Bill Wyman talks about 'Bill Wyman's Scrapbook' and not reuniting with Stones
Former Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman has been doing interviews to promote his limited-edition photo book "Bill Wyman's Scrapbook," which went on sale on April 8, 2013. In the interviews, he has made it clear that he won't be reuniting with the Rolling Stones for the Stones' 2013 tour.
Wyman was in the Rolling Stones from 1962 until he quit about 30 years later. In 1993, the Rolling Stones replaced Wyman with Darryl Jones, who is a salaried employe, not a full-fledged member of the band.
On Nov. 25 and Nov. 29, 2012, Wyman did two reunion shows with the Rolling Stones at the O2 Arena in London, but Wyman has been telling the media that he was "disappointed" by the experience because he feels should have been given more songs and more rehearsal time for the concerts.
As previously reported, Wyman and his band the Rhythm Kings will perform in the acoustic tent at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival in England on June 28. The Rolling Stones will be performing at the festival on the June 29, on the much bigger main stage. Although many people have wondered if Wyman will make a "surprise" appearance on stage with the Rolling Stones at Glastonbury, Wyman has basically said in recent interviews that he won't be performing with the Rolling Stones again anytime soon.
He did an extensive interview with the Telegraph, which published the article on April 8, 2013:
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
On quitting the Rolling Stones:
“When I said I wanted to leave they told me I was probably giving up £20 million for the next two years. But I had three great houses and some nice cars ... I got married again and worked on books, and started a band to subsidise my living expenses. And I don’t regret it because I’ve never been happier. I’m sure I’m happier than they are in their lives, I really do.”
On being the Rolling Stones' archivist:
“They thought I was mad, they’d say, ‘Why are you bothering to – excuse my language – collect that crap?’ It was quite hard to collect anything because you had to leave a venue so quickly, what with the kids attacking you and jumping over police vans.”
On answering fan mail and signing autographs in the 1960s:
Wyman was in the Rolling Stones from 1962 until he quit about 30 years later. In 1993, the Rolling Stones replaced Wyman with Darryl Jones, who is a salaried employe, not a full-fledged member of the band.
On Nov. 25 and Nov. 29, 2012, Wyman did two reunion shows with the Rolling Stones at the O2 Arena in London, but Wyman has been telling the media that he was "disappointed" by the experience because he feels should have been given more songs and more rehearsal time for the concerts.
As previously reported, Wyman and his band the Rhythm Kings will perform in the acoustic tent at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival in England on June 28. The Rolling Stones will be performing at the festival on the June 29, on the much bigger main stage. Although many people have wondered if Wyman will make a "surprise" appearance on stage with the Rolling Stones at Glastonbury, Wyman has basically said in recent interviews that he won't be performing with the Rolling Stones again anytime soon.
He did an extensive interview with the Telegraph, which published the article on April 8, 2013:
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
On quitting the Rolling Stones:
“When I said I wanted to leave they told me I was probably giving up £20 million for the next two years. But I had three great houses and some nice cars ... I got married again and worked on books, and started a band to subsidise my living expenses. And I don’t regret it because I’ve never been happier. I’m sure I’m happier than they are in their lives, I really do.”
On being the Rolling Stones' archivist:
“They thought I was mad, they’d say, ‘Why are you bothering to – excuse my language – collect that crap?’ It was quite hard to collect anything because you had to leave a venue so quickly, what with the kids attacking you and jumping over police vans.”
On answering fan mail and signing autographs in the 1960s:
“There was always stacks of mail waiting for us at venues and we would sit down and start answering it/ Me, Brian, Charlie and Keith took turns doing the autographs and we learnt to do each others’, because there were so many to do. When the autographs come up at Sotheby’s these days I can often tell they aren’t real.”On being an admitted adulterer when he was married to his first wife, Diane:
“Before I joined the Stones, a workmate gave me a piece of advice. Always treat a woman like a lady, and I always did that, even when I broke up with one. There are some who I still write to, a friend in Australia who I used to go out with in ’63, ’64. She has grandchildren now. And I’m still in touch with a girl I used to go out with in ’64, ’65. I never treated them like s--- and threw their clothes out.On his ill-fated and controversial marriage to his second wife, Mandy Smith, whom he admitted that he began having sex with when she was 14 and he was 48:
"It was a bit of a blur at times. But I can remember a lot of them. I was married so I couldn’t write about them in my diaries ... I was always very careful who I went with. Didn’t go with groupies or anything. Never had any problems with sexually transmitted diseases, as a lot of people did in those days."
"I have many wonderful pictures of her, but I didn’t want to dwell on it because it’s a sore point in my life. People have always treated it badly, when it wasn’t bad. I don’t want to talk about it because it upsets my [third] wife and my [three] daughters, who are the age she was.”On whether or not he he'll be worried about being prosecuted for statutory rape all these years later:
"There was never a complaint so… I went to the police and I went to the public prosecutor and said, ‘Do you want to talk to me? Do you want to meet up with me, or anything like that?’ and I got a message back, ‘No.’ I was totally open about it.”On not getting songwriting credit on some Rolling Stones songs:
"The riff on 'Miss You' was mine. And the one for 'Jumping Jack Flash.' There was one interview where Keith acknowledged that ‘that was Bill’s song.' Then about 10 years later he denied he’d said it.”
