Daltrey Defends Pete

["Scott Schrade" <schrade@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Repost from O&S:


From
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12766135&method=full&siteid=50143

DALTREY ON THE WHO'S TRAUMATIC YEAR

Mar 22 2003

EXCLUSIVE

By Nina Myskow


ROGER Daltrey makes one thing very clear. In his mind Pete Townshend is
innocent.

The rock world was shocked in January when news broke that the legendary
guitarist had been questioned by police investigating child porn on the
internet.

But nobody was more stunned than the Who bandmate who knows him as well as
anyone.

"I've known Pete for the best part of my life," Roger tells me, eyes
blazing. "Since I was 15, a bloody long time. But if I thought there was any
truth in this whole thing, no way would I defend him. No f*****g way.

"But anyone who knows him knows also of the amount of work he's done in all
areas of abuse in the last 35 years - from helping battered wives to the
work he's done in prisons.

"He may have done something naive and stupid, but I'm telling you one thing.
Pete did what he did for the reasons he said he did."

Townshend has admitted that he had used a credit card once to enter a
website advertising child porn. He claims it was purely for research
purposes.

"His statement is the truth," says Roger, 59. "No way did he do it for
criminal or salacious reasons. Quite the reverse.

"Two years ago he told me how angry he was at these sites, and at the lack
of action by the authorities who could control this s**t. He's got a huge
passion about the internet, and how it's being abused.

"He did what he did and did not try to hide it. He has said: 'If I'm out
there talking about these things, I need to know what I'm talking about.'

"Pete's an intelligent man with an enormous brain, but you could smack him
on the wrist and say: 'How could you be so f*****g stupid? How could you be
so arrogant?'

"And it would have been so easy for him to duck if he was guilty. He could
have dumped the computer in the sea and said: 'Someone used my credit card.'
And what the hell could anybody have done?

Instead of that, being the honest guy he is, he tells the truth and is
pilloried. What they have done to him is appalling. Accused of all these
things, thought of as guilty, and they haven't charged him with anything.

"They've pilloried a really, really, really good man. It's just horrendous."

Roger shakes his head in disbelief at the injustice of it all. It is the
first time he has discussed the traumatic events in detail and the strain is
clearly telling.

We are sitting in The Who's loft-like North London offices to talk about the
week of rock concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall he is promoting in aid
of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

This is the third year of the event, and the series of six gigs kicks off on
Monday with Coldplay and culminates in a party night on Saturday with
Madness. The money raised will go towards building Teenage Cancer Trust
units in NHS hospitals.

So far, Roger and The Who have raised more than #2million. There is a light
in his eyes as he describes the work of the charity. But why this particular
cause?

"With so much charity work you don't see any results," he says. "But this is
very specific - building hospital wards for teenagers.

"Teenagers don't exist as far as the NHS is concerned. If you're under 16,
you're a child. If you're over 16, you're an adult."

Cancer and cancer-related diseases are the most common causes of death in
young people.

"In cancer terms it's the most dangerous period of your life. Your hormones
are changing, psychologically you're all over the place. I can vaguely
remember it!" He laughs out loud for the first time.

"A spot on the nose is a big deal at that age. Imagine being 15, being told
you've got bone cancer and you've got to have your leg amputated, and you're
there with babies crying?

"Or you could be 16, and in with old people dying. The psychological damage
of either is horrendous. So the units provide a positive, cheerful
environment where they can be teenagers. We've found we get a 15 per cent
improvement in recovery rates, on the same medical treatment. That's
fantastic."

Seven units have been opened so far, at a cost of #750,000 each. The next is
due to open in Liverpool next month. It will take a further #30million to
provide units for the entire country. Roger is a man with a mission.

The Who are having a year off - their world tour ended last October - so
next week at the Albert Hall Roger is planning an acoustic set with Paul
Weller.

"I'll be collecting. Going round with a bucket," he says, grinning. "I'd
love to be up there leaping about, but I did a lot of that last year. And
it's wonderful to see other people involved. We want the event to have a
momentum of its own."

This is typical of Roger. Straight as a die, salt of the earth, he is a
thoughtful, big-hearted man. It's not until he contemplates his year off
that he reveals the extent to which the events of the past few months have
taken their toll.

"I felt dragged down by it, dirtied by it," he says looking bleak. "Like a
great bucket of s**t had been poured on my whole life. Very alone.

"For me, watching Pete go through this is like watching your child being
kicked. Incredibly painful. I lay awake at night for weeks thinking: 'Why am
I so hurt by this?' I realised: 'They're hurting the equivalent to my kid.
Someone I love so much. He doesn't deserve it."

Roger heard the news the same way as most people did - on television. "I was
completely shocked," he says. "Angry.

"I rang him up, and he wasn't answering, so I left him a message saying: 'I
know you're going through a terrible time, and you've obviously been very
stupid. But I've read what you've said, and I know it's the truth and I
support you.'

"My first concern was for his family, his wife and children, his brothers
whom I'm very, very fond of.

"I called them, and they were just in bits. It's worse than murder, isn't
it?"

All this on top of coping with the sudden death of Who guitarist John
Entwhistle last June. He died of a cocaine-fuelled heart attack in a Las
Vegas hotel.

"It was so traumatic," says Roger. "But, to be honest, it was not a great
shock. I'd been worried about John for some time. For the last five years I
used to tell him I loved him every time I left him, because I thought it
might be the last time. I used to give him a great big hug: 'Love ya.'

"When you've been into alternative medicine for 30 years, as I have, you can
tell how healthy people are. He started looking very grey, had blood
pressure problems. And at our age - I'm 59 - we're in what I call the Drop
Down Zone.

"I used to have conversations with Pete about him, but none of us was aware
that he had a heart condition.

"Mind you," he says, grinning broadly and perking up at the thought, "what a
way to go! John was a real rock-and-roller, a hard-living man, and it was
the ultimate rock-and-roll ending. A party at the bloody Hard Rock hotel,
upstairs with a hooker, a line of coke, and that was it!"

He throws his head back, laughs uproariously and adds: "If John could have
known that was going to be the end - he had such a black sense of humour -
he'd have had a footnote added, with instructions: body to be replaced in
bed, guitars placed in room, door to be removed and glass front inserted
instead.

"He should have been a Hard Rock exhibit. In Vegas, mummified in bed. That
would have been the ultimate Entwhistle ending. Oh God, he'd have loved
that!"

Roger is the last original Who member left unscathed - drummer Keith Moon
died in 1978. He is fit, takes care of his health, keeps his feet on the
ground and has been married to Heather for 32 years.

"I'm lucky to have a great wife. I don't know how she puts up with me," he
says. "She's an angel, a sweetheart and we get on great, the best of mates.
I was honest from the start. I said: 'I'm in a rock-and-roll band, but you
expect me to be the faithful husband. I can't guarantee to be that.'

"In the 60s we were kids in a candy store. I don't know what red-blooded
male wouldn't eat all the candy he could. And we were very red-blooded
males. She accepted me for what I was and that was it. I love her to bits, I
always have."

Roger is proud of all of his children, whom he describes as "nice,
responsible, caring, thinking human beings", and happiest when he is
working.

HE says: "Any time we play live on stage, John is reborn. He's intrinsic to
the music. Keith, too - his stamp on it is so strong."

Despite the torment Pete has had to endure, Roger says he is now coping
well.

"He's fine. Actually I think it's done him good, because it's made him
realise how many friends he's got. He's got an awful lot of support out
there. I've not met anyone who believes he's guilty.

"It's made him listen more, which is a good thing for him. And hopefully
this terrible time will make him write some great music." He grins
wistfully, and says with determination: "I do think he's going to come out
of this stronger and wiser.

"And hopefully it will make a lot of other people think about condemning
people too quickly. We should always be concerned never to judge or to
condemn too quickly. It's such a lazy, easy thing to do.

"And such a hard thing to undo."

mirrorfeatures@mgn.co.uk

-TEENAGE Cancer Trust shows: March 24-29. Call The Royal Albert Hall box
office on 020 7403 8212 (no booking fee for cash or cheques). Credit cards:
tel 020 7403 3331/7420 1000/7734 8932 (subject to booking fee) or book
tickets online from www. harveygoldsmith.com

*****