I kept some of those in out of respect for Keith and they were nice things to play. I kept some of the drum fills and certain things that I really liked. The thing is, I can only play me and my style. He was a good friend and we had such a laugh together. Purposely, also, because I’m not nuts like he is. I mean, as far as I’m concerned there’s only one drummer for the Who, and that’s Keith Moon and always will be. I look upon it as fondness and sadness, because one of the things I regret in life is Keith Moon is no longer with us, and I wish he was. Is this a part of your life as a musician that you generally look back on with fondness? When I was doing some research to speak with you, I was surprised that there was such a lack of interviews where you discussed your time with the Who. I’m such a big fan of the Who and the Faces. Jones spoke with equal parts joy and pathos, especially while remembering his initial hesitation to join the Who. ![]() Despite being a full-fledged member of the Who prior to his departure in 1988 (“no one else has gotten that privilege,” he notes) the formidably kind Jones is often, quite unfairly, looked upon as an asterisk in the band’s history, as opposed to a prolific musician whose demonstrative drumming was what powered hits such as “You Better You Bet” and “Eminence Front.” Jones, who has since enjoyed a steady career as a drummer and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as part of the Small Faces/Faces, has also seldom discussed his time with the Who.īut now just over 40 years since Face Dances, calling from his home across the pond on a recent afternoon, Jones was happy to reminisce about the highs of lows of working alongside Daltrey, Townshend, and Entwistle for the better part of a decade, as well as share memories of his good friend Moon. Or, dare we say, what could’ve been no new Who era at all.Īnd yet, rock canon doesn’t exactly treat the story this way. What ensued was a bunch of tours, two studio albums (1981’s fantastic Face Dances 1982’s slightly-less-fantastic It’s Hard), the most seminal benefit concert of all time, and even more tour dates, all of which solidified Jones’s steadying and uniting presence behind the kit during what could’ve been an otherwise tumultuous Who era. When Jones was invited to join the band in 1978 in the aftermath of Moon’s premature death at 32, it was because Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and John Entwistle wanted to continue creating new music despite the absence of their looney tunes drummer, and they had a vision for how Jones, cut from the same mod-hipster cloth over at the Small Faces and Faces, were to fit into that. ![]() It’s weird to think, looking back at the Who’s history from a modern vantage point, that Kenney Jones served as the band’s drummer for nearly as long as Keith Moon. “Sometimes I wake up and I go, Which band am I in today?” Photo: Richard E.
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