Joe Walsh wishes he had helped his dear friend, the late-Who bassist John Entwistle get sober, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. Walsh, who played lead guitar on Entwistle's 1981 Too Late The Hero album, was a close friend of the Who's dating back to 1969 when he was in the James Gang. Walsh spoke candidly about Entwistle in the new officially sanctioned biography The Ox by Paul Rees, which will be published tomorrow (April 7th).
In the book, Walsh recalled his last meeting with Entwistle in 2002 at Southern California's NAMM music convention: “I noticed that he was having trouble hearing. Also, he was not making sense like the John that I had known. I didn’t know if he was just too drunk, or whatever. At one time, that’s how all of us rockers would get to be late, late at night. Personally, I went on in that same way until 1994 and, by then, I had turned into a full-blown alcoholic and cocaine-crazy person. But I hit bottom before I OD’d and died.”
Walsh went on to say, “I wasn’t sure whether I should, or even could, confront him. Ultimately, I was never able to sit down with John and say to him, ‘Hey, man, you’re f***ing up.’ Back in those days, I was still trying to figure out my own sobriety. Now, all these years later, I feel quite comfortable in telling someone I care about, 'Listen up, because I know what I’m talking about.'”
