Zak Starkey reveals conversation with Roger Daltrey following The Who firing: “Truly confused both of us”
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(Credits: Patrick Gunning / Dena Flows)
Zak Starkey has opened up about his recent conversation with Roger Daltrey after the drummer was relieved from his duties in The Who for the second time in a month.
In April, Starkey’s initial exit was announced by the band following 29 years of service. However, weeks later, Pete Townshend took to Instagram to share: “News Flash! Who Zak Back! Zak is not being asked to step down from The Who. There have been some communication issues, personal and private on all sides, that needed to be dealt with, and these have been aired happily.”
Then, in a twist, on May 18th, Townshend again announced Starkey was no longer part of The Who, writing on Instagram, “After many years of great work on drums from Zak, the time has come for change.”
The guitarist also cited that Starkey has “lots of new projects in hand”, which he said was the reason for his departure.
In response, Starkey issued a statement of his own, claiming he was told to say he’d quit the band due to other musical endeavours when he’d been fired, before adding, “I love The Who and would never had quit. So I didn’t make the statement.”
Now, the confusing saga has seemingly had a line drawn through it. In a new Instagram post, titled ‘NOISE&CONFUSION!!!!’, Starkey revealed that he “had a great phone chat with Roger at the end of last week which truly confused both of us!!!”
The drummer continued: “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….”
He then shared that Daltrey, “Said ‘Oh!’ and we kind of left it there”. On a positive note, Starkey said they left it “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”.
The Who’s farewell tour is set to begin on August 16th in Florida, which would have aligned with Starkey’s Mantra of the Cosmos schedule. Scott Devours will instead take his place behind the drum kit for the iconic group’s final set of dates.
Last week, Devours addressed his mixed feelings about replacing Starkey, writing on Instagram, “A strange contradiction of emotions to have the greatest moment of my professional career also be one framed with some sadness and shadowed by someone else’s loss.”
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