Bill Wyman talks bass, Rhythm Kings and The Rolling Stones
"I'm lucky - I've been in good bands"
Bill Wyman on stage with his band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. © Pool/People Avenue/Corbis
"Most musicians play clubs and dream of being in stadiums," says Bill Wyman. "I was the other way around. Everybody thought I must've been crazy to leave The Rolling Stones, but it was something that was on my mind for a while. It was something I had to do."
When Wyman quit The Greatest Rock And Roll Band In The World in 1992, ending a 30-year association that produced some of the most vital recordings of the post-Baby Boom Era, he wasted little time in assembling a new band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, one which would allow the bassist to perform the music he loved in more intimate venues.
"For a long time in the Stones, I missed having contact with the audience," he says. "Standing there with your bass in a football field, you become isolated. With the Rhythm Kings, the band is totally engaged with the people who've come to see us. I quite like it."
Being an ex-Rolling Stone has its perks, of course, as evidenced by some of the A-list names that have popped up on Rhythm Kings recordings over the years: Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Mark Knopfler, Nicky Hopkins, Peter Frampton and fellow former Stone Mick Taylor - all have played with Wyman and company on their four studio albums.
And those discs now make up the five-CD boxset titled Collectors' Edition Box Set, due out 25 October, which neatly packages Wyman's stunning examination of 20th Century roots music, along with originals that suit the same period to a T.
MusicRadar sat down with Bill Wyman to discuss the Rhythm Kings and a few of the iconic musicians who have played with the band. In addition, we talked about bass playing and gear, as well as that other group he used to mess around with.
So how does one become a Rhythm King?
[laughs] "Joining up in the beginning is probably the way to do it. Other than that, you have to hang out and wait for someone to get injured. It's like a football team: If some gets injured, or is called off to do something more lucrative, because we're a big band that plays small venues, you've got your shot.
"The great thing is, we're basically the same band now as when we started in 1994. I've got Georgie Fame on organ; Albert Lee and Terry Taylor on guitars; Graham Broad on drums; the same horn players, Frank Mead and Nick Payn; and my girl singer, Beverley Skeete. Occasionally, people come and go, so I guess you have a chance…if you're good enough." [laughs]
When you went back and listened to the albums for the boxset, did you like what you heard?
"I did, yes. Sometimes, when you do something like this, you hear a track and you wish you could change a part here and there. But I think these records are quite good. I especially like the double CD, Double Bill. There was a lot of material on that one, and so we had to make it a double record. The name fits – 'Double Bill.'" [laughs]
