The Rolling Stones have just released Hackney Diamonds, their first album of new songs in 18 years, but Mick Jagger says there’s a good chance more new music from the band is on the horizon, including some additional tracks featuring late drummer Charlie Watts.
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Hackney Diamonds features two tracks with Watts, who died in 2021 at age 80, and in a new interview with U.K. newspaper The Guardian, Jagger reported that the group’s longtime drummer played on other recordings during early sessions for the album “that’ll probably come out.”
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Musing on the loss of Watts, Jagger told the newspaper, “It’s a couple of years now, and I still think about Charlie a lot … I miss his laconic humor. His taste in music. His elegance. His don’t-care attitude.”
He added, “[H]e didn’t get intense. [Stones guitarist] Keith [Richards] and I get a bit intense … But Charlie wouldn’t, and it rubs off a bit—I’m not as intense as I used to be. I think about him when I’m playing, and what he would have played; whether he’d have liked this song, because I’d always bounce things off him. I’d be playing him the silly pop songs of the moment, and he’d love all that.”
As painful as Watts’ death has been, Jagger told The Guardian that it’s something he’s come to accept.
“I hate to say this: as you get older, a lot of your friends die,” said the singer, who turned 80 himself this past July. “[I]t doesn’t get easier at all. There’s a lot of people around your age, they’re dying all the time. I don’t have any friends older than me, only one. Apart from the band, all my friends are much younger … It’s easier that way!”
Watts appears on the Hackney Diamonds tracks “Mess It Up” and “Live by the Sword,” while the band’s current touring drummer, Steve Jordan, is featured on the album’s 10 other songs.
Considering the two Hackney Diamonds tunes, and the other as-yet-unreleased recordings Watts plays on, Jagger noted, “[Charlie’s] kind of still there—and I hope he likes the rest of the record.”
With Jagger recently reaching the 80 milestone, The Guardian asked him if he has been thinking about his increasing age and how long he will keep going with The Rolling Stones.
“I do think about it,” Jagger said. “But I write all the time. You’ve just got to keep writing, and now everyone [in the band] can see they can record quite easily. It was only three weeks in the studio [to record the main Hackney Diamonds tracks]. It’s not difficult.”
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