UNCUT: The Stones were very tenacious early in their career, weren’t they?
RICHARDS: Yeah. But it was fastmoving. ’63 particularly –that was ayear of speed, man. Everything was happening all at once. We were in a maelstrom. People were saying to us, “You can do this, you can do that.” Brian was a great promoter.
I often think the early Stones get overshadowed by what came later in the ’60s. Do you think that’s true? The thing just got bigger and bigger, and obviously as we went on we got more experienced. By the time you get to Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed, this band is in full flow. On the early stuff, there’s always this tentative feel to it. It took awhile to record the Stones properly. You know you can play it, but could they capture it?
The transformation is very acute. It’s only afew years, but the Stones of 1964, say, are avery different band from the Stones of 1967. The changeover came from being a bar band, where you just stood between the drumkit and the bass player –only Mick had alittle bit of room to move. We weren’t at all prepared for the big stage. It was learning on the job. All of it. Thank God our first tour was with Bo Diddley and Little Richard and the Everly Brothers.
You were avery tight-knit group, weren’t you? Hey, you’re living in the back of a Volkswagen truck with no windows for 300 days ayear, you get tight!