PETE TOWNSHEND Say That He Wrote New Songs To Please ROGER DALTREY - Not THE WHO Fans
February 26, 2007, 17 years ago
Launch Radio Networks has issued the following report from Howie Edelson:
PETE TOWNSHEND said that he wrote the material on THE WHO's recent album Endless Wire not to please the band's fans, but to please ROGER DALTREY. Townshend told The Long Beach Press-Telegram that unlike past projects, he had Daltrey in mind while writing the album, explaining that, "I wanted Roger to love this new record. I wanted him to love it more than fans. That is very different from in the past when I was glad if he liked what I did, but I didn't mind if he didn't like it."
Townshend and The Who are back on the road for their final 2007 US dates, and perform about half of the new album every night.
Townshend said after the 2002 death of bassist John Entwistle, his and Daltrey's respective positions on how to run the band softened considerably, explaining that, "I have been the creative guide for the Who, but now it is just Roger and me, I feel we need to be more balanced. We are no longer a committee serving a small country, we are two old guys who want to have fun entertaining our audiences old and new. "
We asked Townshend if his new-found dedication to writing material for The Who will end up replacing his solo recording career: "Too early to say, I think. I think it's too early to say. I really don't know. I know one thing that I'm pretty sure that had this music that we'd recorded, had we not got it finished to our satisfaction, we'd probably still would have done some shows. We may have put out a couple of EPs of tracks that we thought worked. But we wouldn't be doing a world tour, and I certainly wouldn't have put out a solo album."
The Who perform tonight (Monday, February 26th) in Long Beach, California at the Long Beach Arena.