Zak Starkey has been sacked from the Who - again - just a couple of weeks after being reinstated in the band, and Josh Freese has been ejected from Foo Fighters, in a brutal weekend of high-profile drummer nixing.
Both men have issued defiant statements. Starkey, in particular, is not about to go quietly, refusing to peddle what he says is an officially mandated narrative about his sudden (re)departure, something the band seem to claim was down to their in-out drummer's 'new projects'.
Announcing Starkey's latest Who exit, Pete Townshend wrote, “After many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change.”
“A poignant time. Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best.”
However, just one hour after Townshend's statement, Starkey, 59-year-old son of Ringo Starr, issued his own rebuttal. “I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit to follow my other musical endeavours.”
“Not true. I love The Who and would never have quit and let down so many amazing people who stood up for me through all this madness.”
Starkey added that his latest sacking followed “weeks of mayhem of me going ‘in and out and in and out’ … like a bleeding squeezebox”.
"The lie is or would have been that I quit the Who – I didn’t. I love the Who and everyone in it.”
Freese's response to his own sacking, meanwhile, was more measured. The Foo Fighter, recruited in 2023 following Taylor Hawkins' untimely death, wrote, "I'm not angry - just a bit shocked and disappointed."
The full statement reads, "The Foo Fighters called me Monday night to let me know they've decided 'to go in a different direction with their drummer.' No reason was given."
"Regardless, I enjoyed the past two years with them, both on and off stage, and I support whatever they feel is best for the band. In my 40 years of drumming professionally, I've never been let go from a band, so while I'm not angry — just a bit shocked and disappointed.
"But as most of you know, I've always worked freelance and bounced between bands so, I'm fine. Stay tuned for my 'Top 10 possible reasons Josh got booted from the Foo Fighters' list."
