Rolling Stones Recorded New Music Before Charlie Watts' Death: 'Haven't Heard the Last' of Him

Fans of the Rolling Stones don't have to say goodbye to late drummer Charlie Watts quite yet.

On Thursday, the remaining members of the iconic rock band — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood — spoke to the Los Angeles Times and shared that they recorded new music before Watts died on Aug. 24 at age 80.

The group was working on their next studio album when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the recording progress. However, Richards, 77, told the outlet that Watts was able to record multiple songs before his hospitalization.

"If everything hadn't gotten closed down, we might've finished the damn thing," he said before Jagger, 78, added, "We have a lot of tracks done, so when the tour's finished we'll assess where we are with that and continue."

Richards continued, "Let me put it this way, you haven't heard the last of Charlie Watts."

The Rolling Stones are currently on their No Filter tour, admitting to the Times that it's been a hard adjustment hitting the stage without Watts.

​​"When you're a band for this long, it's unlikely you won't have any changes," Jagger said in the interview. "Of course, this is probably the biggest one we've had. But we felt — and Charlie felt — that we should do this tour. We'd already postponed it by a year, and Charlie said to me, 'You need to go out there.' "

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The band officially kicked off the North American leg of the tour on Sept. 26 in St. Louis, Missouri. The show was also the unofficial debut of touring drummer Steve Jordan, but the rockers paid tribute to Watts by opening with an empty stage and a lone drumbeat, according to the Associated Press.

A large photo of Watts flashed on screen, something the frontman said was "really quite emotional," per CNN.

"This is our first-ever tour we've ever done without him," said Jagger, who held hands with Richards as he spoke. "We'll miss Charlie so much, on and off the stage."

The band went on to play "Tumbling Dice," which they dedicated to their beloved drummer, AP reports.

PEOPLE confirmed Watts' death on Aug. 24.

''It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Charlie Watts. He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family," his publicist Bernard Doherty said in a statement to PEOPLE at the time.

Watts had undergone an unspecified medical procedure earlier that month, which a spokesperson said was "completely successful." However, his spokesperson said he was unlikely to join the band on their tour.

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"With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks it's very disappointing to say the least, but it's also fair to say no one saw this coming," the spokesperson added at the time.

In a statement of his own, Watts joked that for once, his timing was "a little off," and that he was "working hard to get fully fit" before stepping behind his drum kit once more.

The No Filter tour will end on Nov. 20 in Austin.