In a new interview with The i Paper, Who guitarist Pete Townshend shared his opinion about longtime touring drummer Zak Starkey’s recent firing exit from the band, while offering some background into the incident that supposedly led to his exit.
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In April, The Who announced that it had parted ways with Starkey, who is Ringo Starr’s son, a few weeks after an onstage incident during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. During the show, The Who was playing its 1971 tune “The Song Is Over” live for the first time when frontman Roger Daltrey, who suffers from hearing issues, appeared to lose his place. Daltrey became irritated and stopped the song, complaining that Starkey had been playing too loudly.
[RELATED: Ringo Starr Slams “Little Man” Roger Daltrey After Son Zak Starkey Is Fired from The Who]
The announcement of Zak’s departure was met by a lot of anger from many fans. Three days later, The Who reported that Starkey was back in the band, with Townshend citing “communication issues” as the reason for his initial removal from the group. In May, though, The Who again announced that Starkey was leaving the band, claiming he wanted to pursue other musical interests. Zak, however, said this wasn’t true, and that he actually had been fired.
In The i Paper interview, Townshend said of the situation involving Starkey, “It’s been a mess.” He went on to talk about what happened at the Royal Albert Hall show.
“I couldn’t see anything wrong,” Pete noted. “What you see is a band who haven’t played together for a long time. But I think it was probably to do with the sound.” Townshend also revealed, “I’ve lost my sound man as a result.”
More About Daltrey’s Onstage Issue and Starkey’s Firing
Townshend then went into more detail about the issues Daltrey was having onstage during the concert.
“I think Roger just got lost,” he said. “Roger’s finding it difficult. I have to be careful what I say about Roger because he gets angry if I say anything about him at all. He’ll be sacking me next.”
Pete then backtracked a bit, suggesting that the decision to fire Starkey wasn’t solely Daltrey’s.
“It’s a decision Roger and I tried to make together, but it kind of got out of hand,” Townshend maintained.
Asked if it was a difficult decision to part ways with Starkey, Pete responded by pointing out that he hadn’t brought Zak into The Who in the first place. He also hinted that Starkey may have brought some baggage with him when he joined the group.
“Roger invited him,” Townshend explained. “And at that time, I don’t know quite why he chose Zak, but Zak is another Keith Moon. He comes with real, real bonuses and real, real difficulties.”
He concluded by saying, “I will miss Zak terribly. But quite what the story is, I don’t f—ing know. I really don’t know.”
Townshend on How He Feels About The Who’s Farewell Tour
The Who recently announced plans for a farewell trek dubbed The Song Is Over Tour that will begin with a 2025 North American leg. The outing runs from an August 16 concert in Sunrise, Florida, through a September 28 show in Las Vegas. The band also will play a pair of concerts in Italy in late July.
Playing drums for The Who will be Scott Devours, who’s a longtime member of Daltrey’s solo touring band.
Townshend has long expressed his dislike for touring, and he apparently has mixed feelings about the upcoming trek.
“I don’t know whether I’ve been up for doing anything with The Who since 1973,” he told The i Paper with a laugh. “But I am looking forward to [the tour.] Not because it’s the end, but because I hope that we can continue to explore other things.”
On the Possibility of Another Who Album
Townshend also revealed in the interview that he’d like to record another album with The Who. Unfortunately, Daltrey doesn’t feel the same way.
“[That] is really hard for me,” he admitted. “He feels that we’ve got enough legacy, and that’s where we differ.”
The band’s most recent studio album, WHO, was released in 2019.
(Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)
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