Keith Richards, the guitarist for The Rolling Stones, has stated that he "hopes" that the group will have recorded new material by the end of the year.

Richards expressed his hope that the band would "have recorded some stuff by the end of the year" to Matt Wilkinson for The Rolling Stones: 60th Anniversary Special podcast on Apple Music 1. He could not specify in what format the band would release their new material, however.

“Anyway, I just make records and then we figure out how they come out, right?" That’s what I do, "he said, noting he was unsure if the new songs would be made available on streaming platforms.

On the podcast, Richards also discussed his time as a prisoner in Wormwood Scrubs, describing his time in the institution as “a weird experience”. “You had to be there,” Richards said, explaining, “I mean, I’ve been in a few other clinks (prisons) over the years, and basically they’re all great once you get out.”

Richards previously confirmed that The Rolling Stones’ touring drummer, Steve Jordan, will be on hand to help the band finish their new album. Jordan began filling in on drums for the Stones following the death of their longtime drummer Charlie Watts in August last year, and was endorsed by Watts before his passing.

“I was like, 'Oh, I cannot do this without Charlie’,” Richards explained. “But Charlie said to me, 'You can do it with Steve. He can take my seat anytime. And he talked me into it.

“God damn, I loved that man.”

The Stones are currently on their "SIXTY" tour in celebration of their six-decade career, having officially formed in June of 1962, taking on the name of The Rolling Stones a month later. At the first show of the tour, they delivered the first-ever live performance of their 1966 single "Out of Time."

In a five-star review of the ‘SIXTY’ stop in Madrid, NME’s Thomas Smith said the show was “undoubtedly a special one”, writing that “at the rate and intensity they’re going at, there’s little stopping [the Stones] from making a crack at their own Platinum Jubilee in the years to come”.

The band have also released a "Live At The El Mocambo" album and a box set of all their single releases from 1963-1966 as part of their 60th anniversary celebrations.