The Rolling Stones are gearing up to release a new album in July. Speculation had been swirling after posters for a mysterious band called the Cockroaches (a name enshrined in Stones lore) appeared in Camden Town, London, before the reveal in an article today by the London Times’ Will Hodgkinson. A single called “Rough and Twisted” is out tomorrow (April 11) as a white-label vinyl exclusive. The album title has not been revealed.
What we do know is that it is helmed by Hackney Diamonds producer Andrew Watt (yes, the same guy who collaborated with Paul McCartney on his new album) and that “Rough and Twisted,” per Hodgkinson, plays by the classic Stones rulebook: “a killer riff, a rambunctious harmonica solo from Mick Jagger, [and] a devil-may-care spirit.” No tour dates are planned, according to The Times, but the piece quells rumors that the next record is conceived to be their last; apparently there are “at least ten songs in the bag for another one.”
As for the Cockroaches—well, as any good Stones head knows, it is the name the band adopted at the peak of its imperial era, debuted at two secret 1977 concerts, in Toronto, in a chapter that Andy Cush documents in his Sunday Review of Tattoo You. Those shows were captured on the live album Love You Live, and the Cockroaches have mostly remained dormant until now. A new website for the band gives little away, but its clock is set for 1:41 p.m. on April 11.
Pitchfork has emailed the Rolling Stones’ representatives for more information.
