Paul Sexton on The Rolling Stones
Paul Sexton on The Rolling Stones
Local music journalist Paul Sexton has been interviewing The Rolling Stones for over 30 years, most recently about their latest album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ for his radio documentary ‘The New Stone Age’, which aired on Planet Rock. The show was also played at a special Stones night at the Sound Lounge in Sutton, where Paul is a patron. The Rolling Stones were originally discovered by impresario Giorgio Gomelsky while playing a gig in Sutton early in their careers at what was once the Red Lion, now The Winning Post, where they performed several times.
An edition of Paul’s latest book ‘Charlie’s Good Tonight: The Authorised Biography of Charlie Watts,’ hand-bound by Chris Narayan of Bensons Bookbinding, was auctioned for a Sound Lounge fundraiser and bought by collector Matt Lee, who has among his collection a handbill for an early Stones gig at the pub.
Says Paul: “It was a thrill to visit Matt’s unbelievable Stones collection, which totals 200,000 items and has won him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. To see the special edition of my book go into his Charlie cabinet was quite something. Another of the recent additions to his collection is a handbill for one of those early Stones gigs at the Red Lion – probably from their first dates there in late 1962 – advertising their appearances on alternate Fridays. Admission was four shillings (20p), or three shillings (15p) for members.
This important location in their early story is less than 500 feet away from the award-winning Sound Lounge, which is carrying the torch for live, original music in Sutton.
“Getting together with Mick, Keith and Ronnie once again to talk about their brilliant, chart-topping ‘Hackney Diamonds’ album was as much fun as ever. It was especially touching to see how much it means to them that our dear, departed Charlie plays on two tracks on the record. Charlie was an extremely special human being and it was such an honour to write his official biography, authorised by his lovely family. I keep saying that he’s still on tour, because the book has now been published around the world, from the US to Brazil, Japan to Germany, and France to Finland.”
