The Who Fires Drummer Zak Starkey for Second Time in a Month
If Zak Starkey had to give an official status on his relationship with The Who, he may want to opt for: It’s complicated.
The 59-year-old drummer, and son of Beatle Ringo Starr, first joined up with the Quadrophenia rockers in 1996. But the last several weeks have been challenging ones for the band. On April 16, after a reported disagreement during their show at Royal Albert Hall, Starkey and his bandmates decided to part ways.
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“The band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak after this round of shows at the Royal Albert Hall,” a representative for the band told the Guardian. “They have nothing but admiration for him and wish him the very best for his future.”
Starkey issued his own statement to Variety, in which he declared how “very proud” he was of the nearly 30 years he spent working with the band. “They’ve been like family to me,” he said, before explaining: “In January, I suffered a serious medical emergency with blood clots in my right bass drum calf. This is now completely healed and does not affect my drumming or running. After playing those songs with the band for so many decades, I’m surprised and saddened anyone would have an issue with my performance that night, but what can you do?”
Three days later, The Who’s co-founder Pete Townshend announced that their issues had been patched up and Starkey would not be leaving the band after all. “We are a family, this blew up very quickly and got too much oxygen,” Townshend wrote. “It’s over. We move forward now with optimism and fire in our bellies.”
Unfortunately, that fire already seems to have been extinguished. On Sunday, less than one month after Starkey’s rehiring, Variety reported that the musician has once again been sacked by the band.
Townshend announced the news on Instagram, writing that, “After many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change. A poignant time. Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best.”
Townshend also confirmed that drummer Scott Devours, who has worked with The Who’s Roger Daltrey on other projects, would be joining the band for their upcoming The Song Is Over farewell tour.
Starkey clearly had some thoughts about his former bandmate’s note, and took to his own Instagram to overwrite Townshend’s comments.
“I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit The Who to pursue my other musical endeavors,” Starkey wrote. “This would be a lie. I love The Who and would never [have] quit. So I didn’t make the statement.”
“Quitting The Who would also have let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me (thank you all a million times over and more) thru the weeks of mayhem of me going ‘in an out an in an out an in an out like a bleedin squeezebox,” Starkey concluded.