Pete Townshend has shared that he’s not like most musicians when it comes to their love of live performance, as he much prefers to work off stage, and even struggles with collaboration.
Though The Who guitarist isn’t keen on these elements of his career, he does admire the collaborative process, and as the band’s iconic 1973 Quadrophenia album is being turned into a “mod ballet”, Townshend has come to love the rehearsal process due to its “exploration of the human body, of dancing”.
He tells Spain’s RockFM (via Blabbermouth): “Most musicians are not like me. Most musicians do two things that I don’t really do or don’t enjoy doing. One is they love performing. I don’t love performing. I don’t like being on a stage. I don’t mind being on a stage. I don’t hate it, but it doesn’t fill my soul in the way that you see some performers, [where] just their soul is filled through being on the stage. That’s not me. The other thing is they love to collaborate with other musicians,” he states. “I think that, for me, collaboration is something that I find very difficult.”
He goes on to add, “If I was in a studio with a really, really great musician, or with a group of really great musicians, I think I would find it very hard. I often do find it very hard. I find it difficult to collaborate. I find it very difficult looking in the eyes of another musician. I find myself looking to my own energy to express myself. So I’m very different to most musicians in that respect.
“On the other hand, of course, I really, really admire the process of collaboration. I admire the process of dance and music. Quadrophenia is currently being turned into a ballet. We had our first rehearsal on Monday. It’s gonna be fantastic. But I think one of the things about that is that that kind of degree of collaboration is an exploration of the human body, of dancing. With music, I find myself wanting to stay in my box for a while.”
Of the joint projects he did enjoy working on, Townshend later continues, “I loved working with David Gilmour on my White City album and we co-wrote some songs, but that was an uneasy collaboration. I actually made it clear I’m not a natural collaborator. And I really enjoyed working with Eric Clapton back in 1973 when we did the Rainbow Concert together. I think it’s interesting ‘cause so many musicians, so many new musicians that I really respect want to work with me [laughs], and I wish I was more open to it. I could have fun with some of the greatest musicians in the world.”
You can watch the interview below:
You can find out more about Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet via the official website for The Who.
The post “Most musicians are not like me… I don’t like being on a stage”: The Who’s Pete Townshend explains why he doesn’t like performing appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.