The Rolling Stones have announced the release of ‘Hackney Diamonds’ – the band’s first new studio album for 18 years.
Band members Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood shared the news at a special event held at the historic Hackney Empire in London, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, on Wednesday (06.09.23).
The 12-track LP is their first studio set of new material since 2005’s ‘A Bigger Bang’.
The band also unveiled first single ‘Angry’, which is accompanied by a music video starring ‘Euphoria’ actress Sydney Sweeney and directed by Francois Rousselet.
The band confirmed that late drummer and original member Charlie Watts – who died from cancer aged 80 in August 2021 – features on two tracks, with replacement Steve Jordan playing on the other 10.
On the song ‘Live By The Sword’ the trio are backed by both Charlie and former bassist Bill Wyman, reuniting the original rhythm section of The Rolling Stones. The second song featuring Charlie is ‘Mess It Up’.
Discussing how Charlie’s absence affected the band, guitarist Keith, 79, said: “Ever since Charlie’s gone it’s different, of course, he’s number four, he’s missing. Of course he’s missed, incredibly. But thanks to Charlie Watts we have Steve Jordan – who was Charlie’s recommendation should anything happen to him, Steve Jordan is your man.
“It would have been a lot harder without Charlie’s blessing.”
Addressing Charlie’s musical contribution, Mick, 80, added: “There’s 12 tracks on the album. Most are with Steve, but two are tracks we recorded in 2019 with Charlie. We used two of the tracks that we recorded with Charlie before.
“Bill played on one track, so we have the original Rolling Stones rhythm section on one track.”
Ronnie, 76, also confirmed that Lady Gaga appears on the album, duetting with Mick on ‘Sweet Sound Of Heaven’. Other rumoured guest artists include Sir Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.
Mick insisted that he and his bandmates are very proud of the record and wouldn’t have released it unless they loved it themselves.
The iconic frontman said: “I don’t want to be big headed but we wouldn’t have put this album out if we hadn’t really liked it. We said we had to make a record we really love ourselves.
“We are quite pleased with it, we are not big headed about it, but we hope you all like it.”
‘Hackney Diamonds’ comes out on October 20 and new single ‘Angry’ is available now.
The album will be released across a number of formats including a special limited RS No.9 Carnaby Red vinyl, available exclusively to pre-order direct from the flagship store from September 6.
An exclusive ‘Hackney Diamonds’ merch line is also now available from the London store.
‘Hackney Diamonds’ tracklisting:
‘Angry’
‘Get Close’
‘Depending On You’
‘Bite My Head Off’
‘Whole Wide World’
‘Dreamy Skies’
‘Mess It Up’
‘Live By The Sword’
‘Driving Me Too Hard’
‘Tell Me Straight
‘Sweet Sound Of Heaven’
‘Rolling Stone Blues’
