Rolling Stones Deny Charlie Watts Has Quit Touring

The Rolling Stones have dismissed new claims from Australia that their drummer Charlie Watts is set to cease going on tour with them.

A report in Australian paper The Herald Sun says Watts will be replaced by US sticksman Steve Jordan, a member of Keith Richards' backing group, the second time an Antipodean source has said the veteran performer has decided to quit touring.

As reported in Spinner, last September, an Australian website made a similar claim, though Watts was quick to issue a denial. Now the Stones have been forced to issue another statement.

A spokesperson quoted by the NME said, "Contrary to a fabricated and ill-informed report that appeared yesterday on a small music website in Australia, we would like to make it clear that drummer Charlie Watts has not left The Rolling Stones."

The spokesman also points out that the band member is happily promoting the band's current projects -- the re-release of their album 'Exile On Main Street' and an accompanying documentary film 'Stones In Exile,' out on DVD next month.

Watts, the spokesperson continues, will join his bandmates later on Monday, May 24, "celebrating with the rest of the Stones ... as the 'Exile ...' album is No. 1 in the UK charts."