When asked whether his arthritis impacts his guitar playing, the 79-year-old responded, "Funnily enough, I've no doubt it has, but I don't have any pain, it's a sort of benign version."
He added, "I think if I've slowed down a little bit it's probably due more to age."
Keith noted that when he can no longer do something with the guitar, he figures out a new way to do it.
"And also, I found that interesting, when I'm like, 'I can't quite do that any more,' the guitar will show me there's another way of doing it. Some finger will go one space different and a whole new door opens," he explained. "And so you're always learning. You never finish school, man."
The decision to return to the studio, he said, came when Mick Jagger suggested it at the end of the band’s 60th anniversary tour last year. “And for the first time it hit me in the right spot,” says Richards. “Because I’ve always wanted to record the band as soon after they get off of the road as possible, because then the band is lubricated.”
“I’ve never ever not had fun recording, but this one had real urgency and energy, We blitzkrieged that thing.”
“I’d say anything to get the band together, you know. I’d lie to my mother.”
“Mick, given a song that he’s not really interested in, can really make it bad. And that’s maybe one of the reasons it took 18 years, because Mick’s waves of enthusiasm come and go.”
Asked if they think about how fans will react to their music, Richards said: “No we just cross our fingers.”
“Sitting around during Covid, doing nothing, Mick stocked up a lot of lyrics and ideas, Let’s make a record, find a deadline, take it from A to B’. Which is very un-Stones like. I was a little sceptical, but I said, OK, if you think you have enough stuff, I’m with you all the way.”
“I had very little input in the lyrics, but a lot of input in how the tracks were shaped, building riffs around what Mick had. I was interested in capturing his enthusiasm. The urgency and speed with which we did this amazed me. Bam! There’s a good take, next!”
Jagger added: “When you go in you’ve got to please yourselves, you’re playing for yourself first.
Explaining the title, Keith Richards said: “We were flinging ideas around for titles and went from Hit And Run to Smash And Grab and we came up with Hackney Diamonds, which is variations of them both and we are a London band. We wanted to call all the tracks on the album Angry but it felt a bit silly. No one stays Angry that long.
“Paul (McCartney) happened to be in town, and we couldn’t keep him away, bless his heart. And hey, if you can get one of the Beatles on your track, you know, you do it.” Besides, he adds, “Paul’s a very amiable cat to play with; we’ve been great friends forever.” “I feel like part of the rhythm section … I just do what feels right at the time, and what fits with what everybody else is playing. It’s an endless task. But, you know, I got the riffs!
Sydney Sweeney, the US actor best known for roles in The White Lotus and Euphoria, appears in the Angry video and was in the Hackney Empire’s front row.
"Angry"
"Bite My Head Off"
"Depending On You"
"Dreamy Skies"
"Driving Me Too Hard"
"Get Close"
"Live by the Sword"
"Mess It Up"
"Morning Joe Cues"
"Sweet Sounds of Heaven"
"Tell Me Straight"
"Whole Wide World"
