Robert Smith was about to say no to the Rolling Stones. The Cure frontman, in fact, revealed that he initially rejected the invitation to collaborate on “Foreign Tongues”, the album due out on July 10th, only to have second thoughts a few hours later. The English musician plays the guitar in “Divine Intervention”, released in recent days together with “Jealous Lover”.
In the new episode of the official Rolling Stones podcast “Speaking In Tongues”, previewed by Nme, Smith said that everything started from a phone call from producer Andrew Watt. “When the session was about to end he asked me if I would like to come to the studio to finally drink that cold beer together. He told me that they had practically finished recording and that Mick only had a few vocal parts left.” So Smith showed up at Metropolis Studios in London with no intention of recording. “I went up there just expecting to get drunk,” he admitted. He was also initially reluctant to enter the studio: “I know what it means to record a voice. The last thing you want is to have guests around.” For this reason he had decided to wait at the bar, but shortly afterwards he was told that Mick Jagger was happy to receive him.
Once you enter the control roomSmith found himself in front of Jagger while he recorded the vocals. The atmosphere immediately became relaxed. “They made me feel really welcome. Meanwhile I took advantage of the refreshments and, as often happens to me, the more I talked the more absurd my proposals became.”
At that point the unexpected proposal arrived. “Out of nowhere Mick said to me: 'Would you like to do something on the album?'. Then he added: 'Play some guitar…'. I wasn't prepared at all.” His response, to everyone's surprise, was a refusal: “I said, 'No, thanks, I can't do that'. I only went there for a drink, I certainly wasn't expecting to play on a Rolling Stones album.”
The refusal, however, only lasted a few minutes. After Jagger left the studio, in fact, the frontman of the “Pornography” band has changed its mind. “I said to Andrew, 'Okay, then. Let's plug in a guitar and have a go.' I started playing on a few songs, and from there, one thing led to another.” From that session his participation in “Divine Intervention” was born.
In recent days it was Mick Jagger himself who recounted the curious encounter from his point of view. “I got to the studio to record my vocals and I saw this guy in a long cloak with his back turned. When he turned around he had lipstick all over him.” Only then did the Rolling Stones frontman understand who he was. “I said to him, 'You're Robert Smith from The Cure.' He said, 'Yeah, we've never met.' So I said, 'Well, since you're here, I might as well do something.' Sometimes collaborations just happen like that.”
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
