Keith Richards joins Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 to celebrate 30th anniversary and re-release of his second solo album ‘Main Offender’. He tells Apple Music about deciding to make another solo record after ’Talk Is Cheap’, the necessity of the hiatus from The Rolling Stones and how it made the band stronger, what he learned from being a frontman and how it benefitted The Stones, why he didn’t make another solo record for 23 years, the upcoming 50th anniversary of ‘Exile on Main Street’ and more.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music About Listening To The Newly Remastered Version of ‘Main Offender’...
Zane: Let's look back for a minute. But only if we can honor this album in the present day. And not just stay in the past. Because I listened to this album again, the remastered versions, and what I was immediately struck by, Keith, is how fucking good it sounds.
Keith: Yeah. That's a good start, man. Yeah, yeah. I was too. Because I hadn't heard it for a long time. And that was one of the first things that struck me. When I was listening for this reissue. Yeah, I love that band.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music About Putting The Band Together...
The opportunity to put that band together came when Steve Jordan and I had been working. We just finished Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, the Chuck Berry movie. And by then, we were hooking, pretty much solid all the time. I said, "We should keep this thing going, man. What if I call Waddy Wachtel and Ivan Neville?" And everything just fell into place. And it's yeah, a little dream band of mine that. Hey, it's 30 odd years ago now. But I always remember that period working with the Winos as such. It was like a vacation there. Hard working man, because those cats are very meticulous. Because they knew that it was my first time out as a lead, as a front thing. So I was being well protected from all around.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music About Branching Out To Make a Solo Record and Connecting With Steve Jordan at the Recommendation of Charlie Watts...
It took a while. I never envisioned doing anything by myself. I don't. Now I wonder why. But at the time, it was just that all we did was the Stones. It was pretty much a full time, all year round job, by the time the tours and the recording. And the idea of stopping for a while and for whatever reasons it was like, "We are not going to be working for a few years," was a bloody shock, quite honestly. And Charlie Watts had said to me, he said, "Listen, if you're going to do anything by yourself, Steve Jordan is the man to go to.” And finally after that, Steve and I slotted in with each other almost by accident. And so once I got over the shock of change, I found it real easy because Steve and I suddenly found a thing going. And I found it really encouraging to write songs with a drama. Because that was new to me.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music Why Steve Played in The Band Instead of Charlie…
I always assumed if I did anything by myself that I'd do it with Charlie. And I think it was just by the quirk of the fact that Steve is also a drummer. And that I started writing with him, that that sort of became a natural thing to say, "Anyway, Charlie has said no, you don't want me in, if not in another rock and roll band.” It'd just be like half the Stones. And that's not what you should be.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music About Being Surprised By The Success of His Debut Solo Album ’Talk Is Cheap’...
I mean pleasantly surprised. And as you say, when group members go solo, you just don't know how it's going to come out. I just loved making it, that's a great fun. And you're quite right. By the time we'd finished that one, as I was saying, I was already thinking about Main Offender, because it was a continuation to me, even though there was a year or so in between. But it was something that had to be done. It was written.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music About Deciding to Make Another Solo Record After ‘Talk Is Cheap’…
I mean, at the end of Talk is Cheap and stuff, I just felt that it was only just a beginning, that there was so much more, and I felt the band feeling that way. Then I went back to the Stones to do Steel Wheels, I believe, and then immediately afterwards I got back in with the Winos. It was double duty, but I loved it, man.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music About The Rolling Stone’s Necessary Hiatus...
Quite an important part on the keeping the Stones together, we were at that period couldn't possibly have been we wouldn't have hooked again, the Stones. It was a weird period, and looking back on it now, it was a necessary hiatus. Once we started back again, I felt stronger than I had for a long time. And that's a hell of a band too.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music What He Learned Being a Frontman and How He Brought That Knowledge To The Stones…
Well, first thing is, doing the Winos I had learned a lot more about being the front man. In other words, I came back to the Stones with a lot more knowledge of what Mick's job entails. And it's quite surprisingly different, you're out there all the time. I mean, you are nonstop. With the Stones, I can slide my time. But doing the Winos, while I was working the Winos singing and playing guitar too, that tightened me up a lot. And I brought a lot of knowledge and a much tighter feel when I got back to the Stones. One thing could have fed the other.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music Why He Didn’t Make Another Solo Album After ‘Main Offender’ For 23 Years…
The Stones became active, hyperactive again. That was why. The Stones went on a touring binge of years. …It was basically the Stones went into full scale operation again and there wasn't really any more time to fit it in.
Keith Richard Tells Apple Music About The Comfort of Steve Sitting in For Charlie in The Stones...
Once again, it was Charlie Watts that nominated Steve to take his place because he knew he wasn't going to be able to make the tour. He thought that he was going to maybe just replace for a bit, but as it turned out, well ... And Steve's been a great friend of the band since we both got together. And so Mick and I and Steve worked sometimes together in rehearsing places. So he was not like a total stranger, but for me it felt very comfortable to have my old friend solid there on the seat. It's like, at least I know the man.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music About Wanting To Collect More Vinyl...
I have a turntable, and I do have some vinyl, and I love the sound of vinyl. That'll probably get the turntable going around. I want to check it out on vinyl. Yeah, I do. I would like to build up back a vinyl collection now that it's still viable.There's some magic in there.
Keith Richards Tells Apple Music About The Upcoming 50th Anniversary of ‘Exile on Main St.’…
Well, Exile is, it is one of my favorite babies, man and it was an incredible record to make in this damn basement. And I sometimes wondered if we'd never get out of there, but one of my favorite. That house in the south of France where we recorded was bizarre to the max, and I have great memories of it. It was Riviera beach time. Everybody's going crazy. And yeah, that was a hell of a record. We liked it so much it became a double.
