Naked Eye, as a concept, was brought about as a result of the hugely successful Who Convention staged in Shepherds Bush, London in September 1995 organised by myself, Andy Neill, Mark Donovan, Peter Norris, Keith Badman and Paul Southeran. The climax to the show was a two hour perfomance by Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, together with Zak Starkey and Simon Townshend, where they performed a selection of Who hits as well as a pretty meaty chunk of Quadrophenia. A late fax from Pete Townshend wishing us well made us feel as though maybe the timing was right to think further afield than just the convention. The convention was our reaction to the way in which we felt the band had been poorly handled by the record companies, with greatest hits after greatest hits being released, obscuring their real legacy. The response from Who fans worldwide and the press and TV made us realise that we wasn't alone in that feeling

Tommy was about to open on the West End stage and within a couple of months of the convention myself and Mark Donovan (with regular contributions from Andy and a few other friends) decided to launch a new 'fan club', Naked Eye. For the first issue we managed to secure an interview with Pete Townshend in the North Acton rehearsal rooms being used for Tommy and he was gracious enough to give us a couple of hours of his time and provided us with his longest interview in many years. 3 months later the band announced that they would be back on the road performing Quadrophenia, initially as TED and then The Who.

Things moved quickly from there and we managed regular interviews with John and Roger and became a semi official fan club, securing UK members with priority seating at shows (although this was a bit hit and miss).

(cont)