Features

Bob Weir and Warren Haynes Reflect on The Who

The Who appear on the current cover of Relix in a feature that includes an interview with Pete Townshend as well as many musicians’ memories of the group. We previously presented Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools’ thoughts on John Enwistle and Phish drummer Jon Fishman’s take on Keith Moon and The Who. Here is what Bob Weir and Warren Haynes had to say about the group.

Bob Weir

I remember we got a 45 single of “My Generation” way back in fall of 1965. We were hanging at Phil’s house in Palo Alto, Cailf., and we put that on and were astounded by their facility. They all seemed to have a lot of facility on their instruments and they were loose. We were pretty amazed. The looseness of the music is what made it stand out. They really were a trio with a singer—and they were the first of those.

The first time I saw The Who play was at the Monterey Pop Festival where we were sandwiched between them and Jimi Hendrix. (We didn’t maximize the event but they did.) I walked in expecting [them to smash their instruments] but I was still blown away. I was sitting on the side of the stage because I had a backstage and onstage pass and wanted to get a good look at it.

I was sitting on the side of the stage with the girl who was head of our fan club or ended up the head of our fan club, Eileen Law. At one point, a Telecaster neck came sailing over my way and I grabbed it. I was about to present it to Eileen and a big roadie came over and said, “We keep these. We bolt ‘em back together.”

We didn’t get a chance to mix it up with them at Woodstock that much but we did do a Day on the Green [series of shows] with them in ‘76. It was memorable. We both played well. We hung backstage and got along just fine. Keith Moon—he could tell a good story. He was entertaining.

We were in rehearsal and, as I recall, we were playing around and we hit on that opening riff for “Baba O’Reilly” and the only guy that could sing it was Vince [Welnick] because he had the highest voice. He knew most of the first verse, so he cranked it out and we all decided, “Hey, let’s go with this.” What are going to do at the end there? And we came up with [segueing into] “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Stuff just came to us.

I’ve always been a huge fan of “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” That said, I don’t think I’d ever consider trying to do a knockoff of it.

Warren Haynes

The Who changed what a rock song could be from a subject matter perspective while also virtually inventing the “concept album,” or at least taking it further than anyone else had. The recklessness of Keith Moon and John Entwistle as a rhythm section, combined with Pete Townsend’s precision rhythm playing and Roger Daltrey’s honest, workingman’s vocal delivery, conveyed the lyrical message with a sense of urgency that was totally unique to them.

Their live performances were equally intense in a different sort of way. In the same way that some music fans used to argue, “Beatles or Stones,” a lot of fans would argue, “The Who or Led Zeppelin.” Specifically, there was a lot of controversy over “Moon vs. Bonham” as they were the two quintessential rock drummers of that time. And, where John Paul Jones took a very melodic R&B approach to the bass, Entwistle was more aggressive and chose a dirtier, more aggressive tone. I’m very proud to say that the last recording sessions John Entwistle did were with Gov’t Mule for The Deep End, and it was truly an honor.