbeat down.” He added: “If you’ve got Charlie Watts on it, man, that’s it. I so miss that, man.”
Jagger’s new comments coincide with the release of their new single ‘Sweet Sounds Of Heaven’ with Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder. The soulful collaboration sees Gaga duet with him, with Wonder contributing keyboards to the track.
In a four-star review of the song, Far Out noted of ‘Sweet Sounds Of Heaven’: “The charming ad-libbed coda, where Jagger and Gaga trade falsetto runs, finds the band at their loosest and most fun that they’ve been in years.”
