There’s been yet another twist in the saga of Zak Starkey and his prolonged departure from The Who.
In an Instagram post, the 59 year old drummer has said that he spoke on the phone last week with Roger Daltrey, remains on good terms with the singer, and that he was “retired” from the band rather than sacked.
Starkey has written: "I had a great phone chat with Roger at the end of last week which truly confused both of us!!! Rog said I hadn't been 'fired'...I had been 'retired' to work (on) 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....Rog said 'Oh!' and we kind of left it there."
The drummer added: "On good terms and great friends as we have always been. Gotta love these guys. As my mum used to say 'The mind boggles!!!'"
The late Maureen Starkey isn’t wrong. What’s the difference between being ‘retired’, being ‘fired’ and ‘being let go’? In practical terms, nothing.
Starkey has been in The Who for nearly thirty years. Earlier this year they announced two Italian dates for July. After this there is the little matter of their ‘final’ US tour in August and September.
Are we to believe that Starkey chose this moment of all moments to decide that he’d rather concentrate on his hobby band, rather than the rock legends he’s played with for nearly three decades?
Whatever the truth in all this, Starkey suddenly seems cheerier about the situation. Just two weeks ago he wrote, after he had been ‘fired’/’retired’ for the second time, that: "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."
And going forward, The Who’s new drummer is now, definitely, Scott Devours, a 58 year old American who has served behind the kit for Roger Daltrey’s solo band since 2009.
