“I’M pretty indestructible,” says Keith Richards, casually tossing out the line in his roguish rasp.
It seems rock ’n’ roll’s master of the riff is also master of the understatement.
At 75, Richards also knows he can’t carry on caning it . . . and maintain his life less ordinary as a music icon.
“But it’s not my job to keep proving I’m indestructible!” argues the Rolling Stones’ seemingly immortal guitarist.
“I’m a little slower paced these days. It (the boozing) just went on too long so I’m giving up the hard stuff.”
By “hard stuff,” he means his spirit of choice, vodka, but he adds: “I got fed up with it quite honestly, though I still have a glass of wine with meals and the odd beer here and there.
“In fact, I don’t know if I got fed up with booze or if booze got fed up with me. I was just doing it because that’s what I do but then I realised, ‘I don’t need this for breakfast.’”
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So has this new-found moderation changed the way he feels? “It’s another experiment. I’ve spent my whole life giving things up,” he replies. “Although I feel a lot better, I’m still waiting for an epiphany!”
I’m catching up with Richards to mark the 30th anniversary reissue of his excellent debut solo album, Talk Is Cheap.
‘I’M SNOWED IN. . . GET ME OUT OF HERE!’
With the Stones on hiatus in the late Eighties, he recorded a loose, no-frills, groove-laden 11-track romp which bottles up his musical DNA with elements of blues, rock ’n’ roll, funk and Southern soul.
He may have called it Talk Is Cheap but, as ever, talk with Richards proves priceless.
At 7.30pm UK time one Friday evening earlier this month, my phone rings.
I’m expecting to be connected by a third party but the first thing I hear is the weathered, instantly recognisable tones of a man who sounds like a posh pirate but originally came from the backstreets of Dartford.
“Hello Simon, it’s Keith! I’m snowed in . . . get me out of here!” is his hilarious greeting, followed by one of his typically endearing cackles.
He’s calling from his American home in rural Connecticut, about 60 miles north-east of New York, which is still in the grip of winter.
Mark Seliger
Not only does he tell me the fascinating story of Talk Is Cheap but puts it in the context of his up-and-down relationship with Mick Jagger.
And he gives me the lowdown on the new Stones studio album as well as revealing insights into his health and happiness.
First we return to Richards’ efforts to look after himself and I chuck his fondness for Marlboro Reds into the mix.
“Funnily enough, I just lit one up,” he laughs. “You’re not going to make a puritan out of me yet!”
I’m also keen to discover if chalking up three-quarters of century is of any concern. “I never think about it until the number comes up,” he admits.
“If I say, ‘How much is that?’ and somebody says, ‘75 bucks,’ I think, ‘Christ, that’s how old I am!’
“I feel as if I’m evolving rather than getting old. Physically, I’m in good shape and I have the same enthusiasm for what I do.
“I love writing songs. Every songwriter will tell you that every song you ever hear is a hundred songs that didn’t make it!”
As we speak, the 24th Stones studio album (UK releases) is in gestation but the process is being interrupted next month when the No Filter juggernaut hits American stadiums.
“We’re working on the album,” reports Richards. “We’ve got the first bits done and I’m looking forward to getting back in after this tour. Charlie Watts is playing his arse off!”
He’s long been the Stones drummer’s No1 fan. “He’s absolutely amazing. It’s indescribable to find a drummer like Charlie Watts, exceptionally brilliant.”
As the years pass, Richards has also grown to appreciate Mick Jagger. “I can never praise Charlie enough and I can praise Mick Jagger 99 per cent of the time,” he decides.
“Mick knows what I mean and he’ll say the same about me. Things happen between Mick and me because it’s just two guys working together. You only hear about the odd bust-up. I love the man 99 per cent of the time.”
‘A HIATUS FELT QUITE NATURAL’
One of Mick and Keith’s cooler periods took place in the mid-Eighties and it led to the creation of Talk Is Cheap.
Richards is thrilled the album has come kicking and screaming into the sunlight once more — along with some newly unearthed out-takes.
Its story begins with the completion of the Stones album Dirty Work, a forgettable entry in the band’s mostly stellar discography, blighted by thin, over-slick Eighties production, recorded in 1985 and released the following year.
“After we’d finished Dirty Work, there seemed to be a big horizon in front of me,” recalls Richards. “The Stones had been working a lot and a hiatus felt quite natural.
“We’d been together so much for 20 odd years. I guess you could say it was on the cards, bound to happen at some point.
“Mick wanted to spread his wings (with his second solo album) and I thought, ‘Why not spread mine?’”
Despite fears in some quarters that a break combined with the appearance of Mick and Keith solo records could lead to the Stones disbanding for good, Richards believes it was never going to happen . . . ever.
“I took it as, ‘Let’s do whatever we want amongst ourselves and then we’ll get back together.’ Which is obviously what happened.
“I also knew Mick and I were joined at the hip. There was no way we could survive alone and, at the same time, we had the pressure from Stones fans. Through all these years, we feel a real empathy with our audience.”
Becoming a temporary solo artist left Richards in awe of Jagger, the consummate performer, as he explains: “It was my first time fronting the whole thing.
“Usually, this is Mick’s job and suddenly I understood a lot more about the dynamics of being a frontman.
“I understood the pressure. My feelings towards Mick became, ‘Yeah, I get it, man.’
When Richards toured Talk Is Cheap, he quickly became aware of the physical challenge. “I remember a show in Vegas when my voice was totally shot but somehow we pulled it off.”
It had been the sage advice of effortlessly cool drummer Charlie Watts that helped him assemble his only band aside from the Stones . . . the X-Pensive Winos.
“Charlie said, ‘If you’re going to work outside the organisation, Steve Jordan’s your man.’”
Jordan, a drummer, songwriter and producer from New York, had already worked with Richards on the Chuck Berry documentary Hail! Hail! Rock ’n’ Roll and Aretha Franklin’s hollering take on Jumpin’ Jack Flash for the Whoopi Goldberg movie of the same name.
‘IT’S GREAT THIS ALBUM GETS A 2ND COMING’
With Jordan on board, Richards remembers telling him, “A guitar player I’ve always wanted to play with is Waddy Wachtel (Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor).
“So we made a call and Waddy said, ‘I’m in.’ The keyboardist, Ivan Neville (son of Neville Brothers singer Aaron), said, ‘I’m in.’ Within half an hour, the band was formed.”
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So how did they get their name? “It was one of those off-the-cuff things,” says Richards. “We were working in this studio up in Canada. It was a complex — a concentration camp if you like.
“While I was out one evening, a case of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1936 was delivered to me (£1,995 a bottle at 2019 prices!)
“When I came back, the guys were hanging around and they’d finished the whole damn thing so I said, ‘I’ve got the name now. You’re not just winos, you’re expensive winos!’”
As well their appetite for fine vintage red, the band laid down tasty licks on driving rocker Take It So Hard and soul-drenched duet Make No Mistake, with its sultry vocal contribution from Sarah Dash and gorgeous Memphis Horns.
“I made these songs to last,” affirms Richards. “I’m amazed listening to them now. Good music transcends fashions and what a bunch of guys!
“Let’s face it, one huge band in a lifetime is enough for anyone but putting together another lot with the same feel and tightness was incredible.
Talk Is Cheap — Keith Richards
Disc One
- Big Enough
- Take It So Hard
- Struggle
- I Could Have Stood You Up
- Make No Mistake
- You Don’t Move Me
- How I Wish
- Rockawhile
- Whip It Up
- Locked Away
- It Means a Lot
Disc Two
- Blues Jam
- My Babe
- Slim
- Big Town Playboy
- Mark On Me
- Brute Force
“It’s great the album is getting a second coming. I had a feeling the first time wasn’t enough and that the record would hang through time. It’s proved to be true. It’s an, ‘I told you so!’”
Take It So Hard was the only song Richards brought into the sessions after realising “there was no Stones for a bit” and he “didn’t want it to rot”.
He says: “All the others were written with Steve Jordan. It was really easy because he’s so good at organising ideas.” How, I ask, did it compare to his songwriting exploits with Mick Jagger?
“Mick and I have been through different phases of writing,” he answers.
“At the beginning, it was in hotel rooms. When Satisfaction came out and was a world breaker for the Stones, Mick and I were mopping our brows when there was a knock at the door and someone came in and said, ‘Where’s the follow up?’
“And they kept on at us. So we wrote Get Off Of My Cloud in response to that.
“The pressure to come up with a hit song every few months was a great learning ground. For the Winos, I had this strange sensation that it was like the early days of the Stones. I just knew great stuff was going on.”
Richards reveals a real soft spot for Make No Mistake. “It’s all about emotions and feelings and I just try to put them together with the correct phrasing. I like to twist things round a bit but I’m in love with love, always have been.”
This finally brings us on to the love of the old romantic’s life, his wife of 35 years, the model Patti Hansen.
“She’s superb. There’s not another wife like her. By the time of Talk Is Cheap, we had a couple of daughters (Theodora and Alexandra),” he says.
“I wish all you guys out there could find one like mine because Patti Hansen is a piece of work!”
And so is the indestructible, irrepressible Keith Richards.
