If you did not get a chance to hear Keith Richards' BBC Radio 2 interview that most recently aired on December 28, 2010, a replay is up for a limited time (until January 4, 2011) on the BBC website. The two-hour program, titled "At Home With Keith Richards," is an interview that Rolling Stones guitarist Richards did with journalist Paul Sexton at Richards' Connecticut home.
Here is the description from the BBC website:
Keith vividly describes controversial moments, memorable encounters, guitar heroes and proud achievements - including a memoir that debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
Richards describes his house and surroundings as he sits in front of a portrait of himself, revealing that it was created and then presented to him by a close, and very famous, friend. He discusses his devotion to the guitar, including the surprising confession: "I'm not a lead guitar player, basically, and never wanted to be". He also talks about his all-time favourite players: "I wanted to meet Scotty Moore more than I wanted to meet Elvis Presley." He also remembers the solo on a Stones classic that was critiqued by a certain good friend called John Lennon.
The wide-ranging chat also covers the first record Keith ever bought, comic escapades on the road, his adulation of icons from Robert Johnson to Chuck Berry, how the Stones continue to extend the frontiers as rock's ultimate survivors, what they might be doing in 2011, and much more besides - including his thoughts on Mick Jagger, his creative partner of nearly half a century.
The two hours are packed with colourful stories of an unparalleled life and illustrated with some of the best music of the past 50 years, made both by Keith and some of his own idols.
In the interview, Richards revealed, among other things:
In his Connecticut home, he has a portrait of himself that was done by Johnny Depp. Richards said that he did not know about the portrait, which was made from cigarette papers, until Depp completed it and gave it to Richards as a gift. In the interview, Richards declined to give details about his participation in the 2011 movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" (in which Richards reprises the role of Captain Teague, the father of Depp's character Captain Jack Sparrow), but he said of Depp: "I love working with Johnny. He's a nut, but at the same time, a very discerning nut."
Richards believes that Rolling Stones lead singer Jagger was not fully aware of how deeply the rift between Jagger and of rest of the Stones affected the band until Jagger read Richards' memoir "Life." When Richards was asked if he really gave serious thought about his often-unflattering remarks about Jagger in the book, Richards responded, "My main point of all that was to explain what the Stones had gone through. And there was certainly a split, which I don't think that Mick, up until right now, has realized how deep a cut that was."
According to Richards, the Rolling Stones will probably have a new album and tour in 2011, and the album would happen before the tour. Richards said that he has already met with Jagger and "we started to talk about possibilities of next year [2011] and how to do it. How to make the Stones grow up." Richards also hinted that if the band does tour in 2011, the Stones won't be doing the kind of giant-spectacle stadium tours that the band did in the 1980s and 1990s. More likely than not, Richards implied that the Stones will continue on their 21st century course of doing most of their concerts at arenas. (A stadium has a typical capacity of approximately 60,000 people, while an arena's average capacity is about 20,000 people.)
Richards said: "That's exactly what Mick and I were talking about. I also spoke to [Rolling Stones drummer] Charlie [Watts] while he was here ... It's not the lemon-yellow tights and the fireworks. We're working on our different concepts and ways of doing it that will work or us and also work for the audience. So that's the story so far. I cannot give away anything more ... I can't wait to get back to work, after two years of looking backwards."
Comments