Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Kenney Jones revealed in a recent interview that he had massive reservations about replacing the late Keith Moon as the drummer for The Who.

Jones, who was close friends with Moon, told Musicians On The Record that he initially refused to join The Who but was eventually persuaded by guitarist Pete Townshend.

“I had massive reservations about it… I didn’t particularly want to be in that position,” Jones said about replacing Moon. “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.”

The former Small Faces and Faces drummer said he turned down an invitation to join the band from The Who’s manager Bill Curbishley, noting that he was forming his own band, but he agreed to meet with 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,'” Jones said.

“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,'” he added. “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.”

Source: RTT Music News