The Rolling Stones officially announced the release of their first album of original material in 18 years in London, with singer Mick Jagger joking the band has been “a bit too lazy” in recording new material in recent years.
Jagger and guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood talked about the new album Hackney Diamonds on Wednesday at an event in front of an audience in east London hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
The album, out on Oct. 20, is the band’s first album of original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. The Stones in 2016 released Blue & Lonesome, a collection of blues covers, and in recent years continued a steady stream of archival releases, including last year’s El Mocambo 1977, from their oft-bootlegged show at Toronto’s famous club.
The band premiered Angry, the leadoff single and video from the new album.
Jagger, who turned 80 in July, said the band gave itself a self-imposed deadline to get a new album out to the public. The bulk of the new album was recorded and then mixed between December and February, with help from producer Andrew Watt, who was worked with artists ranging from Miley Cyrus to Iggy Pop.
“We didn’t want to make just any record and put it out,” said Jagger, who turned 80 in July. “Before we went in we all said we’d go and make a record that we really love ourselves. Other people may like it, other people may not … but we’re pleased with it and we hope you all like it.”
Original lineup on one track
However, tracks Live By the Sword and Mess It Up were cut in 2019 with original band drummer Charlie Watts, who died two years ago at age 80.
“Ever since Charlie’s gone, it’s different,” said Richards, 79. “Of course he’s missed incredibly.”
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Steve Jordan, the veteran drummer who’s worked on Richards solo projects, has toured with the Stones since the death of Watts.
Bill Wyman, the original bass player who left the band in 1993, also appears on Live By the Sword, representing a studio reunion of four of the five original band members. Founder Brian Jones died in 1969, just weeks after being sacked by the rest of the group.
Jagger, Richards and Woods bantered with Fallon, who at one point led them on a singalong of Off the Hook, from their second album in 1965.
Jagger and Richards, whose relationship has had its bumps over the years, took friendly jabs on a fan question asking for the secrets to a successful long marriage.
“Not speaking too often,” offered Jagger.
Richards replied: “How to say ‘shut up’ politely.”
The 76-year-old Wood, who joined the Stones in 1975, revealed that Lady Gaga guests on the album
The announcement of the new material follows a cryptic teaser campaign, in which the band’s iconic mouth and tongue logo was projected onto the façade of landmarks in cities around the world, including New York, London and Paris.
The album title is a slang term for shattered glass, and the band also teased fans with an ad in the local Hackney Gazette newspaper for a fictional glass repair business: “When you say gimme shelter, we’ll fix your shattered windows.”
It was not immediately clear when the Stones might debut the new songs live. The band last appeared in Canada for a show near Barrie, Ont., in June 2019, and has not played major Canadian cities in more than a decade.
The band has a long history performing in the country, marking their Canadian stage debut at Montreal’s Forum in 1965, as well playing multiple small club gigs in Toronto while preparing for world tours in the 1990s and early 2000s.
