Drummer Zak Starkey’s long-standing relationship with the legendary rock band The Who has taken another dramatic turn after nearly three decades of collaboration. In March, while on stage at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the yearly series of concerts to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust, things boiled over between Starkey and frontman Roger Daltrey. This controversy led to Starkey’s temporary expulsion from the ensemble. Despite this significant upheaval, Starkey still leaves the door open for a return someday, revealing in the interview that he still loves all of his former bandmates.
The incident occurred during The Who’s rendition of “The Song Is Over” when Daltrey publicly criticized Starkey’s performance. Daltrey later confessed that the most difficult thing was being able to sing the song when I can’t hear its key. Starkey attributed this to the obvious rehearsal time absence and Daltrey’s last-minute decision to cut the song short. At the conclusion of the concert, Pete Townshend, guitarist and chief songwriter for The Who, dropped a bombshell. He announced that the group would sever its relationship with Starkey, saying, “the time has come for a change.”
Starkey’s dismissal was not without precedent. First unexpectedly sacked by The Who, he was famously re-engaged within a week only to be let go for a second time two weeks later. Starkey, meanwhile, received a formal request during this time to make a public break announcement so that he could pursue other musical ventures. He refused, in no uncertain terms, that request. He went on Instagram in response to the blowback to set the record straight. They told me I was getting fired two weeks after being reinstated and needed to claim that I’d left the Who to further pursue my other musical ventures. This would be untrue,” he expressed.
Though the circus-like conditions of his exit would suggest otherwise, Starkey still has a close kinship with Daltrey and Townshend. Here’s how he felt about the Who, talking in this telling interview, “I love the Who and would never have quit. So I didn’t make the statement.” Starkey in an interview with Daltrey earlier this week. Daltrey added that “until you’ve got a signed contract, don’t take your drums out of [the Who’s] warehouse yet in case we need you.”
The 52-year-old musician’s story is filled with the love of a lifestyle and the exasperation of an artist at odds with his own success.…unpredictable, aggressive and finga-waving.
