Ahead of the Who’s upcoming farewell tour, Pete Townshend announced that the band had parted ways with Zak Starkey, their current drummer (and Beatles drummer Ringo Starr’s son) earlier this month.
“After many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change,” the guitarist wrote on his official Instagram. “A poignant time. Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best.”
In response, Starkey took to Instagram last night to detail a phone call he had with Roger Daltrey about his much-discussed departure from the band, clarifying that he was not “fired” from the Who, but rather, he “retired.”
“I had a great phone chat with Roger at the end of last week which truly confused both of us!!!” Starkey wrote. “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 eight 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.”
He added, “gotta love these guys. As my mum used to say “‘The mind boggles!!!'”
His official departure arrived a month after their drummer of 30 years was fired and rehired by the band in the span of a week amidst rumours of the group being unhappy with his performance when they played a pair of Teenage Cancer Trust charity shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March.
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Confirming his exit in a response to Townsend’s post, Starkey wrote “I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit the who to pursue my other musical endeavours this would be a lie. I love the Who and would never had quit.
“So I didn’t make the statement ….quitting the who would also have let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me (thank you all a million times over and more) thru the weeks of mayhem of me going ‘in an out an in an out an in an out like a bleedin squeezebox x.”
Scott Devours will replace Starkey for the upcoming tour. “It’s hard to express the tsunami of emotions that I’m processing since that incredible news,” Devours shared on social media after the announcement.
“The amount of positivity thrown my way has been overwhelming, I truly thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Also, please don’t ask me for tickets, lol.”
