The Rolling Stones on ‘Foreign Tongues’ and collaborating with Robert Smith and Paul McCartney

The Rolling Stones rang in their new album era at the historic Weylin in Brooklyn, New York City, to open up about their new record ‘Foreign Tongues’ at a rollicking album launch event last night (Tuesday May 5).

Just a few hours after announcing their latest LP ‘Foreign Tongues ‘, set for release on July 10, Mick Jagger , Keith Richards  and Ronnie Wood spoke with host, comedian Conan O’Brien to discuss collaborating with The Cure ‘s Robert Smith and The Beatles legend Paul McCartney , their late drummer Charlie Watts being featured on the album, and how they continue to push their musicality after more than 60 years.

O’Brien introduced the band to the audience of media members and VIPs after a quick quip on the follow-up to 2023’s ‘ Hackney Diamonds ‘ being the album that would finally “kick them into high gear after years of toiling and obscurity”.

The former Late Night host and longtime Stones fan applauded the band for their “spectacular” and “brilliant” album, before asking Jagger how his voice seemed to have gotten better over the years, to which he cracked back: “I was taking a lot of drugs back in 1968 I wasn’t taking this album.”

The band discussed the diversity of sound on their new album and a country track called ‘Ringing Hollow’. “Keith and I, when we were really young, we both liked country music a lot,” Jagger shared. “We would play it, we’d always liked Hank Williams. You can’t really imitate those people, but we absorbed that style. ‘Ringing Hollow’, which is a love song to America, I didn’t want to express it in a rock way. I thought it was better that we did it in a country way.”

O’Brien also talked to the band about how their approach to pushing their creativity and ambition has changed over the last six decades. “You guys are the greatest rock band in the history of the world. When you listen to these tracks, you’re playing like you have something to prove. There’s an urgency to it, an immediacy to it, an energy to it that’s really stunning,” O’Brien said.

“I love a challenge. That’s the whole album, the challenge of raising the bar. We’ve always been ambitious,” Jagger responded. “The thing about this record that I find interesting. And you say, ‘You’ve got nothing to prove,’ but The Stones is a rock band, but The Stones also has the ability to do ballads and country music and dance music, they run in the gamut of all these styles. We’re not stuck in one particular style; over the years, we’ve loved all kinds of music. So, we express that in the way we record and what songs we write.”

Richards added: “It’s quite possible that there’s more in there. And that’s what we’re looking for.”

They recorded all of the new songs for ‘Foreign Tongues’ in less than a month at Metropolis Studios in West London. Grammy-award-winning producer Andrew Watt, who worked with them on their previous album and who Richards described as their “referee”, was once again tapped for his modern meets classic rock approach.

‘Foreign Tongues,’ also features a legendary list of guests, including Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Robert Smith, and Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘ drummer Chad Smith.

“We did a session with Paul on the last album, and this is a track from those sessions,” Jagger said, noting that the LP is made up of 10 new tracks recorded in London and four from previous sessions. When O’Brien asked if there were collaborators who felt intimidated to work with The Stones, Jagger replied: “With Paul, he really wanted to jump in there. He was next door in the studio.”

Wood joined in, joking, “There was no intimidation with Paul. He just wanted to play with the band; he wanted to tick that box. He was like, ‘Finally, I can say I played with The Rolling Stones’.”

Jagger also shared an anecdote on working with Robert Smith. “He was standing there with his back to me and this long gown on and when he turned around, he was covered in lipstick. And I said, I never met him before, ‘You’re Robert Smith of The Cure’. And he said, ‘Yeah, we’ve never met’. And I said, ‘While you’re here, you better go and do something’. That’s how collaborations work sometimes,” he smiled.

This comes after Smith said that he tried to book McCartney and The Stones for his curated Meltdown Festival at London’s Southbank in 2018 , but they were unavailable.

Wood praised Winwood’s contribution to the album, before the band acknowledged an unreleased track, ‘Hit Me In The Head’, which features Watts drumming during one of his final recording sessions before passing in 2021. “We did that in Los Angeles with Charlie, and it’s real fast, like a punk rocker,” Jagger said of the track. “It’s a super fast song.”

O’Brien also asked the band if, at this stage in their career, they still see the album-making process as fun. “Yes, we’re having fun most of the time. A lot of times, you have to concentrate and make those five minutes really count. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s a lot of concentration,” Jagger said. “We did have a lot of fun. It’s not a long, drawn-out process. Four weeks is four weeks. We used to spend months and months in the studio and never leave.”

The Rolling Stones also shared the new single ‘In The Stars’ yesterday, before closing the moderated portion of the NYC event with a preview of the music video – featuring a younger version of the band and actress Odessa A’zion, who was in attendance and danced along as the track played.

Nathaniel Mary Quin, the New York artist who painted the album’s artwork, was also in attendance and spoke about bringing the piece to life. The band also played the previously shared ‘ Rough And Twisted’ (released on vinyl only as The Cockroaches ) along with unreleased songs ‘Mr. Charm’ and ‘Jealous Lover’.

‘Foreign Tongues’ follows 2023’s ‘Hackney Diamonds’, which won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album.

The Rolling Stones release ‘Foreign Tongues’ on July 10 via Polydor/Universal Music. Visit here to pre-order .

Speculation surrounds whether or not the band might announce a tour soon.In late 2025, they confirmed that they scrapped plans for a UK and European stadium tour in 2026 because Keith Richards was unable to “commit” to it.

The group embarked on their North American ‘Hackney Diamonds’ tour in 2024 , with the trek landing at Number Six on the list of the highest-grossing music world tours of that year . They last played the UK in 2022, when two huge London BST Hyde Park gigs followed a stadium concert in Liverpool .

The post The Rolling Stones on ‘Foreign Tongues’ and how they roped in Robert Smith: “I love a challenge, that’s the whole album: raising the bar” appeared first on NME .

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