The Faces: just like the 70s?

By Neil McCormick
Published: 5:21PM BST 04 Aug 2010




n a room at London’s O2 arena, photographers have assembled to commemorate the return of a classic British rock band. A familiar figure with spiky, dyed-black barnet and impenetrable shades casts a sceptical eye over a banner advertising sponsors American Express. “We’re not having that in the picture,” mutters Ronnie Wood and (to the visible alarm of various PR persons) starts to tear it down. His band mates join in, laughing, three old men wreaking havoc amidst drum kits and guitars. “There’s a little igniting mischievous flame in this band,” Wood later, rather gleefully, explains.

“The Faces would be like schoolboys terrorising the classroom. I suppose when we all get together that still comes out.”

The Faces are back. Well, sort of. Of the original line-up, one is dead (bassist, vocalist and genius songwriter, Ronnie Lane) and one is absent (superstar frontman Rod Stewart). “But there’s three of us,” drummer Kenney Jones, points out. “That must count for something.”

“If you close your eyes,” says the heavily wrinkled, 63-year-old Wood, “it’s just like the Seventies.”

The Faces are a key band in British rock history. Although never huge sellers, they were a phenomenal live act who marked a transition from the very stylised pop and rock of the Sixties to something looser, blending rock, soul and folk with a good-time spirit and lack of pretension that made them heroes to many of the punk bands that followed. They formed in 1969 from the ashes of London mods The Small Faces. When singer Steve Marriot left, Jones, Lane and keyboardist Ian McLagan joined forces with two members of The Jeff Beck Group, singer Rod Stewart and guitarist Wood. The Faces released four studio albums between 1970 and 1973, although Stewart’s simultaneous solo career began to eclipse the band. The much admired Lane left in 1973 (he later developed multiple sclerosis and died in 1997). Wood deputised with The Rolling Stones in 1974 after guitarist Mick Taylor left.

Then Stewart announced he was going solo and the band officially called it a day in 1975, with Jones going on to replace the late Keith Moon in The Who and McLagan pursuing a solo and session career in the US.

Rumours of a reunion have abounded in recent years. There were even secret rehearsals with Stewart in 2008. But, much to everyone’s surprise, when The Faces did announce their return to headline this year’s Vintage At Goodwood Festival on August 13, it was with ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock on bass and Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall on vocals.

“I know this is a bit of weird one,” admits Hucknall, with a grin like the cat who’s got the cream. “I had a poster of the Faces on my wall when I was 11 years old.”

“Now you’re making me feel old,” chortles Wood.

Although perhaps not regarded with the same kind of affection, the red- headed Mancunian singer has certainly sold more records than The Faces ever did. And if anyone can step into Britain’s most famous soul singer’s shoes, it might just be him.

“I am stepping into the image we all have, as fans, of what the Faces were in the early Seventies,” says the 50-year-old Hucknall. “And, God bless him, I don’t even think Rod could step into that role identically. So what I’m trying to do is just sing the songs, pure and simple. I don’t sound like Rod but I can hit the notes.”

“Well, he uncannily does sound like Rod, the way he sang back then,” interjects Wood. “A lot of thought went into developing the Faces sound, originally. We were influenced by New Orleans musicians like The Meters and Memphis people like Booker T and trying to work out how to get behind a vocalist who paid tribute to Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. So that’s why Mick fits in, he’s got the same roots. Everybody’s got the same end in mind, to make it soulful rock ’n’ roll.”

“I never thought I’d say this,” smiles Hucknall, “but I’m just the singer in a rock ’n’ roll band.”

It is immediately obvious how much this group of musicians are enjoying themselves. “It’s amazing how all the chords came back,” says Wood. “It’s like no time has passed. You like to think that after 35 years you’re a different player but really I’m the same. We dug out some of the original records for tempos and thought: 'Ooh, that was a bit slow, let’s spice it up.’ And then somehow it fell back into its bag.”

“We lock in naturally together,” suggests Jones. “Glenn’s playing is a big tribute to Ronnie, you can tell he really loved him.”

“Listening to these guys play is a thrill. What got me was they immediately sound like the Faces,” says Hucknall. “It’s kind of raucous pre-punk; it’s got an edge to it that’s exciting. Ron and Mac have this fantastic musical interaction, the way the guitar and keyboard bounce off each other is magic.

“They play so well together, I think they just shut their eyes and get on with it. I had to do all the work, ’cause I had to learn these songs.”

Hucknall is full of praise for his predecessor. “People don’t understand how high Rod sings. I’m known for hitting high notes but this boy is up there all the time, yet the miracle of Rod’s voice is it sort of sounds deep. I am standing in for the great man but if he wants to pop down and have a sing-song, I’ll stand on the side of the stage any time. The door is always open to Roderick.”

At Stewart’s recent arena shows, he made some vaguely positive comments about the Faces reunion, calling Hucknall “a great little shouter,” and suggesting he himself would “get back there some time”. Fan forums haven’t been so forgiving, with some dubbing the new band The Red Faces. With Cod Stewart. “That’s a good one,” cackles Wood.

“Its hard to say things without them being taken the wrong way - but Rod ain’t here,” says Hucknall. “That’s the bottom line: Rod’s not doing it. So is everyone just supposed to sit around? The boys want to make music and I’m here to help.”

Attempts to reunite the original line-up were apparently scuppered when Stewart’s manager proposed a profit-split heavily weighted in favour of his client. “Oh yeah, he made us an offer we could refuse, very easily,” chortles Wood. “Silly things get in the way, but we’re still pals. I talk to him on the phone. It was all happening in rehearsals and then there’d be some stumbling block, red tape, commitments; we just got fed up putting it on the back burner. The flame was still burning: it never went out on the Faces.”

Apparently there has been no shortage of volunteers to sing. “We’ve had offers from Noel Gallagher, Kelly Jones from Stereophonics, Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes, loads of people. But Mick can sing the ---- out of this stuff. We’ve just taken him under our wing. It’s the gang again. We’ve got our singer.”

“We’ve had a great time in rehearsals,” says Hucknall. “It just felt so damn easy.”

“We put it to bed after three days,” claims Wood. “It sounded raw and that’s what we are: rough and ready and raw.”


The Faces play the Vintage At Goodwood festival on August 13, sponsored by American Express. There are plans to tour in 2010.

The Telegraph

stonedinaustralia wrote on Aug 4^th, 2010 at 7:06pm:



Yeah I agree it seems as they aren't the faces without him. Wonder what the reasoning is?

I wouldn't walk across the street to see Mick Hucknall, and apparently neither would Mac and Ian.  

Why Ronnie?  He and Kenney look like a couple of rejects from the All-Star Team up there alone.

I'd go see Mick Taylor over this in a quick heartbeat.

andrews27 wrote on Aug 4^th, 2010 at 10:32pm:

Ian McLagan is part of this current incarnation of The Faces.


gimmekeef wrote on Aug 5^th, 2010 at 7:38am:

Mick Hucknall's no minor leaguer.
He might not have had a lot of success in the US, but he's been a star in the UK for a very long time.

What I find amusing is how Mick Hucknall is not real enough for the Faces now. As opposed to that dyed in the wool rock n roller Rod Stewart who since about 1975 has released one bag of shit album after another. His Great American Songshite Collection is a crime against music and it really is a very hard argument to make that Rod Stewart has more cred than Hucknall today. His only claim, and admittedly it is a big one, is that he was the original singer of the Faces. Otherwise, he has become a joke and at least Hucknall released that tribute to Bobby Bland and hit some of the soul roots of a band like the Faces. I'm no fan of Hucknall and can't listen to most of his songs but I can almost say that seeing Rod Stewart fronting the new Faces lineup is less interesting than this new lineup.

Kenney Jones guests on Ronnie's radio show today, so there's a bunch of Faces music and conversation.
Tour starting in January is in the works.

www.ronniewoodradio.com/2010/08/show-18-featuring-kenney-jones


The show's website also mentions a forthcoming book, 'Faces, 1969-75'.
It's being published as a limited edition and will be signed by Ronnie, Kenney and Mac.

New Faces: Glen Matlock interview

by Chris Sullivan on Aug 10, 2010

The original and current bass player for The Sex Pistols, Glen Matlock is credited with penning the music for 10 of the band’s 12 songs on their most notorious of albums, Never Mind The Bollocks.

He left the band to be replaced by Sid Vicious and subsequently formed The Rich Kids with Rusty Egan and Midge Ure, toured and recorded extensively with, among others, Iggy Pop, Johnny Thunders, Frank Black, Dead Men Walking with Slim Jim of The Stray Cats, and now travels the world with his own band, Glen Matlock and The Philistines. He is about to debut as bassist for the recently reformed ’70s super band The Faces, with Mick Hucknall of Simply Red on vocal and Faces founder members Ronnie Wood on guitar, Ian McLagan on keyboard and Kenney Jones on drums.

Chris Sullivan had a chat with Glen over a cup of tea, and quizzed him about his latest escapades, including a recent appearance at London's 1,2,3,4 festival.

How was the 1,2,3,4?
Great. The crowd loved it. We did all that ’60s garage psychedelic stuff like The Troggs and that.

Were you originally a Faces fan?
Not half! I first got into the Faces when I was 13 or 14. I remember that we had an old radiogram that my uncle had given us with all these 78s like Elvis and Little Richard in these cardboard sleeves, and then the first time I went down Portobello Road [trendy shopping street in London], I saw this record called Long Player in the same cardboard sleeve, so I bought it, took it home and put it on, and went ‘Wow!’ It was the Faces’ first album. I used to see the Small Faces on [British 1960s TV show] Ready Steady Go, but missed out on the intervening period because I was really into football, but after that I just dug them and really got into what they were into – like The Meters , Booker T, David Ruffin – I just dug this rock band with a soul singer and American R ’n’ B influences.

What about their live shows?
I remember going to see them first at the Rainbow [Theatre, in north London] when I was about 15, and it was an eye-opener. They didn’t slip off during the drum solo for a drink like most bands, but actually had a bar with a bartender on stage. They just looked as if they were having a right laugh. At the time, you had all these po-faced bands like Barclay James Harvest doing Beatles songs very seriously and these were having a good time.

And the rest of the Pistols were fans as well?
Yeah! Just after I first met Paul [Cook] and Steve [Jones], I bumped into them as they broke in through the roof of a gig to see Keith Richards playing with Ron Wood and Mac from The Faces. Steve Jones’ mobile phone ringtone is Pool Hall Richard by The Faces. We all loved the band – apart from Johnny Rotten, who hated them…

Did Ronnie Lane [original Faces bass player] influence you?
Absolutely. Big time. The Faces were different and Ronnie Lane was different within The Faces. I learned to play bass by playing along to Faces songs and a few other things thrown in. Anarchy [in the UK] is basically the same groove as Had Me A Real Good Time by The Faces. If you check Ronnie Lane’s bassline, it’s almost the same as mine and Steve’s guitar sound is very similar to Ronnie Wood’s, although they play differently. We all pick up different things as we go along, but they certainly were a huge influence on us. It’s the whole mixture of the rock and the soul and the blues that I dug.

How does that feel now, playing with the band that inspired you and were your favourites as a teenager? Is it odd?
Not really, ’cos I worked hard for this. It’s funny, because it’s always been lurking in my subconscious. I never thought it would happen, although the relationship began over 30 years ago after McLagan did a tour with me and The Rich Kids in 1978. When I knew he was keen on reforming, I asked him to put a good word in for me, worked a few angles myself and had a play with them, and they thought I was the right bloke for the job. I think I’m the right bloke because I get it, and often being the right bloke is not about being the best musician, it’s about fitting in and having the right vibe. Same with Mick Hucknall [current vocalist] – he’s great and I think people will be pleasantly surprised. Like me, he was a fan and is on the right wavelength.

Why didn’t Rod Stewart [original Faces vocalist] get involved?
I’m not party to all that and don’t want to be, but there’s nothing to say that he won’t do a few gigs in the future, and the door is open. As Mick Hucknall said, “If Rod wants to do it, I will gladly stand on the side of the stage and watch him.” There’s no bad blood, I don’t think, but every band had a bit of Coronation Street [ie, melodrama – Coronation Street is a long-running British TV soap opera] and I’m just enjoying playing with them. Ron Wood has been really together and is playing very well. There is a real chemistry between Ron and Mac. We had a run through at Kenney James’s house and it was great. You should hear Mick Hucknall sing I’d Rather Go Blind. It’ll make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

Is the first big one at Goodwood?
Yes – the idea is that we‘ll sow the seeds now and, if all goes well… we’ll look at doing some more in the New Year…

redbull.com

First show is tomorrow night at the British Music Experience at London's o2 Arena.
After Goodwood (Friday) there's a festival show in Randers, Denmark on the 20th.

Hope there's more in 2011...

Looking at the those photos of Hucknall, i agree with Noel Gallagher that rock stars should NEVER be seen in shorts.

Without Rod, and certainly the late, great Ronnie Lane, it's not really the Faces, but I'm liking the fact that Ronnie, Kenney and Mac are getting together to play those old tunes and have some fun. It can't be 1972 again, but I'm willing to give Hucknall a chance because he does have the pipes, and I'm sure Matlock will be rock solid - he's also a huge Ronnie Lane fan. The Faces are near and dear to me, right up there with the Stones, so while I'm certain this new line-up won't re-create the old days, I still think they'll do the material some justice.

Some pictures from the Q&A and performance:

Yes - would love to hear a show review from anyone who was there!

Glen Matlock on bass? WTF!? This is interesting. I mean, he can actually play but for such a thing to be conceived of in 1977 would've been far fetched. The Faces were far from the target of punk's wrath but Rod was for going back on his roots and turning into a schmaltzy Hollywood celeb.