The Rolling Stones‘ Ronnie Wood has revealed that the band will start recording new material this month.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, the guitarist said he and his bandmates would be hitting the studio to “throw some ideas around” in preparation for their 50th anniversary celebrations.

Wood, who said the band were eager “to get the feel again”, added: It’s like working out for the Olympics or something. You’ve got to go into training. So we’re going to go into training.

The Rolling Stones played their first ever gig in London on July 12, 1962, and had been expected to celebrate the half-century landmark by embarking on a world tour later this year, but last month (March 14) the band revealed that they would be delaying the celebrations until 2013.

It was rumoured that health concerns regarding Keith Richards – who said the band were “not ready” to hit the road – were the reason for the delay as there are doubts that he would be able to commit to a full world tour, but the guitarist insisted that playing in 2013 would be a more fitting half-centenary anniversary. “The Stones always considered ’63 to be 50 years, because Charlie [Watts, drummer] didn’t actually join until January,” he said. “We look upon 2012 as sort of the year of conception, but the birth is next year.”

More recently, meanwhile, Richards apologized to Mick Jagger for offending him in his autobiography Life. The guitarist, who soured their relationship by describing the frontman as “unbearable” and insulting the size of his manhood in his 2010 tome, said he regretted publicly offending his bandmate.