And it was also very different from anything The Who were doing at the time, so I thought, “Well, if ever I were going to do anything on my own, this would be the kind of stuff to do.” RD: Yeah, just the way the lyrics came from a space that just kind of turned your head. Was there something in particular about his songwriting that you liked? He was much more avant-garde, very quirky artist, but I suppose what he really wanted to be was a pop star. He went more pop than he was when he came into my studio. We knocked the album together in three or four weeks, all very organically, and Leo got a record deal and he had an enormously success pop career. I didn’t really understand how dead seriously he took it because within 10 days, he was knocking on my door with 10 songs that made the album. So I just off-the-cuff said to him, “Why don’t you write a few songs for me and I’ll do a solo album and see if that helps you, see if it gets you recognized for being a songwriter, and it just might give you a leg up in the business.” And I thought, “Well, God, this is kind of organic.” And there was this young kid and he was playing and singing all these incredible songs, but he couldn’t get a record deal. RD: Well, he was brought into my studio by a friend of mine, who discovered him in a seaside town here called Brighton.Īnd we had enormous links with Brighton from an album we did called Quadrophenia. How did you become aware of Leo Sayer and his writing? I wanted to take you back to that first solo album, the Daltrey album. They were too impersonal, but it’ll be nice to get back to where I started - small places - and be able to talk eyeball to eyeball with an audience. I’ve been playing arenas for the last 25 to 30 years. RD: Well, I just want to give people a good night out with some good music, good fun and have a good laugh, and get to talk to an audience in an intimate situation. I think that’s something that’ll be interesting for people who haven’t heard the solo material in a while. There’s also lots of covers of other people and a lot of solo stuff that I’d like to get my tonsils around. So I do a kind of bluesy version of that. You strip all the synthesizers and things out of “Who Are You?” and it’s basically a blues song. I do an acoustic version of “Who Are You?” which is very, very different, but it’s still got its own merit. What’s it like playing them away from Pete? I know you’re expecting to play a number of Who songs on this tour. To keep singing in the range I’m singing at, I have to keep doing it. Nothing’s easy about getting older, especially if you’re a singer, because they’re not like guitar strings. I feel like being off the road now for four or five months that - and Pete’s planning on doing some recording early next year - I just feel the need to get out there and air the pipes so that when I do get in the studio, my voice will be at its best rather than a bit rusty. We’ve been working solidly for the last four or five years, so I haven’t needed to. Had you wanted to take a solo tour here and there and just never got around to it? But I’m really starting to feel now that, as I said, if I don’t use this voice, it’ll go on me. I never wanted to be a solo artist, as such, ’cause I’m the singer in The Who. And we’re not planning on doing anything too early next year, so I just thought, “Well, better get out there and do something on my own, just to have some fun and keep the voice oiled.” The Who aren’t going to be working anymore this year.
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