Keith Richards has spoken about the infamous sessions behind the classic Rolling Stones album ‘Exile On Main Street’.
Tiring of the rigid tax codes in their native Britain, The Rolling Stones entered the 70s unsure of their place in the world. Spiralling drug abuse made it unsafe to spend too long in the United States, so the band moved to a mansion in the South of France.
Taking their recording equipment with them, The Rolling Stones would only stay for one summer but emerged with ‘Exile On Main Street’. Released in 1972 it stands as perhaps the definitive Stones document, a dense ode to life on the wild side.
The famously debauched recording sessions were undertaken in a heroin stupor, with bass player Bill Wyman so disgusted by the heavy drug use that he temporarily left the band.
However The Rolling Stones continued, with Keith Richard recently telling XFM about the sessions. “It was hard work down there”, said the legendary guitarist.
“It was a bit like stoking the boilers. It was the height of the summer in the south of France and it did get pretty sticky down there, it had a dust floor. It was kind of Hitleresque”.
Meanwhile, Keith Richard has begun work on his autobiography. The book may take some time, with the guitarist freely admitting that he cannot remember the bulk of the 70s.
In a recent article journalist Nick Kent claimed that he had been contacted by Richards’ camp, with a view to finding out exactly what the guitarist had been up to for the bulk of the decade.
A re-mastered edition of The Rolling Stones album ‘Exile On Main Street’ is due to be released later this year.
