Who are The Cockroaches? Are The Rolling Stones about to drop new music or play a surprise gig?

There are rumours swirling that The Rolling Stones may be gearing up to drop new music or play a surprise gig in London.

Speculation stems from a new run of posters that have been spotted in the capital, which simply read ‘The Cockroaches’ along with a QR code.

As highlighted by journalist and broadcaster Matt Everitt, the name appears to be one that the rock giants have adopted in the past as a pseudonym. In the early ‘80s, they played a secret show under the alias ‘Blue Sunday And The Cockroaches’.

“I could be falling for an elaborate April Fool’s hoax, or I could have dropped down a rabbit hole of obscure Stones folklaw, but this would appear to be some form of cryptic @therollingstones announcement, right?” he wrote in his caption, also sharing images of the pages that come up when the barcode is scanned.

The code takes you to a new website called ‘thecockroaches.com’, and when you click the button to “sign up”, the page reads “Who The Fuck Are The Cockroaches?” and invites fans to subscribe for updates.

As highlighted by Everitt, the text on that sign-up page is similar to that seen in an old, famous photo of Ronnie Wood, in which he is seen wearing a shirt that reads “Who the fuck is Mick Jagger?”.

When signing up for updates, an email is sent out with a confirmation message from Universal Music – which is the same label that represents the Stones.

At the time of writing, it isn’t clear if the Cockroaches poster has any connection to The Rolling Stones beyond speculation, nor is it clear if it is angling at new music or a new live show. NME has reached out to a rep for the band for comment.

“Very exciting. New album would be good but tour better news,” one person commented on Everitt’s post, while journalist Simon Harper shared a post also speculating about the posters.

“The QR code takes you to thecockroaches.com, and a holding page that shows a sparse ‘70s bedroom complete with various ephemera dotted around – some plectrums, concert tickets, and vinyl records – plus a poster for The Cockroaches and a clock stuck on April 11th,” he wrote.

“All quite random so far, I hear you say, but the website – as with the Hackney Diamonds one – is copyrighted to Universal Music, the Stones’ label, and if you forward the link to a friend, the accompanying image is of the phrase, ‘Who the fuck are The Cockroaches?’, written in the exact same format as that ‘Who the fuck is Mick Jagger?’ T-shirt worn infamously by @officialkeef and immortalised in Ken Regan’s iconic 1975 portrait.”

As well as the gig in the early ‘80s, Jagger and co. have used the alias The Cockroaches before – usually for the occasional secret set, or for impromptu warm-up shows over the years.

Previous instances include a gig in Toronto in 1977, a stop in Atlanta the following year, and a show in Worcester in 1981 – which was revealed to be The Rolling Stones shortly before it kicked off.

If the poster does turn out to be a new announcement from the rock veterans, it is unlikely that it will be revealing a full-blown tour. This comes as the band confirmed last year that they scrapped plans for a UK and European stadium tour in 2026, due to Keith Richards being unable to “commit” to it.

If they came to fruition, the gigs would have been the first tour dates from the rock legends since they went out on their ‘Hackney Diamonds’ tour in the US in 2024. They sold nearly a million tickets across those 20 dates and generated an estimated $235million (£185.1million) – making it to Number Six on the highest-grossing music world tours of that year.

The Stones last played the UK in 2022, when two huge BST Hyde Park gigs followed a stadium show at Liverpool’s Anfield.

There could potentially be a one-off show from the band, and it is also likely that they are gearing up to announce new music soon.

Last year, producer Andrew Watt revealed that he had been working with the line-up again to help them make another album – having also worked with the band on the Grammy-winning 24th studio LP ‘Hackney Diamonds’ in 2023, their first since the death of Charlie Watts.

Later that year, Ronnie Wood himself confirmed reports that a new record was in the works, saying that it was done and set to arrive in 2026. The new album has not yet been officially announced, and the title and release date are still unknown.