Roger Daltrey: Daltrey and the Who Rock On

Daltrey and The Who rock on
Legendary band, recovering from death of bassist, comes to Hershey
By Mary Alice Bitts
SUNDAYNEWS (LANCASTER, PA.)
July 28, 2002

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Roger Daltrey described his relationship with fellow Who band mates as very close.

Then, with a wry laugh, he added, "It's like being married to three very ugly wives."

If that's true, then Daltrey is now something a widower. We may assume that the June 27 death of band bassist John Entwistle of an apparent heart attack -- in a Las Vegas hotel room one night before The Who's comeback tour -- was a loss on many levels for Daltrey. His fingers flying wildly up and down the neck of his guitar as he ably kept time with the frenetic Keith Moon, Entwistle laid the melodic foundation of the band's multilayered sound.

This sound can be played by another musician, just as another drummer was able to fill in for Moon, the band's original drummer, who died of an accidental overdose in 1978 (For the current tour, Zak Starkey, son of Beatles legend Ringo Starr, will take to the drums).

What can't be replaced is Entwistle's presence -- the anchoring introvert in a band of flagrant extroverts. It was his contribution to the combined persona that ultimately defined The Who, which comes to Hersheypark Stadium Monday, July 29.

Now only two original members of The Who remain, and fans ask: Has The Who died with Entwistle? And how can Daltrey and Townshend -- who grew up in the same middle-class London suburb with Entwistle and played and toured by his side on and off since 1963 -- continue to play without him?

IN A PRETOUR phone interview in May with the Sunday News, Daltrey revealed his feelings about the first time the band lost one of its own, his own need to perform, and growing older in the rock 'n' roll spotlight.

Speaking from his home in England, Daltrey was gregarious, relaxed, and occasionally intense, as when he describing his relationship with his band mates. "I've never had a brother, and Pete is like a brother to me. You have your fights, but the affection runs very, very deep."

The 2002 tour is the latest of several comeback tours for The Who, which has seen its share of sometimes public spats, usually between Daltrey and Townshend, who sometimes played out their disputes onstage. More rough-edged than the Beatles, more manic and acidic than the Stones, The Who of the '60s and '70s was well-known for its spirited stage shows -- adrenaline fests that featured Townshend leaping across the stage and attacking his guitar with windmill-like swings of his arm; Daltrey swinging his microphone like a lasso; Moon frenetically pounding on his drums in a fury of activity, as Entwistle stood motionless, but for his flying fingers.

Concerts often ended with band members smashing their instruments a practice that kept The Who in the red in the early years, but that whipped their fans in a frenzy. But it was The Who's attitude -- that bristly, intelligent, clever persona -- that was so crucial to the band's success. The Who gave voice to the feelings of an entire generation.

And it was a generation of the young. How could a 57-year-old Daltrey go onstage and sing the lyrics of "My Generation" ("hope I die before I get old") today?

Completely unabashedly.

"I will approach these songs as though they are brand-new songs, and I'll play them according to how I feel about them today," he says.

"Your emotions change as you get into middle age. It would be a very sad life if someone lived 57 years and didn't learn something along the way. All that living comes out in the performance. The trick is not becoming like a pastiche of yourself -- not falling into that trap.

"I feel just as passionately as I did when I was a teen-ager, but the feelings are more complex. It isn't as black and white."

Is this the same chest-baring, microphone-swinging rock star who patented the famous Daltrey scream? Who bared his bottom for the world to see in Ken Russell's movie "Lisztomania"? Has Roger Daltrey lost his edge? Will he next be talking about pipe tobacco and aluminum siding?

Not on your life.

When asked about the current music scene, Daltrey is the same anti-establishment
bad boy that he ever was: "I don't like the corporate music scene; it's so prefabricated. I like music when it's..." he pauses for effect, "... dangerous."

THE COMPANIES, HE continues, growing more animated, "have learned how to manage
the music side of it. It's prefabricated, really. It's not the kind of music that I like. The last good thing that came around was the grunge thing, Nirvana, those bands. The kind of music that makes people go, "What the f--k is that?'

But the music companies, they don't want to hear that.

"There aren't many bands whose first record was a major hit -- the Stones, and even the Beatles' first record wasn't really huge. The Who's first record wasn't a big hit. Groups today don't get much of a chance; it's one record, and then you're out."

"We never would have made it today."

Indeed, The Who's sales in the early days were not exactly impressive. But it wasn't just luck and kindlier ways at the record companies that brought success.

The Who's triumphal appearance at the benefit concert for victims of the September 11 attacks, held Oct. 20 at New York's Madison Square Garden, proves it. Sharing the stage with fellow rock icons Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Billy Joel, The Who ripped into a searing set that included Townshend's classic "Won't Get Fooled Again," "Baba O'Reilley" and "Who Are You"-- and dominated the show.

In addition to being a fine performance, it was also a moving one for Daltrey. "There are so many things that have happened in my career that I can point to and say, "That was a great moment,' but last year at Madison Square Garden might be the most humbling, emotional experience of my life. The whole thing has been a dream.

"Looking out into that audience, and seeing the firefighters out there looking out at us -- they were right there with us, and we were right there with them. It was amazing," says Daltrey.

"No matter how much you play, how much you rehearse and go into the studio, it's not the same as going onstage. It's the same thing that a boxer experiences. They go through all of that training, but it isn't the same as when they get into the ring to box. That's what it's like when you get onstage -- you get that ring feeling.

"Getting onstage is a different space altogether. It's a wonderful space, really."

PERFORMING, DALTREY SAYS, is ultimately what motivates him. But what would
happen if he lost that Daltrey voice?

"When you're young, you never think that you won't be able to do it someday. But one day my voice won't be there. When that happens, I will stop singing. It will happen one day, and, you know, you have to face that. We're the kind of group that would stop playing if we couldn't do it properly."

Daltrey, who has also pursued a career as a character actor, appearing in major television, theater and film roles for the past three decades, says that to him an important part of performing is the opportunity it offers to work as part of a group.

While at first he jokes that acting is a good way "to get me away from painting and decorating around here," he then earnestly adds: "I like to be a character actor. Most productions are like being part of a family, and I like that. I like being part of a band, being part of a team -- I like that feeling of collaborating. Being able to collaborate, and play music, is a wonderful way to
make a living."

As strictly a business decision, the move to continue the tour without Entwistle is a no-brainer. An important contribution to the band's sound and personality, Entwistle was not a domineering stage presence, by any means. And ticket sales have spiked since his death. Although he is sorely missed by fans, his music sounds on in concert halls across the country, as bassist Pino Palladino plays masterfully and ably (and often in shadow) in his place.

Was this just a business decision? We can't know for sure, but in The Who's July 4 concert, Daltrey addressed the crowd, saying: "It's one day at a time for us. I don't need to say more than what's been said already... Rock 'n' roll was never meant to be easy. Nor was life. You just get on with it."

In May, before Entwistle's death, Daltrey elaborated: "What's it like playing now, as opposed to in the '60s and '70s? There's no difference. There's a big difference when you're not playing -- you feel a lot more apprehension during time off, because you question whether you can still do
it or not. It's kind of weird. But when you get out on stage, it's the same as it ever was.

"Whenever I do my best, I don't feel that I've failed, no matter what the critics say. I'm not a robot. I go out there and I give everything out."

Daltrey says that he's been able to stay in the game all of these years and through unlikely comeback after comeback after comeback because he simply needed to. The Who, with their timeless, wry lyrics, angry power chords and intricate harmonies, brash personas and legendary stage shows, keep coming back in evolving forms.

There will be no The Who should there be no Daltrey or Townshend, but for now, The Who, in a new form, keeps playing.
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