With hits like Stay With Me, I'd Rather Go Blind and Had Me a Real Good Time they were one of the most successful bands of the early 1970s and particularly successful live where, with their brand of boozy, good-time camaraderie, they bonded with the predominantly male audiences. The Faces are an important and some think undervalued piece in the complicated alcohol-sodden rock jigsaw of the 1960s and 1970s, formed by three evacuees from the Small Faces and Wood and Stewart from The Jeff Beck Group. The three original members – Wood, Kenney Jones on drums and Ian McLagan on keyboard – will be joined by Hucknall and former Sex Pistol bassist Glen Matlock for a gig at this summer's inaugural Vintage at Goodwood festival. Mick's range is like Rod's vocal range was in the seventies."
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Mick's a big Faces fan and it comes out when he sings, it's a kind of relief for him because he can let loose. Speaking to the Guardian, Ronnie Wood, who went on to join the Rolling Stones, insisted that Hucknall was rock'n'roll enough to step into Rod Stewart's tartan stack heels. But while fans of the Faces will welcome news that the band is to reform, they may be left scratching their heads at its new lead singer, former Simply Red frontman and silky-voiced ladies' man Mick Hucknall. We are the Faces.They were as celebrated for rock'n'roll excess as for their influential music, and counted among their members two of the most notorious bad boys of their era. It’s not just getting together to cash in and make a buck. We’re blessed it’s a fucking band, and that’s what I love. “The great thing is the bunch of us, we’re smiling at each other. “It certainly is a lot of fun,” McLagan notes. But McLagan anticipates the Faces moving forward and was pleased to hear that even Stewart has made some positive noises, wishing the new lineup well during recent concerts in Great Britain. He notes that the Rolling Stones will always exert a pull on the newly sober Wood - although this year’s promotion of the “Exile on Main Street” reissue has created a window for the Faces to work - while Hucknall will occasionally have Simply Red responsibilities. McLagan says the Faces have hired a booking agent and are actively seeing other shows. But with Glen it suddenly becomes the Faces because he’s playing those very important Ronnie Lane bass parts.” “When we’ve done this before it’s been Ronnie Wood, Kenney Jones and Ian McLagen playing Faces songs. “In the middle of a song I’d hear a Ronnie Lane bass lick and I’d look over at him and smile. McLagan says Matlock was actually his “first choice” to be the Faces bassist when the group started talking about reuniting after issue the 2004 box set “Five Guys Walk Into a Bar…” He’d worked with Matlock in the late 70s new wave group Rich Kids and noticed at the time how much Matlock was influenced by the late Faces bassist Ronnie Lane. He’s not Simply Red he’s simply rock ‘n’ roll.” When we started rehearsing in earnest, that’s when his true colors came out. “I didn’t think he could sing like that all I know about him is Simply Red, and I just thought he’s more kind of a soul singer, which is part of what the Faces are, but I didn’t think he could rock, and he certainly surprised us all.
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“Mick surprised us all by ripping through ‘Stay With Me,’ ” McLagan recalls. Hucknall was one of the singers who joined the Faces at a British Performing Rights Society benefit in November and, according to McLagen, “knocked us all out.” McLagan says the lineup started rehearsing in March, after it became clear to he, Wood and Jones that Stewart - who’s currently touring to promote his 2009 “Soulbook” covers album - had “lost interest” in working with the Faces. The lineup is fleshed out by Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock and Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall, who’s stepping in for the reluctant Rod Stewart.
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This version of the Faces includes McLagan and drummer Kenney Jones, who co-founded the Small Faces in 1965, as well as guitarist Ron Wood, who joined when the group became the Faces in 1969.