| 12th November 2006 08:25 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Interview with Pete Townshend of The Who
By Dan Nailen
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:11/10/2006 10:01:18 AM MST
Among the Holy Trinity of British Invasion bands - The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who - Pete Townshend and Co. have been arguably the most musically adventurous.
The Who's sound expanded almost immediately from the "maximum R&B" that defined it's early records to include classical influences, performance art, album-long themes and explosive stage shows, literally and figuratively. The combination of guitarist/primary songwriter Townshend, singer Roger Daltrey, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon was highly combustible, and entertainingly so.
Now down to Townshend and Daltrey - Moon died of a drug overdose in 1978, Entwistle of a heart attack in 2002 - the electrifying andRoger Daltrey, left, and Pete Townshend, of the band The Who will headline Monday at the Delta Center. adventurous spirit of The Who lives on as the band undertakes one of the longest and most far-reaching tours of its career in support of "Endless Wire," the first album of new material since 1982.
In an exclusive interview, conducted via email, The Salt Lake Tribune talked to Townshend about playing the classic hits, his ever-evolving relationship with Daltrey and his first visit to Salt Lake City nearly 40 years ago.
The Salt Lake Tribune: It's undoubtedly easier to get excited about touring and playing live now that you have a batch of new songs. How do you get yourself up for playing older songs that you might not feel much of a connection with
anymore?
Pete Townshend: As long as there is something new going on somewhere in my life I am happy to revive the classics. In Europe when this tour started back in June I was playing acoustic stuff on my partner Rachel Fuller's webcast show "In The Attic" every night before I went on to play with The Who. I thought I would get tired, but in fact I was energized by the contrast. I truly love playing some of the Who classics with Roger. "Won'tThe Who is launching one of the most ambitious tours ever to promote "Endless Wire." Get Fooled Again" is a great guitar song. But you speak of "connection"; I think the only connection that is important is the one the audience feels.
SLT: You're basically known as "Mr. Rock Opera" to a lot of people, something that continues with "Wire & Glass" on the new album. Are you a fan of any other rock artists' attempts to tackle that format, ie. PInk Floyd, maybe Green Day's last record?
PT: As you happen to mention them, I love Pink Floyd and Green Day. But I use concepts mainly to keep myself interested or inspired. Narratives can be inspiring, but also limiting if they are too complex or deeply plotted. Maybe that's the plots of some classical operas are so clunky. I've always felt great music allows you to enter into it, and make it your own. Too much narrative can prevent that happening. I was very careful in "Quadrophenia" to keep the "story" thin, as I did with "Tommy." Interesting that it is this "weakness" of plot that critics sometimes feel is the result of some laziness or inability on my part. It's deliberate. "Wire & Glass" has a plot of sorts, but it is not what is most important. What the music and the idea touch on is what matters: the proposition that something metaphysical happens when thousands of people gather to hear great music.
SLT: I found interesting your description of "MikeThe Who at the Delta Center [from "Endless Wire"], about how movies, novels and TV series help you express feelings that you were once able to but can't anymore. And it got me thinking about how teenagers today use the Internet in much the same way - to express themselves in ways they might not be able to in person, through social-networking sites, etc. Do you see any danger in the Internet creating generations of people who can't communicate face to face, or through music and art, but only through perhaps their online personas, which may or may not be "real"?
PT: At art college I was taught that the coming of computers would change the way we communicated and the language we spoke. I grew up expecting what we have today to be so much bigger - I imagined by the year 2000 we would be having sex down the wire and I'm sure if Larry Flynt could fix it that's what would be happening. I actually think we are prepared to be more intimate with each other on the Web. We learn that it is safe to express ourselves honestly, and maybe then we feel OK about doing so face to face. Certainly the young people I know seem very much like the young people I grew up with. They don't seem to lack social graces face to face. But they do spend a lot of time surfing.
SLT: I notice in the "Endless Wire" liner notes that you really enjoyed playing the banjo and mandolin on the new record. Is this the first time you've delved into those instruments, and are you a bluegrass/roots-music fan? Any Ralph Stanley or Bill Monroe in your record collection or iPod?
PT: I was introduced to Bill Monroe by the guys in the Blues Magoos back in 1967 when we all supported Herman's Hermits on his last U.S. tour. I love good country music, bluegrass and roots. But my banjo playing began with me playing tenor banjo in a Dixieland jazz band with John Entwistle on trumpet - Louis Armstrong tunes.
SLT: Your relationship with Roger is always picked over when The Who re-emerge for a tour, or now a new record. What is the relationship between you two like during the stretches of band inactivity? Do you ring each other up for dinner, send each other Christmas presents, etc? And is the dynamic on stage this tour, with the new material, any different between you two than in past tours?
PT: We've bought each other some great presents. Roger is still waiting for me to buy him a Ferrari, though. The relationship gets better every day. The stage dynamic now [with the new material] is still very novel to us, exciting as well as challenging. When we are not working together we let go - maybe I am the one who is hardest to engage socially, Roger seems to have a lot of social action in his life. But on thinking about it I have hundreds of friends, and many of them are in the business - people like Adam Clayton, Bob Geldof, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood. But I like home life. Roger and I are still uneasy in each other's company - I hope he doesn't mind me revealing that; we are both pretty big stars, maybe we intimidate each other. Only kidding, but it's getting better every day. First there's love, then soon comes trust I hope. We're really starting to get there.
SLT: In your recent Rolling Stone interview you said you believe The Who sells out tours because the band's fans are an incredibly "tied-in fan base" thanks to the Internet, rather than simply wanting to hear the old songs again. Do you interact with fans online much, and are you surprised at how tech-savvy Boomer-age fans are?
PT: Our fans are very tech-savvy. Some of them are also a little obsessive, so I only interact with them when I really need to. When I meet internet buddies face to face they are always very respectful and kind to me. I suppose suddenly they see a mortal, vulnerable.
SLT: In the same interview, you mentioned that you wouldn't want to see certain "classic-rock" acts, including The Who, in concert because you don't "want to look at those old guys in their self-celebratory mode." Did you ever feel The Who was in that "self-celebratory mode" on some of the past tours, and is there any way to guard against that? And what rock acts WOULD you pay to see in concert these days? PT: This came out badly. I was speaking as would a younger person trying to find out about iconic older musicians. It's great that young people come and see us older ones perform, but it must be hard to see past the wrinkles and the delight we take in the fact that we have survived where many of our brothers and sisters have died. The Who have always been guilty of self-celebration. When you are young you can get away with almost anything.
I'd pay to see Shack and Primal Scream, but even they are getting on in age. If I'm really honest I'd be quicker to pay to go and see Madonna than the Who because I'd know I'd get see a big show. I suppose it depends what you want for your buck - blonde hair, lights and bass drum or lots of grey hair and major-seventh chords. I don't want to look at the back of my hand and admit it is part of my body. I don't want to look at one of my hero-peers and admit I am as old as they are. I'm not afraid of death. I'm not ashamed of being older, not afraid of getting wrinkles. But I am having to work hard getting used to my generation getting old as an entire generation, and it isn't always easy.
SLT: Do you have any specific memories of past visits to Salt Lake City? Ever been to the Sundance Film Festival - it seems like a natural for you.
PT: Sundance does look wonderful. One day I'll make it, hopefully in connection with a film I have some connection with perhaps. Salt Lake City was sadly somewhere that I was first called a "long-haired queer" on American soil - in 1967 by very sexy and glamorous woman of about forty. I'd love to find her now I've cut my hair real short, we could pick up the conversation. She'd be nearly eighty. We could compare notes and work out what might have changed.
Dan Nailen can be contacted at [email protected] or 801-257-8613. Send comments about this story to [email protected]. You can read Dan Nailen's "Urban Spelunker" blog by visiting http://blogs.sltrib.com, or hear him on the "ReMix" and PopCast" podcasts available at http://www.sltrib.com/entertainment |
| 12th November 2006 07:03 PM |
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| Joey |
Bless You
You are much loved by The Joey
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