Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart at the 2020 BRIT Awards
[Note: This 2025 story updates our previous item from 2022.] Faces members Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, and Kenney Jones have recorded new songs with the possibility of a studio album coming in 2026. The news comes once again from Jones via a new interview that appeared in the April 21, 2025, edition of The Telegraph [sign-up required]. The three have shared the stage numerous times since Faces called it quits well over 40 years ago. But this time, and despite Wood’s role as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1975 and Stewart’s still significant solo career, the British music legends are trying to give it a go. They collaborated on a big 2024 box set (see below).
In the latest interview, Jones said the trio have recorded “about 11 tracks” at a North London studio. “Not all of them are going to be right [for an album],” he said. “But most of them are good.”
Jones added, “I can see it coming out next year [2026],” explaining, “everyone’s doing different things. We do little snippets here and there.” He acknowledged that his more famous bandmates are committed to their significant careers, Wood with the Stones and Stewart with his busy tour schedule and occasional solo recordings.
In a September 5, 2021 interview with Contact Music, the drummer said they had recorded 14 songs. In the interview, Jones described the new recordings as “a mixture of stuff we never released which is worthy of releasing and there’s some new stuff which is really wonderful. Rod is writing the lyrics and he’s really keen on it.”
In an interview with Uncut that appeared in January 2022, Jones offered an update. “What we’ve decided to do is work on some of the original stuff that we didn’t use, so the album is going to be a mixture of old and new,” he said. “The songs we’ve been revisiting are from right across the board. It’s very difficult to go into specifics, because many of them didn’t even have titles. Ronnie and I, in particular, have been working on lots of the old stuff together and we’ve re-recorded a couple of those songs with a more modern feel. . . The new songs are coming along, too. We’re definitely going in the right direction.”
When pressed further, Jones said, “I don’t want to give away too much at this point, but there will be some special guests on there with us. We’ve already done a few overdub sessions with some well known people, which will remain a trade secret for the moment.”
Jones wouldn’t commit to a full tour. “Whether or not we’re going to go on a big extended tour remains to be seen,” he told Contact Music. “What we have decided is to do some really big gigs like [London’s] The O2, [New York’s] Madison Square Garden, some other big venues in America.”
Watch Faces perform on The Midnight Special in 1975
Several years came and went with no additional news. Jones had many dates with The Jones Gang. Stewart’s 2025 touring calendar is already very full. As of mid-April, the Rolling Stones have not announced any tour plans.
Faces formed in 1969 from the ashes of Small Faces, with Jones, and his Small Faces bandmates Ronnie Lane and Ian McLagan, joined by Stewart and Wood. (Small Faces frontman Steve Marriott departed to form Humble Pie.) They recorded four studio albums and scored a hit with the classic rock song “Stay With Me.” Stewart had also signed a solo recording contract and was frequently joined by his Faces bandmates.
By the mid-Seventies, the group was essentially done. Stewart’s solo career took off. Wood joined the Stones after Mick Taylor departed. And Jones joined The Who following Keith Moon’s death.
Stewart, Wood and Jones have performed together on occasion. Best Classic Bands was there in 2015 when they played seven songs for a benefit concert. Lane, who suffered from multiple sclerosis for decades, passed on June 4, 1997. McLagan died on Dec. 3, 2014. Stewart turned 80 on Jan. 10. Wood turns 78 on June 1. Jones turns 77 on Sept. 16.
Jones told Uncut, “The Faces never finished on a good note. So, it’d be good to finish on a good note and that would be that.”
Stewart, Wood and Jones shared the stage at the BRIT Awards on Feb. 18, 2020, at The O2 to perform “Stay With Me,” accompanied by an orchestra.
In 2024, a comprehensive box set arrived that compiled all of Faces’ BBC concerts and surviving studio sessions. The collection – much of it previously unreleased – was remastered with the full participation of Stewart, Wood, and Jones. The 9-disc set (8-CDs/1-Blu-ray), Faces At The BBC — Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973, is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
They are the subject of a 2023 book, Tell Everyone – A People’s History of the Faces, that tells their story in the words of over 500 fans. It’s available for order in the U.S. here and the U.K. here.
2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationGreat news! Go for it Kenney, Ron and Rod!
Yeah! About time! I always loved the Faces and was really sorry to see Mac pass away before Rod rejoined them. Maybe now they can do the farewell gigs they always deserved.