Today’s guest is Chris Kimsey, the studio engineer and producer behind many of The Rolling Stones’ most celebrated recordings.

Kimsey began his career as a teenage tape operator at London’s Olympic Studios in the late 1960s, learning the craft of recording from the ground up inside one of the most important studios of the era. By the 1970s he had become one of the most in-demand engineers on the London scene, working with artists including Led Zeppelin and Peter Frampton, and would go on to collaborate with a wide range of major acts including Peter Tosh, Duran Duran, and INXS. In this episode he reflects on those formative studio years and the lessons that shaped his approach to making records.

The conversation explores his long association with the Stones, beginning with his work as an engineer on sessions for their landmark album ‘Sticky Fingers’, before moving into his later role as producer on ‘Some Girls’ and ‘Emotional Rescue’, when the band were pushing beyond their late-’70s rock revival into more experimental territory.

He discusses the band’s creative resurgence around ‘Tattoo You’, and the process of shaping songs from earlier recordings and bringing them together into one of the Stones’ most successful albums, then expounds on the strained dynamic during the making of ‘Undercover’, before recalling the renewed focus that fuelled the band’s late-’80s comeback with ‘Steel Wheels’.

Kimsey shares detailed memories of life inside the studio with the band: the recording techniques, the creative atmosphere, and the personalities that shaped some of rock’s most enduring music. It’s a fascinating look behind the scenes at how classic Rolling Stones records were made, and the craft of capturing lightning in a bottle with one of the greatest and most unpredictable bands in rock ‘n’ roll history.

This episode was recorded live in Olympic Studios.

For more on Chris Kimsey, visit his website.

Lip Service is produced and presented by Simon Harper.

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Today’s guest is Karl Denson, saxophonist with The Rolling Stones since 2014, when he stepped into the role made legendary by the late, great Bobby Keys.

Rooted in jazz improvisation and deep funk traditions, Karl earned a reputation as an esteemed double threat: a highly gifted musician equally confident leading from the front as elevating from within a group as an indispensable sideman. From the late 1980s he toured extensively with Lenny Kravitz, before helping establish The Greyboy Allstars and later fronting Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, projects that helped re-energise groove-based music for a new generation.

In this episode, Karl charts the path from early professional breaks to sharing stadium stages around the world. He discusses adapting to different musical environments, balancing leadership with support roles, and the discipline required to sustain decades on the road. He reflects on the experience of joining an established institution, interpreting parts that audiences know by heart, and developing trust within a group operating at the highest level. He shares memories of Charlie Watts and their shared appreciation of jazz, and discusses how watching Mick Jagger night after night has subtly informed his own approach as a frontman.

Karl offers an insight into life inside one of rock’s most enduring live acts, and what it really takes to hold down the horn chair in the biggest band in the world.

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Today’s guest is Stephen Kijak, filmmaker and director of Stones In Exile, the beloved fan-favourite documentary that explores The Rolling Stones’ self-imposed exile in the south of France and the making of their classic 1972 album, ‘Exile On Main St.’

A director whose work sits at the intersection of music, journalism and cinema, Stephen first emerged with his 1996 feature Never Met Picasso before turning his focus to documentary filmmaking. His subsequent films - including Cinemania, an affectionate portrait of obsessive New York cinephiles, and Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, a study of one of pop music’s most enigmatic figures - established him as a filmmaker drawn to stories shaped by obsession and cultural identity.

It was 30 Century Man that brought Stephen to the attention of The Rolling Stones and led to him being invited to direct Stones In Exile. Tasked with documenting one of the most mythologised chapters in rock history, Stephen approached the project as an immersive experience, drawing on exclusive photography and footage from the time - including that from Robert Frank’s infamous C*cksucker Blues film - to create new scenes that blur the line between present-day interviews and historical footage, and keeps the audience absorbed in that sweaty ’70s basement vibe.

In this episode, Stephen reflects on his first meetings with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, earning their trust, and being granted access to the Stones’ vast private archives. He discusses speaking with everyone connected to the Exile story, the challenge of shaping decades of memory into a single film, and the realities of working under the constraints of a TV-feature runtime. He recalls almost missing the film’s premiere at Cannes with Mick Jagger, and what it was like watching that period of the band’s history return to the public consciousness.

Stephen also considers how the experience of making Stones In Exile went on to inform his later films, including projects on Jaco Pastorius, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Backstreet Boys and Rock Hudson, shaping his approach to access, archive and storytelling around cultural icons.

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Lip Service is produced and presented by Simon Harper.

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