Tuesday, April 1st, 1969

Keith is interviewed in this month's Hit Parader

 

Transcript:

 

Mr. Moon, with the little chocolate-button eyes and the big button brain, is back in Britain from his long run in the U.S. with the Who. He is here to officially declare the British pop season open - he says. This then is the unexpurgated, tape-recorded interview Keith did where he had occasion to tear into the "Amateur Gardening" offices adjacent to my office and terrorize the inhabitants by yelling "Weeds!" at the top of his voice.

I offer no explanation for what is to follow, except to say I shortly expect a Shooting Star award for
being the best straight man of the year

“Our Albums Are Junk” Says Who Drummer

KEITH MOON

HP: What kind of reaction did you get on this last U. S. tour?

Keith: It was the kind of reaction we had in the early days here when we had the big mod bit going for us. We got standing ovations wherever we went, with the exception of the War Memorial Hospital.

HP: Are you thought of there as an “underground group?

Keith: More overland really — the more ordinary, there-you-are-sir pop group.

HP: Do you fall into the category of people like the Doors?

Keith: No, they fall into their own. The category that we fall into is the Who.

HP: There does seem to be a tendency for hotel doors to mysteriously blow off their hinges when you are resident — were there any incidents of this nature?

Keith: No. All in all our road managers were very good. We’ve imposed a fine system, you see, and anything that they do is taken off their bonus at the end of the tour. We’ve decided that this must stop, categorically must stop, because it is a danger to living people. I mean it’s very nasty.

HP: So how are you received now in hotels?

Keith: Open arms — open arms. A friend of mine drives us to most of the hotels, a colored chap who knows most of the managers and of course they are only too pleased to see him. And whenever he arrives they say: “Hello…Hello Sunshine,” they say, because that’s his name. “Come in,” they say — and we do.

HP: Were you present at any of the riots in places like Chicago?

Keith: Unfortunately we organized them rather badly and most of them got started too early. They were not supposed to begin until we got there.

HP: Is your act still the same “smashing” routine?

Keith: We’ve tried to stop that, but wherever we go there are always some little kids yelling, “Smashyourguitar smashyourguitar” and you can’t let them go away disappointed, can you?

HP: What sort of a reaction do you get to your albums in the U. S.?

Keith: Well, our albums so far have been junk. All those that we have done we’ve never been able to look back and say “oh yes.” The one we are doing now “Deaf Dumb And Blind Boy,” is really the first time the Who have been put over as a group.

HP: Why is it that you feel so dissatisfied with your LPs?

Keith: Really is is a question of time. We are very much in demand as a stage band. Not too many groups have a good stage act. We have. Consequently the time we have to devote to albums is not enough but we’ve reached the point now where we feel we must make that time at the expense of personal appearances.

HP: It has been said that you lost money on your first U. S. tour? Can you explain this?

Keith: It’s true of course. There was a time when we could go over and come back with less than we went but you have to start the machine moving. If you have some money to invest in something you think is worthwhile you do it. The second tour we broke even and this third tour we have just completed has finally made us a profit. When I say third visit I’m not counting the weddings and 21st birthdays we went over for, of course.

HP: Do you think pop tours in Britain have any future?

Keith: There just isn’t the audience. There is not a lot of point in our working over here any more because it simply isn’t worth it.

Then, of course, in the States you pay a very low tax — none of this 19/6 in the pound fiasco — you send it to a small country like “Margarine” which is just off the group of islands and you leave it there until you need it.

HP: What went wrong with the last late lamented single, “Dogs,” why didn’t it make the charts?

Keith: ‘Cos it was rotten and it was rubbish. We liked it at the time because it was fun recording it. We realized it was a mistake as soon as we saw it was not selling. Then we said to each other, “It’s not selling — it’s a mistake.”

HP: Do you think the slipped disc did you any harm?

Keith: No — everything that the Who do is valid in some form. We had nothing better at the time so we smashed it out and said to hell with it. It was a valid flop.

HP: Why have you waited so long before releasing “Magic Bus?”

Keith: Well the snobs never bought the last one did they. I’m not rushing for them.

HP: Do you think there is any need to differentiate between what you release as a single in America and what you issue here?

Keith: Not really. We generally release it here first but it’s just a record company thing really. It’s timing you see — it takes longer for the tapes to get to America. Those tea clipper runs across the Atlantic aren’t what they used to be.

HP: You didn’t release “Dogs” in America, of course?

Keith: We all forgot about it, really. We forgot to even release it. Now that you’ve reminded me I’ll have to forget it all over again.

HP: If someone wants to see the Who live does it now mean we will have to go to America?

Keith: No, we will be making some up and down Oxford Street. We’ve fitted our cars with “tanoys” and we’re going up in a long line behind each other singing and dancing. It’s a variation on the free Hyde Park Concerts.

HP: Would you do a free concert?

Keith: Yeah I’d do it.

HP: Would the rest of the Who do a free concert?

Keith: Ah, there you got me. It could happen if we all happened to turn up somewhere at once. We’d all say: “Ah there’s a coincidence” and start playing.

We are of course doing a few concerts with Arthur Brown recently — seats at all prices.

HP: In six months you have been away, have you noticed any major changes on the pop scene?

Keith: Paper doll skirts are shorter, legs are fatter.

HP: People are all still waiting for the next “Big thing” in pop — do you think there will be one?

Keith: Well, we’re back now.

So ended the Ask-In, and Keith went looking for rice pudding and yoghurt to throw at the people frequenting the “in” clubs.

keith altham