Robert Smith has revealed that he initially turned down his parts on the Rolling Stones’ upcoming album Foreign Tongues after being caught off guard by Sir Mick Jagger’s offer during a boozy studio hangout.
The Cure frontman plays guitar on Divine Intervention and provided the synth and backing vocals to Never Wanna Lose You from the forthcoming LP.
Robert first explained that he and the Stones’ producer Andrew Watt had been in touch for years without ever meeting in person.
Speaking on the Rolling Stones’ Speaking In Tongues podcast, he said: “Andrew Watt [producer] and I have kind of exchanged online conversations and phone conversations over the last few years, but we’d never met up.
“Every time he’d wash up in London with some big cheese or other, either I wasn’t around or it just didn’t seem the right time to hang out.”
That changed when Andrew invited him to Metropolis Studios in London as the Stones were wrapping up one of their sessions.
He recalled: “And when it got nearer to the end of the session, was I interested in coming up and finally grabbing that cold beer with him?”
Andrew warned him that Mick might still be finishing vocals.
He explained: “He said that they’d pretty much done all the tracking and Mick was just left to pick up some vocal stuff. “He told me the day before, ‘Mick might still be around’, and I was like, You know, That’s OK.”
Robert said he didn’t want to interrupt: “I know what it’s like being in the studio, particularly when you’re singing. The last thing you want is guests… So I said I’d wait in the bar until they’d be done.”
An assistant then informed him Mick was “happy for [him] to come down”.
As he approached the room, he was stunned to see the Gimme Shelter hitmaker mid-song.
As the drinks flowed, Robert admitted his ideas became “more and more absurd”.
Then came the moment he didn’t see coming: “Out of nowhere [Jagger] said, ‘Do you fancy doing something on the album?’ And I was like, Whoa, hang on! And he said, ‘Oh, play a bit of guitar…’ And I was like, Well… I wasn’t really prepared for it.”
With a blurry head, Robert rejected Mick’s offer.
He said: “Much to everyone’s astonishment, I said, No, no thanks, I can’t do that. I went up there expecting just to get drunk, really. And I wasn’t expecting to play on the Rolling Stones album.”
Fortunately, after Mick had left, Robert reconsidered.
He recounted: “And then time elapsed and I said to Andrew, Oh, come on then. Let’s plug a guitar in and I’ll have a go at some of the songs.
“So I just started playing and, yeah, one thing led to another.”
Foreign Tongues is released on July 10.