“These singers, they’re droppin’ like flies!” Ronnie Wood joked, but longtime fans of The Faces weren’t laughing: it turns out that the band’s singer, Rod Stewart, won’t be present tomorrow night to perform with his former band at their induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Earlier today, drummer Kenney Jones tweeted “Unfortunately Rod is complaining of a sore throat….. wonder what will happen now…” and at a press conference at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s newly opened Library & Archives building, Jones, Wood and keyboardist Ian McLagan confirmed that Stewart won’t attend the ceremony.

Wood said that Mick Hucknall of Simply Red, who has fronted an ad hoc version of the band (which includes the aforementioned members and Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols standing in for late bass player Ronnie Lane) in recent years, is currently on a plane headed for Cleveland.

Audio: Axl to take the place of Stewart.

Wood’s joke was a reference, of course, to Axl Rose, who recently announced that he won’t be joining his former bandmates in Guns N’ Roses at the induction ceremony tomorrow night in Cleveland. The show will be broadcast on HBO on May 5.

Audio: About the book.

Wood, McLagan and Jones were on hand to promote the new book Faces 1969-75, which is available now from Genesis Publications. It’s worth noting that in the forward to the book, Mick Hucknall muses that he’s a fan of the band and, like the other fans, is waiting for “The Day”:
meaning the day that Stewart decides to reunite with Wood, McLagan and Jones. Sadly, it seems that they’ll have to wait a little longer.

Audio: Surprises in the book.

– Brian Ives, CBS Local with additional reporting by Carl Harp, WNCX