Robert Smith was about to say no to the Rolling Stones: "I just wanted to get drunk" – The video for "Divine Intervention"

Robert Smith was about to say no to the Rolling Stones. The frontman of the Cure has revealed that he initially turned down the invitation to collaborate on "Foreign Tongues", the album due out on July 10th, only to change his mind a few hours later. The English musician plays guitar on "Divine Intervention", released in recent days alongside "Jealous Lover".
In the new episode of the Rolling Stones' official podcast "Speaking In Tongues", previewed by NME, Smith explained that it all started with a phone call from producer Andrew Watt. "When the session was about to wrap up, he asked if I fancied coming by the studio to finally have that cold beer together. He told me they'd basically finished recording and that Mick just had a few vocal parts left." So Smith showed up at Metropolis Studios in London with no intention of recording. "I went up there expecting nothing more than to get drunk," he admitted. At first he was even reluctant to go into the studio: "I know exactly what it means to record a vocal. The last thing you want is guests hanging around." That's why he'd decided to wait at the bar, but shortly after he was told that Mick Jagger was happy to have him come in.

Once he stepped into the control room, Smith found himself face to face with Jagger, who was recording his vocal parts. The atmosphere immediately turned relaxed. "They made me feel really welcome. Meanwhile I was taking advantage of the refreshments, and, as often happens to me, the more I talked the more absurd my suggestions became."
That's when the unexpected proposal came. "Out of nowhere Mick said to me: 'Would you like to do something on the album?' Then he added: 'Play a bit of guitar...' I wasn't remotely prepared." His answer, to everyone's surprise, was a refusal: "I said: 'No, thanks, I can't do that.' I'd only gone there for a drink, I certainly wasn't expecting to play on a Rolling Stones album."
The refusal, however, lasted only a few minutes. After Jagger left the studio, the frontman of the band behind "Pornography" changed his mind. "I told Andrew: 'All right then. Let's plug in a guitar and give it a go.' I started playing on a few tracks and, from there, one thing led to another." That session gave birth to his contribution to "Divine Intervention".

In recent days, Mick Jagger himself had told the story of this curious encounter from his own point of view. "I got to the studio to record my vocal parts and saw this guy in a long cloak, with his back to me. When he turned around he had lipstick all over his face." Only then did the Rolling Stones frontman realize who it was. "I said to him: 'You're Robert Smith from the Cure.' He replied: 'Yes, we've never met.' So I said: 'Well, since you're here, you might as well do something.' Sometimes that's exactly how collaborations come about."

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