Last updated: 03/02/02
The Who back on tour info and dates plus much more.
News: New WHO book from Andy Neill and Matt Kent called "Anywhere, Anyhow, Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who 1958-1978" available at Barnes and Noble on July 1st for $32.00. Pre-order it early!
Foreword by Roger Daltrey (excerpt from Anyway, Anhow, Anywhere)
It never ceases to amaze me how four young prats (aren't we all at that age?) with such diverse personalities ever came to be in the same band. To make matters worse, we were four megalomaniacs, with all the traumas, insecurities, and paranoia that make adolescence such a joy. Looking back on those years, what is so amazing, here at the pinnacle of our decline, is that the bond that connects us is stronger than ever. I always knew it was special. This was brought home to me when I was sacked from the band in 1965. It was then that I realised that this was the most important thing in my life. I've actually had it proven to me that music conquers all!
The Who were quirky from the start. The Beatles and the Stones were much more broad based, but we were individual, in a league of our own -- distinctly British. We were the bloke's band and thank God for that because they've stuck with us. They identified with the songs that Pete was writing from a bloke's perspective. He was obviously making contact at a very deep level; it must have taken a lot of courage to write with such honesty.
We were in the spotlight, but the truth is that everyone involved with us from those early days was an important part of the jigsaw. Helmut Gorden kept us in a van for a year. Pete Meaden recognised the value of the Mod movement and got us noticed. Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp were the fifth and sixth members of the Who: Kit, with his outrageous behaviour and ideas on how to manipulate the media, and Chris, the expert in cool, menace, and scams! Their contribution to the band should never be underestimated, and neither should the input of our manager since the 1970s, Bill Curbishley.
One of my greatest frustrations with the Who was that we never really achieved our full potential in recorded sound. We had the songs, we had the talent -- but our sound was too big for the grooves! If only 5.1 sound had been around in those days. It hasn't all been a bed of roses. We took casualties. Keith Moon's death cast a giant shadow. What made it worse was that somehow we were expecting it. He was our funny bone and, as Pete has said, our alter ego. Although not here in body, his spirit still lives on in everything we do. Kit Lambert's slow death through drugs and alcohol left a creative void, especially as far as Pete is concerned, which is very difficult to fill.
With all the shit that went down in the early years (and occasionally the latter ones!), for me, I'm never as happy in my life as I am when the Who are working. It's the ultimate highlight; the inner feeling of purpose, struggle, success, and failure -- all these things rolled into one. My other careers I enjoy, but it could never be the same. Maybe that's why I like acting so much, because I go from one production to another searching for another Who -- but of course there isn't one.
A great deal of misinformed rubbish has been written about the Who. Yes, we had our differences -- and still have. But it's the differences that make it work. Thanks to Andy and Matt for making the effort to get it down as accurately and in as much detail as possible, talking to all the people that matter while we're all still here and before senility sets in. A lot of it I didn't know, a lot of it I've forgotten, but most of it reminds me just why the Who are the best fucking rock 'n' roll band in the world.
News: NEW MOON BOOK FROM DOUGAL BUTLER
Keith's closest friend and personal assistant Dougal Butler is releasing a new book called 'Keith Moon: A Personal Portrait' with many never-before-seen pictures. You can get ordering information from keithmoonportrait.com .
