Rod Stewart Admits He's 'Struggling' With a Faces Comeback Album

It's a prospect that's been kicking about for a while now: Rod Stewart and Faces bandmates Kenney Jones and Ronnie Wood reuniting to make new music together. But the question has always been, when?

To step back a minute: With the Record Store Day release in November 2023 of Had Me A Real Good Time at the BBC – In Session & In Concert 1971 – 1973, the surviving members of The Faces indicated more could be on the way. That would be hundreds of hours of rehearsals, outtakes, unreleased songs and session multi-tracks.

However, since 2020 there have also been discussions of a reformation with new material. That year Jones, Stewart and Wood attended the BRIT Awards, where they closed the ceremony with a live rendition of "Stay With Me."

In a 2021 interview with Bang Showbiz (via ContactMusic), Jones was even more explicit. "We’ve done about 14 songs, it's a mixture of stuff we never released which is worthy of releasing and there's some new stuff which is really wonderful," he said. "Rod is writing the lyrics and he's really keen on it." He then teasingly added, "Whether or not we're going to go on a big extended tour remains to be seen. What we have decided is to do some really big gigs like [London's] The O2, Madison Square Garden, some other big venues in America.

"Nothing elaborate on stage, just bring back the Faces live."

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Fast forward to the present day and Stewart, now publicizing his covers album Swing Fever with Jools Holland, has indicated to Vulture what else he's been up to, specifically about the Faces and unheard material.

"I’ve sent a lot... to Ronnie Wood," he said. "I told him, 'This is stuff we’ve recorded with my band, maybe the Faces would like to do it instead?' We’re still struggling to make this album. We’ll see. Some of them might see the light of day.

"There are a lot of songs I've written that I haven't put out and nobody knows about them. My songs are like my children. I gave birth to them and then I put them out there in the world and see how they do."

Woods' reply is yet to be heard... and for the moment the prospect of new music from the surviving trio (bassist Ronnie Lane passed in 1997 and keyboardist Ian McLagan died in 2014) remains tantalizingly out of reach.