If Rob Arthur gets to do a director's cut of his new Frampton documentary, he knows what the first addition to the story will be.
“The one thing I regret we couldn't fit in is the Phenix story,” Frampton's longtime keyboardist tells us via Zoom. He's of course referrnig to the famed 1954 Gibson Les Paul that was given to Frampton by a fan after a 1970 Humble Pie gig but was presumed destroyed in a 1980 crash of a cargo plane transporting his gear from Caracas, Venezuela.
The tail section of the plane stayed intact amidst the debris, however, with all of the guitars intact — although it wouldn't return to Frampton until 2011, after passing through a variety of hands in the Caribbean. He rechristened it Phenix at the time, as in rising from the (literal) ashes. Frampton also gave the name to his Nashville recording studio and to a film production company he and Arthur started during the pandemic, which produced Frampton.
“It's a really fascinating story about the guitar. A great story, an amazing story — but not a character-based story,” Arthur says of the decision to leave Phenix on the cutting-room floor. “We had so much to say about him and how he maneuvered his career and his life that I just couldn't see taking any of that stuff out to fit in the Phenix story.
"If we ever get a chance to make it longer, then maybe it gets back in. On the other hand, it's been covered. Gibson did a whole piece on Phenix, and it's beautifully shot and really well done, so the story's still out there for people to get.”
Frampton had its premiere on June 4 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Its future has not been announced yet, but Arthur is confident it will be picked up by a streaming service and perhaps even have some sort of limited theatrical release.
The deeply candid Frampton does, however, cover the story of how he “almost” became part of the Who.
It occurred during the early '80s, when the glow of 1976's Frampton Comes Alive! had faded. The combination of the I'm in You album and the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie had made him a punchline, he'd been dropped by his label (A&M Records) and split with his manager, Dee Anthony.
All of which left him in such deep financial straits that Frampton had to borrow money from Atlantic Records chief Ahmet Ertegun. Around then he received a call from Pete Townshend, explaining that he'd decided that, à la Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, he was going to give up touring with the Who but would still write songs for the band.
“I didn't think it was a great idea,” Frampton says now, with a laugh. “I was kind of laughing as he was talking about it, to be honest. I wanted to say, ‘You must be kidding! First of all, I can't jump that high. Secondly, I'm not you, and you've got an awfully large pair of shoes to fill, live.’
"I really didn't think it would happen. But when the leader of the Who or a founding member of the Who says, ‘I think I want you to play with the Who now,’ you go, ‘Well, that's crazy ... But wait. I don't have anything going on, so maybe it is a good idea.’”
Frampton — who first revealed the invitation in 2020's Do You Feel Like I Do?: A Memoir — told Townshend he wanted assurances that the other members of the Who, particularly singer Roger Daltrey, were onboard with the idea. Townshend said he would discuss it with them and get back to Frampton, who even started practicing his windmills at home.
But there was radio silence from Townshend for three weeks after that, and an anxious Frampton had to track the guitarist down at a recording studio, by phone, to receive a profuse apology and an acknowledgment from Townshend that he “should never have” made the offer. (Years later, while suffering from tinnitus, Townshend brought Steve Bolton on tour to handle electric guitar duties for the Who's acclaimed 1989 tour — although Townshend was along as well, playing acoustic.)
I didn't want to put down Pete, but it happened, and he knows it did. He was there.”
— Peter Frampton
Arthur says the incident “symbolized to me that here's a guy who's so desperate, he's grabbing at anything. He's got to get something going on. There's no way Pete Townshend is going to let someone else be in his place onstage, but Peter just didn't have a lot going on and was like, ‘I need to know! I need to know!’ That, to me, was the bottom for him. That's a rock 'n' roll bottom — really wishing that might happen so he could ignite a fire again after the fall.”
Frampton — whose career, of course, picked up again after childhood friend David Bowie took him out as a guitarist on his 1987 Glass Spider Tour — adds that the Who story was “too big a deal to leave out” of the film. “I didn't want to put down Pete, but it happened, and he knows it did. He was there.”
The two bumped into each other not long after backstage at a Bruce Springsteen concert at Madison Square Garden, where they kissed (Townshend on Frampton's head) and made up. “He apologized, and I love him dearly and we're great friends,” Frampton says. “It was just a brotherly problem for a minute — a big one, though.”
In addition to the documentary, Frampton is also promoting Carry the Light, his 19th studio album as a solo artist and first of all-new songs in 16 years. Released May 15 and co-produced with his son Julian Frampton, it features guest appearances from Tom Morello, Sheryl Crow, Graham Nash, H.E.R. and saxophonist Bill Evans. His continuing struggle with the degenerative Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), however, has kept him from making any tour plans in the near future.
