Saturday, June 22nd, 1968

Record Mirror features an interview with Roger titled "The Who are Really Gentle People". There is also a full page ad for "Dogs" which debut's at #46 in their "Britain's Top 50" chart

 

Transcript:

THE WHO

…are really gentle people

ULTRA-VIOLENT rays shoot out from guitars and drums and mouths in an explosion of Who music erupting into loudness because it IS The Who. Working off their rage and tension and temper in one stage act of aggression, clearing their system of violence and hate through their music “because off-stage,” says Roger Daltrey, “we’re very gentle people.”

“We’re just as violent on stage as we ever were,” continued Roger. “It’s a way of letting off steam—getting rid of all the tension that’s built up inside. It’s like throwing a plate at a wall—in fact there ought to be places where people can go to smash things up in private where they can’t hurt anyone else, just as a sort of relief.

“In fact I believe there’s a hotel in Greece where you can throw crockery at the walls if you feel like it. The waiter brings a pile of plates to your table, and you just smash them—and he adds the cost of the plates onto your bill. You feel more relaxed and a lot calmer after you’ve smashed a few things up.

‘SCREAMING WITH FRIGHT’

“When they first saw how violent we were on stage in America, girls would rush out of the theatre screaming with fright. I suppose they weren’t used to seeing aggressive pop groups.

“It’s a funny scene over in the States—we’re considered an underground group over there. But, really, the underground movement is so vast now that it covers the whole of the pop business. We just don’t have an underground here.

“But I’d hate to live in America. We’re going back there again for about nine weeks in a fortnight’s time—but that’s about as long as I’d like to stay there. The American way of life is all wrong—the older generation all seem to be completely mad. It’s only the youngsters who seem to have any sense—in fact the kids are the same all over the world, and that’s great. Perhaps the only place where the younger generation is completely unlike the rest of the world is China. But then they need their particular way of life over there, and it works for them, whereas it wouldn’t for us.

“In America, on all the children’s television programmes, the baddies—the villains—are the communists. The kids are being brought up with the idea that the communists are the enemy—just like Hitler taught everyone that the Jews were the enemy in Nazi Germany. If a person wants to be a communist, why shouldn’t he? It’s wrong to teach children that all communists are bad.

“Although I wouldn’t like to live there, it’s a good place to go to. We’ve all got ourselves together much more since we’ve been to the States. Musically we’ve developed—when we first went there, we were content to just go on stage, do our spot, and then finish exhausted and perhaps a bit bored. But in America, going on stage is like having a party—we have a great time, and we just play until we feel like finishing. It doesn’t matter if we over-run our 45 minutes or whatever.

“We’ve got ourselves together as a group now as well. Before, there were always big arguments and dramas within the Who. But when we went to America, we had to rely on one another so much, that it brought us together. Now I think we’re all quite inseparable.

“It’s a funny thing, that going to America and all these places has made me very patriotic. I didn’t particularly like Britain a lot before, but now I love it. Seeing all these other countries has made me appreciate how good Britain really is—despite the weather. It’s difficult to describe the feeling you’ve got on returning home after a long tour abroad. But it’s then that you realise how good this country is.

“We’re going back to America in a couple of weeks’ time—at the moment we’re working on an LP. But it’s difficult to find time to record—everything has to be fitted into a tight schedule. We’ll probably be releasing an album of our hits—and of course, we’ve just brought out our new record, ‘Dogs’. We didn’t want to release ‘Call Me Lightning’ as an A-side in this country. I don’t think it’s a good record for Britain—everyone would probably treat it as a joke. But ‘Dogs’ is a very English song—it’s all about dog-racing, which is a British pastime anyway—I doubt anyone outside Britain would understand what it was all about.

“Pete Townshend is mad on dog racing at the moment—we’re all gradually becoming more interested in it. He went down to the track to see a dog called Yellow Printer running and it won, and Pete had some money on it. So he’s been following its career ever since. And he wrote ‘Dogs’ because he’s got so involved in the subject, I suppose. But it’s a good number.

“I’m looking forward to the time—in a year or two, perhaps, when we won’t have such a tight schedule, and we’ll be able to spend more time recording, and really getting something going. Pete’s written some pop operas, but we just don’t have the odd six months to spare to go into a recording studio.

“But it’s difficult to plan that far ahead—especially with Keith Moon going around trying to blow us up all the time. At one hotel we were in, we’d only been there 10 minutes and Keith let off a bomb. We were thrown out, and given a bill for £64. For just 10 minutes!

“In fact we’re lucky to be alive at all with Keith and his bombs looming around. . . .”

DEREK BOLTWOOD

---

Caption under illustration:

ROGER DALTRY