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The Latest Breaking News from Pete Townshend

“We thought it was throwaway and argued against it being released. It's incredible to me that it was a single. I was just trying to do my best Pete Townshend!” How bassist Andy Fraser electrified a Free classic

When Andy Fraser joined Free in 1968, he arrived as a teenage guitarist, but his melodic bass style became essential to the band’s success

Guitar World

Alfie Boe reveals the 80-year-old rocker who taught him to songwrite

As he prepares to release his first album of original material in two decades, Alfie Boe has credited Pete Townshend with helping him unlock his songwriting voice.

BANG Premier

"We have no use for a standalone singer who doesn't play an instrument, preening themselves like a rock god": Atomic Rooster guitarist Steve Bolton on reviving the band, changing frontmen, and John Entwistle's phallic number plate

On the back of their first album in 42 years, Atomic Rooster are about to hit the road

Louder

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"Eric Clapton wrote Wonderful Tonight at ours, sitting on a wheelbarrow": What happened when the bassist with one of the UK's biggest bands quit rock'n'roll for life on the farm and a travelling musical carnival

Swapping champagne and private jets for a rundown farmhouse on the Welsh border

Louder

“I think Roger just got lost. Roger’s finding it difficult. I have to be careful what I say about Roger because he gets angry if I say anything about him at all": Pete Townshend has his say on Zak Starkey’s protracted dismissal from The Who

“He’ll be sacking me next,” quips the guitarist, “but that’s not to say that he sacked Zak”

MusicRadar

Master the 12-string guitar: restringing, tuning and strumming made simple

Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, the Eagles, and Richie Sambora swear by 12-string guitars for sonic sparkle – after this guide, you will too

Guitar World

"His performance was so far out of time, out of tune": The shambolic story of The Rolling Stones' star-studded Rock And Roll Circus

With Brian Jones falling apart on set, the Rock And Roll Circus went so badly that the planned film wasn’t released until 28 years later

Louder

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“There is a lot of fun to be had by putting random alternative bass notes under a chord”: Pete Townshend, RayDavies and David Bowie all used thirdinversionchords – here’s why (and how) you should, too

If the idea of third inversions seems all upside down, fear not: these five examples show how easy they are to put together – and how musical they are when you apply them in a song

Guitar World

“I'm quite interested in AI... getting some of my songs that didn’t quite work and putting them up onto Suno... there might be hits”: Why Pete Townshend is interested in using AI

But then the Who guitarist has never been afraid of tech

MusicRadar

“I was smashing a guitar at every show. I had to use this special glue called Cascamite – it’s a powdered glue and I managed to string them back together. I got very good at putting guitars together”: Pete Townshend remembers The Who’s first US tour

"I was just making sure I left my mark"

MusicRadar

"I was bullied in 72 by a bunch of hippies": Pete Townshend names his five favourite Pete Townshend songs

Pete Townshend revealed the best songs he's written on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Louder

“Jeff Beck would pick up my fretless and play the craziest licks. I was in awe”: Pino Palladino’s adventures with The Who, John Mayer, Eric Clapton and his Music Man fretless bass

One of the most identifiable bass players on the planet on why he shifted back to fretted, embracing flatwounds even though they were unfashionable, and how he’s still topping the charts with the likes of Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran

Guitar World

“These guitars are not just for blues lawyers – you can rock with one of these”: Joe Bonamassa on the vintage Gibson that makes a great power chord guitar

What makes the Gibson ES-350 so good for rock? Bonamassa says they are a real live wire, with “a lot of pop” and no shortage of low-end

Guitar World

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson took up fencing to give up groupies

Bruce Dickinson has admitted he slept around a lot and could have ended up on a "slippery slope" of sex addiction before finding fencing.

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Louder

"How all deluxe releases should be done": The latest upmarket makeover of The Who's Who Are You is interesting and exhaustive

The Who’s last blast with Keith Moon

MusicRadar

“People would ask me, ‘What's it like to replace Keith Moon?’ I said, ‘I didn't replace Keith Moon – I replaced Kenney Jones!’”: How a legendary drummer followed in the footsteps of two other legendary drummers in The Who

“I saw The Who live with Kenney – and he was absolutely fantastic"

Metal Hammer

"He was doing something that was light years away from all of my other heroes": The five albums that changed Ace Frehley's life

In 2018 late Kiss legend Ace Frehley picked the five records that guided his path towards the stars

MusicRadar

“Everybody knew Jeff was a great drummer. It was the same when I joined The Who to replace Kenney Jones – and when I was with Mick Jagger, playing the Stones tunes that Charlie played”: How Simon Phillips succeeded in replacing Jeff Porcaro in Toto

"They didn't want somebody to come in and try to imitate Jeff"

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MusicRadar

“I didn't recognise him, because he had really short hair. I just thought he was some friend of Pete's. I found out later this was Dave Gilmour!”: Drummer Simon Phillips recalls the chaos of his favourite recorded performance – on a Pete Townshend song

"It was hilarious – this whole scenario”

Louder

"He was like a blubbering baby. He was crying. He was devastated": The Who's Roger Daltrey on drugs, fights, death and the music that defined a generation

The Who: From pill-popping mod figureheads to Woodstock-generation rockers and beyond

Louder

“It’s weird when I look at the list. If you go folk or blues or jazz or rock, I’ve actually been there”: Danny Thompson covered more ground than even he thought possible in a career spanning seven decades

The revered double bassist worked with Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, John Martyn, Bert Jansch and countless others. On 2012 album Connected he assembled some of his proudest moments

Guitar World

“He smashes the guitar to smithereens and says, ‘It’s my band. I can do whatever I like!’” Pete Townshend’s substitute guitarist on his heated rehearsal row with the Who legend

Steve Bolton was hired to handle Townshend’s electric leads in the lead up to the band’s 1989 tour, but some confusion over who’d play what during one rehearsal tipped things over the edge

Louder

The Who add one 'final' date to their North American farewell tour

The Who will say goodbye to North America with a show in Greater Palm Springs, California, on Wednesday, October 1

Guitar World

“The guitar head poked through the ceiling. When I brought it out, the top of the neck was left behind... They were laughing their heads off”: Pete Townshend's guitar-smashing became a controversial onstage ritual, but it started by accident

The destructive antics began as an unwelcome byproduct of something else the Who guitarist helped add to the guitar lexicon: wild feedback odysseys

Guitar World

“This is the way rock stars die, OxyContin”: Pete Townshend opens up about the health challenges he encountered and overcame before The Who's final bow

The Who have embarked on their final North American tour, with their final date wrapping up at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 28

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