Zak Starkey is the son of Ringo Starr, probably the most famous career drummer in history. Presumably then, Starkey doesn't need a job, but he's had tons of jobs over the decades. Starkey has played with groups like Oasis, Johnny Marr's Healers, and his father's All-Starr Band. Since 1996, Starkey has also played drums for the Beatles' contemporaries the Who -- the spot once occupied by the late legend Keith Moon, a close friend of the Starkey family. But these days, it seems like nobody is sure whether Starkey is still in the Who.
The Who recently announced their North American farewell tour, so they're definitely going to need a drummer. Just before that announcement, however, a spokesperson for the band said that they'd parted ways with Zac Starkey. On Instagram, Starkey himself made reference to "formal charges of overplaying." (The Who played their 1971 classic "The Song Is Over" live for the first time at a Teenage Cancer Trust benefit in March, but they had to start it over after singer Roger Daltrey said that he couldn't hear anything other than "boom, boom, boom.")
After the announcement, however, the Who guitarist Pete Townshend said that Zak Starkey was back in the band after they resolved "some communication issues, personal and private on all sides." But shortly after that, Townshend announced that Starkey was once again out of the band. In an Instagram post yesterday, Starkey implied that that might've also been over a miscommunication -- the Who thinking that he needed more time to work on other projects. Starkey relates a phone conversation with Roger Daltrey "which truly confused both of us!!!" Here's what he wrote:
NOISE&CONFUSION!!!! 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 n my own projects.I explained to Rog that I have just spent nearly 8 weeks at my studio in Jamaica completing these projects, that my group Mantra Of The Cosmos was releasing one single at the beginning of June and after that had run its course ( usually 5/6 weeks ) I was completely available for the foreseeable future….Rog said ‘Oh!’ and we kind of left it there- On good terms and great friends as we have always been . Gotta love these guys. As my mum used to say ‘The mind boggles!!!’ XXX
I wasn't there, but that looks to me like a former boss trying to come up with a nicer word for "fired." Been there, buddy!
That Mantra Of The Cosmos track, "Domino Bones," was written by Oasis' Noel Gallagher, and Starkey appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning to promote it. As for the drummer not taking part in Oasis' upcoming reunion tour, he told host Ben Thompson that he was "gutted" by the exclusion. "I texted them and said, 'Why am I not in it?'" he said. "You know, if you get a new drummer, you get comfortable, don’t you? You get comfortable with new musicians and I think that’s what’s happened and I’m alright with that." Said new drummer for the shows will be Joey Waronker.
