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Soon after pink posters advertising a band called “The Cockroaches” mysteriously popped up in London earlier this month, with a QR code leading to a barebones website displaying the date 11 April 2026, ears began to prick up.
The Times confirmed what many Rolling Stones fans suspected: The Cockroaches are, in fact, the celebrated British rock group. And they’re back with a brand new single.
The Rolling Stones, under their moniker, released a new song titled ‘Rough and Twisted’ as a vinyl exclusive over the weekend – just ahead of Record Store Day.
The rock band previously used this name when playing secret shows – such as two 1977 concerts in Toronto, Canada, that were included in the live album ‘Love You Live’ released that same year.
Rumours about a potential 25th studio album have been swirling since last year, with Keith Richard’s son Marlon confirming that the band were “nearly done” with their new album.
The new single released over the weekend is a first taste of the band’s upcoming album, expected in July.
‘Rough and Twisted’ was enigmatically introduced in a short video posted on Instagram by “thecockroaches2026”. The post was captioned “64 and counting,” a reference to the number of years the Rolling Stones have been playing.
The video opens with a shot of a vinyl record pulled out of a white sleeve and set on a record player. Snippets of the electric guitar follow, soon joined by the drums and bass. A figure lounges on a sofa, wearing a shirt that reads “Who The Fuck Are The Cockroaches?”. Then, a voice – presumably that of Mick Jagger – exclaims “Yeah!”, and the clip abruptly ends.
The track is currently only available as a limited edition vinyl, stocks of which rapidly sold out following the cryptic announcement, according to The Financial Times.
Some are sharing videos of the sought-after record on social media.
Fans online are thrilled about the new track: “say what you want, I think that this song is really really good, just love everything in it, the groove, the guitar, the harmonica, mick’s vocals,sound, everything,” a user wrote on Reddit.
“Well done Stones!!!(or should I say cockroaches)”.
