Robert Smith has revealed that he initially turned down the offer to collaborate with The Rolling Stones, saying he “wasn’t prepared for it”.
The frontman of The Cure contributed guitar to Mick Jagger and co’s recent song ‘Divine Intervention’ from their new album ‘Foreign Tongues’, which is released next Friday (July 10). He also provided synth and backing vocals on the cut ‘Never Wanna Lose You’.
During an interview on the official Stones podcast, Speaking In Tongues, Smith discussed how he came to be in the studio with the legendary band.
“Andrew Watt [producer] and I have kind of exchanged online conversations and phone conversations over the last few years, but we’d never met up,” he began (via Mojo). “Every time he’d wash up in London with some big cheese or other, either I wasn’t around or it just didn’t seem the right time to hang out.”
Smith went on to recall how Watt had then “got in touch” last year to say he was in London to work on the next Rolling Stones album – the follow-up to 2023’s Grammy-winning ‘Hackney Diamonds’.
“And when it got nearer to the end of the session, was I interested in coming up and finally grabbing that cold beer with him?” the singer continued, adding that the Stones were recording at Metropolis Studios in Chiswick.
“He said that they’d pretty much done all the tracking and Mick was just left to pick up some vocal stuff,” Smith explained. “He told me the day before, ‘Mick might still be around’, and I was like, You know, That’s OK.”
However, Smith wasn’t sure about visiting. “I know what it’s like being in the studio, particularly when you’re singing,” he reasoned. “The last thing you want is guests. It sounds a bit miserable, but the dynamic and the atmosphere is kind of a really crucial part of what you’re trying to get done.
“And the worst thing in the world is people bursting in, having a party when you’re trying to do something. So I said I’d wait in the bar until they’d be done.”
Smith was then told by an assistant that Jagger was “happy for [him] to come down”, adding: “So I went down and I walked into the control room and through the glass, there was Mick Jagger singing, which was not was expecting at all.”
The pair began “chatting”, with Jagger making Smith feel “very, very welcome” in his working environment. According to Smith, the evening “developed” as the Stones frontman began playing him songs and asking to hear his thoughts.
“I was availing myself of the refreshments and my tongue was loosening, and my suggestions were getting more and more absurd, I suspect, as they often do,” Smith remembered.
“And then out of nowhere [Jagger] said, ‘Do you fancy doing something on the album?’ And I was like, Whoa, hang on! And he said, ‘Oh, play a bit of guitar…’ And I was like, Well… I wasn’t really prepared for it.”
He shared: “And so I, much to everyone’s astonishment, I said, No, no thanks, I can’t do that. I went up there expecting just to get drunk, really. And I wasn’t expecting to play on the Rolling Stones album.”
Smith said that Jagger eventually went home, leaving him at the studio. “And then time elapsed and I said to Andrew, Oh, come on then. Let’s plug a guitar in and I’ll have a go at some of the songs,” he continued. “So I just started playing and, yeah, one thing led to another.”
During a new interview with NME, Jagger talked about Smith’s work on ‘Divine Intervention’, describing his part as “sort of an indie lick”.
“Yeah, Andy Watt invited him to come and listen to some of the tracks because we’d almost finished… I said, ‘Let’s get him to do something.’ So he sings on ‘Never Gonna Lose You’ – and he does a few synths,” he told us.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Jagger revealed that he’d “already started writing songs” for The Rolling Stones’ next album. “They could be for other people though,” he added. “When you write a song, you sometimes decide ‘that’s not for me, but it could be for the Chili Peppers’ or whatever.”
Jagger also told NME about the chances of the Stones returning to Glastonbury, their future tour plans, him being in “a Sam Fender moment lately”, working with Paul McCartney, and more. Read the interview here, or watch in full in the video above.
Speaking to Vulture about how he enlisted Smith, Jagger recalled how “there was this bloke standing there with his back to me with his long gown on” in the studio, “and when he turned around he was covered in lipstick”.
“He said, ‘Yeah, we’ve never met’,” he continued. “And then I said, ‘Well, while you’re here then you’d better go and do something’. That’s how collaborations work sometimes.”
‘Foreign Tongues’ will also include the previously released singles ‘Rough And Twisted’, ‘In The Stars’ and ‘Jealous Lover’, as well as a cover of the Amy Winehouse classic ‘You Know I’m No Good’. It’ll also feature the group’s late drummer, Charlie Watts.
Check out the full tracklist for ‘Foreign Tongues’ here.
Last month, NME attended the ‘Foreign Tongues’ launch event in New York City, where the Stones discussed the diversity of sound on their new album and a country track called ‘Ringing Hollow’.
Meanwhile, The Cure are currently on tour in the UK and Europe, and will play huge outdoor shows in Manchester and Edinburgh next month.
