The Continuing Saga Of Zak Starkey And The Who
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Like a squeeze box, the saga of The Who vs their former drummer Zak Starkey keeps on going in and out. We’ve heard from Zak himself, heard from guitarist and co-founder Pete Townshend, and we’ve even heard from Zak’s father, former Beatle Ringo Starr. However, one person we hadn’t heard from yet was lead singer Roger Daltrey, and he definitely has some words from Zak.
As a brief recap, the story all began earlier this year, when Roger Daltrey appeared to get angry at drummer Zak Starkey over a cue that he caused him to miss due to overplaying during a charity performance. This led to Starkey being fired from the group after serving as their drummer for nearly 30 years.
However, guitarist Pete Townshend then reported that Zak was back and was never fired. He was just asked to adjust his playing style. So, Zak was back in the group and expected to play with them on their farewell tour. However, this past May, it was reported that Zak was once again fired, or rather, “asked to retire” from the group due to supposed conflicts with his own projects. Zak stated that this wasn’t true and even told Townshend as such in a conversation, and the guitarist seemed dumbfounded.
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Now, lead singer Roger Daltrey finally speaks regarding this situation, particularly in response to some of the comments Starkey made regarding his “mistake.” Daltrey found Starkey’s remarks “incredibly upsetting”.
“It was kind of a character assassination and it was incredibly upsetting.” Daltrey told The Times.
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Starkey said that the mistake was in Daltrey due to poorly planned rehearsals. The singer, however, had a different story. He states that the dispute began over the use of electronic drums. Daltrey claims that the person controlling the sound of the drums put “so much sub-bass on the sound of the drums that I couldn’t pitch.”
“I was pointing to the bass drum and screaming at [Starkey] because it was like flying a plane without seeing the horizon.” Daltrey continued,”So when Zak thought I was having a go at him, I wasn’t. That’s all that happened.”
Regarding the back-and-forth nature of Zak’s status with the group, Daltrey commented, “Pete and I retain the right to be the Who. Everyone else is a session player.” He explained that, “You can’t replace Keith Moon. We wanted to branch out and that’s all I want to say about it. But [Starkey’s reaction] was crippling to me.”
While Zak may be just a “session player” and not considered a true replacement for his godfather Keith Moon, he has been told not to remove his drums from storage just yet, even after being replaced by Daltrey’s drummer, Scott Devours. The saga doesn’t seem to be over just yet.
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Source: The Independent
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