'SuperHeavy' on Talent: Mick Jagger's Supergroup Talks About Meshing Beats for Debut Album
Jagger, Joss Stone and others combined multiple sounds for debut album.
Sept. 21, 2011— -- "Common Ground," a song on the self-titled debut album from SuperHeavy -- a supergroup that includes Mike Jagger, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart and others -- grew naturally out of the group's improvisational approach to recording.
"In the middle of the first session, we couldn't find it for a second. So that made us call the idea, 'Oh, common ground. We're searching for common ground.' And it all came back again," said Eurythmics founder Dave Stewart in an interview with "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts.
The story captures the essence of SuperHeavy, which in addition to Stewart, Jagger and Stone, features reggae artist Damian Marley (son of Bob Marley), and A.R. Rahman, the Indian musician who won an Oscar for his soundtrack to "Slumdog Millionaire." The artists, except Marley, sat down with Roberts to talk about their collaboration on their album, which was released on Sept. 20.
Watch the behind-the-scenes studio cut of SuperHeavy's single, "Miracle Worker," HERE
Starting in 2009, the group gathered in a large studio in Los Angeles and simply played and sang. At the time, they were practically strangers.
"It was a lot of creative making up moments," Stone said. "We made songs, but they lasted for 45 minutes. The [eventual] song appeared at 37 minutes and three seconds. And we'd go back in the control room and go, Ah, that's good. And then we'd have to edit it down," said Stewart. Then they might do it again, focusing on that distilled idea.
"You have to let everybody take the idea that they have as far as it possibly can go," said Jagger. "Even though in your heart you might think, This is never going to work.... Then the other part of you goes, Let it go, because it may work. ... You have to help it build. You take it to the extreme, and you go, You see, I told you it wouldn't work. Or, Wow, that's fantastic."
The group came together as organically as its sound.
"We didn't say, 'Hey, do you want to make a record? It was, Hey, do you want to get together and see what happens when these different music and cultural influences come together?'" Stewart said.
Beyond the clear difference in age and background -- three Brits, two of whose careers are based on American black genres, a Jamaican dancehall reggae artist, a South Indian who blends Indian music with heavy technology -- the members of SuperHeavy bring their individual musical tastes together.
The lone woman of the group, Stone burst onto the music scene at the age of 16. While working in the studio, her fellow SuperHeavy bandmates said, the now energetic 24-year-old would spontaneously sing mundane statements such as, "I want a salad."
"I'm a little chatty," Stone said. "I get excited and I can't help it. It's just what -- I've got a lot to say."
"Joss is very quick," Jagger said. "I try to be quick, too. I don't like messing around."
As for a possible tour, Jagger said they'd "been offered two funny shows in India," but there were no plans yet. "We want to see if there's something fun that we can do as a show differently, not just a straight-up show."
But when asked if the Rolling Stones might tour next year to celebrate their 50th anniversary, Jagger said, "There'd be a very big cake, and I'm gonna jump out of it dressed as a woman, in a nice dress. That's what we're gonna do."