The Rolling Stones’ new album, Hackney Diamonds, is out now. It’s the first record they’ve made without drummer Charlie Watts, although he does appear on the songs “Live by the Sword” and “Mess It Up.”
It’s been over two years since Charlie’s death, and in a new interview, Mick Jagger opens up about what he misses the most about his late bandmate.
“It’s a couple of years now, and I still think about Charlie a lot,” Jagger tells The Guardian. “I miss his laconic humor. His taste in music. His elegance. His don’t-care attitude – he didn’t get intense. Keith (Richards) and I get a bit intense.”
Regarding that intensity, Mick says he’s trying to be a bit more like Watts.
“I’m not as intense as I used to be,” he says. “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.”
Losing friends is hard and Mick says it doesn’t get any easier the older you get.
“But I hate to say this: as you get older, a lot of your friends die,” he says. “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.” He added, “It’s easier that way!”
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