If Pete Townshend were a politician his reputation would be that of a flip-flopper.
Earlier this year he said, “I do want to make another [Who album] and I probably will. It’s been on my mind a lot.” He added that he wrote 25 songs, 15 of which he sent to Roger Daltrey.
But now he’s leaning towards not making another album.
Now he says, “As far as a new record, it does take quite a lot of time to put together the 20 or 30 songs that are needed for both Roger [Daltrey] and I and any producer that we might be working with to cherry-pick the ones that fit the times.
“Because you write the songs, and then two years later you’re putting them all out, and you just hope that you’re going to hit the mood of the moment.
“A lot of artists now are writing songs at home, recording them at home and putting them out within weeks.
“But our process is the old-fashioned way, and it does take a lot of time. So I don’t know, but I am optimistic. And I’m certainly full of ideas.”
But he adds that Daltrey sees things differently.
“I think Roger doesn’t want to be selling ideas that are either vague or evolving, that are unfinished.
“But I’m still at a place now where I want to be gambling and taking chances as a studio composer and writer.”
Townshend also says he may not want to “tour the way we have been touring in recent years…
“It could be tricky. And I think it’s partly because we’re getting older, and partly because this lockdown has left us flailing quite a bit.
“I think Roger just wants to get out and use his voice. And so it feels to me like what he’ll want to do is play catch-up with touring, which is very much what we did after I took a great long sabbatical from The Who from the end of ’82 right through to ’96, pretty much.
“But I don’t know the extent to which I will be willing to tour the way we have been touring in recent years, although I have been finding it easy and I’ve been finding it interesting.”
Daltrey was scheduled to start a solo tour next month but pulled the plug due to the pandemic.
The Who’s last album was 2019’s WHO.
