In a new conversation on Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt podcast, Pete Townshend took a shot at Rick Rubin.
“You see a lot of stuff on YouTube and Instagram, people nagging you about the way that you have to be creative,” the guitarist said. “Somebody needs to occasionally slap Rick Rubin, because, one minute he’s telling us that we need to do whatever we like, and then, on the other hand, he’s telling us that we mustn’t do this, and we mustn’t do that.”
Townshend also agrees with Rubin on one thing as he shared, “As Rick Rubin so rightly says, and many other pundits about creativity, it has to be fun. It has to it has to be enjoyable. It has to be something that you love to do, and it also has to be something that you like what you do. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that anybody else will like it.”
The rocker isn’t just interested in music. In 2019, Townshend released a book named ‘The Age of Anxiety.’ He had a discussion with music journalist Chris Charlesworth at St George’s Church in Kemp Town, where they talked about his creative process and how writing a novel is different from writing a song or a rock opera.
He explained, “In pop and rock music, it’s really important that the storyteller leaves the ending open because the function of music is to feed in with what is happening in your world.”
“I’m sure there are people here who will have come up with their own endings or after-stories for ‘Quadrophenia.’ But this is not rock and roll,” the guitarist added.
He further reflected on creativity, “I think it’s a dark art because you don’t know how it works. You are all here tonight to hear me talk about something because I’m able to create something which connects with you. It might console you or disturb you, or enable you to make a connection with other people. I often ask myself, how do I pull that off? It’s what I would call craft. You have to sit and wait until the idea comes.”
Pete recently teamed up with his wife, Rachel Fuller, to create a new album called ‘The Seeker.’ It’s a musical version of Hermann Hesse’s 1922 novel, ‘Siddhartha.’ The album was recorded at Angel Studios in London and features Townshend as the Ferryman, with South African artist Nakhane as Siddhartha. Both the album and novel were released on November 7.