![]() He’d sort of set the joint up-"You guys, you should play." And in a way it’s his band still. As I walk up these creaky old stairs, I hear this barrelhouse piano and think, "Man, I’m in Chicago." I’d never been to Chicago at that point, but that’s how it sounded to me. I get there and ask the landlady, "Rehearsal?" And she sends me upstairs. The first rehearsal I went to that ended up being the Rolling Stones was above an old pub in Soho in London. Not everyone realizes that Ian Stewart was originally a full-fledged member of the Rolling Stones. It eerily felt as though "Stu" was in the room with us, not to mention Brian Jones, John Lennon, and all the legendary figures who played a role in the Stones’ turbulent and wildly innovative first decade. At one point, he regaled me with a spot-on imitation of Ian Stewart, the Stone’s lantern-jawed road manager and occasional pianist who died in 1985. It was especially so in ’97 when he was just 53 years of age. It comes back occasionally."ĭrug-addled stereotypes to the contrary, Keith’s own memory has always been razor sharp. "Most people who are still alive can’t remember. "People are still wondering what the hell happened in the ’60s," Richards said. The interview that follows is taken from my original transcript of our conversation that afternoon. So, perhaps inevitably, the topic of conversation turned to the decade that first brought the Stones to international fame, and the period in which they released some of their most groundbreaking recordings. The event had marked the Stones’ last performance with Richards’ co-guitarist and the band’s founder, Brian Jones, who died in 1969.Ī poster for the The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus It had never before been seen by the general public, because the Stones were displeased with their performance and cancelled the show. The previous year had seen the release of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, the legendary 1968 telecast that featured the Stones, The Who, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Jethro Tull, and other iconic rock performers of the 1960s. ![]() The date was June 25, 1997, and we’d been discussing The Rolling Stones’ then-new album Bridges to Babylon. ![]() We were in the front room in the Manhattan office of his manager, Jane Rose. "Yeah, the ’60s were a hell of a ten years." Keith Richards leans back meditatively in his folding chair. His books include Play it Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, & Revolution of the Electric Guitar and The Guitarist's Almanac. Editor's note: This post is an interview from the archive of Alan di Perna, a rock journalist whose writing has appeared in Guitar World, Rolling Stone, and Creem.
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