TOWNSHEND, from Page 4B

overlooked about Pete Townshend the guitarist, since you’re so often reduced to power chords-windmills-smash?

A: I love the windmills and the power chords. They are expressions of the audience’s need for valediction, a sense of power and a desire for leadership. I also regard the power chord moments as a demand for attention that precedes music.

Q: (From Steve in Des Moines:) “You were once quoted a few years after Keith Moon’s death, you felt the Who should have had one final tour to say goodbye.

“Now, even after John Entwistle’s passing, what is driving you and Roger (Daltrey) to continue with the band? Creatively, either of you could have done anything new as a solo project.”

A: Steve, you need to ask Roger this question. In a sense, he has always felt that the great musicians of pop and rock would never stop working until they died.

He has been proved right. I believed we should stop before we became tired, blasé or just plain embarrassing. I would not have released the new Who album as a solo album, I wouldn’t have had the nerve. It is far too epic.

Q: (From Mike in Des Moines): “Is it difficult to write material you feel will find a large audience? Are any of your contemporaries as relevant today as when they first achieved mass popularity?”

A: It gets harder I think. I have had to wait 24 years to write music I felt would work against the immense wall of classic tunes the Who had already made famous.

I wrote several hundred songs in that time, and made a few solo albums, and I’m proud of what I did, but that word “relevance” is the important one: It is measured only by the audience.

What is relevant to me might not be so to you, but I very need to hear the work of the Flaming Lips, the Eels, Sigur Ros, Sufjan Stevens, Martha Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright and many others in order to feel alive today.

Q: Is it more nerve-wracking hashing out the new Who songs with Roger, or offering them up to the public?

A: None of it wracks my nerves because I have none. Very little frightens me. This is not because I am brave, but because I know what is important about what I do.

I find it necessary sometimes to speak (on my web site — www.petetownshend.com) about Roger’s process with respect to me, because he tends to exalt me rather. It’s as though he believes my talent is God-given, when in fact it is based on what I was born with, but honed and supported by terrific teachers, wonderful managers (especially Kit Lambert in my early days), fantastic friends and of course Roger himself.

Q: What book(s) did you bring with you on tour?

A: “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco. “Japanamerica” by Roland Kelts (early copy), a number of crime novels.

Q: Sex, drugs, spirituality, rock ‘n’ roll: Your strong views on which of these topics has changed the most radically since the last proper Who album?

A: I still see them as shadows of everyday life, thus they all reflect what they are in themselves, but most importantly the way they function for the rock audience.

Different people need different things from the artists they allow into their lives. I am not trying to set myself up as an authority on sex, drugs, spirituality or rock, I just know that these four facets of life seem to be more important to most Who fans than politics.

Q: I’d rank “Street in the City” (from 1977’s “Rough Mix”) as the finest song in your solo catalog. “Rough Boys” and “The Sea Refuses No River” are the runners-up, perhaps. On occasion of the newly remastered and reissued editions of your solo albums, what makes you proud, embarrassed or (insert emotion) when you take stock of your solo career?

A: (My solo career) started in earnest with my work with Ronnie Lane on “Rough Mix.” Ronnie had always said that my demos (home recordings) had something the Who’s subsequent elaborations didn’t have. I had always valued my own recordings, and knew he was right, but subsequently I came to believe that the only difference between a song I recorded at home and one recorded by the Who was that the Who used professional studios and guiding producers.

When I began to work with producers on solo work — starting with Glyn Johns on “Rough Mix” — I understood that my studio performances of my own demos could be just as re-interpretative as those of the Who: I could bring a new “moment” to my work, just as I did when I played on stage. When I listen to the songs you single out, I hear a performer as well as a composer. I’m very proud of the work I did then as a singer.

Q: (From Nate Niceswanger of Zzz Records in Des Moines:) “Are the members of the Who fans of the TV show ‘CSI’? Or did they get sold out by their own record label?”

A: I am a huge “CSI” fan, but that came after they used our music for their first series. I’m just a big fan of TV soaps and series-dramas and find the theme music especially much a part of my enjoyment. I love the 11-beat refrain at the beginning of “Alias,” for example — I literally start to jump up and down in excitement when I hear it.

There is a mischievous question hidden here: “Doesn’t this music belong to us? Should you be allowed to change the context? Are you not an Indian giver when you sell us this music then re-sell it to TV?” Answer: “When you’re right, you’re right. Sadly you are also powerless, so give it up.”

Q: (Also from Niceswanger of Zzz, more observation than question): “The only good Who story I have is that when I was a kid, I used to listen to my dad’s 45s a lot. One of my favorites was always ‘Dogs, Part 2,’ which was the B-side to the ‘Pinball Wizard’ 45, I believe. You’ve got to trust me that this was, and still is, a great song.”

A: That is not a “song.” Keith was sometimes a pain, but mostly he was funny to be around. It was his turn to “write” a B-side, and this is what he came up with. He was gracious enough to cut us in on the publishing (because we barked so well).

Reporter Kyle Munson can be reached at (515) 284-8124 or kmunson@dmreg.com

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

The legendary rock group the Who with Roger Daltrey, left, and Pete Townshend plays tonight in Des Moines.