Friday, June 23rd, 2000

In an interview by Gary Graff and Lisa Taylor, Pete says that a new Who album wouldn't be a concept album because fans and music critics don't seem to want that.

 

Transcript:

Daltrey, Townshend Writing for New Album

By Gary Graff and Lisa Taylor

The Who kicks off its summer tour of North America Sunday in Chicago,
promising a show full of the venerable British group's well-worn hits and
material from Lifehouse Elements, the abandoned 1970 concept album
resurrected by guitarist Pete Townshend during the past couple of years.
But for hardcore Who fans, the real question is what happens after the tour
winds down in September? Will Townshend, singer Roger Daltrey, and bassist
John Entwistle make good on their promise to return to the studio together
for what could be the first new Who album since 1982's It's Hard?
"We're trying to invent some new music to make a new record," Daltrey
admits. "Hopefully, we'll be in the studio making a new record. We'd like to
try. I've been writing like mad. I think I've got possibly three songs that
could be Who songs. Pete hasn't heard them yet, but I showed him the lyrics
and he's kind of impressed.
"We hope by being on the road and playing together and airing stuff in
session rooms, we can develop something on the road and make it organic,
rather than sit down like we used to and say, 'OK, we have to come up with
an album,'" he adds.
Townshend, meanwhile, says he was "shocked" that Daltrey revealed the
existence of those three songs at an April press conference announcing the
tour.
"I found that quite a scary thing to hear him say, sitting in front of the
press," Townshend says. "I think one of the things we've got to be careful
of is not committing too much - not talking too much about it. You have to
be very careful, you know, or you can really f--k up the process." But
Townshend did reveal that he has plenty of lyrics and poems, some of which
he calls "f--king brilliant." What might become Who music, however, is not
so certain.
"What I'm doing for my part is trying to work out what is it that I would
want to say if I was going to sit and write today for The Who," he says.
"One of the things that seems to be really high on the agenda of not just
Who fans, but also music critics, is that if The Who do an album, that it
doesn't have a concept. And we're trying to please people at the moment."