Keith Richards reveals he pays tribute to Charlie Watts every day
Keith Richards has revealed that he pays tribute to his friend and long-time bandmate Charlie Watts every day.
The iconic rock guitarist opened up about the close relationship he had with the drummer during an interview on The Howard Stern Show, and shared how he thinks about Watts daily.
“I miss Charlie every day,” the 79-year-old musician revealed, adding that he has a special routine he does each morning for the musician. “As I come out of my bedroom the first thing I see is… a portrait of Charlie on the staircase — I always give him a salute on the way. Charlie Watts was a solid guy.”
The drummer had been a part of The Rolling Stones’s line-up since January 1963. His death was announced in August 2021 – shortly after he was forced to pull out of the band’s tour to undergo surgery, which resulted in complications. He was aged 80.
Now the band – comprised of Richards, Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood – have continued on without their drummer of nearly six decades, and are set to release their new album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ next Friday (October 20).
The album marks their 24th studio record, and their first collection of original music in 18 years, following 2005’s ‘A Bigger Bang’. So far, the trio have shared two singles from the project: ‘Angry’ and ‘Sweet Sounds Of Heaven’ (featuring Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder).
Watts has also been confirmed to feature on two of the songs, ‘Mess It Up’ and ‘Live by the Sword’, with Steve Jordan providing drumming on the rest of the tracks.
Discussing the impact that Watts had on their recording sessions, Richards said that the drummer brought a sense of “intelligence” to their songwriting. “He had feel, he had intelligence… Rock and roll doesn’t necessarily need the whole battery of drums, it’s got to do with when to not hit… if you’re making music, silence is your canvas.”
“He would throw in ideas that you hadn’t really thought of,” he added. “[But] at the same time, such a solid beat. I never had to worry about anything, which gives the rest of us the freedom to fly.”
Other famous faces contributing to ‘Hackney Diamonds’ include Beatles legend Paul McCartney, Elton John and former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. You can pre-order the album here.
After announcing the LP, Jagger also reminisced about Watts, describing him as a “close friend”.
“I knew him since I was 19, and [we] hung out a lot,” he began. “Charlie and I had a lot of interests outside of just playing in a band. We loved football and cricket… Charlie’s very knowledgeable about [football]. He used to play football when he was a kid. He was pretty good. Much better than me. Charlie loved beautiful objects. He liked antiques, he liked furniture. So we talked a lot about things like that.”
In other Rolling Stones news, Jagger recently confirmed that the band are already at work on their next full-length effort, and Richards revealed that his struggle with arthritis has affected his playing style.
“Funnily enough, I’ve no doubt it has, but I don’t have any pain, it’s a sort of benign version,” the guitarist said. “I found that interesting, when I’m like, ‘I can’t quite do that any more,’ the guitar will show me there’s another way of doing it. Some finger will go one space different and a whole new door opens.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
