In a new interview with RollingStone.com’s Andy Greene, The Who guitar legend Pete Townshend discusses new music from the band.

Asked how often he works on new songs, Townshend replies, “Every day. I just don't do what Dylan does. I don't drag myself around the world, and I don't put out an album every six weeks [laughs]. But I've got loads of songs. I'm working on a big project at the moment, which might be half rock opera, half art installation. I don't know where it's going to go. I'm going to start with a book. I don't want to talk too much about that now.

I'm also working on old songs, going right from the beginning. I missed a few songs at the very beginning — gave tapes to producers to listen to and never got them back. But from "My Generation" onwards, I've got tapes of every single song I ever wrote, and the supporting paperwork. Sometimes they're silly little scraps and sometimes quite more. It's interesting to go back. But I'm always working on new stuff as well, so I don't have that feeling that I'm always luxuriating in the past.”

What happens to the new songs? Are they just sitting on hard drives in your house?

“They're mostly at a home studio. I remember somebody saying, ‘The terrible thing about magnetic data is, of course, all you need is a big enough magnetron bomb and it would erase everything that we have stored’ [laughs]. So I started to put stuff on paper. I don't really give a shit whether it's out there or it's being heard. You know, I don't write to get feedback. I don't particularly write to feel that I'm contributing.

I haven't done a new solo piece for a really long time. If I did, I think I would want it to be something that really addressed everything that's going on in the world at the moment. I'm old enough and wise enough and stupid enough and have done enough dangerous shit to say pretty much whatever I like. It won't be popular, but nobody can hurt me now, really. When it comes to doing that work, I have to live with it for a while. I've written a couple in the last five or six years. I don't know whether I want to put an album out right now.”

Some fans are getting a little frustrated. There has been one Who studio album in the past 33 years, and your last solo album was 22 years ago.

“It's really hard for me to talk to a journalist and be reminded there are people out there who are counting years and going, ‘The Who haven't done this for so many years, and Pete hasn't put out any songs in so many years.’ For 30 years I had been working flat fucking out, until maybe the last two or three years, when I've given myself permission to take a holiday that's longer than a couple of weeks. My family, my friends, my business partners, people that are involved with me in theater work and everything else will tell you my life is packed. I'm happy with that.

Read more at RollingStone.com

 

 

This June, Eagle Rock Entertainment will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Who with the first ever DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Video release of Live At Shea Stadium 1982. This is the first official release of the full show and features restored footage and newly mixed sound.

The Who (Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Kenney Jones) delivered both classic tracks and rarely performed songs: “Pinball Wizard,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “My Generation,” “Substitute,” “Who Are You,” “I Can’t Explain,” “See Me Feel Me,” “Baba O’Riley,” and many more. The tour promoted the 1982 album It’s Hard and the set list was comprised of several tracks from that album, some of which the band would only play live on this tour.

The Who’s 1982 North American tour was their last to feature Kenney Jones on drums and the band did not tour again until 1989. This concert film features the show from the second of their two nights at New York’s Shea Stadium and was filmed on October 13th 1982.

2015 is a year of even higher profile than usual for this legendary band - with their 50th Anniversary European/North American tour taking place this summer. Live At Shea Stadium 1982 shows exactly what their reputation has been built on.

 

 

Tracklisting:

“Substitute”  

“I Can’t Explain”  

“Dangerous”
“Sister Disco”  

“The Quiet One”  

“It’s Hard”  

“Eminence Front”  

“Behind Blue Eyes”
“Baba O’Riley”
“I’m One”  

“The Punk And The Godfather”  

“Drowned”  

“Tattoo”  

“Cry If You Want”  

“Who Are You”  

“Pinball Wizard”  

“See Me Feel Me”  

“Love Reign O’er Me”  

“Long Live Rock”
“Won’t Get Fooled Again”  

“Young Man Blues”  

“Naked Eye”  

“I Saw Her Standing There”   

“Summertime Blues”
“Twist And Shout”