Rod Stewart says, “Pump them off!” is the tune that ended The Faces’ relationship.

Rod Stewart says, “Pump them off!” is the tune that ended The Faces’ relationship.

 

In the annals of rock history, few bands capture the raucous spirit of the early 1970s quite like **The Faces**. With Rod Stewart fronting the group and Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagan, Ronnie Lane, and Kenney Jones providing the boozy, swaggering backbone, the band epitomized the blend of raw talent and reckless energy that defined the era. Yet, like many legendary rock acts, their story was marked not only by brilliance but also by tension, misunderstandings, and eventual dissolution. Recently, Rod Stewart revealed that one particular tune—cheekily referred to as **“Pump Them Off!”**—was the final straw that ended The Faces’ storied partnership.

 

The remark came during an interview in which Stewart reflected on his long and winding career. Known for his candor as much as for his raspy vocals, Stewart explained that the song became symbolic of deeper divisions within the band. While outsiders might have assumed that The Faces unraveled due to the usual cocktail of fame, egos, and industry pressures, Stewart insists that this peculiar track highlighted just how far apart the members’ creative visions had drifted.

 

According to Stewart, “Pump Them Off!” was never intended as a serious contender for release. It began as a late-night jam session, one of those playful, half-improvised numbers that bands often knock out after long hours in the studio. With its bawdy title and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, it embodied the wild, often chaotic spirit that made The Faces both beloved and unpredictable. Yet when some members pushed for the tune to be polished and considered for a single, the disagreements grew heated.

 

For Stewart, the idea was unthinkable. By the mid-1970s, he was already carving out a successful solo career, scoring hits with more polished tracks such as *Maggie May* and *You Wear It Well*. The thought of attaching his growing reputation to a track he regarded as little more than a drunken joke felt like a step backward. “It was fun in the moment,” Stewart reportedly said, “but to put it forward as the face of the band? That was madness.”

 

Other members, however, saw it differently. The Faces had built their reputation on rowdy live shows, a devil-may-care attitude, and a refusal to take themselves too seriously. For them, “Pump Them Off!” represented the essence of their identity: rough around the edges, unapologetically cheeky, and utterly free from pretension. To dismiss the track outright felt like an insult to the band’s ethos.

 

The disagreement over this one song magnified the growing gap between Stewart’s ambitions and the rest of the group’s desires. Ronnie Lane, in particular, had become increasingly frustrated with Stewart’s split focus between his solo career and the band. Tensions that had simmered for months suddenly came to the surface. The debate over “Pump Them Off!” turned into a flashpoint, exposing how differently each member saw the future of The Faces.

 

In retrospect, Stewart acknowledges that the argument was as much about symbolism as it was about music. The song itself, he concedes, was hardly important in isolation. But what it revealed was that the band no longer shared a unified vision. For Stewart, the time had come to move toward the international superstardom that awaited him as a solo artist. For others, it was about holding onto the identity and camaraderie that had made The Faces such a unique force in rock.

 

By 1975, the writing was on the wall. Ronnie Wood joined the Rolling Stones, Lane pursued his own projects, and Stewart’s solo career skyrocketed. The Faces, once a tight-knit group that reveled in their reputation as loveable rogues, had fractured beyond repair. Looking back, Stewart can now laugh at the absurdity of a song like “Pump Them Off!” being cited as the band’s undoing. But he also emphasizes that it crystallized the moment when everyone realized they were no longer on the same page.

 

The legacy of The Faces, however, remains intact. Their albums—*A Nod Is as Good as a Wink… to a Blind Horse* chief among them—are still celebrated for their unpolished charm, rollicking energy, and infectious sense of fun. Songs like *Stay With Me* and *Ooh La La* endure as classics, reminders of a time when rock and roll was as much about attitude as technical perfection.

 

In the end, the tale of “Pump Them Off!” is more than just a quirky footnote. It serves as a reminder of how fragile band chemistry can be, and how even the smallest disagreements can signal the end of something greater. For Rod Stewart, it marked the close of one chapter and the beginning of another. For fans, it is part of the enduring mythos of The Faces—a band that burned brightly, lived loudly, and left behind stories as wild as their music.