Grasshopper Guido

[Kevin and Tania O'Neal]

http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=474&zone=diary
6 January 2007
Grasshopper Guido

These questions are from Guido Tartarotti, and were for the Austrian 
newspaper Kurier.

GRASSHOPPER: 1. I know that this is a tough one - but how would you describe 
the new music? It must be hard to move on and stretch out musically - what 
every artist wants to do - and on the other hand to change as little as 
possible (what many of the fans want you to do).

You are correct, it is a dilemma. The new music does have roots in earlier 
Who recordings. Some tracks relate to Who's Next, others to the more 
introspective Who By Numbers. But there is also something completely new: 
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend 'unplugged', the two of us playing alone. 
It's important to try to feel some sense of continuity in an artist's work. 
It has been a very long time since I felt I could write songs within the 
strict boundaries that have grown up around the Who's sound, and do so 
without cracking the legend people carry in their minds.

2. Would you say that you have grown - as musicians, as a band, as human 
beings?

I hope so. Roger and I feel things are clearer for us today, but we have 
each spent a fair bit of time doing work away from the Who. In some ways 
returning to the Who can make us feel we have not grown, that very little 
has changed. So much new music at the moment has its roots in the music of 
the sixties, whenever we raise our heads we feel in comfortable 
surroundings - that was true even in the first explosion of punk. The 
periods I personally found most discomforting were the hippy days of 
Woodstock, and the strange period in the eighties when music began to sound 
rather clockwork.

3. Pete, how is your relationship with Roger today? What is it based on? 
Respect?

There is real respect yes, but there is also a shared passion for our 
audience. Some Who songs - the most famous ones - seem to generate a kind of 
liberating energy in the crowd. Any differences we have had over the years 
have always faded on stage when that happened. Today even off stage we try 
to focus on what is common between us rather than our differences (which are 
still many!).

4. You must have written thousands of songs. Do you know how many? What 
makes you writing, what inspires you?

Finished songs number about 750. Partly finished songs worth finishing 
number around 1500. I write for pleasure, for release, because I can. 
Sitting around with a guitar is a pleasant thing to do. Sometimes a new 
chord will evoke a new melody, that fits with a current idea I might be 
carrying. I also write quite well to a brief, that's why I like to write 
songs for a story - it gets me writing unexpected songs.

5. Being one of the most successful and respected songwriters: Do you think 
there is a "right" or "wrong" way of writing? Is songwriting something that 
one can learn or teach? Is it important to know the rules - maybe to break 
them? And do you know immediately when you've written "a hit"? What makes a 
good song?

There are no rules. But there is history now, enough to begin to analyze the 
pop song writing process and establish various methods that will at least 
set a writer off in a good direction. It can be taught, but what is strange 
about pop is that it always seems possible to come up with a new way to use 
an established method. So rules try to surface and are thus immediately 
broken, or revised, or simply borrowed or stolen with impunity that seems to 
bother no one.

6. Are there songwriters that you admire? Which music inspired you recently? 
Are you listening to a lot of music?

I very much admire the songs of my father's era, Brecht, Cole Porter, The 
Gershwins and so on. From my own era I especially admire Bob Dylan, Bruce 
Springsteen, the Beatles, Brian Wilson. Recently I have been inspired by 
Willy Mason, Joe Purdey, Alexi Murdoch, Regina Spektor and my partner Rachel 
Fuller. These are younger writers who still do new things. I listen to music 
mainly at home now, and try to make it a special occasion. I think this has 
come from the way I sit to watch films on DVD, I do so in great comfort and 
with some ceremony and I now like to do the same with a CD. I listen to less 
music in an informal way now - when traveling for example.

7. You brought together two musical forms which didn't seem to fit together 
(but they did!): the opera and the rock 'n' roll song. When and why did you 
become fascinated by the opera in the first place? Who is your favorite 
opera composer?

I became interested in opera because the Who's manager Kit Lambert was the 
son of Constant Lambert the music director of Covent Garden and the Royal 
Ballet in the fifties. Kit had a private box at Covent Garden that I often 
used. I saw all kinds of opera. My favourite classical opera composer is 
Verdi. For an Englishman there perhaps is no more deeply affecting opera 
composer than Benjamin Britten. His Silas Mariner is superb. My favourite 
modern opera composer is Philip Glass. I remember one of my toughest nights 
at the opera in the '60s was sitting through a particularly dark production 
of Boris Gudonov, today one of my favourites. I drank champagne in the box, 
lay on the floor and fell asleep.

8. This is going to be the first regular studio album under the brand name 
of The Who since 1982. This long break, does it make things easier for you 
now - or even more complicated? How do you deal with the expectations of the 
audience? Do you feel "under pressure"?

I do feel under pressure but there is nothing I can do to change that so I 
am relatively unaffected by it - I just hope people enjoy what we have 
recorded.

9. You are a frequent internet user. Do you think the web brings people 
together? Or does is separate them? Or both? How and how often do you use 
the net?

I use the net every day. It does bring people together, but some of us 
choose to wear masks. For musicians and video artists the web is opening up 
hugely, but it is hard to find a way to make a living as an artist using the 
web. What's new? It was never ever easy.

10. Is it true that the new album is kind of the modern version of your old 
lifehouse-project? What is the new story behind it?

Wire & Glass is based on The Boy Who Heard Music (a novella I serialized on 
a website), that is based on elements of Psychoderelict (my solo album in 
1993) which was itself rooted in Lifehouse (from 1971.) I like this idea 
very much, obviously, but the next step for me is to try to make parts of it 
actually happen. That is something I wanted to do with the Who in 1972 - to 
make a concert where the music was authentically reflective using computers.

11. The Who played a festival-show at St. Poelten in Austria this Summer. It 
was a really impressing, powerful concert. But after the instrumental breaks 
in "my generation" there was a point, where every member of the band played 
something different and no one seemed to know how the song went on - except 
for you. I found that almost charming - it showed, that even great musicians 
and rock icons are human beings. How do you deal with mistakes? Do you get 
angry when such things happen?

I sometimes forget that I am not playing with Keith Moon and John Entwistle 
who were always eager to go off on new musical journeys on stage, and were 
quick-witted about following me. I do get angry sometimes on stage when 
things go wrong, but it passes very quickly and unlike when I was young I 
don't stay in a sulk.

12. I mentioned the words "rock icon": I guess, this is a term that you 
don't like too much, maybe. How does it feel to be regarded as a living 
legend?

I am content with it. I like the 'living' part.

13. What makes your generation so vital? The Who, The Stones, Dylan, 
McCartney, Neil Young - still on top, still creative, still attracting the 
largest audiences.

I think it's because we are a bulge, a boom, there are so many of us. Thus 
we have a lot of power. We have a bigger audience to rally than younger 
artists. But the main reason we are indulged is that we were lucky to be 
around when rock and pop first became 'serious'. The function of the music 
changed from the soothing music of post-war to the engaging music of the 
'60s. Younger artists must content themselves with finding new ways to do 
the same things over and over again.

14. Do you like playing live - or is it a drag? I mean, every one is 
expecting you to do "substitute" and "pinball wizzard" while you would maybe 
prefer to show them your new work? Is it hard to choose the songs for the 
setlist - because you got so many great ones? And do you change the song 
list around while touring?

I like it more today than I did when I was young. I am happy to play old 
music. It's easy and gratifying. I like to extend myself as well, but not at 
the expense of the audience, I am only there for them after all. I am not a 
jazz musician who needs to feel fulfilled by what I play, I am a rock 
musician who must feel fulfilled by what he triggers for the audience.

15. I hope this question doesn't sound too stupid, but: is it hard to work 
as a duo, without Keith and John - because the four of you were such a 
strong unit, musically? Do you still miss them, as friends, musicians, human 
beings?

I miss them. But we had lost our spark by 1977. Our eccentricities were very 
powerful, and eventually I think we ended up like four islands under the 
rule of a distant foreign power.

16. You survived the ups and downs of a musical career, you survived 40 
years in show business - a lot of others didn't. Have you been stronger or 
cleverer - are just more lucky?

I was pretty smart, that much is obvious. I took up the opportunities 
offered to me in the '60s with great skill. But I was lucky with my 
bandmates, our managers, our fans - and in my case with my art school 
lecturers who were very advanced indeed.

17. A lot of very young persons discovered the music of the who through the 
"CSI"-tv-shows. Do you like these series? And do you like the fact that 
popular tv shows use your songs as key tracks?

I exalt music on TV and in films. It is far more poetic in that context than 
on radio I think, where today it seems to be used to prop up the egos of 
disk jockeys who think they are superstars.

18. Is it true that you are a big fan of ABBA (I am too!). What do you like 
so much about them?

I am a fan of Benny. He is a genius. His music work in Abba was what I 
really found enchanting. I like his solo work too, and his work on Swedish 
traditional music (where he plays accordion). SOS is my favourite pop song 
of all time. It raises my heart like a Bach prelude in E.

19. Last question: The Who are still extremely popular, also for younger 
audiences. What do you think are the reasons?

We were among the first to make rock and pop music truly serious, and yet 
still amusing and uplifting. So many new bands use our system, and listen to 
the music of the '60s, that when younger fans find us they think we might 
still be young. Our music is young, and it doesn't sound too dated. Not yet.