THE Rolling Stones keep on rolling; Bill Wyman keeps up his Rhythm Kings, happy with his past, happier still with his present.
Bill left behind the Stones juggernaut a decade ago to pursue his own interests, more music, photography and painting. Tonight, he is in York, doing what he loves best, playing classic rhythm and blues at the Barbican Centre.
"It's the sound of a bunch of mates having a bloody good time," says Bill, who turned 67 last month.
He doesn't miss the Stones, but nor does he regret not leaving sooner. "No, not really. I have no regrets, you do what you do. When I see the Stones today Jagger and Richards have been touring the stadium world on their Forty Licks tour, it's another band; it's not the band I was in.
"The material's different, the people in it are different. I don't want to be in a big touring band any more, which is why the Rhythm Kings happened," says Bill.
His rock'n'roll globe-trotting days are over. "Absolutely, that was one of the reasons I left the Stones. With the Rhythm Kings, we haven't got three articulated lorries worth of equipment; we're not away for months on end touring South America, Japan, Australia or wherever with an entourage of 50 people," Bill says.
"It's just the guys in the band and four crew members in the back of a bus. The way it was when I started, back to the roots, which is great, because we're all friends, just playing great music together."
This month Bill is on the road for a dozen dates with guitarist Albert Lee, Mike Sanchez, Georgie Fame and Beverley Skeete, "a wonderful singer, who's just been touring with Annie Lennox".
Bill revels in his present working practice. "There's no pressure from a record company, no video shoots, no pressure to make the charts. We do the Rhythm Kings for the love of it; just a good-time band that plays good-time music and records good-time music - and I keep getting the shock of my life at just how good it is!" he says.
The Rhythm Kings project is so relaxed that Bill even brings out his own bootleg CDs on the Ripple Records label, the latest being a selection of live recordings released under the name of Bootleg Kings, On The Road Again.
"We do 'em ourselves to save our fans the bother. The fans love it; they buy them off the website or at the gigs, and you can't get them in the shops," says Bill.
"I run them off the mixing desk at the gigs, go through them for days at home, getting the best sound, the best balance of tracks and the best quality from the tour. I then mix them in with the sound of the crowd and put out the bootleg!"
On The Road Again will fill the gap before the next studio album. "We've brought it out now because we won't have a new album coming out until March, as my band are working musicians with their own careers to think about," says Bill.
The Rhythm Kings accommodate those other commitments, working in short bursts, in contrast to the Stones.
"This year we've already done a couple of months touring, playing in Ibiza and at the Olympia in Paris, and I hadn't played there since the Sixties with the Stones. Then we had a lull, and now everyone is getting together for November, and then we'll be back together again for another tour."
All the recording sessions are complete for next spring's album.
"It's just a question of getting it finished, and we thought that rather than getting it out before Christmas we would save it for the New Year, when it's less rushed," says Bill. "But I won't tell you what's on there, because we get people copying what we do!"
No names, no pack drill. Instead, Bill prefers to highlight one of the contributors to the upcoming album. "I've got the best boogie-woogie player in the world on there, Axel Zwingleberger. Jools Holland eat your heart out!" says Bill, who had spotted Zwingleberger's talents on a video featuring the pianist playing with Charlie Watts and Jack Bruce.
"So we got Axel over from Germany to do seven tracks with us and they were just phenomenal."
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Bill leaving the Rolling Stones. Now he has his life balanced just as he wishes, between family life with three little girls - aged nine, seven and five - and The Rhythm Kings.
"When I left the Stones in '93, it was a case of wiping the slate clean. I wanted my family life back, and it was only after a couple of years I got the idea to put something together," he recalls.
"What started as me and a couple of mates like Andy Fairweather-Low and Georgie Fame going into a studio and recording a few of our favourite numbers then snowballed and evolved.
"The first CD got us noticed; the second CD made it to number five in the jazz and blues charts and our third and fourth albums made it to the top of those charts. It told me I was on to something good."
Something so good that Bill doesn't have to be away from his family - "most of the time I get home from the shows on the night", he says - while still enjoying playing live and visiting cities.
"I love York because I love the history of the city, particularly the Romans, and I always try to zoom around town between the soundcheck and the show. I keep meaning to bring the family up there."
Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings play York Barbican Centre, tonight at 7.30pm. Tickets: £20; ring 01904 656688.
Updated: 10:01 Friday, November 07, 2003
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