Rock star, Mick Jagger has been quite busy lately. He has set up a group and has been recording with Eurythmics star, Dave Stewart, Damian Marley, Joss Stone and Indian music maestro, AR Rahman.
A source says that the group who call themselves Super Heavy have already finished a record and are in talks with major labels about a deal. Another source reveals that even though each member has a very unique style, it works to their benefit. Jagger has apparently been recording with Dave for some time now and both artists have worked with Joss in the past.
Speaking about the band’s formation, Jagger says, “The four of us got together and thought we’d go into a studio and throw some things around, see what would happen, if we’d have fun. We didn’t know what kind of music we’d make. We knew it would be a laugh, because we all got on. But you can have a laugh and nothing comes out, y’know.”
About the collaboration with AR Rahman, he said: “Dave Stewart and I said to each other, ‘Let’s phone AR Rahman, he’s in town, that’ll be different, then we had another continent involved.”
AR Rahman also recently talked about the formation of Super Heavy, “18 months ago Dave Stewart, Mick Jagger, Damien Marley, Joss Stone and me experimented at a studio in Los Angeles, trying to write songs which had meaning…We had a couple of more sessions after that tying to perfect every song that was written and presently we have around 16 to 18 songs and all the songs have a world sound by contributions from all of us.
“Dave’s and Mick’s incredible musicality and Joss’ soul singing, Damien Marley’s Jamaican influence and philosophies and me bringing musicality from my world. It’s all too early to talk about this but I guess you guys should know something… .”
Jagger reveals that the group has worked on reggae songs, rock, ballads and some soul music. “We’ve got one song in Urdu, I managed to do one line in Urdu, only one! It’s not world music per se. It’s a much more accessible style, a lot of dancey things.”
Jagger goes on to speak about the songwriting process: “We’d all leap in with our ideas, getting excited about one another. We’re four vocalists. We’ve never worked like that before. It’s great because the whole burden’s not on you, and that made it fun. There are a lot of different musical styles, maybe even some we’ve invented.”
However, if this new band turns out to be a success, it will definitely give Jagger a new priority and he has hinted that he is considering putting Super Heavy on the road for a tour.
“If people really like it, we will. If they don’t like it we won’t! We haven’t planned to do a tour or anything, but if people really like it maybe we will. We’d love to get together and play some of it live,” he said.
