Steve Jordan, the late-Charlie Watts' replacement, spoke in depth about taking over the drum chair for the Rolling Stones. Jordan, Keith Richards' collaborator and drummer in his X-Pensive Winos solo band — is also known for his work on the original Saturday Night Live, the Blues Brothers, the Late Night with David Letterman Band, along with sessions with the Stones, and co-writing their 1989 Steel Wheels track, “Almost Hear You Sigh.”
Jordan, who is decompressing from the Stones recently wrapped North American dates, told Rolling Stone, “When friends ask me what it’s like playing with them, I say that it’s like being strapped to the outside of a rocket ship going straight up. That’s what it’s like for us. You go out there for the first song and it’s like blastoff. You go, 'Wow!' And the crowd is going crazy and you’re playing one of your favorite songs you heard when you were, like, a toddler. It’s just completely surreal. The whole experience is just bizarre.”
He went on to explain, “The rehearsals are incredible because we’d basically play five hours straight. We didn’t take a lot of breaks. We’d play this incredible repertoire. We didn’t play everything, but we played about 80 songs, or a little more. Of course, it all has to be distilled down because there are 14 songs that have to be played for people to feel like they got their money’s worth since they’re paying all this money to see the band. They want to hear some of these songs. You’ve got to do some of them.”