Whether or not legendary '70s rock act the Faces are about to reunite depends on who you believe.
If you believe guitarist Ron Wood, the Faces are well on their way to recording a new album and planning a worldwide reunion tour.
But if you believe the news coming from Rod Stewart's camp, there won't be a Faces reunion until at least 2010, if at all.
So who's right? Judge for yourself.
As reported by Classic Rock magazine, Wood announced on Tuesday (Jan. 20) that Flea — longtime bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers — had already agreed to fill the role once held by original bassist Ronnie Lane, who died in 1997.
Speaking at London’s South Bank Awards festivities, Wood went on to say he and Stewart spent much of the Christmas holidays traveling around Costa Rica, Bermuda, and Miami. During their time together, the two wrote an album’s worth of material in three days.
“I had a great time,” Wood said. “It wasn’t so much a holiday but a mini-world tour.”
But according to a recent report on Rolling Stone.com's Rock & Roll Daily, an unidentified spokesperson for Stewart is denying that Stewart and Wood have written any material for a new Faces album, and that there are "no plans for a Faces renunion tour this year," the spokesperson told Rolling Stone.
Apparently, Wood also spoke to Rolling Stone, saying that Flea had only "inquired about the job, but that Rod's touring bassist Conrad Korsch was filling the slot."
To make matters even murkier, Flea himself chimed in on the subject by telling musicradar.com today, "I don't know anything about a Faces tour or album." This, of course, totally conflicts with a recent message on the Red Hot Chili Peppers Web site stating that Flea was, in fact, set to join the Faces after a series of successful rehearsals.
Musicradar.com also spoke with Gayle Fine of Q Prime Management, who manages the Chili Peppers. Fine had spoken to Flea today, and said, "Flea doesn't know where these stores are coming from ... As far as him joining the Faces, it's simply not true."
When musicradar.com inquired about the message on the Chili Peppers' Web site, Fine added, "That was taken from a story from Rolling Stone, and frankly, I don't know who that got up there. When you have a band this big, people get very enthusiastic. I;m going ot have that taken down, of course."
Recent reports have said Faces' original members Stewart, Wood, keyboardist Ian McLagan and drummer Kenney Jones had been meeting for rehearsals since November, and that plans to move forward with a full-scale reunion were in the works, although no timetable had been released. Any new music from the band would be the group's first since 1973's Ooh La La.
