New Roger interview

[Tom]

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10128299%255E16947,00.html


The olds are alright
By Ian Shedden
July 17, 2004
ANGRY old men don't suit the rock stage. Young audiences might find it acceptable - at last - for the old 'uns to be up there trotting out the old hits, but it's stretching the limits of credibility to have a frontman such as Roger Daltrey rallying the world's yoof to, say, the sound of The Kids are Alright when he has just turned 60.

Daltrey, the wiry screamer who once posed as the tough guy, has mellowed through the years and his demeanour onstage with the Who - this year celebrating an on-off relationship spanning 40 years - is no longer all about aggression or antagonism towards his career adversary and bandmate, guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend. Nowadays he's what some of his fans might call a "diamond geezer", one who didn't die before he got old.

He prides himself on the fact the Who, formed in London in 1964, were always a band "of the people". Their mod beginnings cast them as such: ordinary British lads with a roguish streak having a bit of fun while being true to their working-class roots. This was reflected in Townshend's early songwriting, and titles such as I Can't Explain, Substitute and My Generation inspired a kinship with their audience that survives to this day.

These days, Daltrey is the epitome of ordinary blokeness. He talks in a cheery cockney brogue. The veneer of "to the manor born" he adopted during the 1980s - all wellington boots and hunting jackets down on the trout farm - has evaporated, although the country estate in Sussex that has been home for the best part of his career remains.

In that setting he is a man content. He's wealthy, with interests that range from acting to painting, has a stable family life and in 2004 finds himself fronting a band that is enjoying a remarkable renaissance, attracting rave reviews for its concerts and working on a new album, to be released next year.

Most amazing, perhaps, the Who are about to play in Australia for the first time in 36 years.

"I'm really glad we're coming back now because Australia never really got to see the band at its best," says Daltrey. "You'd have to go a long way to see a better rock band."

That wasn't quite the view taken by pilots, customs officials and prime minister John Gorton in 1968, the last time the Who were on these shores. The group and its entourage were booted out of the country after an incident on a plane from Adelaide to Melbourne, after which an outraged Townshend vowed never to return.

In hindsight, the whole drama seems overblown. The Who and fellow English band the Small Faces drank some beer on the flight and got into an argument with crew members. According to some press reports, "an invasion of pop singers" used terms such as "go to hell" and were "garishly dressed".

Daltrey, who last visited Australia four years ago as part of the Ultimate Rock Symphony extravaganza, laughs at the controversy he caused in 1968.

"I've got a lot of memories of that tour, all of it just being an incredible laugh," he says. "In some ways, when you look at Australia now, it's seems so un-Australian back then. You had no sense of humour. We got thrown out of the country for drinking a bottle of beer on the plane. Was it really Australia?"

Back then, the Who were one of the most confronting and loudest bands in the world. They were also a powerful influence on generations of rockers to come. Without them, the Jam, Oasis and our own You Am I, the last of which will open the Who's Australian shows this month, would not have had a starting point for their careers.

Daltrey acknowledges the band's imprint on rock history and is encouraged by the way bands such as Oasis are carrying on the bad-boy swagger. He's also full of praise for Melbourne band Jet after seeing them in London a few weeks ago. "They were great," he says. "It's great to see these young bands with the same light in their eyes that we had."

A dimming of that light has not dissuaded Daltrey from treading the boards but it's fair to say that the Who are a different, less confronting proposition than they were in 1968, not least in terms of personnel. Wild man drummer Keith Moon died of a drug overdose in 1978, while bassist John Entwistle passed on in similar circumstances two years ago.

Through these tragedies and countless tantrums and upsets, particularly the volatile relationship between Daltrey and Townshend, the band has fractured several times only to regroup, determined to cling on to whatever vestige of "greatest rock'n'roll band in the world" status might linger in fans' minds.

Exciting as they may be, the perception of the Who as dangerous and innovative relates mostly to another era. As with the Rolling Stones, the Who are trading chiefly on nostalgia for their influential back catalogue.

That's not the full story, though, as Daltrey sees it. He sings My Generation, the band's ultimate teen anthem, at every show without fear or embarrassment. That's because, he says, there is a lot of his generation who still want to see the band. More than that, the modern-day Who want to remain relevant to that older generation, even if it means writing songs about more mature issues. "I sing that song for my generation because my generation hasn't gone away," he says. "We're all here ... and all our fans are losing people around them the same way as we are. They might be all old and fuddy-duddy, some of them, but they're just as important as the young generation."

To that end, Daltrey says the next batch of Townshend songs may address topics that are more suited to his ageing audience.

"One thing that musicians like us are able to do is to show people how to go on living their lives," Daltrey says. "I'm hoping we can be the first to articulate what it's like to be middle-aged and old-aged. We want to capture the feelings and anxieties of that and put them in songs in the same way that Pete did when he was talking about adolescence. I think he's about the only writer out there who could do it."

Whether this means we can expect new material about hip replacement surgery and grappling with modern technology (internet sites, for example) is down to songwriter Townshend, but what's clear is that in a few years, if they stick around that long, the Who could well be the first champions of a new art form - senior citizens rock. Just imagine: "Are you feelin' aawlriiiiigghtt?" screams Daltrey. "You'll have to speak up," cries the audience.

[Tom]

part 2


GGG

IN the mid to late 1960s, the Who were the baddest boys among the British exports. That reputation, built on uproarious live performances, endeared them to an international audience that looked on the Rolling Stones as too tame and the Beatles as anathema. Daltrey calls them "girls' bands". The Who, on the other hand, were very much a blokes' affair. Daltrey reckons that 75 per cent of their following during the '60s and '70s was made up of young males. This, he believes, is down to "the way Townshend writes his songs ... they come from an incredibly male, introspective place. He writes in such a personal way. It's so honest and it connects with everybody, particularly when he was writing about teenage angst and adolescence."

While some rockers of his ilk might have had issues with having such an abundance of blokes in the room every night, Daltrey says it worked for them in the long term. "We had our fair share of women, I'm not complaining there," he chortles, "but the great thing about blokes is they're a lot less fickle ... and they stuck with us over the years."

There's no denying that testosterone levels - onstage and off - were above average at Who shows. Daltrey was all swagger and swinging mic stands, Townshend wrote the book on smashing guitars, while Moon smashed drums with alarming dexterity, got smashed himself just as often, and wasn't averse to smashing the odd hotel television set on to an unsuspecting pavement from a great height.

Moon's indulgences eventually caught up with him and he died from an overdose of sleeping pills shortly after the release of the band's 1978 album Who Are You? The band's career - and the careers of the individual members - had gone off on a variety of tangents by that point, mainly because of the whims of its creative force, Townshend. Although hits such as I Can See for Miles and Happy Jack had cemented the band's success worldwide in the '60s, the guitarist had a grander vision of rock'n'roll than many of his contemporaries. Thus the concept album Tommy was born in 1969. The tale of a "deaf, dumb and blind kid" provided the hit Pinball Wizard; more significantly, it took the band in a new, more theatrical direction.

The follow-up was another conceptual piece, this time science fiction titled Lifehouse, but Townshend was one of the few people who understood it. Fortunately for them, it was whittled down into what is recognised as their best album, Who's Next (1971), which features two of the mainstays of their live

set, Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again.

Throughout the '70s, all four members released solo albums. The Who's Quadrophenia (1973) marked the point when Daltrey and Townshend's relationship was at its most volatile. Fists flew and egos locked horns during the recording of that album. Right from the beginning the Who had acknowledged that they didn't really get along with each other. Now it was all coming to a head.

In retrospect, Daltrey believes that the bad blood only added to the energy and potent chemistry of the unit. "Creatively volatile, yes," he says of the partnership with Townshend. "And may it always be so. That's what makes the creative thing work. We do put out a lot of energy. The music demands that of the player. The music itself is so powerful, more so than almost any other rock music you'll ever see."

The Who lost all continuity during the '80s and '90s. The three surviving members had plenty of other projects to keep them busy. Daltrey became an actor, starring in the 1980 biopic McVicar, among other roles. They toured together several times, but never as successfully as in their early years.

Townshend had his own demons to deal with. He had a heroin addiction that nearly killed him in the '80s and last year had to endure a tabloid drama involving his logging on to a child pornography website. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Now the two main men are back to give The Who another shot, with another member gone but with a new zest for the task and a line-up that includes Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey on drums and Townshend's brother Simon on guitar.

Many thought the death throes of the band had been reached when bassist Entwistle died in his Las Vegas hotel room on the eve of an American tour in 2002. "Of course we thought about that," Daltrey says. "It would have been very easy to stop then." Instead, he and Townshend vowed to keep going.

"To be honest, since John died the band has been a bit different to what it was before," he says, perhaps understating the case. "It's kind of come of age and we've had the best reviews we've ever had. We're doing these shows because we don't want to lose touch with what the band's all about, which is being a great live band. We're having more fun than we've ever had, that's for sure. We feel totally free now to do whatever we want. It's really exciting from that point of view."

It's also a less hostile duo that is holding the band together. Hatchets, it would seem, have been buried. In fact, given the opportunity, Daltrey is fluid in his praise for his longstanding musical collaborator, putting him up there with Lennon and McCartney and Brian Wilson. "Our relationship has got stronger," he says of Townshend. "It's not a buddy-buddy kind of thing. It's more like a brother thing. You know, when you're there for someone and they're there for you. It was the same when John [Entwistle] died. I only saw John maybe twice a year when we weren't working ... but, my god, I miss him.

"Pete's an animal on that guitar, too," he adds. "It becomes like a living creature when he plays. I have an understanding of how important Pete is to the music of the 20th century."

Time will tell if he can carry that relevance into the future. In the meantime, Daltrey has plenty to occupy his time when he's not on stage or in the studio with Townshend. He and his second wife, Heather, have been married for 33 years and have three children - Rosie, Willow and Jamie. He's happy being at home when not committed to touring. Now he's considering writing an autobiography, although it might not be the tell-all tome that publishers have begged him for at various stages of his career.

"It would be interesting if I can remember half of it," he says. "There are always offers, but people just want the dirt. That's the problem with it. All they want to know is who you shagged. I just say I shagged them all."

Shagging aside - or perhaps not - it's clear there is life in the old dog yet. While it has been a hell of a long time between beers in Australia, this could be just the first of many visits the Who make in their twilight years, as long as there's an audience out there to watch them. Whatever the future, Daltrey is convinced that age is no longer an impediment to maintaining a rock'n'roll career, if not the archetypal hedonistic lifestyle.

"To me, getting old is to do with the mind, not the age you've lived," he concludes. "Our generation is refusing to grow old gracefully. They seem to be growing old disgracefully, which is great.

"I don't really want to retire. The music will change to suit where we are, so what's to stop it going on for another 20 years? At the moment it's better than it ever was. If it starts to go the other way ... write me a note."

The Who play Sydney on July 28 and 29 and Melbourne on July 31.

[cornetto]

Roger painting? id love to see his work.

[hammersmithgal]

The only painting I've ever heard of him doing was housepainting when he was doing the restoration project on his Sussex mansion.

[rollingmule]

i,d ruther see em punch Pete and get em to writin some damn songs.

[Tom]

Here's another new interview:



Roger Daltrey: "You've got to laugh at our career. This is a band which
we didn't think would last till the end of the week. A band built on
breaking up. But we're still here!"
Picture: Julian Andrews

First Keith Moon died, then John Entwistle followed. Frontman Roger
Daltrey tells Annabel Crabb why it matters to him and Pete Townshend
that The Who keep playing live.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, used to be one-quarter of a band
that was known as the most strident youth voice of the 1960s. Now he's
half of the band, as he and writer-guitarist Pete Townshend are the only
members of the original quartet still alive. "The next one to drop,"
says Daltrey in London on the eve of the band's Australian tour, "that's
the end".

The first to drop was Keith Moon, the hard-living drummer who died aged
31 in 1978 after taking an overdose of drugs that had been prescribed to
help overcome his alcoholism. Bass player John Entwistle similarly
joined the ranks of rock's fallen when he died doing something he loved
—- taking cocaine in the company of a sexual professional — in a Las
Vegas hotel room in 2002, two days before The Who were to start an
American concert tour.

When I meet Daltrey in his management's offices in London's Camden Town,
he seems in pretty good shape for a 60-year-old veteran of the
rock'n'roll lifestyle. He is no longer the outrageous sexpot he became
in the '70s, with his bursting jeans and miasma of hair. But nor is he
from the human wreckage school of ageing rock stars. Rather, he comes
across like a friendly PE teacher: cropped hair, horribly fit, cheerful
as hell and full of a "right, let's get cracking" sort of energy.

Indefatigable though Daltrey is, he concedes The Who simply couldn't
survive another death.

"We couldn't be The Who then. But at the moment we are The Who. Or the
Who's left, anyway."

On stage, Daltrey still belts out the immortal Townshend lyric "I hope I
die/Before I get old" from My Generation, but he seems determined that
the remnant and reconstituted band should enjoy a rewarding old age.
"The music still lives," he says.

"That's why we're doing it. And nobody can play that music like we can.
So we'll keep playing while we've still got the energy and the fun. It
could be 10 years, it could be five. Who knows?"

Daltrey's work ethic kept The Who together and touring after the other
members began to tire or die off. And it was his eagerness to keep going
and work harder that proved one of the most explosive points of
difference with the sometimes dreamy Townshend. And now, years of
Daltrey persistence have finally persuaded Townshend to return to
Australia, a country he swore he'd never visit again.

The Who last toured Australia in January 1968, flanked by The Small
Faces (whose drummer, Kenney Jones, would go on to replace Moon in
1979), on a tour that saw them playing two gigs a night, one at 6pm and
one at 8.30. But the tour was cut short after an incident on an Ansett
flight from Adelaide to Essendon that seems remarkable more for its
mildness than anything else. En route to Melbourne, a bottle of beer was
produced and "offcolour" language used. Before long, Prime Minister John
Gorton had sent a telegram to the band insisting that they leave
Australia, never to return.

The Who in their heyday, from left: Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John
Entwistle and Keith Moon.

"Yeah, that was back before you people got a sense of humour," says
Daltrey. "I mean, a bottle of beer at 10 o'clock in the morning, and
they deported us! We were filthy rock'n'rollers. I remember the stewards
called our road manager a 'scruffy little man'. He took umbrage because
he was actually married to quite an aristocratic English lady. But it
was a very rough crew, I'll tell you."

Daltrey confesses that the band may have played up to their bad-boy
image, just a little. "We tended to make things worse, I suppose. I
mean, when they put the stairs up to the plane we all came out with our
hands up. They loved that. I think it was when the politician came into
it, the Prime Minister, that was the thing that sunk the ship."

I tell Daltrey that John Gorton was one figure from the 1960s who didn't
die before he got old; he expired only two years ago at the
distinguished age of 90. "Well," Daltrey responds, "he probably knew
we'd come back over his dead body!"

For all the band's determined iconoclasm, guitar- smashing and general
air of naughtiness, a strong thread of humour was apparent throughout
The Who's career; how else could you explain songs like Boris The Spider
or Daltrey's decision to pose in a bath of Heinz baked beans for the
cover of the 1967 album The Who Sells Out? In fact, says Daltrey, the
whole history of the band — which formed in 1961 as The Detours when
Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle were at Acton County Grammar — is a bit
of a joke. "You've got to laugh at our career. It's extraordinary. This
is a band which we didn't think would last till the end of the week. A
band built on breaking up. But we're still here!"

Well, I point out, while trying to be as sympathetic as I can, "still
here" is not strictly accurate where two of the band are concerned.
"Nah, well, unfortunately, no. They're still here in the music though,
and that's the main thing."

There have been a few occasions, though, when the music very nearly
stopped for good. One was on the American tour of 1979, when 11 fans
were crushed to death in a stampede at a concert in Cincinatti.

More recently, Daltrey and Townshend thought about calling it quits when
Entwistle died.

Though grief-stricken, they ultimately chose to continue the tour with
the Italian-born bass player Pino Palladino, who will also travel with
them for the Australian shows, in Entwistle's place. "We were thinking
of stopping, and just saying no, but we kind of thought about how many
people would be put out of work if we didn't do that tour."

Last year, a different sort of cloud fell over The Who. On January 11,
2003, news broke that an unnamed famous British rock star had been
caught in an internet child pornography sweep by police.

Pete Townshend's London home was immediately surrounded. When the
59-year-old Townshend gave a shaky doorstep press conference, clad in a
dressing- gown and identifying himself as the superstar in question,
Daltrey rang up and shrieked at him.

"He was very angry," Townshend later told The Observer. "He was
shouting, 'Anybody could have used that credit card'. And I said,
'Roger, I think it was me'. He's going, 'You think? You think? For f---
's sake, you couldn't have done it, you're confessing to something you
didn't do'."

But Townshend did do it. He admitted he had paid £5 to view online
images of child porn, explaining it away as research for his
anti-pedophile campaign work (he had claimed prior to the incident that
he was a victim of sexual abuse when a child). In the end, he was let
off with a formal caution by police.

Townshend has kept a low profile since, but does offer occasional diary
entries at petetownshend. co.uk. The latest concerns a spat with
filmmaker Michael Moore, who was refused permission to use Won't Get
Fooled Again to conclude Fahrenheit 9/11. The songwriter says he didn't
like Moore's previous film, Bowling For Columbine, and thought the new
film sounded unsuitable for his 1971 tune.

"I wish him all the best with the movie," Townshend wrote. "But he'll
have to work very, very hard to convince me that a man with a camera is
going to change the world more effectively than a man with a guitar."

It's a laudably rock'n'roll remark, even if "effective guitar-driven
world-changing" would be a slightly over-enthusiastic description of
what The Who was up to in the 1960s. What they were up to, more simply,
was giving the world a rock band that was loud and angry but intelligent
as well.

So what does Townshend's compadre Daltrey make of the state of modern
music? "Contemporary rock'n'roll is at a very unfortunate stage at the
moment," he says. "It's the accountants running the show most of the
time, and the creative spark ... well, it's much more difficult for the
creative bands to get out. They used to just let you get on with it. Now
they try and manufacture it and it's a disaster.

"But it always goes in cycles. I mean, you've had this dreadful Pop
Idol, which I think is sh** but it serves a function, which is making a
whole generation of young people sitting at home say, 'What is this
sh**? I'm going out to the garage to start a punk band'. I know from
that something good's going to come, and it is already. We've got bands
like the Libertines, you've got Jet in Australia."

The Libertines, incidentally, are struggling with the same problem that
ransacked the ranks of The Who: frontman Pete Doherty is going through
an extremely public and stormy love affair with heroin, and is regularly
pictured in the British newspapers looking closer and closer to
oblivion. In fact, his colleagues have asked him to leave the band until
he sorts himself out.

"The Libertines, yeah, maybe if the singer lives till the end of the
week, I'm hoping for a seminal moment," says Daltrey. "The trouble is,
I've seen it all before, and it all ends up (with you) standing over a
hole in the ground."

Given The Who's long and tragic relationship with substance abuse — with
Moon and Entwistle dying of overdoses and Townshend at one stage being
addicted to heroin — it's little surprise Daltrey has little sympathy
for this particular devil. "It didn't agree with me, to tell you the
truth," he says.

[Tom]

continued...



"I met a guy in the early '60s in America who was making all the
psychedelic drugs for the government, all the acid and everything. He
told me, 'Never take the chemicals, stick to the grass', which I did.
And I didn't even really like that too much."

It's difficult to know what is less plausible: that a member of The Who
sincerely disliked drugs, or that there was a man whose job it was to
manufacture acid for the Kennedy administration. But Daltrey is
insistent; the only time he ever tried LSD, he says, was at Woodstock in
1969. And even then, he didn't mean to take it. "It was horrible. You
couldn't have a drink without it being laced; tap water, everything was
laced, which is how it happened.

"I don't think back on Woodstock with any pleasure. The fondest memories
of Woodstock are really of what it did for us later on in our careers."

Woodstock helped break the band in America, but now, much later in their
careers, Daltrey just wants to keep the music alive. "I think for the
first time in our careers, we're really enjoying playing. It's more fun
now than ever.

"In the early days, it was a war — it was a battle to be heard, it was a
battle to get the sound right, it was a battle to stay current. But
that's not a problem any more."

The Who play the Vodafone Arena on July 31.

[rollingmule]

thanx fer them posts tom

[Tom]

Here's another one, with interesting comments on the setlist.



the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Aug/01/il/il07a.html

The Who's front man knows, 40 years on
By Derek Paiva

Roger Daltrey is no longer an angry young man. Perhaps best of all, though,
he hasn't grown into an angry old man, either.

In fact, Daltrey at 60 has turned into quite the thoughtful, intelligent
elder statesman for The Who, the legendary British rock band he's fronted
for exactly 40 years. That is, if you enjoy your elder statesmen waxing
cocky and self-assured as ever about their band's well-deserved place in
rock history, while fondly recalling youthful days of shagging Herman's
Hermits' groupies.

With The Who in town this week for its first Hawai'i shows since 1967, The
Advertiser spoke at length with Daltrey about his Who mates - past and
present. We also chatted on his long, and at times contentious, relationship
with guitarist Pete Townshend, and the day Daltrey might just choose to
chuck it all for manor life in the English countryside.

Reached at his hotel Thursday, several hours before the second of two Who
shows in Sydney, Australia, Daltrey carried on in a chipper and
quick-clipped Cockney brogue.

OK, I've read about why The Who haven't played Australia for 36 years. But
why haven't you played Hawai'i for 37?

"I don't know! We just never ever got out there. It was never part of any of
our tours and I don't know why. Maybe Australia had something to do with it
because (Hawai'i) is on the way to Australia." (Laughs.)

I wasn't around at the time. But I thought maybe we'd done something to
offend you all the last time around.

"No, no, no, no, no. We had a very good time in Hawai'i."

Do you have any memories of the visit?

"I remember Keith Moon attempting to surf for the first time, which was
hysterical. We both did it for about an hour, and it was like a lesson in
drowning."

Who was better at it?

(Laughs.) "I think we were both as bad as each other. But I just remember
(Hawai'i) being fantastic. And mainly - because of the age that I was - I
remember the women were wonderful."

You guys opened for Herman's Hermits here. Backstage must have been
interesting.

"Yeah, it was kind of interesting. It was an interesting tour. It was great
fun because we had no responsibilities. None whatsoever. Just get on and do
our thing. It was great."

What's changed?

"Well, nothing! It's still great fun. But there are responsibilities now,
though, aren't there? It's one thing supporting someone on a show. It's
another thing headlining."

So you were OK with supporting the Hermits at that time.

"It was great, yeah. Like I said, you could have all the fun, and then you
had the first choose of the women afterwards." (Laughs salaciously.)

I caught a glimpse of The Who's Sydney set list. Do you still pick the songs
for the band?

"Well, not really. I kind of piece it together (once we) choose what we're
gonna play. But, in some ways, we've got the best of all problems (in)
having too much good material. When you haven't been out (on tour) for a
while, the kind of fans that are gonna come and see us ... aren't gonna
leave until they've heard 'Won't Get Fooled Again,' 'Who Are You' and 'Baba
O'Riley.' If you want to put some of the obscure stuff in, you're obviously
going to have to leave something out.

Is there anything you'd like to put in the set list that Pete absolutely
refuses to agree to?

"Oh, there's a lot of songs he won't do, and there's a lot of songs I won't
do. There's also a lot that doesn't actually work on stage. ... I think
there are shows to suit (various) venues. And for the kind of venues we're
doing at the moment, the show we've got is the best."

And that song that you would love to do live that Pete won't?

"Well, I love 'Slip Kid.' He won't do it. There you go."


I was surprised to see "Eminence Front" on the Sydney set list. Is it about
the only thing you'll still touch from "It's Hard?" (The Who's final studio
album, the 1982 disc is considered by the band and many fans as its worst.)

"No ... It's on there because, basically, after singing for an
hour-and-a-half, I need a break. (Laughs.) You know, these are tough songs
to sing. They ain't easy. This is not sing-along rock and roll. This is
demanding (expletive deleted), you know?"

And, again, it's that time of the show for Pete to step up a bit.

"Yeah. And he does 'Drown' on acoustic because it shows a different side of
his guitar. His work on guitar is extraordinary. ... No one plays acoustic
like him."

At one time you and Pete were talking about doing an acoustic set on this
tour.

"You know, we had been planning one. But at the moment we've got other
things on our mind. We're trying to finish an album in the studio, and we're
doing these shows to keep our hand in on the road. Because where we're at in
our lives now, if we stop this for too long, we won't be able to get it
back. It's incredibly demanding work. You have to stay physically into doing
it. It's not the kind of thing you can put down. It'd be like stopping
exercising."

How does touring help with studio work? This will be The Who's first studio
recording in 22 years.

"It keeps you sharp. (It) keeps your ears (sharp) as well. You get ideas.
And the songs are never the same every night. They're the same songs, but
they're a little bit different every night. There's always something that
happens."

You and Pete have solid musicians backing you on tour, but what, if
anything, do you still miss about having Keith (Moon) and John (Entwistle)
on stage?

"Well, we've kind of almost replaced (Keith) with Zak (Starkey's) drumming
technique. Zak's basically playing everything that Keith laid down in the
first place. Having said that, Zak very much lays things down of his own.
Let's put it this way, he's about the best second (to Keith) who'll ever
come. ... The one thing we obviously can't replace with Keith is his humor.
The in-between song 'verbal' that he used to give the audience was
hysterical. And we can never replace that with anybody because he was a
master at that. I think, in some ways, that was as great as his talent at
drumming. And John ... was such an individual. It'd be impossible to replace
him.."

What's easier and what's difficult about The Who being just you and Pete?

"This is easy! There's nothing difficult about it at all. Compared with the
four of us, this is easy. We've only got two of us to fall out with."
(Laughs.)

Those fall outs between you and Pete were legendary. You still have 'em from
time to time?

"No, no. Work is really easy now. We're in because we want to do it now.
Those problems were (about) being young in the early days. Testosterone
problems."

Anything different about walking up those stairs to face an audience at 21
and taking 'em at 60?

"None whatsoever. You don't play any differently at all. You always go out
there and you do your best. I can only speak for myself because I'm only me.
But I always do my best. Whatever I've got on the night, I'll give. ... Some
nights I'm better than others!"

Has Pete's outlook about being in The Who and touring as The Who changed any
after the difficulties he faced last year? (Townshend was arrested in
January 2003 on suspicion of downloading and possessing indecent images of
children. He was eventually cleared.)

"Yeah. I think he's realizing that the finishing line is in sight - that we
can't do this forever. Physically, we won't be able to. We're reaching that
period where you never know when it gives you up. And that's the facts of
life. So we're enjoying it while we can."

The live shows have been getting good reviews.

"They have. I think in some ways we're better now than we've ever been.
Pete's certainly playing better on the guitar than he's played since the
early seventies."

And you?

"I think I'm singing better than ever, yeah."

You've said in the past that you and Pete would continue performing as The
Who as long as you're breathing and can do the music justice.

"And that's it. That's exactly right. There's an energy and ability that
this music demands. I can kind of cheat the top few notes and get around
them. But if that goes to too many notes, then I'll stop. And if I can't
give the songs the energy that they demand - or even change them a bit to
kind of fit them to where (I) am now ... if it doesn't work, I should just
stop. It's as simple as that."

What still excites you about your job, Roger?

"God, it's just the best job in the world. God almighty. Who wouldn't swap?"

I'd switch with you.

"Well, there you go. I mean, I remember working in a factory. I still do.
And I don't want to go back there. I could do it. But this is much better. I
wouldn't go back to a day job."

So can we expect you and Pete back in town before 2041, then?

(Laughs heartily.) "There's no way we'll be back then. (Sighs.) Who knows?
Who can foretell the future? That would be a brave man, indeed. ... Let's
just make a good job of this one first."

[BillyBill]

That was a good interview I think. Some slightly different questions than the normal ones, and some different answers than normal as well.

Pete also mentioned Slip Kid in his Q interview, I wonder why he doesn't like it. I guess he just doesn't like By Numbers, which is a shame.

[JillKristen]

Good interviews with lots of info. I also like the fact that two of the interviews mention that Pete was cleared of wrong-doing. After all these years and a lot of hardships and tragedies it is great to see that Pete and Roger are enjoying where they are at and what they are doing.

JK