Credit: Dave HoganIn a new Rolling Stone magazine interview, The Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards chat about some of the band’s potential upcoming plans, while considering the uncertainties posed by COVID-19 pandemic.
Jagger reports that he’s working on tracks that the band began recording before the COVID-19 crisis, from the same sessions that yielded the group’s recent single, “Living in a Ghost Town.”
“Now I’m singing on some of the other ones that we did from that time period, finishing those off, too,” he says.
Richards tells Rolling Stone that if the pandemic drags on, the group may consider releasing those songs in a form other than as part of an album.
“I think we have five, six, or seven tracks we’ve slowly been putting together,” he reveals. “Right now, seeing if this thing’s going to go on, maybe we should think about putting them out in another way.”
Jager and Richards both lament The Stones having to cancel their 2020 tour because of COVID-19.
As for returning to performing, Mick notes, “The larger point, really, is…how is everyone that performs live going to function in the future? We don’t know. In Europe, we’ve had small-scale concerts. We’ve had socially distanced concerts…But…as far as the U.S. is concerned, we don’t really know what the future holds.”
Regarding whether he’d be open to The Stones playing a socially distanced show, Jagger says, “Yeah, I suppose if that was the way of the world, of course.”
And what of Richards’ hopes for the future? “I hope, like everybody else, there’s a very good vaccine as soon as possible,” he says. “And a change of regime wouldn’t be bad.”
Keith adds that there’s no way he’ll consider retiring, declaring, “I really can’t imagine doing anything else.”
By Matt Friedlander
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