Keith Richards has warned the new Rolling Stones album may be "a bit fractured".

The veteran rockers had been working on their first studio LP since 2005's 'A Bigger Bang' until the coronavirus pandemic hit and the 76-year-old guitarist thinks having such a long break in the process might lead to a change in direction for the record.

He said: "Everything is in the air until we can actually get together safely in a studio again. And by then we might feel ­differently about what we want to sound like, so it could be a bit fractured.

“Half of it will be pre-Covid and the other half post-Covid. Hopefully there will be a post-Covid!”

The group - which also includes Sir Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts - released a new song, 'Living In A Ghost Town', in April and Keith was proud they were the first artists to "get the amp" on the global health crisis with their "prophetic" track.

He told The Sun newspaper: "We had four or five tracks for the album including Ghost Town and just as we were looking at pictures of lockdown everywhere, Milan, London, Paris, I called up Mick and said ‘Hey, it’s maybe time for Ghost Town, man’.

“In a way, it was prophetic and it was nice to be the first ones to get the amp on Covid-19, if you know what I mean.”

The pandemic also caused the 'Brown Sugar' hitmakers to cancel a number of tour dates in the US and Keith hopes they'll be able to get back on the road soon.

He said: "I’m just hoping that some time next year, or as soon as possible, everybody can get back together again and have a damn good time."

Mick recently shared a video of himself singing a new song called 'Pride Before A Fall' but it's not something Keith was familiar with.

He said: "I think it’s something he’s cooked up during this period. I guess he’s getting antsy. I haven’t checked it out yet . . . a private venture, I guess!”