The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards appeared on The Howard Stern Show to discuss his career, the band’s early days, and Charlie Watts. In a recently shared interview snippet, Richards opened up about his late friend and recalled how he saved the band’s career.
After listening to the band’s latest track, ‘Live By The Sword,’ the guitarist got emotional and said of the song and his late friend:
“Well, it’s the last time the bunch is going to be heard together. I miss Charlie every day, man. There’s a photo; as I come out of my bedroom, the first thing I see is… I have a portrait of Charlie in the staircase; I always give him the salute on the way. Charlie Watts was a solid guy.”
The rocker then went on to explain their first gig with the late drummer. Apparently, when the band found Watts as a drummer, they knew they were saved even though the band didn’t have any money to pay. Richards recalled:
“If we didn’t have him, we wouldn’t be able to do the gig, and the gigs paid off right away, and Charlie wanted to do it; that’s what we knew. Because even though he was trying to be professional, he was like, ‘Well, I do need to get my drums from here for a certain amount of cash.’ But after a couple of gigs, we knew he had him anyway. We did luck out with that guy, man.”
Richards’ current thoughts on the late drummer aren’t limited to only recently. In a 1979 interview, Richards said of his friend that he is the member that defines The Rolling Stones as opposed to what fans think. He went on to add that if Watts hadn’t done what he was doing on drums, it wouldn’t be The Rolling Stones.
The late drummer appears on two tracks in ‘Hackney Diamonds’ through songs recorded before his passing. The album will be released on October 20, and it will include notable guest names such as Lady Gaga, former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, and Stevie Wonder.
See the snippet from the interview below.
