News : Robert Smith Says He First Rejected A Rolling Stones Collaboration

Robert Smith has revealed that he almost passed on the chance to appear on the Rolling Stones' upcoming album Foreign Tongues after being unexpectedly asked by Sir Mick Jagger during a casual, beer filled visit to the studio.

The Cure frontman ended up playing guitar on Divine Intervention while also contributing synths and backing vocals to Never Wanna Lose You, both featured on the forthcoming record.

Robert explained that he and the Stones' producer Andrew Watt had spent years keeping in touch through phone calls and online conversations despite never actually meeting face to face.

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 finally changed when Andrew invited him to Metropolis Studios in London while the band was finishing one of its recording sessions.

Recalling the invitation, Robert said: “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?”

Before he arrived, Andrew mentioned that Mick could still be in the studio recording his vocals.

Robert 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.”

Not wanting to disrupt the session, Robert decided it would be better to stay out of the way.

He said: “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.”

A short time later, a studio assistant let him know that Mick was “happy for [him] to come down”.

When Robert entered the studio, he was amazed to find the Gimme Shelter singer still in the middle of recording.

As they shared a few drinks, Robert admitted that his thoughts became “more and more absurd”.

The evening took an unexpected turn when Mick suddenly made an offer Robert never saw coming. He recalled: “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.”

Caught off guard and feeling the effects of the drinks, Robert initially declined the invitation.

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.”

After Mick had left the studio, however, Robert changed his mind.

He recalled: “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 will be released on July 10.