The Ox talks to VH1

["Jeff House" <whocasa@hotmail.com>]

from http://www.vh1.com/thewire/content/news/1449484.jhtml

Who Hope Onstage Magic Translates To Studio

By Jon Wiederhorn
10/01/2001


John Entwistle
Photo: VH1

The members of the Who have considered reentering the studio together for 
well over a year, and on Friday they met at their management's London office 
to talk about it.

Because of prior commitments by each of its members, the band will be unable 
record for an extended period any time soon. Nevertheless, the Who plan to 
schedule two short recording sessions before the end of the year, bassist 
John Entwistle said from his home in rural England.

"We know the magic happens onstage," he said, "but we haven't tried it in 
the studio yet. We're eager to see what happens. It's a long time between 
albums."

Eighteen years, to be exact. In 1982, the band released the uneven studio 
record It's Hard but broke up soon afterward following an alleged farewell 
tour. Since then, they've reconvened numerous times to perform "Tommy," 
"Quadrophenia" and greatest-hits concerts with deluxe orchestration and 
backing musicians. Then last year, the Who hit the road once again as a 
five-piece, a move that reignited their enthusiasm for playing together.

"I think that made us feel a lot closer," Entwistle said. "We're working so 
well as a five-piece that we want to try to carry that onto the album 
somehow."

The band will work on the new material at both Entwistle's and guitarist 
Pete Townshend's recording studios. At the moment, both artists have plenty 
of ideas for new songs but nothing completely written  although Entwistle 
has two tunes, left over from a TV project he did titled "Vampires," he 
might convert into Who tunes.

"They're only possibilities at this point," he said. "I'd have to change the 
words and a lot of stuff because they were for a kid's program and they're 
pretty tame. I just have ideas, riffs I know I could write songs from. But 
whether they're going to be in a bluesy style or something else, I don't 
know yet."

Entwistle said he hopes the band will also write material based around 
improvised passages the Who developed during their most recent tour.

"Whenever we do the jams at the end of some of our songs onstage, I try to 
work out some new songs around those jams," he said. "There's always loads 
and loads of songs in bits and pieces from that. It's basically just a 
matter of grabbing the bits and joining them together to see what comes 
out."

Even if the Who can't recapture the magic of yesteryear, the band probably 
won't wither up and fade away.

"Most people who come to a concert want to hear old stuff anyway. They don't 
want to hear new stuff they've never heard before or are just getting into," 
Entwistle said. "And we're still playing great together. I don't think we'll 
be breaking up again."

Before heading into the studio, the Who will participate in the October 20 
World Trade Center benefit concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, 
which will also feature Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi, John Mellencamp, Macy 
Gray, the Goo Goo Dolls, James Taylor, India.Arie and Melissa Etheridge (see 
"Paul McCartney Joining Bon Jovi, Macy Gray For New York Benefit").

Entwistle said the band will play five or six songs but has yet to decide 
upon a setlist.

"Let's just hope they're easy ones, because we won't have much time to 
rehearse," he joked.

While he's honored to play the benefit, he has reservations about the size 
and scope of the show.

"I think it can get a little bit too much," he explained. "The more 
musicians on it, the less time people have to play. Also, when we did Live 
Aid, there was utter confusion backstage. It was a complete catastrophe as 
far as we were concerned. We had no monitors for the tapes we were using so 
everything fell apart. I'd hate to get involved in another fiasco like 
that."

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