In late 2019, The Who released its first studio album in 13 years, WHO, but songwriter/guitarist Pete Townshend says the band’s record may not take nearly as long to put out.
U.K. tabloid The Mirror reports that Townshend has amassed as many as 10 new tunes, and may get together with frontman Roger Daltrey to record them potentially for The Who’s next album after the U.K.’s COVID-19 lockdown ends.
The 75-year-old Rock & Roll Hall Famer, who is working on the material at his home studio, says he “wants to make another” album if it’s worthwhile, financially.
He adds that he’s written “pages and pages of draft lyrics.”
Reflecting on the band’s most recent album, which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200 and received much critical acclaim, Townshend admits that he and Daltrey, “only just about got it done,” adding about his fellow Who co-founder, “We’re very different — politically, socially, spiritually, in every respect. But we happen to be in this band together.”
Meanwhile, in a new interview with U.K. magazine Uncut, Townshend reveals that he also is working on a major reissue of The Who’s 1967 concept album The Who Sell Out.
Pete tells Uncut that he realizes The Who have not been very prolific with regard to releasing albums, suggesting that the reasons include the amount of touring the band has done, as well as the fact that he mainly works on the group’s songs by himself.
“I tend to write at home,” he explains, “which The Who Sell Out is a good testament to, because it’s got all the demos on and you can see how I gathered material.”
By Matt Friedlander
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