Pete Townshend has opened up about the recent tumultuous departure of long-time drummer Zak Starkey from The Who, candidly admitting, “It’s been a mess.”
As per Rolling Stone, the controversy began in April when The Who—comprised of Townshend and Roger Daltrey—announced they had “made a collective decision to part ways with Zak” after the drummer’s impressive three-decade stint with the legendary rock outfit.
What followed was a confusing series of contradictory statements. Just three days after the initial announcement, Townshend declared “News Flash! Who back Zak!” only to reverse course again a month later, confirming Starkey’s exit. Starkey himself later revealed to Rolling Stone that he was “retired” by Daltrey ahead of the band’s farewell tour, ‘The Song Is Over’.
The catalyst for the split appears to have been The Who’s performances at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity shows. According to Starkey, Daltrey “came in four bars early” during the performance but “just got lost.” The frontman reportedly blamed the mistake on the drums being too loud, which then escalated into what Starkey described as “this huge social media thing.”
In a recent interview with iNews, Townshend shared his perspective on the controversial Royal Albert Hall shows that precipitated Starkey’s dismissal. “I couldn’t see anything wrong. 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. I’ve lost my sound man as a result,” Townshend explained.
The guitarist elaborated further on the situation, careful with his words: “I think Roger just got lost. 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. But that’s not to say that he sacked Zak. It’s a decision Roger and I tried to make together, but it kind of got out of hand.”
Townshend pointedly noted that it was Daltrey who originally brought Starkey into the fold, stating, “I didn’t invite him in, right? Roger invited him.” Despite the messy separation, Townshend expressed his personal feelings about Starkey’s departure, admitting, “I will miss Zak terribly. But quite what the story is, I don’t fucking know. I really don’t know.”
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The Who has announced that Scott Devours, the drummer from Daltrey’s solo band, will join the group for their upcoming farewell tour. Interestingly, Townshend himself seems somewhat ambivalent about the farewell trek. When asked about his enthusiasm for the tour, he quipped, “I don’t know whether I’ve been up for doing anything with the Who since 1973.” He did, however, add, “But I am looking forward to it. Not because it’s the end, but because I hope that we can continue to explore other things.”
