Ronnie Wood might have spent more than half a century with the Rolling Stones, and they were around for years before he joined, but Foreign Tongues, their latest album, is far from a nostalgic victory lap. Spurred on by producer Andrew Watt, the band recaptured the studio discipline of their golden era. The result finds Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards tackling today’s political turmoil and the “sickness in the land”.
It’s your fifty-first year with the Stones. Is it still exciting?
Oh, yeah! There’s such a drive, you know? We have people in the studio like Steve Winwood, he was there for a bit, and it’s so nice to have his creative input. Bringing a bit of Ray Charles into the room. But I mean, we had the drive going because it’s so exciting to get back together.
The band seem to be on a creative high, following up 2023’s Hackney Diamonds so quickly.
Yeah. It’s down to Andrew Watt, that kind of enthusiasm. He’s a young guy with a passion, he’s a fan, he can back up what he says because he can play. So we listened to him. And a bit like in the [producer] Jimmy Miller days when the Stones were creating an album every couple of years, we were back on that kind of schedule, which is great. People don’t have to wait ten, twelve years between albums now.
Do the Stones need a great motivator, then?
Yeah, because we need someone to boss us around to say: “Come on, you’ve got to come in at eight o’clock, and I want your parts done,” you know? “And then over the next week I want all your guitar parts done, Keith.” And Keith would go: “What do you mean? I’ll do them when I want to.” He said: “No you won’t. You’ll do them when I tell you. And you’re going to start now.” And he goes: “Oh, okay then.” It takes an unusual man to be able to converse with Keith on something like bossing him around. It’s good.
The album starts with Rough And Twisted, a track that was first put out as by The Cockroaches.
What made you do that? To cause a little stir, a little interest, and people have seen The Cockroaches before - opening up in clubs and stuff. On Rough And Twisted I get to play my Stay With Me guitar [makes guitar sound], you know? The open tuning. I love the slide.
Mr. Charm talks about high tech billionaires, while Side Effects touches on prescription drugs. In The Stars mentions ‘a sickness in the land’. Is that commenting on 2026 – on the state of the world today?
Yes, in our own little way. In a rock’n’roll way. We have to try and keep the smile on people’s faces as well as being blatantly honest with them, you know, about that sickness in the land. There’s a lot of bad things going on.
So, you feel that, too - that the world has gone to hell in a handbasket?
Yeah. Apart from the crazy people we have running things, there’s the climate and the crazy weather we’re having. The hot is getting hotter, the cold is getting colder, and ne’er the twain shall meet, you know? [chuckles]
What prompted the Stones to cover Amy Winehouse’s You Know I´m No Good?
Just respect, really, and it’s something slightly left-field. Amy was a lovely person and it’s nice to pay tribute to her. She was her own worst enemy. She didn’t know when to stop. And unfortunately we lost a fabulous, great talent. We lost a Billie Holiday again.
And why Chuck Berry’s Beautiful Delilah?
I think it’s going back to when Mick and Keith first met, again, back to their early influences, and a bit of country blues there taking that song that Chuck Berry covered later.
Is it becoming a habit to end Stones albums with the masters? You did that on Hackney Diamonds, too, covering the Muddy Waters classic Rolling Stone.
Yeah, never forgetting where their influence came from - from the blues, you know? The urban blues of the Muddy Waters kind of era.
This is the second time in a row that Paul McCartney joined the band in the studio. Why are collaborations like that so easy now – and why did they never happen before?
No, it never did, but he always set it as one of his ambitions, and after he played on Hackney Diamonds he said: “I played with the Rolling Stones.” He was so proud of himself, you know? And from the same sessions we kept the Covered In You song and used that again.
How many of these songs are leftovers from 2023?
Oh, only a couple. I mean, you could say Hit Me In The Head is Charlie, but from an old drum track. We had quite a few of them, actually, so that we can keep Charlie’s memory going.
Is there more to come? Is it going to become a regular thing to use some of Charlie’s drum tracks on every album now?
I leave it to Mick. He’s got this kind of little archive of Charlie. I’m not quite sure what’s in it, but I’m sure there’s some more Charlie drum tracks. We did some in Paris that I know he could tap into.
How did The Cure’s Robert Smith come to do backing vocals?
I don’t know. I guess that came at the overdub times, when the album was finished, and they happened to be near the studio. We were in the studio and Mick said: “Well, since you’re here, you might as well do something” [laughs]. So I only knew about Steve Winwood because we worked in the studio with him. And Bruno Mars. Bruno Mars is an old friend of mine, and Mick didn’t even tell me that he came in! And Chad [Smith]. I mean, Chad’s an old friend of mine, I didn’t know he’d done anything….
So you’re often unaware of things like that right up until everything is done?
Yeah. You know, sometimes I just leave it to Mick. If he’s got a friend in the studio, like: “Come and do some clapping or play some maracas on here” [chuckles].
Will the Stones tour this album?
Let’s hope. I mean, not this year, but maybe next year. We’d love to. It’s an obvious thing that we would love to, because the Stones… Me and Mick, we never stop wanting to play. That’s why I’m going to take my solo band out to do a few gigs, to keep the chops together in my fingers. It’s got to be done. You’ve got to keep it warm, keep the music warm. And keep inventing stuff and paying tribute to past eras. It’s great. And if the Stones can tour next year, let’s do it. That’s our attitude.
Is that even possible with Keith’s arthritis?
Anything’s possible. We just, you know, toss a coin and see how it lands. That’s the way we’ve always played it.
You just mentioned going out with your own band. What can people expect with that?
All the stuff I’ve done solo and stuff that I’ve done with other people, and I pay tribute to songs I’ve written with the Stones, like Hey Negrita and, you know, like Dance and songs that. It’ll be a mixture of Faces, solo stuff, Stones stuff… It’s going to be a mixed pot. It’s going to be great fun. I also have Imelda May and Chanelle Haynes, who sings with us. And I have Andy Newmark, my drummer from Sly And The Family Stone, my original drummer. He’s lovely, yeah.
Is it true you’re working on a Faces album, too?
Yeah. I saw Rod the other day. Maybe towards the end of the year we’re going to go back in the studio and try and finish these tracks that we’ve already started for the new Faces album.
When I go out with my friends – and we are in our late fifties – you wouldn’t believe how much we talk about age, retirement and stuff like that. And here the Stones are at whatever age, still recording, still touring…
Oh my god! No, you can’t talk about those things! Don’t care about numbers. It’s only a number. You know, time doesn’t really exist. It’s only us humans that have put a label on time. Einstein said time doesn’t… you know, time is what you make it. And that’s true, isn’t it?
After all you’ve been through, it seems like a miracle that you’re still sitting here, still playing with the band and enjoying everything to the fullest.
Yeah. Well, I rode cancer twice, kicked it out, and here I am. I got the all-clear just a few months ago.
Any regrets?
No regrets. You’ve got to go through it to get to it.
Foreign Tongues is out now via Polydor.
