Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood pose in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Kevin Mazur (Mandatory Credit)
Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood speaks in this undated handout image taken from video. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Universal Music Canada (Mandatory Credit)
FILE - Mick Jagger, left, Ronnie Wood, centre, and Keith Richards, right, of the band the Rolling Stones perform onstage during the last concert of their "Sixty" European tour in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood pose in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Kevin Mazur (Mandatory Credit)
Nearly 50 years after the Rolling Stones slipped into the El Mocambo under the pseudonym the Cockroaches, the guitarist still considers those legendary 1977 club gigs his 鈥渋nitiation鈥 into the band.
Having recently joined the Stones, he recalls falling sick around that period and going to bed, only for guitarist Keith Richards and frontman Mick Jagger to raid his hotel room.
鈥淢ick and Keith unscrewed the screws on my door, took the door off its hinges and stole all my champagne,鈥 the 79-year-old Wood says on a virtual call from London.
鈥淭hey went, 鈥極h, bless you, Ronnie. You really are ill. We'll have to drink your champagne for you.鈥 So that's how they treated me.鈥
Now, as the Stones prepare to drop their 25th studio album "Foreign Tongues" on July 10, the axeman says the famed British rockers are trying to tap into the loose, ragged spirit that defined those early years.
The Rolling Stones are releasing their 25th album, 鈥淔oreign Tongues,鈥 on July 10. Guitarist Ronnie Wood says the project partly channels the band鈥檚 legendary El Mocambo gigs in Toronto, a period he calls his 鈥渋nitiation.鈥 Those secret shows had them adopt a fake name, "the Cockroaches." (June 19, 2026)
Alex Nino Gheciu
鈥淥r as I call it, 鈥榤ore solos,鈥 because I鈥檓 playing up a storm,鈥 says Wood.
"I said, 'Mick, I want more solos. He said, 'Ronnie, you've got a solo on every bloody song!'"
The band released the scrappy single 鈥淩ough and Twisted鈥 earlier this year as a limited vinyl under the Cockroaches, reviving a moniker they used for secret club appearances in the 1970s.
"That started in Canada," Wood notes.
"The Cockroaches and the El Mocambo was a great initiation time for me. Great fun."
The two March 1977 shows became the stuff of rock legend. Fans packed into the 300-capacity club expecting an obscure opening act for 好色tv band April Wine, only to discover they were actually watching the Rolling Stones.聽
The surrounding drama added to the lore. During the trip, Richards and then-partner Anita Pallenberg were arrested and charged with heroin possession after an RCMP raid on their room at Toronto鈥檚 Harbour Castle Hotel.
鈥淵ou throw in the odd bust on Keith and Anita, and oh my God, that was a heavy time in that hotel. There was a lot going on,鈥 recalls Wood.
Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood speaks in this undated handout image taken from video. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Universal Music Canada (Mandatory Credit)
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Richards was released on bail and eventually avoided serving time on the condition he perform a concert for the blind and continue addiction treatment.聽
Asked whether the controversy affected the band's performances, Wood laughs.
"No, it only spiced it up. It made it better."
NEW ALBUM TACKLES THE TIMES 鈥 AND TIME'S PASSAGE
Wood says 鈥淔oreign Tongues鈥 crackles with some of that same combustible energy, intent on keeping the party going.
After their Grammy-winning 2023 effort 鈥淗ackney Diamonds鈥 鈥 their first original album in two decades 鈥 Wood notes the band wanted to ride the wave of momentum with producer Andrew Watt.聽
"We've got that energy back and that drive," he says, adding the band pumped out albums every couple years in the "old days."
The result is a cranked-up, riff-slinging set that feels both conscious of the times and mindful of time's passage.
Jagger takes a shot at 鈥渕ad mogul Mr. Musk鈥 on the otherwise lascivious dance number 鈥淢r. Charm,鈥 while lamenting the United States鈥 fraying ideals on country swinger 鈥淩inging Hollow鈥 鈥 鈥淟ady Liberty don鈥檛 look so good when she鈥檚 wearing a frown,鈥 he sings.
"Back in Your Life," meanwhile, is a lighter-raising ballad about friends lost. Wood says he channelled his grief over the late Brian Wilson and Sly Stone, who died within days of each other last year, while recording the song's soaring guitar solo.
鈥淚've lost a lot of good friends lately, as well as famous people,鈥 he says.
FILE - Mick Jagger, left, Ronnie Wood, centre, and Keith Richards, right, of the band the Rolling Stones perform onstage during the last concert of their "Sixty" European tour in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
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鈥淚 am blessed to still be here myself. It makes me realize that being a survivor is mind-blowing, really. And you don't know how long it's going to last.鈥
He slumps his head, pretending to croak, then bursts into laughter.
"We feel lucky because most people have got bits falling off, bits dropping off of their body."
The album features one of the final recording sessions by late Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021 but appears on the track 鈥淗it Me in the Head.鈥
Another tribute arrives on 鈥淵ou Know I鈥檓 No Good,鈥 a harmonica-laced cover of the Amy Winehouse hit.
Wood was close with the late British soul singer, who died of alcohol poisoning in 2011, and remembers being called on more than once by her band to coax her out of her hotel room and onto the stage.
鈥淪he was always like, 鈥極h, what am I gonna do?鈥 And I'd say, 鈥楨veryone knows you鈥檝e got vodka in your water bottle. Come on, just make yourself available to do the show tonight,鈥欌 he says.
鈥淏ut she was her own worst enemy鈥. The drugs always get in the way.鈥
KEEPING THE STONES ROLLING
After surviving decades of rock-star excess, Wood says he has a renewed outlook.
鈥淚'm 16 years clean and serene, man. And life is new for me now. I've got two little lovely girls, Gracie and Alice,鈥 he says of 10-year-old twin daughters with his wife, Sally.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e bringing a new life to me and Sally. It's great.鈥
Keith Richards, front left, and Mick Jagger, of the Rolling Stones, perform in Vancouver on Friday, July 5, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
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Wood says he鈥檚 also helped the Stones survive themselves. During some of the band's roughest years, particularly in the 1980s, he found himself mediating between Jagger and Richards when tensions threatened to split the group.
鈥淭here have been a few historic moments over the years where they've nearly separated for good,鈥 he says. 鈥淚've said, 'That can't happen. You've got to stay together. I鈥檓 going to put you on the phone with each other.鈥
He says Jagger and Richards are now 鈥渃loser than ever.鈥
"It's taken a lot of years and a lot of hard work."
More than six decades after starting up, the Stones apparently have no plans to stop. While there isn't a tour slated for 2026, Wood says the band is eyeing the road.
"We really want to promote the album. We want a tour. We just love to play.鈥
This report by 好色tvwas first published June 19, 2026.
