Rolling Stones Album Ad Details Confirmed by UK Newspaper Editor

The Rolling Stones' record label placed a pair of ads hinting at new music, two neighborhood London newspapers confirm.

References to Stones songs were woven throughout the advertisements, which were supposedly for a company called Hackney Diamonds. Broad speculation followed that this might be the title of a new record. The Rolling Stones' familiar logo dotted the "i" in the word "diamonds," and the promo also referenced 1962 – when the group was founded.

Senior Editor Simon Murfitt says the ads – and the new album – are real. "It's very exciting to have such a massive band announcing their new album in our papers, especially in such a cryptic manner," Murfitt said in a statement published in the Hackney Gazette and Islington Gazette. The same reports said Universal Music Group made the ad buy.

Any new album would be the Rolling Stones' first since the 2021 death of co-founding drummer Charlie Watts, who was subsequently replaced on the road by Keith Richards' solo drummer, Steve Jordan. The Rolling Stones' last album of original material dates back to 2005's A Bigger Bang.

The ads, which also said "Opening September 2023," sparked considerable excitement around the offices of these community publications. "I have already had several emails requesting back copies," Murfitt added, "and no doubt the papers will become collector's items for music fans."

The Rolling Stones have been discussing new music for several years. A collection of blues covers, 2016's Blue and Lonesome, actually grew out of ongoing sessions – but then Watts died. "It'll be interesting to find out the dynamics now that Steve's in the band," Richards later told CBS Sunday Morning. "It's sort of metamorphosing into something else."

CNN confirmed that Paul McCartney sat in with the Rolling Stones for one song. Variety earlier suggested that Ringo Starr might take a guest turn, as well.

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