The moment Rod Stewart met his bandmate Ronnie Wood: “He had the same haircut”
Contrary to my own personal profession, my dad isn’t the biggest music fan. But as a Scot, who came of age during the heady 1970s, he does have a particular affinity for one musician: Rod Stewart. But when asked why, despite his quiet love for ‘The Killing of Georgie, Part I and II’, he’ll mostly cite his light blonde mod-cut mullet as the reasoning.
Odd I know, but for any 20-something Scotsman, trying to make his mark in the world, a trim ala Rod Stewart was the only way. Whether it was cringeworthy or not, Stewart in the ‘70s was the figure of free-spirited masculinity and so copying his haircut must have felt like a gateway into experiencing that. It’s not an entirely new concept – if you live within any of East London’s postcodes you’ll likely see modern incarnations of this idea, wearing short shorts and a Paul Mescal inspired mullet.
But in the 1970s, Stewart was the face of this gypsy-shag aesthetic. And fair play to him, he found a stylistic method that seemed to match the gravelly fun of his voice. A voice that shone best during his time with The Faces. Before the cringeworthy 1980s when Stewart started incessantly singing about sex, without any nuance, he was in a good old fashioned rock and roll band, giving him the perfect platform to be the captivating front man he could be.
While the members of the band came and went relatively swiftly, the band was best known for including Kenney Jones, Ronnie Lane and future Rolling Stones guitarist, Ronnie Wood. The latter became somewhat of a blood brother for Stewart, a mischievous sidekick whom he could navigate the onslaught of hedonism with. So rather appropriately, the pair crossed paths because of their shared haircuts.
“It’s up the road from the Marquee [Club],” Stewart explained, when talking about The Intrepid Fox, the pub in which the band met. “We met in there one night, and he had the same haircut as me, and I literally said, ‘Hello, face,’ and he said, ‘Hello, face’ to me. And then, of course, later, we joined the Faces.”
Why “face” – well in the 1960s, the term was often used to describe someone who was part of London’s mod scene and who was particularly considered stylish or fashionable. I wonder if my dad ever got called that?
Anyway, it was that rather shallow bond that began a deep friendship, and helped form what could have been a truly great band.
“That was quite a remarkable moment,” Stewart added. “I think Ronnie was playing at the Marquee with his early band The Birds, and I was down doing business. But we just met in that pub.”
While The Faces disbanded in 1975, after a short run of albums, both Wood and Stewart have remained friends, with the Rolling Stones guitarist joining Stewart on stage at Glastonbury in 2025. As Stewart admits, “When we get together and we start talking to each other, people around us go, ‘Christ, it’s like you two are in 1975. … You’re exactly the same. You still laugh at the same thing.’” I’ll let you decide whether that’s a good thing or not.
