Zak Starkey describes Pete Townshend as “incredibly intimidating” amid The Who firing

Posted On June 12, 2025June 12, 2025

Drummer Zak Starkey has reflected on his firing from The Who and described Pete Townshend as an “incredibly intimidating” figure.

In April, The Who announced Starkey’s initial exit following 29 years of service, but a matter of weeks later, Townshend took to Instagram to reveal the drummer was back in the fold. He told his followers, “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.”

In an unexpected turn, Townshend again announced on May 18th that 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.”

Starkey then revealed he was told to issue a statement explaining he’d quit the band due to other musical endeavours when, in actual fact, he’d been fired. “I love The Who and would never had quit. So I didn’t make the statement,” the drummer said.

The drummer later cleared the air with Daltrey over the phone, “which truly confused both of us”, but they left things “on good terms and great friends as we have always been.”

Now, in a new interview, Starkey told The Sun: “I spoke to Roger last week and he said, ‘Don’t take the drums out of the warehouse yet, in case we need you’. There’s no grudge, it’s f*cking music. In the beginning, they were the maddest band.”

Meanwhile, he reflected on Townshend being difficult to him during the early days of his time with the band, admitting: “Pete is incredibly intimidating. He called me a c*nt and gobbed on my drum riser. That was very early on.”

Starkey also revealed the opinion of his father, Ringo Starr, on The Who firing him, sharing, “I spoke to my dad about it and he watched it and stuck up for me. But he’s my dad, isn’t he?”

Referencing the Royal Albert Hall performance that led to his dismissal, Starkey added, “He wasn’t happy. He saw the show on TV and was a bit like, ‘What the f*ck?’. He didn’t think anything was a sackable offence. Apart from the ticket price.”

Starkey, who is also a member of Mantra of the Cosmos, maintained that Starr “never opened the doors for me”, but did have immense praise for his father, adding, “He is the greatest rock ’n’ roll drummer in the world. He’s better now than he was then.”

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Mantra of the Cosmos shared their new single, ‘Domino Bones’, featuring Noel Gallagher, who Starkey also played with in Oasis.

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