Kenney Jones revealed that he originally passed on assuming the drum-stool for the Who upon Keith Moon's death in 1978. Jones, who is currently working on an official Small Faces documentary, chatted with Musicians On The Record, with Ultimate Classic Rock transcribing portions of Jones' interview.
Jones, who had visited Moon's grave the night before the funeral in order to have a private moment, recalled hearing the Who were eying him for the band: “I had massive reservations about it. I didn’t particularly want to be in that position. We shared the same drum technician, a guy called Bill Harrison. Bill kept saying to me, 'You’re going to get the call one day.' I could sort of sense what was going to happen a little bit.”
Jones went on to say, “I got the call from Bill Curbishley, the Who’s manager. 'Kenney,' he said, 'I’ll get straight to the point. The Who have had a meeting and they’ve decided to get together and they’ve decided they would like you to join the band. They’re not thinking about anyone else — they want you in the band. My reaction was, 'Thanks, Bill; it’s very flattering, it’s very nice, but I can’t.' I could hear the sort of gasp at the other end of the phone. He said, 'What?' I said, ‘'I can’t. I’ve just been forming this band. . . and that’s it. That’s what we’re excited about.' He said, 'Why don’t you come and have a chat with Pete?'”
He recalled spending two hours “having a great laugh” with Pete Townshend: “Pete just went, ‘You gotta join the band! You’re a mod! You’re one of us!’ I felt so bad. I said, 'Well, alright, but I’m not copying Keith. I can only ask my band if it’s the right thing to do. If they say 'no' I’m not going to do it.' So I went back and met the band and I said, ‘Look, the Who have asked me to join them. I’m not going to let everyone down here, though.' They were so gracious — they said, 'Kenney, you’ve got to do that.' That made my mind up for me; (I was) relieved about that.”
Jones was made a full member of the band in late-1978, drummed on Townshend's first mainstream solo album, 1980's Empty Glass, as well as the Who's 1981 set Face Dances, 1982's It's Hard, and 1984 live double-set Who's Last. Jones performed for the last time with the Who on February 8th, 1988, and was let go from the band prior to its 1989 reunion tour.
Kenney Jones told us that despite Roger Daltrey commenting over the years that Jones was never right for the Who, he's quick to point out that he was Pete Townshend and John Entwistle's ultimate choice as Keith Moon's immediate replacement: “I think, to be honest, it was a confusing time for him and it was a confusing time for everybody. But, as Pete says, I had the support of Pete and John. I know I fitted, anyways — not a problem. It's just, y'know, you can't fit in in two seconds flat, you have to find your way around it. Now, obviously I found my way around it. The hardest thing I found when joining the Who, was not actually playing in the Who, it was actually learning the songs in the Who and trying to find my way of playing them.”