Zak Starkey has finally addressed the recent back,and,forth surrounding his role in The Who, saying frontman Roger Daltrey told him he’d been “retired, not fired.”
The longtime drummer, who has been with the iconic rock band for nearly three decades, shared a detailed explanation on Instagram, putting to rest weeks of rumors and speculation.
According to Zak, things got pretty confusing after he was believed to have been let go following The Who’s Royal Albert Hall charity show in March. Despite being “reinstated” just days later, Zak claimed he was then officially out again a couple of weeks after that. In a recent phone call, Daltrey told him he hadn’t been “fired” at all but simply “retired” to focus on his other musical projects.
“NOISE and CONFUSION!!!!” Zak wrote. “I had a great phone chat with Roger at the end of last week which truly confused both of us!!! Rog said I hadn’t been ‘fired’,I had been ‘retired’ to work on my own projects.”
Zak explained that he’d just wrapped up almost two months in his Jamaica studio, working on material for his group Mantra Of The Cosmos. Their new single is set to drop in early June, and with just a 5,6 week promo cycle, he clarified he was actually “completely available” to continue working with The Who.
When he told Roger that, Zak said the singer simply replied, “Oh!” And that was that. “We kind of left it there , on good terms and great friends as we have always been,” Zak added. “Gotta love these guys. As my mum used to say, ‘The mind boggles!!!’ XXX.”
The post was topped off with a cheeky image captioned, “Drummers: From Keith Moon to Zak Starkey and Beyoncé.”
The confusion around Zak’s role began after a reportedly rocky performance at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust in March. Following that, word spread that he’d been let go, though Pete Townshend later said in a statement that it was simply “communication issues, personal and private on all sides” that had now been “happily” addressed.
However, on May 18, Pete confirmed Zak wouldn’t be joining the final North American tour. Zak claimed he was told to spin the narrative that he was leaving to focus on his own projects, even though he had time to commit to the tour.
Zak has now officially been replaced by Scott Devours, who has previously drummed for Roger’s solo shows.
So while it’s still a bit murky, the takeaway seems to be: no bad blood, but yes , Zak Starkey is out, and The Who are moving on without him, at least for now.
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